Using Go Library in Flutter

Flutter has made it possible to develope cross platform mobile app with native performance. Till we had Flutter we used to write the platform specific UI code of mobile app using Java/Kotlin for Android and Objective-C/Swift for iOS. Now with Flutter we can use same codebase for App/UI for multiple platforms.

While working on various full-stack mobile-app development projects at Arputer Technologies we wrote tons of platform independent business-logic or algorithm code in Go and used Google's Gomobile tool to create Android/iOS natively compiled libraries which are called from Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift UI depending on the platform. This approach helped us to write (and test) core business logic code once and use the same in multiple platforms (Android, iOS and .. Linux, Mac). While working with Flutter we wanted to reuse the same Go codebase/API and we found it easy to use the Gomobile generated Android/iOS libraries in Flutter using Flutter platform-channel.

In this article we will learn how to integrate Go library code into Flutter and use it in cross platform scenario. We will try to achieve following :

In this article we will assume that the development workstation is Linux and running any of the latest Linux distributions and Android is used for testing the mobile app to be developed.

Development workstation setup :

Environment setup for Go :

First we need to prepare the environment for Gomobile development. Latest version of Go is recommended to be installed

~$ go version

go version go1.12.2 linux/amd64

Environment variables :

Update environment variables (your path might be different, hence update accordingly).

~$ export GOPATH=$HOME/workspace/go-packages

~$ export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/workspace/android-sdk/

~$ export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=$ANDROID_HOME

~$ export ANDROID_NDK_ROOT=$ANDROID_HOME/ndk-bundle

~$ export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/

Please note for gomobile to work correctly, you need have above environment variables set and exported.

Gomobile installation :

~$ go get golang.org/x/mobile/cmd/gomobile

~$ gomobile version

gomobile version +3e0bab5 ...

~$ gomobile init

Environment setup for flutter :

~$ git clone -b master https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git ~/workspace/flutter-sdk

~$ mkdir $HOME/workspace/flutter-sdk/pub_cache

~$ export PATH=$PATH:$FLUTTER_ROOT/bin:$PUB_CACHE/bin

~$ flutter doctor

Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):

[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, v1.5.4-hotfix.2, on Linux, locale en_IN.UTF-8)

 

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 28.0.3)

[✓] Android Studio (version 3.4)

[✓] VS Code (version 1.33.1)

[✓] Connected device (1 available)


• No issues found!

Create our Go Library for Flutter

~$ mkdir -p $GOPATH/src/gonative-lib

Create $GOPATH/src/gonative-lib/data-processor.go

package gonativelib


import (

    "errors"

)


type (

    // DataProcessor :

    DataProcessor struct {

      // add fields here

    }

)


// Increment : Increment the int received as an argument.

func (p *DataProcessor) Increment(data int) (int, error) {

    if data < 0 {

      // Return error if data is negative. This will

      // result exception in Android side.

      return data, errors.New("data can't be negative")

    }

    return (data + 1), nil

}

Compile and create Android library :

~$ cd $GOPATH/src/gonative-lib

~$ gomobile bind --target android

Following files are generated by Gomobile command.

Data types supported by Gomobile :

At present, a subset of Go types are supported by Gomobile. For more information refer to gobind.

Create Flutter app

Create flutter app from from default template.

~$ cd ~/workspace/

~$ flutter create flutter_gonative_app

~$ cd ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app

When you run this default app from your favorite IDE you should be able to see the familiar app with stateful widget containing the floating-button. On clicking the floating-button the counter value get updated and shown in UI.

In the default app, the counter is updated in _incrementCounter()

  void _incrementCounter() {

    setState(() {

      // This call to setState tells the Flutter framework that something has

      // changed in this State, which causes it to rerun the build method below

      // so that the display can reflect the updated values. If we changed

      // _counter without calling setState(), then the build method would not be

      // called again, and so nothing would appear to happen.

      _counter++;

    });

  }

We will updated this function to call Go Library API in following sections.

Add Go library (Android) to Flutter app :

First, add Android gonativelib which we have created in the previous step, to the Flutter app.

To add the Android gonativelib which we have created in the previous step, to the Flutter app, create libs folder in Android code of Flutter app and copygonativelib Android aar file into this folder.

