flutter_bin 3.1.0

A pure-Dart package to retrieve metadata (version, product name, and more) from binary files on desktop platforms. Supports Windows and macOS, and can read the PE version resource straight out of the image.

3.1.0

• Added the PE image view, a second way to read a Windows binary's version resource, in a new entry point package:flutter_bin/pe.dart:

  • readPeVersionResource(path) / parsePeVersionResource(bytes) return the version resource embedded in a PE image as a PeVersionResource — resource name, language id, four-part file and product versions, and every StringFileInfo table with every key it holds (not just the five strings BinaryFileMetadata maps). value(key) reads a single key, and toBinaryFileMetadata() maps onto the existing model so validation code written against getBinaryFileMetadata can be reused.
  • readPeVersionResources / parsePeVersionResources return every RT_VERSION leaf an image carries — one per language, and one per entry name — in resource-directory order. selectPeVersionResource exposes the rule the singular calls use: prefer the numeric id 1, else the first leaf.
  • This reads binaries the Win32 version APIs cannot see at all: images whose RT_VERSION resource is stored under a name string instead of the numeric id 1, which some windres builds emit (FileZilla 3.66.5, for example). GetFileVersionInfoSizeW returns 0 for those, so Explorer, PowerShell and getBinaryFileMetadata all report no version info while the data sits intact in the file.

• Existing APIs are unchanged. getBinaryFileVersion / getBinaryFileMetadata and BinaryFileMetadata behave exactly as in 3.0.0, and the image view is never substituted for them:

  • The two answer different questions. The OS view follows MUI satellite resources and is locale dependent; the image view reports what the binary itself carries. C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe reports originalFilename as mstsc.exe.mui through the OS view and mstsc.exe through the image view — both correct for their own question, so which one is acceptable stays the caller's decision. See the README's "Two Views of a Windows Binary".

• Implementation notes:

  • Pure Dart (dart:io + dart:typed_data), no FFI — the parser runs on any host, so its tests execute on the Linux CI job too.
  • Files are read through two windowed reads (headers, then the resource section) rather than loaded whole.
  • Version formatting is single-sourced: fixedVersionParts with formatFixedVersion (semver, revision dropped) and formatFullVersion (all four components) on top.

3.0.0

• BREAKING:

  • flutter_bin is now a pure-Dart package, not a Flutter plugin. It no longer depends on Flutter, plugin_platform_interface, or a method channel, and ships no native (C++/Swift) code. Windows metadata is read via dart:ffi calls into the Win32 version APIs (version.dll), and macOS reads the bundle's Info.plist in pure Dart (binary + XML).
  • Unsupported platforms (web, Linux, mobile) now throw UnsupportedError instead of a MissingPluginException.
  • The public API (FlutterBin, BinaryFileMetadata) is unchanged, so callers that only use the public API upgrade without code changes. Because the package no longer depends on Flutter, it can also be used from plain Dart.

• Dependencies:

  • Added ffi, plist_parser, and path; removed flutter and plugin_platform_interface.

• Tooling:

  • Tests migrated from flutter_test to package:test; native GoogleTest / XCTest harnesses removed. CI now runs dart test on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and builds the example app on Windows and macOS.

2.0.0

• BREAKING:

  • getBinaryFileVersion (and the version metadata field) now returns a semantic version (major.minor.patch) on all platforms. On Windows the trailing revision of the PE file version is dropped (e.g. 6.2.26100.8521 → 6.2.26100).

• Fix:

  • Windows: getBinaryFileVersion now returns null (previously false) for files without version information, matching the documented contract.
  • Windows: a non-string filePath argument now returns an INVALID_ARGUMENT error instead of crashing the plugin.

• Improvements:

  • Documented the method-channel key contract; the Dart BinaryFileMetadataJsonKey enum is the single source of truth for the metadata keys.
  • Internal refactors: shared version-info loader (Windows) and shared Info.plist loader (macOS), with no change in behavior.

• Tooling:

  • Added a Windows native unit-test harness (GoogleTest) and real macOS XCTests.
  • Added CI (GitHub Actions) running Dart analyze/test, the Windows gtest suite, and the macOS XCTest suite on every push and pull request.

1.1.3

• Update:
  • update license

1.1.2

• Update:
  • update license

1.1.1

• Fix:
  • improvement of typos

1.1.0

• Added macOS platform support:
  • Retrieve file version information from macOS binary files
  • Extract metadata from Info.plist files in macOS applications
  • Support for both .app bundles and standalone binaries

1.0.0

Initial release of the flutter_bin plugin.

• Features:

  • Get basic version information from binary files on Windows
  • Get comprehensive metadata from Windows binary files including:
    • Product name
    • File description
    • Legal copyright
    • Original filename
    • Company name
  • Support for file path input or FilePicker selection
  • Cross-platform API design (currently implemented for Windows)

• Platforms:

  • Windows: Full implementation
  • Other platforms: API ready but not implemented yet