Most digital platform services offer “Add to Favourite” functionality to their products. It allows users to save, streamline, and prioritise their experience using said platform.
In this post, we will learn how to create a favourite product feature in Flutter using Appwrite’s database for storage.
Prerequisites
To fully grasp the concepts presented in this tutorial, we require the following:
- Basic understanding of Dart and Flutter
- Flutter SDK installed
- Xcode with a developer account (for Mac users)
- Either IOS Simulator, Android Studio, or Chrome web browser to run our application
- Docker installation
- An Appwrite instance; check out this article on how to set up an instance locally or one-click install on DigitalOcean
Getting Started
In this post, we will focus on implementations only. The project UI has already been set up.
To get started, we need to clone the project by navigating to the desired directory and running the command below:
git clone https://github.com/Mr-Malomz/product_fav.git && cd product_fav
The complete source code is also available on the dev branch of the same repository.
Running the Project
First, we need to install the project dependencies by running the command below:
flutter pub get
Then run the project using the command below:
flutter run
The command above will run the application on the selected device.
Creating a New Appwrite Project
To create a new project, start the Appwrite instance and navigate to the specified hostname and port http://localhost:80. Next, we need to log into our account or create an account if we don’t have one.
On the console, click on the Create Project button, input product_feature as the name, and click Create.
Next, we need to create a database to save our product features. Navigate to the Database tab, click Add Database, input products as the database name, and click Create.
With that done, we need to create a collection for grouping our products. Click on Add Collection, input product_list as the collection name, and click on Create.
Appwrite has an advanced yet flexible way to manage access to users, teams, or roles to access specific resources. We will modify the permission role:all to enable access from any application. Then click on Update to save changes.
Add Attributes
Attributes are fields that our database will possess. Navigate to the Attributes tab, click on Add Attributes, add a New String Attribute and size of 1000 for both title and description fields with the required option marked, and New Boolean Attribute for isFav also marked as required, and click on Create.
Add Sample Data
To get a feel for our database, we can add sample data by navigating to the Documents tab, clicking on Add Document, inputting the required fields, and clicking on Create.
Sample Product Data
| title | description | isFav |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 9 | An apple mobile which is nothing like apple | false |
| iPhone X | SIM-Free, Model A19211 6.5-inch Super Retina HD display with OLED technology A12 Bionic chip with ... | false |
| Samsung Universe 9 | Samsung's new variant which goes beyond Galaxy to the Universe | false |
| OPPOF19 | OPPO F19 is officially announced on April 2021. | false |
| Huawei P30 | Huawei’s re-badged P30 Pro New Edition was officially unveiled yesterday in Germany and now the device has made its way to the UK. | false |
| MacBook Pro | MacBook Pro 2021 with mini-LED display may launch between September, November | false |
Add Index
Indexes in a database improve the speed of data retrieval. Navigate to the Indexes tab, click on Add Index, input isFav as the index key, select isFav from the Attributes dropdown, and click on Create.
Connecting Appwrite to Flutter
To add support for our Flutter app, navigate to the Home menu, click on the Add Platform button, and select New Flutter App.
Depending on the device we are running our Flutter application, we can modify it as shown below.
iOS
To obtain our Bundle ID, we can navigate using the path below:
ios > Runner.xcodeproj > project.pbxproj
Open the project.pbxproj file, and search for PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER.
Next, open the project directory on Xcode, open the Runner.xcworkspace folder in the app's iOS folder, select the Runner project in the Xcode project navigator, select the Runner target in the main menu sidebar, and then select iOS 11 in the deployment info’s target.
Android
To get our package name, we can navigate using the path below:
android > app > src > debug > AndroidManifest.xml
Open the AndroidManifest.xml file, and copy the package value.
Next, we need to modify the AndroidManifext.xml as shown below:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.product_fav">
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<application ...>
<activity android:name="com.linusu.flutter_web_auth.CallbackActivity" android:exported="true">
<intent-filter android:label="flutter_web_auth">
<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
<data android:scheme="appwrite-callback-[PROJECT_ID]" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
Then, we need to navigate to the lib directory and create a utils.dart file and add the snippet below:
class AppConstant {
final String databaseId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR DATABASE ID";
final String projectId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR PROJECT ID";
final String endpoint = "REPLACE WITH YOUR ENPOINT";
final String collectionId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR COLLECTION ID";
}
Navigate to the Database menu, click on the Products database, click on the Settings tab, and copy the Database ID.
Switch to the Collections tab, click on the product_list collection, click on the Settings tab, and copy the Collection ID.
Navigate to the Settings menu to copy the Project ID and API Endpoint.
