A screen that looks good is only the start. Real apps must remember what the user did, fetch fresh data from servers, save records on the phone and keep working when the network disappears. In Ghana, where data bundles run out and signal comes and goes, this last point is not an extra. It decides whether people keep using your app.
Many adverts we read asked for exactly these skills: REST APIs, JSON, state management approaches such as Provider, Riverpod or Bloc, Firebase, and offline storage. This section covers them in order.
The four ideas in this section
- State management. State is the data that decides what the screen shows right now: the items in a cart, whether a user is signed in, whether something is loading. You will learn how to change it safely and share it between screens.
- Networking and APIs. Most apps get data from a server through an API, usually as JSON. You will learn to send requests, turn JSON into Dart objects and handle slow or failed connections.
- Local storage. Some data should live on the phone: settings, a cached list of prices, records waiting to be uploaded. You will learn the main options and when to use each.
- Offline first. You will put it all together into apps that read and write locally first, then sync with the server when they can.
How the pieces fit
A useful way to picture a well built app is in layers: