Building a Random Quote Generator with Flutter

In this article, we will be building a random quote generator in Flutter. You can find a youtube video at the end of the article with my step-by-step process.

Let’s dive straight into the code.

pubspec.yaml

name: testapp
description: A new Flutter project.
# The following line prevents the package from being accidentally published to
# pub.dev using `flutter pub publish`. This is preferred for private packages.
publish_to: "none" # Remove this line if you wish to publish to pub.dev

# The following defines the version and build number for your application.
# A version number is three numbers separated by dots, like 1.2.43
# followed by an optional build number separated by a +.
# Both the version and the builder number may be overridden in flutter
# build by specifying --build-name and --build-number, respectively.
# In Android, build-name is used as versionName while build-number used as versionCode.
# Read more about Android versioning at https://developer.android.com/studio/publish/versioning
# In iOS, build-name is used as CFBundleShortVersionString while build-number is used as CFBundleVersion.
# Read more about iOS versioning at
# https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/CoreFoundationKeys.html
# In Windows, build-name is used as the major, minor, and patch parts
# of the product and file versions while build-number is used as the build suffix.
version: 1.0.0+1

environment:
  sdk: ">=2.19.0 <3.0.0"

# Dependencies specify other packages that your package needs in order to work.
# To automatically upgrade your package dependencies to the latest versions
# consider running `flutter pub upgrade --major-versions`. Alternatively,
# dependencies can be manually updated by changing the version numbers below to
# the latest version available on pub.dev. To see which dependencies have newer
# versions available, run `flutter pub outdated`.
dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter

  # The following adds the Cupertino Icons font to your application.
  # Use with the CupertinoIcons class for iOS style icons.
  cupertino_icons: ^1.0.2
  http: ^0.13.6

dev_dependencies:
  flutter_test:
    sdk: flutter

  # The "flutter_lints" package below contains a set of recommended lints to
  # encourage good coding practices. The lint set provided by the package is
  # activated in the `analysis_options.yaml` file located at the root of your
  # package. See that file for information about deactivating specific lint
  # rules and activating additional ones.
  flutter_lints: ^2.0.0

# For information on the generic Dart part of this file, see the
# following page: https://dart.dev/tools/pub/pubspec

# The following section is specific to Flutter packages.
flutter:
  # The following line ensures that the Material Icons font is
  # included with your application, so that you can use the icons in
  # the material Icons class.
  uses-material-design: true

  # To add assets to your application, add an assets section, like this:
  # assets:
  #   - images/a_dot_burr.jpeg
  #   - images/a_dot_ham.jpeg

  # An image asset can refer to one or more resolution-specific "variants", see
  # https://flutter.dev/assets-and-images/#resolution-aware

  # For details regarding adding assets from package dependencies, see
  # https://flutter.dev/assets-and-images/#from-packages

  # To add custom fonts to your application, add a fonts section here,
  # in this "flutter" section. Each entry in this list should have a
  # "family" key with the font family name, and a "fonts" key with a
  # list giving the asset and other descriptors for the font. For
  # example:
  # fonts:
  #   - family: Schyler
  #     fonts:
  #       - asset: fonts/Schyler-Regular.ttf
  #       - asset: fonts/Schyler-Italic.ttf
  #         style: italic
  #   - family: Trajan Pro
  #     fonts:
  #       - asset: fonts/TrajanPro.ttf
  #       - asset: fonts/TrajanPro_Bold.ttf
  #         weight: 700
  #
  # For details regarding fonts from package dependencies,
  # see https://flutter.dev/custom-fonts/#from-packages

main.dart

import 'dart:convert';

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

void main() {
  runApp(MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        // This is the theme of your application.
        //
        // Try running your application with "flutter run". You'll see the
        // application has a blue toolbar. Then, without quitting the app, try
        // changing the primarySwatch below to Colors.green and then invoke
        // "hot reload" (press "r" in the console where you ran "flutter run",
        // or simply save your changes to "hot reload" in a Flutter IDE).
        // Notice that the counter didn't reset back to zero; the application
        // is not restarted.
        primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
      ),
      home: QuoteGenerator(),
    );
  }
}

class QuoteGenerator extends StatefulWidget {
  const QuoteGenerator({super.key});

  @override
  State<QuoteGenerator> createState() => _QuoteGeneratorState();
}

class _QuoteGeneratorState extends State<QuoteGenerator> {
  final String quoteURL = "https://api.adviceslip.com/advice";
  String quote = 'Random Quote';

  generateQuote() async {
    var res = await http.get(Uri.parse(quoteURL));
    var result = jsonDecode(res.body);
    print(result["slip"]["advice"]);
    setState(() {
      quote = result["slip"]["advice"];
    });
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text('Random Quote Generator'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: Column(
          mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
          children: [
            Text(
              quote,
              style: TextStyle(
                fontSize: 20,
              ),
            ),
            const SizedBox(
              height: 30,
            ),
            ElevatedButton(
              onPressed: () {
                generateQuote();
              },
              child: Text('Generate'),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}