flutter_bin — Binary File Metadata

A pure-Dart package to retrieve metadata from binary files (executable files) on desktop platforms. Supports Windows and macOS, and works in both Flutter and plain Dart projects. Windows reads the PE version resource via dart:ffi; macOS parses the app bundle's Info.plist. Calls on unsupported platforms throw UnsupportedError.

Features

• Retrieve file version information from binary files
• Extract comprehensive metadata including:
  • Version
  • Product name
  • File description
  • Legal copyright
  • Original filename
  • Company name
• Easy integration with file pickers

Getting Started

Add the package to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  flutter_bin: ^3.0.0

Usage

Basic Version Retrieval

import 'package:flutter_bin/flutter_bin.dart';

// Create an instance
final flutterBin = FlutterBin();

// Get the version information
final String? version = await flutterBin.getBinaryFileVersion('C:\\path\\to\\file.exe');
print('File version: $version');

// On macOS
final String? macVersion = await flutterBin.getBinaryFileVersion('/Applications/Example.app');
print('macOS app version: $macVersion');

Full Metadata Retrieval

import 'package:flutter_bin/flutter_bin.dart';

// Create an instance
final flutterBin = FlutterBin();

// Get comprehensive metadata (Windows)
final metadata = await flutterBin.getBinaryFileMetadata('C:\\path\\to\\file.exe');

// Or for macOS
final macMetadata = await flutterBin.getBinaryFileMetadata('/Applications/Example.app');

// Access specific properties
print('File version: ${metadata.version}');
print('Product name: ${metadata.productName}');
print('File description: ${metadata.fileDescription}');
print('Copyright: ${metadata.legalCopyright}');
print('Original filename: ${metadata.originalFilename}');
print('Company name: ${metadata.companyName}');

With FilePicker

import 'package:flutter_bin/flutter_bin.dart';
import 'package:file_picker/file_picker.dart';

// Create an instance
final flutterBin = FlutterBin();

// Let the user select a file
FilePickerResult? result = await FilePicker.platform.pickFiles(
  type: FileType.any,
  allowMultiple: false,
);

if (result != null && result.files.single.path != null) {
  final filePath = result.files.single.path!;
  
  // Get metadata for the selected file
  final metadata = await flutterBin.getBinaryFileMetadata(filePath);
  print('File version: ${metadata.version}');
}

Metadata Fields

flutter_bin extracts the following metadata from binary files:

Field	Description	Windows Source	macOS Source
version	Semantic version (e.g., 1.2.3)	FileVersion (major.minor.build)	CFBundleShortVersionString
productName	The product name	ProductName	CFBundleName
fileDescription	Description of the file	FileDescription	CFBundleGetInfoString
legalCopyright	Copyright information	LegalCopyright	NSHumanReadableCopyright
originalFilename	Original name of the file	OriginalFilename	CFBundleExecutable
companyName	Company or developer name	CompanyName	Not typically available

Platform Support

Platform	Status
Windows	✅ Supported
macOS	✅ Supported
Linux	❌ Planned

File Path Formats

Windows

Use standard Windows paths with double backslashes or forward slashes:

C:\\Program Files\\Application\\app.exe

or

C:/Program Files/Application/app.exe

macOS

For macOS applications (.app bundles):

/Applications/Example.app

or specific binaries within the bundle:

/Applications/Example.app/Contents/MacOS/Example

Example

The package includes a full example showcasing all features. To run the example:

cd example
flutter run

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.