Solving the flutter run Error after Adding assets_audio_player in Your Flutter App

Encountering an error when running `flutter run` after adding `assets_audio_player`? This guide walks you through the solution by enabling multidex support in your Flutter project!
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Introduction

If you've recently added the assets_audio_player plugin to your Flutter app, you may have encountered a frustrating error when you tried to run the application. The error message indicates a problem with the number of method references in your app, leading to a failure during the building process. This issue arises because the Android build system has a limitation that restricts the maximum number of methods in a single .dex file to 64,000. When you add plugins like assets_audio_player, the total method count can quickly exceed this limit.

In this post, we'll break down this issue and guide you through enabling multidex support in your Flutter application, which will help you resolve this error successfully.

Understanding the Error

When you run the command flutter run, the build process encounters an error due to the following reasons:

Method Count Limit: Android's dex file format cannot hold more than 65,536 method references.

Adding Plugins: Adding libraries or plugins such as assets_audio_player can increase the method count significantly.

The error you see looks something like this:

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Key Terms:

Dex File: A file format used by Android to store executable code.

Multidex: A feature that allows Android apps to build multiple dex files, accommodating a larger number of methods.

Solution: Enabling Multidex Support

To fix this issue, you will need to enable multidex support in your Flutter project. Here’s how you can do it step by step:

Step 1: Update minSdkVersion

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Enable Multidex

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Add Multidex Dependency

Finally, you will need to add the multidex dependency in the dependencies block:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By enabling multidex support and ensuring your minSdkVersion is set to 21, you can overcome the limitations set by the Android dex file format. This solution allows you to add more plugins to your Flutter project without hitting the method count cap, ultimately enhancing the functionality of your app.

If you encounter further issues or have any questions during your Flutter development journey, don't hesitate to reach out for help or check the official Flutter and Android documentation.

Happy coding!