flutter_feature_hint #

A beautiful Flutter package for creating smooth, auto-playing feature hint overlays with animated gestures. Perfect for onboarding, feature discovery, and user education.

✨ Features #

• 🎯 Full-Screen Overlays: Cover the entire screen while highlighting the target widget
• 🎬 Auto-Playing Animations: No user interaction required - animations play automatically
• ✨ Animated Gestures: Visual demonstrations of swipe, tap, and long-press actions
• 🎨 Highly Customizable: Control colors, duration, message widgets, icon sizes, and positioning
• 🚀 Smooth Fade Animations: Professional fade in/out transitions
• 📱 Responsive Design: Works with widgets of any size, from tiny buttons to entire lists
• 🎯 Precise Positioning: Animation icon automatically positions over the wrapped widget
• 🔧 Zero Dependencies: Uses only Flutter's built-in widgets and animations

📸 Demo #

The example app demonstrates a beautiful task manager UI with:

• Dismissible list items with swipe animations
• Modern gradient design with Material 3
• Feature hint overlay showing swipe gestures
• Smooth transitions and feedback

Gesture Demonstrations #

Swipe Left	Swipe Right	Swipe Up
Swipe Down	Tap	Long Press

🚀 Installation #

Add this to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  flutter_feature_hint: ^0.0.2

Then run:

flutter pub get

📖 Usage #

Basic Example #

import 'package:flutter_feature_hint/flutter_feature_hint.dart';

FeatureHintOverlay(
  message: const Text('Swipe left to delete'),
  gesture: GestureType.swipeLeft,
  duration: const Duration(seconds: 5),
  child: YourWidget(),
)

With Custom Styling #

FeatureHintOverlay(
  message: Container(
    padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 12),
    child: Column(
      mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,
      children: [
        Container(
          width: 32,
          height: 32,
          decoration: BoxDecoration(
            color: Colors.indigo[100],
            borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
          ),
          child: Icon(
            Icons.touch_app,
            size: 18,
            color: Colors.indigo,
          ),
        ),
        const SizedBox(height: 12),
        const Text(
          "Try swiping items!",
          style: TextStyle(
            fontSize: 18,
            fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
            color: Colors.black87,
          ),
        ),
        const SizedBox(height: 4),
        Text(
          "Swipe left to delete or right to complete",
          style: TextStyle(
            fontSize: 13,
            color: Colors.grey[600],
          ),
        ),
      ],
    ),
  ),
  gesture: GestureType.swipeLeft,
  duration: const Duration(seconds: 6),
  iconSize: 48,
  iconColor: Colors.white,
  overlayColor: const Color(0xBF000000),
  child: YourListView(),
)

Available Gesture Types #

enum GestureType {
  swipeLeft,      // Horizontal swipe to the left
  swipeRight,     // Horizontal swipe to the right
  swipeUp,        // Vertical swipe upward
  swipeDown,      // Vertical swipe downward
  tap,            // Single tap gesture
  longPress,      // Long press gesture
}

Parameters #

• message (Widget, required): Custom widget to display as the hint message
• gesture (GestureType, required): The gesture type to animate
• child (Widget, required): The widget to wrap with the overlay
• duration (Duration, default: 4 seconds): How long to show the overlay
• shouldPlay (bool, default: true): Whether to show the overlay
• onCompleted (VoidCallback?): Callback when the overlay animation completes
• showHandAnimation (bool, default: true): Whether to show the gesture animation
• overlayColor (Color, default: semi-transparent black): Background color of the overlay
• messageAlignment (AlignmentGeometry, default: topCenter): Position of the message box
• customIcon (IconData?): Custom icon to animate instead of the hand gesture
• iconSize (double, default: 60.0): Size of the animated icon
• iconColor (Color, default: white): Color of the animated icon

With Callback #

FeatureHintOverlay(
  message: const Text('Learn this gesture!'),
  gesture: GestureType.tap,
  child: YourWidget(),
  onCompleted: () {
    print('Hint animation completed!');
    // Update UI state, navigate, etc.
  },
)

Conditional Display #

FeatureHintOverlay(
  message: const Text('First time? Swipe left!'),
  gesture: GestureType.swipeLeft,
  shouldPlay: isFirstTime, // Only show on first visit
  child: YourListView(),
)

🎨 Customization Guide #

Change Message Position #

FeatureHintOverlay(
  messageAlignment: Alignment.bottomCenter, // Top, bottom, center, etc.
  // ... other parameters
)

Use Custom Icon #

FeatureHintOverlay(
  customIcon: Icons.favorite,
  iconColor: Colors.red,
  iconSize: 80,
  // ... other parameters
)

Customize Overlay Appearance #

FeatureHintOverlay(
  overlayColor: const Color(0xAA000000), // Semi-transparent dark
  messageAlignment: Alignment.center,
  // ... other parameters
)

🏗️ Architecture #

The package is built with:

• FeatureHintOverlay: Main widget that wraps your UI with the overlay
• AnimatedHandGesture: Handles gesture-specific animations (swipes, taps, etc.)
• GestureType: Enum defining supported gesture animations

How It Works #

1. Initialization: When FeatureHintOverlay is rendered, it wraps your widget in a Stack
2. Overlay Creation: After the first frame is laid out, a full-screen overlay is displayed with a fade animation
3. Animation: The gesture animation icon is positioned exactly over your wrapped widget
4. Auto-Dismiss: After the specified duration, the overlay fades out automatically
5. Callback: The onCompleted callback is triggered when the animation finishes

🐛 Troubleshooting #

Animation Not Visible #

• Ensure shouldPlay is set to true
• Check that showHandAnimation is not false
• Verify the overlay duration is long enough to see the animation

Icon Not Positioned Correctly #

• Ensure the wrapped widget has been fully laid out (happens automatically)
• The icon should appear centered on your wrapped widget
• If the widget is off-screen, the icon will also be off-screen

Message Box Not Showing #

• Verify the message parameter is a valid Widget
• Check that messageAlignment is set to a visible position
• Ensure the overlay color is not completely opaque, blocking the message

📝 License #

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

🤝 Contributing #

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

☕ Love This Package? #

If you found flutter_feature_hint helpful and it saved you time, consider supporting the development! Your support helps me create more amazing packages for the Flutter community.

📚 Example App #

Check out the example/ directory for a complete working example with a beautiful task manager UI demonstrating:

• Multiple feature hints
• Custom message styling
• Integration with dismissible list items
• Modern Material 3 design

🎯 Use Cases #

• Onboarding: Guide users through your app's features
• Feature Discovery: Highlight new features to existing users
• Tutorial Mode: Show gesture-based interactions visually
• First-Time UX: Educate users without interrupting their experience
• A/B Testing: Test different onboarding approaches

📊 Requirements #

• Flutter: ^3.0.0
• Dart: ^2.17.0

🔄 Version History #

See CHANGELOG.md for a list of all changes and new features.

Built with ❤️ for Flutter developers