Building an E-commerce App with Flutter, Back4App, and Stripe Integration via Cloud Code
Developing an e-commerce app involves multiple components, including product listings, shopping cart functionality, secure payment processing, order tracking, and user reviews. Combining Flutter's powerful UI toolkit with Back4App's scalable backend services simplifies the development process. Additionally, integrating Stripe for payment processing via Back4App Cloud Code allows for secure and professional transaction handling.
In this tutorial, you will build an e-commerce app with the following features:
- Product Listings: Display products with images, descriptions, and prices.
- Shopping Cart: Add and remove products from the cart.
- User Accounts: Manage user profiles and addresses.
- Secure Checkout: Process payments securely using Stripe via Back4App Cloud Code.
- Order Tracking: Track order status and history.
- Reviews and Ratings: Allow users to submit reviews and ratings.
To follow this tutorial, you will need:
- Basic knowledge of Flutter and Dart.
- An IDE or text editor like Visual Studio Code or Android Studio.
- Node.js and npm installed for Cloud Code development.
Open your terminal and run:
Navigate to the project directory:
Open pubspec.yaml and add the following dependencies:
Run flutter pub get to install the packages.
Note:
- parse_server_sdk_flutter for Back4App integration.
- provider for state management.
- cached_network_image for efficient image loading.
- flutter_stripe for Stripe integration on the client side.
- uuid for generating unique identifiers.
- Click on "Create new App".
- Enter "EcommerceApp" as the application name and click "Create".
We need to create several classes in Back4App:
- Product
- User (Built-in class)
- Order
- OrderItem
- Review
- Navigate to the "Database" section.
- Click on "Create a class".
- Select "Custom" and enter "Product" as the class name.
- Add the following columns:
- name: String
- description: String
- price: Number
- image: File
- category: String
- inventory: Number
Create an "Order" class with the following columns:
- user: Pointer<_User>
- totalAmount: Number
- status: String (Values: "pending", "paid", "shipped", "delivered")
- paymentIntentId: String (To track Stripe payment)
- shippingAddress: String
Create an "OrderItem" class with the following columns:
- order: Pointer
- product: Pointer
- quantity: Number
- price: Number
Create a "Review" class with the following columns:
- product: Pointer
- user: Pointer<_User>
- rating: Number
- comment: String
- Navigate to App Settings > Security & Keys.
- Note down your Application ID and Client Key.
Open lib/main.dart and modify it:
Replace 'YOUR_APPLICATION_ID' and 'YOUR_CLIENT_KEY' with your Back4App credentials.
Create a directory models under lib and add product.dart:
Create a directory services under lib and add product_service.dart:
Create screens directory under lib and add home_screen.dart:
Create product_detail_screen.dart under lib/screens/:
Add auth_service.dart under lib/services/:
Create login_screen.dart and signup_screen.dart under lib/screens/.
Login Screen:
Signup Screen:
In main.dart, wrap the MaterialApp with MultiProvider:
Modify main.dart to check authentication status:
Add cart_service.dart under lib/services/:
Add cart_screen.dart under lib/screens/:
- Obtain your Publishable Key and Secret Key from the Stripe Dashboard under Developers > API keys.
Back4App supports Cloud Code functions written in JavaScript. We'll write Cloud Code functions to handle payment processing.
- In your Back4App app dashboard, go to App Settings > Cloud Code Functions.
- Click "Edit code" to open the Cloud Code editor.
In the Cloud Code terminal (provided in the editor), run:
Note: Back4App's Cloud Code uses Node.js version 14.x, so ensure compatibility.
Create or modify main.js in the Cloud Code editor:
Replace 'YOUR_STRIPE_SECRET_KEY' with your actual Stripe secret key.
Security Note: Never expose your secret key on the client side. Keep it secure in Cloud Code.
Click "Deploy" in the Cloud Code editor to deploy your functions.
In main.dart, after Parse().initialize, add:
Replace 'YOUR_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY' with your Stripe publishable key.
Add checkout_screen.dart under lib/screens/:
Create order_confirmation_screen.dart under lib/screens/:
Modify the _processPayment method to save the order details:
Add order_service.dart under lib/services/:
Add order.dart under lib/models/:
Add orders_screen.dart under lib/screens/:
Add review_service.dart under lib/services/:
Add review.dart under lib/models/:
In product_detail_screen.dart, add a section to display and submit reviews.
In this comprehensive tutorial, you've built an e-commerce app using Flutter and Back4App, integrated with Stripe for secure payment processing via Cloud Code. You implemented key features such as product listings, shopping cart functionality, user authentication, order tracking, and reviews.
- Back4App Integration: Simplifies backend management for your Flutter app.
- Stripe Integration via Cloud Code: Securely processes payments without exposing sensitive keys.
- Modular Architecture: Separating services and models improves maintainability.
- Enhance Security: Implement proper error handling and input validation.
- UI/UX Improvements: Refine the user interface for better user experience.
- Inventory Management: Update product inventory upon purchase.
- Email Notifications: Send order confirmation emails to users.
- Admin Panel: Create an admin interface for managing products and orders.
Happy Coding!