For the endpoint property, we need to modify it to work with our system's local network address. We can adjust accordingly:
iOS
Navigate to the Network section, copy the IP address, and modify it as shown below:
class AppConstant {
final String databaseId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR DATABASE ID";
final String projectId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR PROJECT ID";
final String endpoint = "http://192.168.1.195/v1";
final String collectionId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR COLLECTION ID";
}
Android
We can connect our Android emulator to the system’s IP using the 10.0.2.2 IP address.
class AppConstant {
final String databaseId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR DATABASE ID";
final String projectId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR PROJECT ID";
final String endpoint = "http://10.0.2.2/v1";
final String collectionId = "REPLACE WITH YOUR COLLECTION ID";
}
Building the Favourite Product Feature
To get started, we need to create a model to convert the response sent from Appwrite to a Dart object. The model will also cater to JSON serialization. To do this, add the snippet below in the same utils.dart file:
class AppConstant {
//code goes here
}
class Product {
String? $id;
String title;
String description;
bool isFav;
Product({
this.$id,
required this.title,
required this.description,
required this.isFav,
});
factory Product.fromJson(Map<dynamic, dynamic> json) {
return Product(
$id: json['\$id'],
title: json['title'],
description: json['description'],
isFav: json['isFav'],
);
}
Map<dynamic, dynamic> toJson() {
return {'title': title, 'description': description, 'isFav': isFav};
}
}
The snippet above does the following:
- Creates a
Productclass with required properties - Adds a constructor with unrequired and required parameters
- Creates a
fromJsonandtoJsonmethod for JSON serialization
Next, we need to create a service file to separate the application core logic from the UI. To do this, create a product_service.dart file inside the lib directory and update it by doing the following:
import 'package:appwrite/appwrite.dart';
import 'package:product_fav/utils.dart';
class ProductService {
Client client = Client();
Databases? db;
ProductService() {
_init();
}
//initialize the application
_init() async {
client
.setEndpoint(AppConstant().endpoint)
.setProject(AppConstant().projectId);
db = Databases(client, databaseId: AppConstant().databaseId);
//get current session
Account account = Account(client);
try {
await account.get();
} on AppwriteException catch (e) {
if (e.code == 401) {
account
.createAnonymousSession()
.then((value) => value)
.catchError((e) => e);
}
}
}
Future<List<Product>> getAllProducts() async {
try {
var data =
await db?.listDocuments(collectionId: AppConstant().collectionId);
var productList = data?.documents
.map((product) => Product.fromJson(product.data))
.toList();
return productList!;
} catch (e) {
throw Exception('Error getting list of products');
}
}
Future<List<Product>> getAllFavourites() async {
try {
var data = await db?.listDocuments(
collectionId: AppConstant().collectionId,
queries: [Query.equal('isFav', true)]);
var favList =
data?.documents.map((fav) => Product.fromJson(fav.data)).toList();
return favList!;
} catch (e) {
throw Exception('Error getting list of favourites');
}
}
Future addAsFav(
String title, String description, String id, bool isFav) async {
try {
Product updateProduct =
Product(title: title, description: description, isFav: isFav);
var data = await db?.updateDocument(
collectionId: AppConstant().collectionId,
documentId: id,
data: updateProduct.toJson(),
);
return data;
} catch (e) {
throw Exception('Error updating product');
}
}
}
The snippet above does the following:
- Imports the required dependencies
- Creates a
ProductServiceclass withclientanddbproperties to connect to the Appwrite instance and the database, respectively - Creates an
_initmethod that configures the Appwrite using the property and also conditionally creates an anonymous user to access Appwrite - Creates a
getAllProductsmethod that uses the configured database’slistDocumentsfunction to get a list of products and converts the returned JSON to a list using theProduct.fromJsonmethod - Creates a
getAllFavouritesmethod that uses the configured database’slistDocumentsfunction to get a list of products marked as favourite and converts the returned JSON to a list using theProduct.fromJsonmethod. This method also uses theisFavindex we created earlier to retrieve products matching the query optimally. - Creates an
addAsFavmethod that takes in thetitle,description, andisFavparameter and uses theupdateDocumentfunction to update a product; this creates an instance of the product using thetitle,description, andisFavparameter, passes in theidas thedocumentId, and passes in the updated note by converting the Dart object to JSON using theupdateProduct.toJson()method
Consuming the Service
With that done, we can start using the service to perform the required operation.
