Top Strategies for Testing and Debugging Flutter Mobile Apps- Crush the Debugging Demons

Mobile devices and apps are dominating the world. They accounted for over 59% of global website traffic, and this trend is only growing since 2017.

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But have you ever wondered how developers manage to meet the high demand for mobile apps?

In the present internet-driven world, writing about the benefits of mobile applications is easy, but developing them is far more complicated. This is primarily because developers must adhere to distinct app development architectures for Android and iOS while developing any mobile application. 

And even if they succeed, releasing it with little to no glitches is a testing and quality assurance team's most daunting task. However, Flutter enters as a game-changer, simplifying the tasks of developers and testers alike.

Throughout this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about Flutter, its benefits,  top debugging strategies, and how DhiWise makes it easy for you to generate Flutter code for the app.

Without any delay, Let’s get started!

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a powerful language packed with a great UI framework that can be used in both Android and iOS app development. Earlier, to create any Android and iOS apps, developers have to face many difficulties. But since the launch of Flutter in May 2017, it has cleared up many problems in the app development industry. 

In addition to its powerful language capabilities, Flutter also comes with an excellent UI framework tool kit that helps developers to create high-performance, high-fidelity applications for iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, Mac, etc. 

The Flutter Framework is often used with DART, a programming language powered by Google. That means Flutter developers can write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, web, and desktop. 

This not only saves time and effort but also ensures consistency in the application's design and functionality across all platforms. As an example, Google Pay is one of the most famous apps developed on Flutter.

Why use Flutter?

By now, you have realized the importance of Flutter and why developers should use this to create apps. To simplify, we have summarized the reasons why you should use Flutter to develop any app below.

• Cross-platform development: Flutter allows you to build high-performance mobile apps for both Android and iOS platforms with a single codebase
• Fast development: Flutter offers a hot reload feature that allows you to make changes to your code and see the results in real-time, without having to recompile the entire app. 
• Beautiful and customizable UI: Flutter comes with a rich set of pre-built widgets that can be easily customized to match your app's design and brand. 
• High performance: Flutter uses Dart programming language, which is optimized for mobile app development and has its own set of tools and libraries for efficient rendering and animation.
• Strong community support: Flutter has a rapidly growing community of developers, which means you can easily find help and support when you need it. There are also plenty of open-source packages and plugins available to help you add functionality to your app.

If you’re a developer, Flutter will be the best option for you to develop or create mobile apps that can run on multiple platforms.

What is Debugging?

Debugging is the process of identifying and fixing problems, bugs, errors, and other issues that occur in program software. It involves analyzing code, locating primary issues or errors, and making changes to the code.

Debugging can be performed using various strategies, tools, and techniques, all of which we will discuss in this blog. But before that, let's briefly differentiate between Debugging and Testing.

Debugging Vs Testing: 

Debugging and Testing both are slightly different from each other. Here are some points that will help you distinguish between debugging and testing.

	Debugging	Testing
Purpose	Process of identifying and fixing issues or defects in software.	Process of verifying that software meets the specified requirements and functions as intended.
Time	Typically done after testing has revealed issues or bugs.	Done prior to release or deployment of software to ensure quality and reduce the likelihood of defects or bugs.
Programming expertise	Requires expertise in programming and understanding of software code.	Does not necessarily require programming expertise, but an understanding of software functionality is important.
Approach	Focuses on isolating and resolving specific issues or bugs.	Focuses on assessing overall software functionality and identifying any potential issues or bugs.
Tools	Debugging requires tools such as debuggers, profilers, and logging tools.	Testing requires specialized tools and frameworks such as test automation tools, performance testing tools, and more.
Done by	Typically done by developers or software engineers.	Done by testers or quality assurance professionals, as well as developers or software engineers.

Testing and debugging both are essential in software development, but they serve different purposes. Testing is used to identify the errors, whereas debugging is used to locate and fix them.

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Top debugging and testing strategies for Flutter mobile app 

Debugging Flutter app- Top strategies

Ever wonder what happens if your code doesn’t work as planned? 

We understand that encountering bugs and glitches can be frustrating. However, don't worry - we have you covered. In this blog, we will share tools, tricks, and strategies that can help you tackle any debugging challenges.

Here are some of the best debugging strategies that every developer should know:

1. Reproduce the issue: The first step in debugging is to reproduce the issue or bug to identify its cause.  When the error is reproduced in a controlled environment, it helps the developers to find its root.

2. Review the code: Developers should review their code first to determine if it has any syntax, logic, or other errors that will lead to issues.

3. Use Debuggers:  Developers can use debuggers to identify if their code has any errors that need to be addressed. By using debuggers, developers can determine their errors in real-time.

4. Print statements: It is the most powerful way to identify or debug any issue that occurs in your code. By printing out the relevant variables or program states, developers can get a clear picture of how their code will be executed and identify the root cause of a bug.

5. Divide and conquer: It becomes a solid task for developers to fix immense bugs. So, to make that task easy, programmers can break that big bug into small pieces to fix it effortlessly. This debugging strategy will always work like a charm when it comes to fixing any bug.

6. Use Logging: Logging is a technique used to record events or program data during program execution. By using this technique, programmers can get a clear picture of how the program is executing and identify the root cause of a bug.

7. Use automated testing:  With automated testing, you can identify the issue at the early stage of the development cycle before it became a more significant problem.

As we have mentioned above, debugging involves various techniques such as reproducing errors, using debuggers, printing statements, etc. With the help of these techniques, developers can effortlessly identify the issue and solve it without any difficulties.

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Testing Flutter app- Top strategies

Here are five testing strategies for Flutter mobile applications:

1. Unit testing: This involves testing individual units or functions of the code in isolation to ensure they behave as expected. Unit testing can help catch issues early in the development process, and ensure that each part of the app is working correctly.

2. Widget testing: This is a form of UI testing that involves testing the widgets (UI components) in the app to ensure they behave as expected. Widget testing can help catch issues related to layout, user interaction, and responsiveness.

3. Integration testing: This involves testing how different parts of the app work together to ensure that they integrate smoothly. Integration testing can help catch issues related to data flow, network requests, and third-party integrations.

4. Acceptance testing: This involves testing the app as a whole to ensure that it meets the requirements and specifications. Acceptance testing can help catch issues related to user flows, usability, and overall functionality.

5. Exploratory testing: This involves manual testing of the app to identify issues that might not be caught by automated testing. Exploratory testing can help catch issues related to user experience, edge cases, and unexpected behavior.

By using a combination of these testing strategies, you can ensure that your Flutter mobile app is thoroughly tested and performs as expected for your users.

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How can DhiWise help you?

Now that you know the value of Flutter and top Testing and Debugging strategies. We have something for you with the DhiWise Flutter builder, you can easily convert your designs into Flutter code in minutes without affecting the code quality.

The platform generates clean, readable, and scalable code that is easy to debug, test, maintain, and modify. Moreover, it gives full code ownership so you can download the code and modify it on your favorite IDE. 

So, what are you waiting for? Try out  DhiWise Flutter Builder now! 

And skyrocket your development process.

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