Quick Start

🧩 Calling Native Libraries with FFI​

The Windows API was originally written with C developers in mind. As a result, many of the conventions are designed around the characteristics and capabilities of the C runtime. Fortunately, the wide popularity of C means that many languages, including Dart, have good support for calling C code and handling C coding conventions.

In Dart, the primary means for calling C code is through FFI (Foreign Function Interface). Dart provides both a library, dart:ffi, and a package, package:ffi, which together offer useful low-level functions and helpers.

To add ffi and win32 packages to your project, use the appropriate command below based on your project type (Flutter or Dart-only):

flutter pub add ffi win32

dart pub add ffi win32

To utilize FFI features, you typically import both the library and the package, along with the win32 package, as follows:

import 'dart:ffi';

import 'package:ffi/ffi.dart';
import 'package:win32/win32.dart';

🚀 Calling Your First Win32 API​

Here's a simple example of how to call the Beep function to play an A₄ note for ½ second:

import 'package:win32/win32.dart';

void main() {
  Beep(440 /* Hz */, 500 /* ms */);
}

📚 Next Steps​

🔍 Explore real-life examples built using win32 to see what you can achieve.

📦 Discover packages built on top of win32 to find the ones that best suit your needs.

📘 Dive into the Functions guide to deepen your understanding of Win32 functions.