RESTFUL API with Dart

In this article, we will focus on creating a RESTFUL API with Django and Dart for our Flutter CRUD operation project. We will be using Dart’s http package to make HTTP requests to our Django backend server and retrieve data from our database.

Setting up the API

First, we need to create a new Django app to handle our API endpoints. You can do this by running the following command in your Django project directory:

python manage.py startapp api

Next, we need to define our API endpoints in the urls.py file of our new api app. Here is an example of how you can define these endpoints:


from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
path('posts/', views.PostList.as_view(), name='post-list'),
path('posts//', views.PostDetail.as_view(), name='post-detail'),
]


Now, we need to create our views for these endpoints. We can do this by creating a new views.py file in our api app and defining our views as classes that inherit from Django’s APIView class. Here is an example:


from rest_framework import generics
from .models import Post
from .serializers import PostSerializer

class PostDetail(generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
queryset = Post.objects.all()
serializer_class = PostSerializer


Making HTTP Requests with Dart

Now that our API is set up, we can start making HTTP requests to it from our Flutter app using Dart’s http package. Here is an example of how you can make a GET request to retrieve all posts from our Django backend:


import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

fetchPosts() async {
final response = await http.get('http://your-django-server-url/posts/');
if (response.statusCode == 200) {
// Parse the JSON response and handle the data
} else {
// Handle any errors
}
}


Similarly, you can make POST, PUT, and DELETE requests to create, update, and delete posts using Dart’s http package. Make sure to handle errors and parse the JSON response accordingly.

With the API set up and HTTP requests configured in Dart, you should now be able to perform CRUD operations on your Django backend server from your Flutter app. Happy coding!