Get the List of Products and Add to Favourites
To get the list of products, we need to navigate to the screens folder, open the home.dart and modify as shown below:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:product_fav/product_service.dart'; //add this
import 'package:product_fav/utils.dart'; //add this
class Home extends StatefulWidget {
const Home({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<Home> createState() => _HomeState();
}
class _HomeState extends State<Home> {
List<Product>? products;
bool _isLoading = false;
bool _isError = false;
@override
void initState() {
_getProductList();
super.initState();
}
_getProductList() {
setState(() {
_isLoading = true;
});
ProductService().getAllProducts().then((value) {
setState(() {
products = value;
_isLoading = false;
});
}).catchError((e) {
setState(() {
_isLoading = false;
_isError = true;
});
});
}
_addAsFavourite(
String title, String description, String id, bool isFav, int index) {
ProductService().addAsFav(title, description, id, isFav).then((value) {
ScaffoldMessenger.of(context).showSnackBar(
const SnackBar(content: Text('favourites updated successfully!')),
);
setState(() {
products![index].isFav = isFav;
});
}).catchError((e) {
ScaffoldMessenger.of(context).showSnackBar(
const SnackBar(content: Text('Error adding favourite!')),
);
});
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
//widget code goes here
}
}
The snippet above does the following:
- Imports the required dependencies
- Creates a
products,_isLoading, and_isErrorproperties to manage the application state - Creates a
_getProductListmethod to get the list of products using thegetAllProductsservice and sets states accordingly - Uses the
initStatemethod to call the_getProductListmethod when the object is inserted into the tree - Creates a
_addAsFavouritemethod that takes in thetitle,description,id, andindexas a parameter and uses theaddAsFavservice to mark the selected product as a favourite, updates the UI using thesetStatemethod, and uses thesnackbarto show the action performed
Next, we can modify the UI widgets to show the products coming from Appwrite.
//imports goes here
class Home extends StatefulWidget {
const Home({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<Home> createState() => _HomeState();
}
class _HomeState extends State<Home> {
//properties goes here
@override
void initState() {
_getProductList();
super.initState();
}
_getProductList() {
//code goes here
}
_addAsFavourite(
//code goes here
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return _isLoading
? const Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(
color: Colors.blue,
))
: _isError
? const Center(
child: Text(
'Error loading products',
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.red,
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
),
),
)
: ListView.builder(
itemCount: products?.length,
itemBuilder: (context, index) {
return InkWell(
onTap: () {
var isFav =
products![index].isFav == false ? true : false;
_addAsFavourite(
products![index].title,
products![index].description,
products![index].$id!,
isFav,
index,
);
},
child: Container(
decoration: const BoxDecoration(
border: Border(
bottom: BorderSide(width: .5, color: Colors.grey),
),
),
padding: EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(10, 20, 10, 20),
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
children: [
Expanded(
flex: 7,
child: Column(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
children: [
Text(
products![index].title,
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.blue,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w800),
),
SizedBox(height: 10.0),
Text(products![index].description)
],
),
),
Icon(
products![index].isFav
? Icons.favorite
: Icons.favorite_border,
color: products![index].isFav
? Colors.red
: Colors.grey,
)
],
),
),
);
},
);
}
}
Get the List of Favourite Products
To get the list of products added as a favourite, we need to open the favourite.dart file in the same screens folder and modify as shown below:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:product_fav/product_service.dart'; //add this
import 'package:product_fav/utils.dart'; //add this
class Favourites extends StatefulWidget {
const Favourites({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<Favourites> createState() => _FavouritesState();
}
class _FavouritesState extends State<Favourites> {
List<Product>? favourites;
bool _isLoading = false;
bool _isError = false;
@override
void initState() {
_getFavList();
super.initState();
}
_getFavList() {
setState(() {
_isLoading = true;
});
ProductService().getAllFavourites().then((value) {
setState(() {
favourites = value;
_isLoading = false;
});
}).catchError((e) {
setState(() {
_isLoading = false;
_isError = true;
});
});
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return _isLoading
? const Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(
color: Colors.blue,
))
: _isError
? const Center(
child: Text(
'Error loading products',
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.red,
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
),
),
)
: favourites!.isEmpty
? const Center(
child: Text(
'No items added to favourites yet',
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.grey,
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
),
),
)
: ListView.builder(
itemCount: favourites?.length,
itemBuilder: (context, index) {
return Container(
decoration: const BoxDecoration(
border: Border(
bottom: BorderSide(width: .5, color: Colors.grey),
),
),
padding: EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(10, 20, 10, 20),
child: Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
children: [
Expanded(
flex: 7,
child: Column(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
children: [
Text(
favourites![index].title,
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.blue,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w800),
),
SizedBox(height: 10.0),
Text(favourites![index].description)
],
),
),
],
),
);
},
);
}
}
The snippet above does the following:
- Imports the required dependencies
- Creates the
favourites,_isLoading, and_isErrorproperties to manage the application state - Creates a
_getFavListmethod to get the list of products marked as favourite using thegetAllFavouritesservice and sets states accordingly - Uses the
initStatemethod to call the_getProductListmethod when the object is inserted into the tree - Modifies the UI widgets to show the products marked as favourite coming from Appwrite
With that done, we restart the application using the code editor or run the command below:
flutter run
We can also validate the entries by navigating to the Database section of Appwrite’s management console.
Conclusion
This post discussed how to create a favourite product feature in Flutter using Appwrite’s database for storage. The Appwrite platform ships with services that speed up development processes. Try it out today and focus on what matters while Appwrite takes care of the tricky part.
These resources might be helpful:
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