Writing custom platform-specific code with platform channels

This guide describes how to write custom platform-specific code. Some platform-specific functionality is available through existing packages; please see using packages.

• Architectural overview: platform channels
  • Platform channel data types support and codecs
• Example: Calling platform-specific iOS and Android code using platform channels
  • Step 1: Create a new app project
  • Step 2: Create the Flutter platform client
  • Step 3a: Add an Android platform-specific implementation using Java
  • Step 3b: Add an Android platform-specific implementation using Kotlin
  • Step 4a: Add an iOS platform-specific implementation using Objective-C
  • Step 4b: Add an iOS platform-specific implementation using Swift
• Separate platform-specific code from UI code
• Publish platform-specific code as a package
• Custom channels and codecs

Flutter uses a flexible system that allows you to call platform-specific APIs whether available in Java or Kotlin code on Android, or in ObjectiveC or Swift code on iOS.

Flutter’s platform-specific API support does not rely on code generation, but rather on a flexible message passing style:

• The Flutter portion of your app sends messages to its host, the iOS or Android portion of your app, over a platform channel.

• The host listens on the platform channel, and receives the message. It then calls into any number of platform-specific APIs – using the native programming language – and sends back a response to the client, the Flutter portion of your app.

Architectural overview: platform channels

Messages are passed between the client (UI) and host (platform) using platform channels as illustrated in this diagram:

Messages and responses are passed asynchronously, to ensure the user interface remains responsive.

On the client side, MethodChannel (API) enables sending messages that correspond to method calls. On the platform side, MethodChannel on Android (API) and FlutterMethodChannel on iOS (API) enable receiving method calls and sending back a result. These classes allow you to develop a platform plugin with very little ‘boilerplate’ code.

Note: If desired, method calls can also be sent in the reverse direction, with the platform acting as client to methods implemented in Dart. A concrete example of this is the quick_actions plugin.

Platform channel data types support and codecs

The standard platform channels use a standard message codec that supports efficient binary serialization of simple JSON-like values, such as booleans, numbers, Strings, byte buffers, and List and Maps of these (see StandardMessageCodec) for details). The serialization and deserialization of these values to and from messages happens automatically when you send and receive values.

The following table shows how Dart values are received on the platform side and vice versa:

Example: Calling platform-specific iOS and Android code using platform channels

The following demonstrates how to call a platform-specific API to retrieve and display the current battery level. It uses the Android BatteryManager API, and the iOS device.batteryLevel API, via a single platform message, getBatteryLevel.

The example adds the platform-specific code inside the main app itself. If you want to reuse the platform-specific code for multiple apps, the project creation step is slightly different (see developing packages), but the platform channel code is still written in the same way.

Note: The full, runnable source-code for this example is available in /examples/platform_channel/ for Android with Java and iOS with Objective-C. For iOS with Swift, see /examples/platform_channel_swift/.

Step 1: Create a new app project

Start by creating a new app:

• In a terminal run: flutter create batterylevel

By default our template supports writing Android code using Java, or iOS code using Objective-C. To use Kotlin or Swift, use the -i and/or -a flags:

• In a terminal run: flutter create -i swift -a kotlin batterylevel

Step 2: Create the Flutter platform client

The app’s State class holds the current app state. We need to extend that to hold the current battery state.

First, we construct the channel. We use a MethodChannel with a single platform method that returns the battery level.

The client and host sides of a channel are connected through a channel name passed in the channel constructor. All channel names used in a single app must be unique; we recommend prefixing the channel name with a unique ‘domain prefix’, e.g. samples.flutter.io/battery.

import 'dart:async';

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter/services.dart';
...
class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
  static const platform = const MethodChannel('samples.flutter.io/battery');

  // Get battery level.
}

Next, we invoke a method on the method channel, specifying the concrete method to call via the String identifier getBatteryLevel. The call may fail – for example if the platform does not support the platform API (such as when running in a simulator), so we wrap the invokeMethod call in a try-catch statement.

We use the returned result to update our user interface state in _batteryLevel inside setState.

