Flutter: Icon Data in Dart

In Flutter, icons are represented by an object called IconData, which is defined in the Flutter library. This object contains metadata about a specific icon, such as its name, identifier, and unicode value. In this article, we will explore the different properties and methods of this object, and learn how to create and customize icons in Flutter.

Creating an Icon

To create an icon in Flutter, we first need to import the Flutter library and the material package. Then, we can create an object of type IconData, and pass its properties to the Icon widget.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

Icon(
  IconData(0xe900, fontFamily: 'MaterialIcons'),
),

This code creates an icon with the unicode value 0xe900, which corresponds to the search icon in the MaterialIcons font family. We can also specify other properties, such as the size and color of the icon.

Icon(
  IconData(0xe900, fontFamily: 'MaterialIcons'),
  size: 48,
  color: Colors.red,
),

Customizing an Icon

We can customize the appearance of an icon by changing its properties, such as the size, color, and opacity.

Icon(
  IconData(0xe900, fontFamily: 'MaterialIcons'),
  size: 32,
  color: Colors.blue.withOpacity(0.5),
),

We can also use the IconTheme widget to apply a global theme to all the icons in our app. This widget allows us to define the default size, color, and opacity of the icons, as well as override these properties for specific icons.

IconTheme(
  data: IconThemeData(
    size: 32,
    color: Colors.blue.withOpacity(0.5),
  ),
  child: Icon(
    IconData(0xe900, fontFamily: 'MaterialIcons'),
  ),
),

Conclusion

In summary, IconData is a powerful object in Flutter that allows us to create and customize icons with ease. By using this object and its associated widgets, we can add beautiful and functional icons to our apps with minimal effort.