Update Notice!!!

The explaination below is somewhat outdated. Now, I recommends you to usego_router, a routing package using Flutter Navigation 2.0!

Intro

When I’m on a flutter web, I faced with routing issue. BothMaterialApp andGetMaterialApp had the same issues, which was routing acts weird when browser’s back button and refresh button are clicked. So I’ve tried some test project with flutter web and I found the solution. Now, it works just like native web project. I’d like to share this solution with you.

Flutter Navigation 2.0

There is this thing calledFlutter Navigation 2.0 . I didn’t dig much about it, but to simply put, it’s navigation system is now more customizable with this Navigation 2.0.

Since the original routing system had so many problems in web platform, I had to try this one. And it worked, thankfully. You can use withMaterialApp.router instead of justMaterialApp . But if you do that you need to implement some override method which involves in navigation logic. Instead overriding each methods, I usedGetMaterialApp.router which comes with default methods, and therefore, only extra thing to do is just build method.

Code Implementation

Install Getx

At this moment, I used below version ofGetx package.

dependencies:...get:^4.6.1

Basic Routing Stuff

For convenience, I used simple routing path and getPages with snippet.

abstractclassRoutes{staticconstHOME='/';staticconstLOGIN='/login';staticconstSIGNUP='/signup';}

abstractclassAppPages{staticfinalpages=[GetPage(name:Routes.HOME,page:()=>Home(),),GetPage(name:Routes.LOGIN,page:()=>Login(),),GetPage(name:Routes.SIGNUP,page:()=>Signup(),),];}

CreateGetMaterialApp.router

When you useGetMaterialApp.router instead of justGetMaterialApp , you don’t need to provide(and you can’t)initialRoute . But you need to providegetPages androuterDelegate fields with values.

import'package:flutter/material.dart';import'package:get/get.dart';voidmain(){runApp(GetMaterialApp.router(debugShowCheckedModeBanner:false,defaultTransition:Transition.fade,getPages:AppPages.pages,routerDelegate:AppRouterDelegate(),));}

Create Sample Pages

For testing, I created some simple test pages with different background colors.

• Note that when you navigate between pages, you need to useGet.rootDelegate instead ofGet because we’re usingrouterDelegate to handle routing.

classHomeextendsStatelessWidget{constHome({Key?key}):super(key:key);@overrideWidgetbuild(BuildContextcontext){returnContainer(color:Colors.red,child:TextButton(child:Text('Home',style:TextStyle(color:Colors.white),),onPressed:()=>Get.rootDelegate.toNamed(Routes.LOGIN),),);}}classLoginextendsStatelessWidget{constLogin({Key?key}):super(key:key);@overrideWidgetbuild(BuildContextcontext){returnContainer(color:Colors.orange,child:TextButton(child:Text('Login',style:TextStyle(color:Colors.white),),onPressed:()=>Get.rootDelegate.toNamed(Routes.SIGNUP),),);}}classSignupextendsStatelessWidget{constSignup({Key?key}):super(key:key);@overrideWidgetbuild(BuildContextcontext){returnContainer(color:Colors.blue,child:TextButton(child:Text('Signup',style:TextStyle(color:Colors.white),),onPressed:()=>Get.rootDelegate.toNamed(Routes.HOME),),);}}

Create router delegate withGetDelegate

So, this is the main part.

• CreateAppRouterDelegate or what ever you like to call withGetDelegate extended.
• Overridebuild method and returnNavigator withonPopPage andpages .
  • onPopPage → This is invoked when pop action happened, and return wheather pop is successful or not. If you don’t want to block pop action, just leave it there with default code.
  • pages → This is different fromgetPages . This is more related to what page to show in current moment. I’m not fully figured out yet, but it’s also different from navigation history stack. So, in order to show the right page according to current url, I usedcurrentConfiguration.currentPage . Note that this field can’t be empty since it related to current view. WhencurrentConfiguration is null(which means first entered the page), you can just simply return initial page.

classAppRouterDelegateextendsGetDelegate{@overrideWidgetbuild(BuildContextcontext){returnNavigator(onPopPage:(route,result)=>route.didPop(result),pages:currentConfiguration!=null?[currentConfiguration!.currentPage!]:[GetNavConfig.fromRoute(Routes.HOME)!.currentPage!],);}}

And plus, since you can writebuild method and other override method(if you want to customize login) you can easily add user authentication status check before navigate to any page.

Conclusion

I think Flutter Web has a long way to go, but I’m glad Flutter is keeping up there work! I hope this article can help those who struggles with Flutter Web routing issue.

Cheers!