Local Setup

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to get the Flutter mobile client running on your local machine for development and testing.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

• Flutter SDK: The mobile client is a Flutter application. Please follow the official Flutter installation guide for your operating system.
• An IDE: A code editor like VS Code with the Flutter extension or Android Studio.

Understanding the Environments

The application can be run in three different environments, configured in lib/main.dart:

• AppEnvironment.demo: This is the default environment. It uses an in-memory data store (DataInMemory) populated with mock data. This is perfect for quickly running the app and exploring the UI without needing a live backend. The app also wraps itself in the DevicePreview package in this mode, allowing you to see how it looks on various devices.
• AppEnvironment.development: This environment is configured to connect to a local instance of the API server. It uses the DataApi client to make live HTTP requests.
• AppEnvironment.production: This environment points to your live, deployed API server.

You can change the active environment by modifying the appEnvironment constant in lib/main.dart:

lib/main.dart

// Define the current application environment (production/development/demo).
const appEnvironment = AppEnvironment.demo;

Dependency Injection

The application’s dependencies, such as repositories and data clients, are initialized in the bootstrap.dart file. This function reads the selected AppEnvironment and injects the appropriate data clients.

For example, in demo mode, it injects AuthInmemory and DataInMemory clients. In development or production mode, it sets up an HttpClient and injects AuthApi and DataApi clients to communicate with the backend. This clean separation makes the app highly testable and configurable.

Running the Application

1. Navigate to the Project Directory

   Open your terminal and navigate to the mobile client’s root directory:

   cd apps/flutter-news-app-mobile-client-full-source-code

2. Get Dependencies

   Run the following command to fetch all the required packages from pubspec.yaml:

   flutter pub get

3. Select a Device

   Ensure you have a simulator running (iOS) or an emulator running (Android), or a physical device connected. You can see a list of available devices with:

   flutter devices

4. Run the App

   Start the application using the flutter run command. By default, this will launch the app in demo mode.

   flutter run

The application should now be running on your selected device. Because it’s in demo mode, you can immediately start exploring the UI and features with the pre-loaded mock data.