Auto Strings

A lightweight Dart tool that automatically generates static const String constants from plain text lines — so you never have to write repetitive key–value strings again.

💡 Why I Created This

In most Flutter apps, we keep a constants file to store all the strings used across the app — things like labels, error messages, and button texts. But writing these constants manually means:

• Typing both the key and the value for every string
• Repeating the same text in different places
• Spending unnecessary time on boilerplate

For example:

class AppStrings{

static const String pleaseEnterFirstName = "Please enter first name.";
static const String pleaseEnterLastName = "Please enter last name.";

}

This is tedious and error-prone, especially in large apps.

Auto Strings solves this by letting you:

1. Write only the values in a simple .txt file
2. Automatically generate Dart constants with proper naming conventions
3. Maintain a single source of truth for all your app’s strings

🚀 Features

• Automatic constant generation from plain text
• Consistent naming using camelCase
• Zero manual duplication between keys and values
• Simple CLI command — no Flutter boilerplate required

📂 Folder & File Structure

auto_strings/
│
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── analysis_options.yaml
├── pubspec.yaml
│
├── bin/
│   └── auto_strings.dart       # CLI entry point
│
├── lib/
│   ├── auto_strings.dart       # Package entry
│   └── src/
│       └── generator.dart      # Core generation logic
│
├── test/
│   ├── auto_strings_test.dart  # Unit tests
│   ├── output.dart             # Generated sample output
│   └── strings.txt             # Sample input strings

📦 Installation

Add this to your pubspec.yaml:

dev_dependencies:
  auto_strings: ^1.0.2+2

🛠️ Usage

1️⃣ Create your text file in assets folder (e.g. strings.txt):

Please enter first name.
Please enter last name.
Email is required.

2️⃣ Run the generator: In Terminal write below command

dart run auto_strings strings.txt lib/app_strings.dart AppStrings

Command Explaination

dart run <package_name> <path_to_input_file> <path_to_output_file> <class_name>

Breaking it down:

1. dart run – Runs a Dart program or package.
2. auto_strings – The name of your package’s CLI tool.
3. strings.txt – A named argument telling the program which text file to read. -It is your source file containing plain text strings.
4. lib/app_strings.dart – A named argument telling the program where to save the generated Dart file. -It is the file that will be created (or overwritten) with the constants.
5. Class name is optional if not provided then default AppStrings is set.

• Example in words: “Run the auto_strings package, read strings from strings.txt, and generate a Dart constants file at lib/app_strings.dart.”

3️⃣ Generated output:

class AppStrings {
  static const String pleaseEnterFirstName = "Please enter first name.";
  static const String pleaseEnterLastName = "Please enter last name.";
  static const String emailIsRequired = "Email is required.";
}

🧪 Running Tests

dart test

The included tests verify:

• Correct file generation
• Proper conversion from plain text to constants
• Accurate camelCase

✅ Test Cases Coverage

Category	Example String	Status
Basic cases	Hello World	✅ Passed
Strings with punctuation	Hey what you doing?	✅ Passed
Strings with quotes	Hey I'm Hitesh, how are you / "Quoted text"	✅ Passed
Strings with numbers	This is my phone number 123456	✅ Passed
Strings with special chars	Password@123#\$%	✅ Passed
Strings with escape-like sequences	C:\Users\Hitesh / \n \t \\	✅ Passed
Strings with multiple spaces	Hello World	✅ Passed
Non-English / Unicode	नमस्ते, こんにちは, مرحبا	✨ Upcoming
Emojis	Hello 👋😊🔥	✅ Passed

📜 License

This package is licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute it.

❤️ Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! If you’d like to improve Auto Strings, feel free to:

• Fork the repo
• Make your changes
• Submit a pull request

Author

Created & maintained by Hitesh Meghwal