Creating a Flutter Paginated Table with Search: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction:
Flutter, Google’s UI toolkit for building natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop, is known for its versatility and ease of use. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to create a Flutter paginated table with a search feature. This combination can be incredibly useful when you need to display large datasets efficiently and allow users to filter through them seamlessly. Let’s dive in!

Prerequisites:
Before we start, make sure you have Flutter and Dart installed on your development machine.

Step 1: Set Up Your Flutter Project
Start by creating a new Flutter project or use an existing one. You can do this using the following command:

flutter create flutter_paginated_table

Step 2: Add Dependencies
In your pubspec.yaml file, add the dependencies for the required packages:

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  paginated_data_table: ^latest_version

Replace latest_version with the current version of the paginated_data_table package.

Then, run flutter pub get to fetch the dependencies.

Step 3: Create Your Data Source
You’ll need a data source for your table. This could be a list of objects or data retrieved from an API. For this example, we’ll create a simple list of Map objects:

List<Map<String, dynamic>> _data = [
  {'name': 'John Doe', 'age': 30},
  {'name': 'Jane Smith', 'age': 25},
  // Add more data here
];

Step 4: Create a Paginated Table Widget
Next, create a widget that encapsulates your paginated table. You can use the PaginatedDataTable widget from the paginated_data_table package. Customize it according to your data structure:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:paginated_data_table/paginated_data_table.dart';

class PaginatedTable extends StatelessWidget {
  final List<Map<String, dynamic>> data;

  PaginatedTable({required this.data});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return PaginatedDataTable(
      header: Text('My Paginated Table'),
      columns: [
        DataColumn(label: Text('Name')),
        DataColumn(label: Text('Age')),
      ],
      source: MyDataTableSource(data: data),
      onPageChanged: (pageIndex) {
        // Handle page change
      },
    );
  }
}

Step 5: Implement the Data Table Source
Create a custom DataTableSource class that extends DataTableSource. This class is responsible for handling data and search functionality:

class MyDataTableSource extends DataTableSource {
  final List<Map<String, dynamic>> data;

  MyDataTableSource({required this.data});

  @override
  DataRow getRow(int index) {
    final rowData = data[index];
    return DataRow(cells: [
      DataCell(Text(rowData['name'])),
      DataCell(Text(rowData['age'].toString())),
    ]);
  }

  @override
  int get rowCount => data.length;

  @override
  bool get isRowCountApproximate => false;

  @override
  int get selectedRowCount => 0;

  void applyFilter(String filter) {
    // Implement your search logic here
    // Update the data source based on the filter
  }
}

Step 6: Add Search Functionality
To add search functionality, you’ll need to implement a search bar or input field in your UI. When the user enters a query, call the applyFilter method on your data source:

TextField(
  onChanged: (value) {
    MyDataTableSource source = MyDataTableSource(data: _data);
    source.applyFilter(value);
    setState(() {
      _dataTableSource = source;
    });
  },
  decoration: InputDecoration(
    labelText: 'Search',
    prefixIcon: Icon(Icons.search),
  ),
)

Step 7: Display the Paginated Table
Finally, add your PaginatedTable widget to your app’s UI, and you’re ready to go:

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Scaffold(
    appBar: AppBar(
      title: Text('Flutter Paginated Table with Search'),
    ),
    body: Column(
      children: [
        // Add your search bar or input field here
        PaginatedTable(data: _data),
      ],
    ),
  );
}

Conclusion:
In this tutorial, we’ve walked through the steps to create a Flutter paginated table with search functionality. This powerful combination allows you to display large datasets while enabling users to find the information they need quickly and efficiently. Customize the table to suit your specific data and user interface requirements, and you’ll have a versatile tool at your disposal for data presentation in your Flutter apps. Happy coding!

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