  // Get battery level.
  String _batteryLevel = 'Unknown battery level.';

  Future<Null> _getBatteryLevel() async {
    String batteryLevel;
    try {
      final int result = await platform.invokeMethod('getBatteryLevel');
      batteryLevel = 'Battery level at $result % .';
    } on PlatformException catch (e) {
      batteryLevel = "Failed to get battery level: '${e.message}'.";
    }

    setState(() {
      _batteryLevel = batteryLevel;
    });
  }

Finally, we replace the build method from the template to contain a small user interface that displays the battery state in a string, and a button for refreshing the valuer.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return new Material(
    child: new Center(
      child: new Column(
        mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
        children: [
          new RaisedButton(
            child: new Text('Get Battery Level'),
            onPressed: _getBatteryLevel,
          ),
          new Text(_batteryLevel),
        ],
      ),
    ),
  );
}

Step 3a: Add an Android platform-specific implementation using Java

Note: The following steps use Java. If you prefer Kotlin, skip to step 3b.

Start by opening the Android host portion of your Flutter app in Android Studio:

1. Start Android Studio

2. Select the menu item ‘File > Open…’

3. Navigate to the directory holding your Flutter app, and select the android folder inside it. Click OK.

4. Open the file MainActivity.java located in the java folder in the Project view.

Next, create a MethodChannel and set a MethodCallHandler inside the onCreate method. Make sure to use the same channel name as was used on the Flutter client side.

import io.flutter.app.FlutterActivity;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodCall;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel.MethodCallHandler;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel.Result;

public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {
    private static final String CHANNEL = "samples.flutter.io/battery";

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        new MethodChannel(getFlutterView(), CHANNEL).setMethodCallHandler(
                new MethodCallHandler() {
                    @Override
                    public void onMethodCall(MethodCall call, Result result) {
                        // TODO
                    }
                });
    }
}

Next, we add the actual Android Java code that uses the Android battery APIs to retrieve the battery level. This code is exactly the same as you would have written in a native Android app.

First, add the needed imports at the top of the file:

import android.content.ContextWrapper;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.IntentFilter;
import android.os.BatteryManager;
import android.os.Build.VERSION;
import android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES;
import android.os.Bundle;

Then add the following as a new method in the activity class, below the onCreate method:

private int getBatteryLevel() {
  int batteryLevel = -1;
  if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
    BatteryManager batteryManager = (BatteryManager) getSystemService(BATTERY_SERVICE);
    batteryLevel = batteryManager.getIntProperty(BatteryManager.BATTERY_PROPERTY_CAPACITY);
  } else {
    Intent intent = new ContextWrapper(getApplicationContext()).
        registerReceiver(null, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED));
    batteryLevel = (intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_LEVEL, -1) * 100) /
        intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_SCALE, -1);
  }

  return batteryLevel;
}

Finally, we complete the onMethodCall method we added earlier. We need to handle a single platform method, getBatteryLevel, so we test for that in the call argument. The implementation of this platform method simply calls the Android code we wrote in the previous step, and passes back a response for both the success and error cases using the response argument. If an unknown method is called, we report that instead. Replace:

public void onMethodCall(MethodCall call, Result result) {
    // TODO
}

with:

@Override
public void onMethodCall(MethodCall call, Result result) {
    if (call.method.equals("getBatteryLevel")) {
        int batteryLevel = getBatteryLevel();

        if (batteryLevel != -1) {
            result.success(batteryLevel);
        } else {
            result.error("UNAVAILABLE", "Battery level not available.", null);
        }
    } else {
        result.notImplemented();
    }
}               

You should now be able to run the app on Android. If you are using the Android Emulator, you can set the battery level in the Extended Controls panel accessible from the ... button in the toolbar.

Step 3b: Add an Android platform-specific implementation using Kotlin

Note: The following steps are similar to step 3a, only using Kotlin rather than Java.

This step assumes that you created your project in step 1. using the -a kotlin option.

Start by opening the Android host portion of your Flutter app in Android Studio:

1. Start Android Studio

2. Select the menu item ‘File > Open…’

3. Navigate to the directory holding your Flutter app, and select the android folder inside it. Click OK.

4. Open the file MainActivity.kt located in the kotlin folder in the Project view. (Note: If you are editing using Android Studio 2.3, note that the ‘kotlin’ folder will be shown as-if named ‘java’.)