~$ mkdir ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/libs/

~$ cp $GOPATH/src/gonative-lib/gonativelib.aar ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/libs/

Now update ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/build.gradle with following :

repositories{

    flatDir{

         dirs 'src/main/libs'

    }

}


dependencies {

    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'

    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.2'

    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.2'

    api(name:'gonativelib', ext:'aar')

}

Corresponding git-diff.

~$ git diff flutter_gonative_app/android/app/build.gradle

diff --git a/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/build.gradle b/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/build.gradle

index 51d0d1d..4174a0e 100644

--- a/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/build.gradle

+++ b/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/build.gradle

@@ -54,8 +54,15 @@ flutter {

     source '../..'

 }

 

+repositories{

+    flatDir{

+         dirs 'src/main/libs'

+    }

+}

+

 dependencies {

     testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'

     androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.2'

     androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.2'

+    api(name:'gonativelib', ext:'aar')

 }


Now the classes provided by gonativelib should be accessible from Android.

Update ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java with following to access gonativelib.DataProcessor.

package com.example.flutter_gonative_app;


import android.os.Bundle;


import gonativelib.DataProcessor;

import io.flutter.app.FlutterActivity;

import io.flutter.plugins.GeneratedPluginRegistrant;



public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {

  DataProcessor goNativeDataProcessor = new DataProcessor();


  @Override

  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    GeneratedPluginRegistrant.registerWith(this);

  }

}

Corresponding git-diff.

~$ git diff flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

diff --git a/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java b/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

index 2fb247b..cca3684 100644

--- a/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

+++ b/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@

 package com.example.flutter_gonative_app;

 

 import android.os.Bundle;

+

+import gonativelib.DataProcessor;

 import io.flutter.app.FlutterActivity;

 import io.flutter.plugins.GeneratedPluginRegistrant;

 

+

 public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {

+  DataProcessor goNativeDataProcessor = new DataProcessor();

+

   @Override

   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);


Restart your flutter app to get it recompiled with the changes you have made.

Add platform-channel to Flutter app

To call API of gonativelib, we need to use FLutter Platform Channel.

Data types supported in platform-channel :

Dart      Android            

===============================

null      null               

bool      java.lang.Boolean  

int         java.lang.Integer  

int         java.lang.Long     

double      java.lang.Double   

String      java.lang.String   

Uint8List   byte[]             

Int32List   int[]              

Int64List   long[]             

Float64List double[]           

List      java.util.ArrayList

Map         java.util.HashMap  

Add MethodChannel in Flutter/Dart :

Flutter app's _MyHomePageState class holds apps's current state. We need to create a MethodChannel though which we will be communicating with gonalivelib. The client and host sides of the Channel do the handshake through the channel name passed in the MethodChannel constructor of platform-channel. In our case, the channel name is example.com/gonative. This should be unique in the app.

In the Flutter side update _incrementCounter() function from ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app/lib/main.dart

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

import 'package:flutter/services.dart';


...


class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {

  int _counter = 0;

  static const platform = const MethodChannel('example.com/gonative');


  Future<void> _incrementCounter() async {

    int incrementedCounter;


    try {

      var arguments = Map();

      arguments["data"] = _counter;

      incrementedCounter =

          await platform.invokeMethod('dataProcessor_increment', arguments);

    } on PlatformException catch (e) {

      print("PlatformException: ${e.message}");

    }


    if (incrementedCounter != null) {

      setState(() {

        _counter = incrementedCounter;

      });

    }

  }


...

Corresponding git-diff.

~$ git diff flutter_gonative_app/lib/main.dart

diff --git a/flutter_gonative_app/lib/main.dart b/flutter_gonative_app/lib/main.dart

index f4ebf1d..c281921 100644

--- a/flutter_gonative_app/lib/main.dart

+++ b/flutter_gonative_app/lib/main.dart

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@

 import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

+import 'package:flutter/services.dart';

 

 void main() => runApp(MyApp());

 

@@ -45,16 +46,25 @@ class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {

 

 class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {

   int _counter = 0;

+  static const platform = const MethodChannel('example.com/gonative');

 

-  void _incrementCounter() {

-    setState(() {

-      // This call to setState tells the Flutter framework that something has

-      // changed in this State, which causes it to rerun the build method below

-      // so that the display can reflect the updated values. If we changed

-      // _counter without calling setState(), then the build method would not be

-      // called again, and so nothing would appear to happen.

