How to setup C++/WinRT for Flutter plugin on Windows

[Sunbreak]

Why we need C++/WinRT

According to Call Windows Runtime APIs in desktop apps, NuGet package C++/WinRT is needed for Win32 calling modern APIs of UWP

How to setup NuGet package manager

Via package manager tools

• via https://chocolatey.org/

choco install nuget

• via https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop

scoop install nuget

• via https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli

winget install -e --id Microsoft.NuGet

Manually

• Download binary executable: https://www.nuget.org/downloads
• Add the executable to %PATH%

How to setup C++/WinRT for Flutter plugin on Windows

Add NuGet install part into CMakeList.txt in plugin's windows directory

Note: replace %WINRT_CPP_VERSION% with the version you'd like to use, e.g. 2.0.210505.
Version list: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT/

################ NuGet intall begin ################
find_program(NUGET_EXE NAMES nuget)
if(NOT NUGET_EXE)
	message("NUGET.EXE not found.")
	message(FATAL_ERROR "Please install this executable, and run CMake again.")
endif()

exec_program(${NUGET_EXE}
    ARGS install "Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT" -Version %WINRT_CPP_VERSION% -ExcludeVersion -OutputDirectory ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/packages)
################ NuGet install end ################

Add NuGet import part as well

################ NuGet import begin ################
set_target_properties(${PLUGIN_NAME} PROPERTIES VS_PROJECT_IMPORT
  ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/packages/Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT/build/native/Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT.props
)

target_link_libraries(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE
  ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/packages/Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT/build/native/Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT.targets
)
################ NuGet import end ################

That's it!

[kennethnym]

I followed the exact instruction, but I'm still having trouble with calling winrt APIs. Every winrt API calls trigger the abort dialog:

After attaching the Visual Studio debugger to the process, it will immediately hit an exception breakpoint. If I navigate down the call stack, I will always come cross this function call:

...which is triggered by calls to winrt APIs:

I have zero idea what is causing the problem. Searching on the web didn't help a single bit.

[kennethnym]

Can confirm it works after fixing the config file.

[kennethnym]

@Sunbreak I finally got it working in my own project. Appreciate all the help from you. I do wonder why the following notification template won't work (notification not showing):

<toast>
  
  <visual>
    <binding template="ToastGeneric">
      <text>Hello World</text>
      <text>This is a simple toast message</text>
    </binding>
  </visual>
  
</toast>

while this older template format works fine (obtained from GetTemplate:

<toast>
  
  <visual>
    <binding template="ToastText02">
      <text>Hello World</text>
      <text>This is a simple toast message</text>
    </binding>
  </visual>
  
</toast>

I say older because the documentation for the ToastTemplateType enum shows outdated screenshots from Windows 8.

[Sunbreak]

Do you send the XML through method channel or implement it in the quick_notify_plugin.cpp?

[Sunbreak]

quick_notify/windows/quick_notify_plugin.cpp

Lines 83 to 85 in 2a40836

	auto toastContent = ToastNotificationManager::GetTemplateContent(ToastTemplateType::ToastText01);
	XmlNodeList xmlNodeList = toastContent.GetElementsByTagName(L"text");
	xmlNodeList.Item(0).AppendChild(toastContent.CreateTextNode(winrt::to_hstring(content)));

Above code results as

<toast>
  <visual>
    <binding template="ToastText01">
      <text>$content</text>
    </bindding>
  <visual>
</toast>

[Sunbreak]

There is a similar example: https://microsoft.github.io/react-native-windows/blog/2021/06/30/notifications