Next, inside the onCreate method, create a MethodChannel and call setMethodCallHandler. Make sure to use the same channel name as was used on the Flutter client side.

import android.os.Bundle
import io.flutter.app.FlutterActivity
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel
import io.flutter.plugins.GeneratedPluginRegistrant

class MainActivity() : FlutterActivity() {
  private val CHANNEL = "samples.flutter.io/battery"

  override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    GeneratedPluginRegistrant.registerWith(this)

    MethodChannel(flutterView, CHANNEL).setMethodCallHandler { call, result ->
      // TODO
    }
  }
}

Next, we add the actual Android Kotlin code that uses the Android battery APIs to retrieve the battery level. This code is exactly the same as you would have written in a native Android app.

First, add the needed imports at the top of the file:

import android.content.Context
import android.content.ContextWrapper
import android.content.Intent
import android.content.IntentFilter
import android.os.BatteryManager
import android.os.Build.VERSION
import android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES

Next, add the following as a new method in the MainActivity class, below the onCreate method:

  private fun getBatteryLevel(): Int {
    val batteryLevel: Int
    if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
      val batteryManager = getSystemService(Context.BATTERY_SERVICE) as BatteryManager
      batteryLevel = batteryManager.getIntProperty(BatteryManager.BATTERY_PROPERTY_CAPACITY)
    } else {
      val intent = ContextWrapper(applicationContext).registerReceiver(null, IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED))
      batteryLevel = intent!!.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_LEVEL, -1) * 100 / intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_SCALE, -1)
    }

    return batteryLevel
  }

Finally, we complete the onMethodCall method we added earlier. We need to handle a single platform method, getBatteryLevel, so we test for that in the call argument. The implementation of this platform method simply calls the Android code we wrote in the previous step, and passes back a response for both the success and error cases using the response argument. If an unknown method is called, we report that instead. Replace:

    MethodChannel(flutterView, CHANNEL).setMethodCallHandler { call, result ->
      // TODO
    }

with:

    MethodChannel(flutterView, CHANNEL).setMethodCallHandler { call, result ->
      if (call.method == "getBatteryLevel") {
        val batteryLevel = getBatteryLevel()

        if (batteryLevel != -1) {
          result.success(batteryLevel)
        } else {
          result.error("UNAVAILABLE", "Battery level not available.", null)
        }
      } else {
        result.notImplemented()
      }
    }

You should now be able to run the app on Android. If you are using the Android Emulator, you can set the battery level in the Extended Controls panel accessible from the ... button in the toolbar.

Step 4a: Add an iOS platform-specific implementation using Objective-C

Note: The following steps use Objective-C. If you prefer Swift, skip to step 4b.

Start by opening the iOS host portion of your Flutter app in Xcode:

1. Start Xcode

2. Select the menu item ‘File > Open…’

3. Navigate to the directory holding your Flutter app, and select the ios folder inside it. Click OK.

4. Make sure the Xcode projects builds without errors.

5. Open the file AppDelegate.m located under Runner > Runner in the Project navigator.

Next, create a FlutterMethodChannel and add a handler inside the application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method. Make sure to use the same channel name as was used on the Flutter client side.

#import <Flutter/Flutter.h>

@implementation AppDelegate
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication*)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary*)launchOptions {
  FlutterViewController* controller = (FlutterViewController*)self.window.rootViewController;

  FlutterMethodChannel* batteryChannel = [FlutterMethodChannel
                                          methodChannelWithName:@"samples.flutter.io/battery"
                                          binaryMessenger:controller];

  [batteryChannel setMethodCallHandler:^(FlutterMethodCall* call, FlutterResult result) {
    // TODO
  }];

  return [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
}

Next, we add the actual iOS ObjectiveC code that uses the iOS battery APIs to retrieve the battery level. This code is exactly the same as you would have written in a native iOS app.

Add the following as a new method in the AppDelegate class, just before @end:

- (int)getBatteryLevel {
  UIDevice* device = UIDevice.currentDevice;
  device.batteryMonitoringEnabled = YES;
  if (device.batteryState == UIDeviceBatteryStateUnknown) {
    return -1;
  } else {
    return (int)(device.batteryLevel * 100);
  }
}

Finally, we complete the setMethodCallHandler method we added earlier. We need to handle a single platform method, getBatteryLevel, so we test for that in the call argument. The implementation of this platform method simply calls the iOS code we wrote in the previous step, and passes back a response for both the success and error cases using the result argument. If an unknown method is called, we report that instead.