-      _counter++;

-    });

+  Future<void> _incrementCounter() async {

+    int incrementedCounter;

+

+    try {

+      var arguments = Map();

+      arguments["data"] = _counter;

+      incrementedCounter =

+          await platform.invokeMethod('dataProcessor_increment', arguments);

+    } on PlatformException catch (e) {

+      print("PlatformException: ${e.message}");

+    }

+

+    if (incrementedCounter != null) {

+      setState(() {

+        _counter = incrementedCounter;

+      });

+    }

   }

 

   @override

Let us now understand the magic happening in above code.

Add MethodChannel in Android/Java :

Now in Android Java side update MainActivity.onCreate at ~/workspace/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java with following :

package com.example.flutter_gonative_app;


import android.os.Bundle;

import android.util.Log;


import gonativelib.DataProcessor;

import io.flutter.app.FlutterActivity;

import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodCall;

import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel;

import io.flutter.plugins.GeneratedPluginRegistrant;


public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {

  DataProcessor goNativeDataProcessor = new DataProcessor();


  @Override

  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    GeneratedPluginRegistrant.registerWith(this);


    MethodChannel methodChannel = new MethodChannel(getFlutterView(), "example.com/gonative");

    methodChannel.setMethodCallHandler(new MethodChannel.MethodCallHandler() {

      @Override

      public void onMethodCall(MethodCall methodCall, MethodChannel.Result result) {

        if (methodCall.method.equals("dataProcessor_increment")) {

          if (!methodCall.hasArgument("data")) {

            result.error("dataProcessor_increment", "Send argument as Map<\"data\", int>", null);

            return;

          }

          try {

            Integer data = methodCall.argument("data");

            result.success(goNativeDataProcessor.increment(data.longValue()));

            return;

          } catch (Exception e) {

            result.error("dataProcessor_increment", e.getMessage(), null);

          }

        } else {

          result.notImplemented();

        }

      }

    });

  }

}

Corresponding git-diff

~$ git diff flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

diff --git a/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java b/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

index 204af8a..8893167 100644

--- a/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

+++ b/flutter_gonative_app/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/flutter_gonative_app/MainActivity.java

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import android.util.Log;

 

 import gonativelib.DataProcessor;

 import io.flutter.app.FlutterActivity;

+import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodCall;

+import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel;

 import io.flutter.plugins.GeneratedPluginRegistrant;

 

 public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {

@@ -14,5 +16,27 @@ public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {

   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

     GeneratedPluginRegistrant.registerWith(this);

+

+    MethodChannel methodChannel = new MethodChannel(getFlutterView(), "example.com/gonative");

+    methodChannel.setMethodCallHandler(new MethodChannel.MethodCallHandler() {

+      @Override

+      public void onMethodCall(MethodCall methodCall, MethodChannel.Result result) {

+        if (methodCall.method.equals("dataProcessor_increment")) {

+          if (!methodCall.hasArgument("data")) {

+            result.error("dataProcessor_increment", "Send argument as Map<\"data\", int>", null);

+            return;

+          }

+          try {

+            Integer data = methodCall.argument("data");

+            result.success(goNativeDataProcessor.increment(data.longValue()));

+            return;

+          } catch (Exception e) {

+            result.error("dataProcessor_increment", e.getMessage(), null);

+          }

+        } else {

+          result.notImplemented();

+        }

+      }

+    });

   }

 }

methodChannel.setMethodCallHandler(new MethodChannel.MethodCallHandler() {

    @Override

    public void onMethodCall(MethodCall methodCall, MethodChannel.Result result) {

        ...

    }

});

Now, restart the app and when you click the floating-button, Flutter/Dart calls MethodChannel to invokeMethod with current state's _counter. On receiving the call in though predefined MethodChannel, Android/Java calls corresponding GoNative object to get the output and returns the same to Flutter.

End note

In this article I have used a trivial example to demonstrate how to use Flutter's platform-channel to call GoNative api in the context of Android. Similar approach can be used in case of iOS.

What we learned in this article :

The source code can be found from Bitbucket/arputer.

-- Archan Paul