raykle / dart_native

Write iOS&Android Code using Dart. This package liberates you from redundant glue code and low performance of Flutter Channel.

Dart_Native

Dart_Native operates as both a code generator tool and a bridge to communicate between Dart and native APIs.

Replaces the low-performing Flutter channel with faster and more concise code.

• Under development

This package is the blue part(DartNative Bridge):

Requirements

Dart_Native Version	Flutter Requirements	Codegen Version
0.4.x	Flutter 2.2.0 (Dart 2.13.0)	2.x
0.3.x	Flutter 1.20.0 (Dart 2.9.1)	1.2.x
0.2.x	Flutter 1.12.13 (Dart 2.7)	1.x

Supported Platforms

iOS & Android

Usage

1. Add dart_native to dependencies and build_runner to dev_dependencies.

2. Generate Dart wrapper code with @dartnative/codegen or write Dart code manually.

3. Generate code for automatic type conversion using dart_native_gen with the following steps (3.1-3.3):

   3.1 Annotate a Dart wrapper class with @native.

   @native
   class RuntimeSon extends RuntimeStub {
     RuntimeSon([Class isa]) : super(Class('RuntimeSon'));
     RuntimeSon.fromPointer(Pointer<Void> ptr) : super.fromPointer(ptr);
   }

   3.2 Annotate your own entry (such asmain()) with @nativeRoot.

   @nativeRoot
   void main() {
     runApp(App());
   }

   3.3 Run

   flutter packages pub run build_runner build --delete-conflicting-outputs 

   to generate files into your source directory.

   Note: we recommend running clean first:

   flutter packages pub run build_runner clean

4. Call autogenerated function in <generated-name>.dn.dart in 3.3. The function name is determined by name in pubspec.yaml.

   @nativeRoot
   void main() {
     // Function name is generated by name in pubspec.yaml.
     runDartNativeExample(); 
     runApp(App());
   }

Features

High-performance synchronous & asynchronous channeling

Dart_Native costs significantly less time than the Flutter channel and supports both synchronous and asynchronous channeling. A comparison of two native channeling tasks using Flutter channel and Dart_Native is shown below.

Both tasks were executed 10,000 times in the same environment using either Flutter channel or Dart_Native:

Task	Total time cost (ms) (Channel/Dart_Native)	Channeling time cost (ms) (Channel/Dart_Native)
Checking if an app needs to be installed	5202/4166	919/99
Logging	2480/2024	1075/432

Autogenerate succinct bridging code

Dart_Native supports automatic type conversion so its bridging code is shorter & simpler than the Flutter channel.

A comparison of the task of "checking if an app needs to be installed" is shown below:

	# of lines of bridging code	Coding complexity
Dart_Native	Dart 1 + Native 1	Autogenerated code returns BOOL directly
Channel	Dart 15 + Native 30	Needs to manually define return format, convert INT to BOOL, determine channel & methodName

Automatic object marshalling between Dart and native

Examples

iOS:

Dart code (generated):

// new Objective-C object.
RuntimeStub stub = RuntimeStub();

// Dart function will be converted to Objective-C block.
stub.fooBlock((NSObject a) {
    print('hello block! ${a.toString()}');
    return 101;
});

// support built-in structs.
CGRect rect = stub.fooCGRect(CGRect(4, 3, 2, 1));
print(rect);

Corresponding Objective-C code:

typedef int(^BarBlock)(NSObject *a);

@interface RuntimeStub

- (CGRect)fooCGRect:(CGRect)rect;
- (void)fooBlock:(BarBlock)block;

@end

More iOS examples see: ios_unit_test.dart

Android:

Dart code (generated):

// new Java object.
RuntimeStub stub = RuntimeStub();

// get java list.
List list = stub.getList([1, 2, 3, 4]);

// support interface.
stub.setDelegateListener(DelegateStub());

Corresponding Java code:

public class RuntimeStub {

    public List<Integer> getList(List<Integer> list) {
        List<Integer> returnList = new ArrayList<>();
        returnList.add(1);
        returnList.add(2);
        return returnList;
     }

    public void setDelegateListener(SampleDelegate delegate) {
         delegate.callbackInt(1);
    }
}

More android examples see: android_unit_test.dart

Documentation

Readme

1. dart_native README.md
2. dart_native_gen README.md

Further reading

• 告别 Flutter Channel，调用 Native API 仅需一行代码！
• 如何实现一行命令自动生成 Flutter 插件
• 用 Dart 来写 Objective-C 代码
• 谈谈 dart_native 混合编程引擎的设计
• DartNative Memory Management: Object
• DartNative Memory Management: C++ Non-Object
• DartNative Struct
• 在 Flutter 中玩转 Objective-C Block
• Passing Out Parameter in DartNative

FAQs

Q: Failed to lookup symbol (dlsym(RTLD_DEFAULT, InitDartApiDL): symbol not found) on iOS archive.

A: Select one solution:

1. Use dynamic library: Add use_frameworks! in Podfile.
2. Select Target Runner -> Build Settings -> Strip Style -> change from "All Symbols" to "Non-Global Symbols"

Contribution

• If you need help or you'd like to ask a general question, open an issue.
• If you found a bug, open an issue.
• If you have a feature request, open an issue.
• If you want to contribute, submit a pull request.

License

DartNative is available under the BSD 3-Clause License. See the LICENSE file for more info.