[batteryChannel setMethodCallHandler:^(FlutterMethodCall* call, FlutterResult result) {
  if ([@"getBatteryLevel" isEqualToString:call.method]) {
    int batteryLevel = [self getBatteryLevel];

    if (batteryLevel == -1) {
      result([FlutterError errorWithCode:@"UNAVAILABLE"
                                 message:@"Battery info unavailable"
                                 details:nil]);
    } else {
      result(@(batteryLevel));
    }
  } else {
    result(FlutterMethodNotImplemented);
  }
}];

You should now be able to run the app on iOS. If you are using the iOS Simulator, note that it does not support battery APIs, and the app will thus display ‘battery info unavailable’.

Step 4b: Add an iOS platform-specific implementation using Swift

Note: The following steps are similar to step 4a, only using Swift rather than Objective-C.

This step assumes that you created your project in step 1. using the -i swift option.

Start by opening the iOS host portion of your Flutter app in Xcode:

1. Start Xcode

2. Select the menu item ‘File > Open…’

3. Navigate to the directory holding your Flutter app, and select the ios folder inside it. Click OK.

Next, we add support for Swift in the standard template setup that uses Objective-C:

1. Expand Runner > Runner in the Project navigator.

2. Open the file AppDelegate.swift located under Runner > Runner in the Project navigator.

Next, override the application function and create a FlutterMethodChannel tied to the channel name samples.flutter.io/battery:

@UIApplicationMain
@objc class AppDelegate: FlutterAppDelegate {
  override func application(
    _ application: UIApplication,
    didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
    GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self);

    let controller : FlutterViewController = window?.rootViewController as! FlutterViewController;
    let batteryChannel = FlutterMethodChannel.init(name: "samples.flutter.io/battery",
                                                   binaryMessenger: controller);
    batteryChannel.setMethodCallHandler({
      (call: FlutterMethodCall, result: FlutterResult) -> Void in
      // Handle battery messages.
    });

    return super.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions);
  }
}

Next, add the actual iOS Swift code that uses the iOS battery APIs to retrieve the battery level. This code is exactly the same as you would have written in a native iOS app.

Add the following as a new method at the bottom of AppDelegate.swift:

private func receiveBatteryLevel(result: FlutterResult) {
  let device = UIDevice.current;
  device.isBatteryMonitoringEnabled = true;
  if (device.batteryState == UIDeviceBatteryState.unknown) {
    result(FlutterError.init(code: "UNAVAILABLE",
                             message: "Battery info unavailable",
                             details: nil));
  } else {
    result(Int(device.batteryLevel * 100));
  }
}

Finally, complete the setMethodCallHandler method we added earlier. We need to handle a single platform method, getBatteryLevel, so we test for that in the call argument. The implementation of this platform method simply calls the iOS code we wrote in the previous step. If an unknown method is called, we report that instead.

batteryChannel.setMethodCallHandler({
  (call: FlutterMethodCall, result: FlutterResult) -> Void in
  if ("getBatteryLevel" == call.method) {
    receiveBatteryLevel(result: result);
  } else {
    result(FlutterMethodNotImplemented);
  }
});

You should now be able to run the app on iOS. If you are using the iOS Simulator, note that it does not support battery APIs, and the app will thus display ‘Battery info unavailable.’.

Separate platform-specific code from UI code

If you expect to use your platform-specific code in multiple Flutter apps, it can be useful to separate the code into a platform plugin located in a directory outside your main application. See developing packages for details.

Publish platform-specific code as a package

If you wish to share your platform-specific with other developers in the Flutter ecosystem, please see publishing packages for details.

Custom channels and codecs

Besides the above mentioned MethodChannel, you can also use the more plain BasicMessageChannel, which supports basic, asynchronous message passing using a custom message codec. Further, you can use the specialized BinaryCodec, StringCodec, and JSONMessageCodec classes, or create your own codec.