EditableText class

A basic text input field.

This widget interacts with the TextInput service to let the user edit the text it contains. It also provides scrolling, selection, and cursor movement.

The EditableText widget is a low-level widget that is intended as a building block for custom widget sets. For a complete user experience, consider using a TextField or CupertinoTextField.

Handling User Input

Currently the user may change the text this widget contains via keyboard or the text selection menu. When the user inserted or deleted text, you will be notified of the change and get a chance to modify the new text value:

Input Actions

A TextInputAction can be provided to customize the appearance of the action button on the soft keyboard for Android and iOS. The default action is TextInputAction.done.

Many TextInputActions are common between Android and iOS. However, if a textInputAction is provided that is not supported by the current platform in debug mode, an error will be thrown when the corresponding EditableText receives focus. For example, providing iOS's "emergencyCall" action when running on an Android device will result in an error when in debug mode. In release mode, incompatible TextInputActions are replaced either with "unspecified" on Android, or "default" on iOS. Appropriate textInputActions can be chosen by checking the current platform and then selecting the appropriate action.

Lifecycle

Upon completion of editing, like pressing the "done" button on the keyboard, two actions take place:

1st: Editing is finalized. The default behavior of this step includes an invocation of onChanged. That default behavior can be overridden. See onEditingComplete for details.

2nd: onSubmitted is invoked with the user's input value.

onSubmitted can be used to manually move focus to another input widget when a user finishes with the currently focused input widget.

When the widget has focus, it will prevent itself from disposing via AutomaticKeepAliveClientMixin.wantKeepAlive in order to avoid losing the selection. Removing the focus will allow it to be disposed.

Rather than using this widget directly, consider using TextField, which is a full-featured, material-design text input field with placeholder text, labels, and Form integration.

Text Editing Intents and Their Default Actions

This widget provides default Actions for handling common text editing Intents such as deleting, copying and pasting in the text field. These Actions can be directly invoked using Actions.invoke or the Actions.maybeInvoke method. The default text editing keyboard Shortcuts, typically declared in DefaultTextEditingShortcuts, also use these Intents and Actions to perform the text editing operations they are bound to.

The default handling of a specific Intent can be overridden by placing an Actions widget above this widget. See the Action class and the Action.overridable constructor for more information on how a pre-defined overridable Action can be overridden.

Intents for Deleting Text and Their Default Behavior

Intent Class Default Behavior when there's selected text Default Behavior when there is a caret (The selection is TextSelection.collapsed)
DeleteCharacterIntent Deletes the selected text Deletes the user-perceived character before or after the caret location.
DeleteToNextWordBoundaryIntent Deletes the selected text and the word before/after the selection's TextSelection.extent position Deletes from the caret location to the previous or the next word boundary
DeleteToLineBreakIntent Deletes the selected text, and deletes to the start/end of the line from the selection's TextSelection.extent position Deletes from the caret location to the logical start or end of the current line

Intents for Moving the Caret

Intent Class Default Behavior when there's selected text Default Behavior when there is a caret (TextSelection.collapsed)
ExtendSelectionByCharacterIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the logical start/end of the selection Moves the caret past the user-perceived character before or after the current caret location.
ExtendSelectionToNextWordBoundaryIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the word boundary before/after the selection's TextSelection.extent position Moves the caret to the previous/next word boundary.
ExtendSelectionToNextWordBoundaryOrCaretLocationIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the word boundary before/after the selection's TextSelection.extent position, or TextSelection.base, whichever is closest in the given direction Moves the caret to the previous/next word boundary.
ExtendSelectionToLineBreakIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the start/end of the line at the selection's TextSelection.extent position Moves the caret to the start/end of the current line .
ExtendSelectionVerticallyToAdjacentLineIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the position closest to the selection's TextSelection.extent, on the previous/next adjacent line Moves the caret to the closest position on the previous/next adjacent line.
ExtendSelectionVerticallyToAdjacentPageIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the position closest to the selection's TextSelection.extent, on the previous/next adjacent page Moves the caret to the closest position on the previous/next adjacent page.
ExtendSelectionToDocumentBoundaryIntent(collapseSelection: true) Collapses the selection to the start/end of the document Moves the caret to the start/end of the document.

Intents for Extending the Selection

Intent Class Default Behavior when there's selected text Default Behavior when there is a caret (TextSelection.collapsed)
ExtendSelectionByCharacterIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent past the user-perceived character before/after it
ExtendSelectionToNextWordBoundaryIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the previous/next word boundary
ExtendSelectionToNextWordBoundaryOrCaretLocationIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the previous/next word boundary, or TextSelection.base whichever is closest in the given direction Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the previous/next word boundary.
ExtendSelectionToLineBreakIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the start/end of the line
ExtendSelectionVerticallyToAdjacentLineIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the closest position on the previous/next adjacent line
ExtendSelectionVerticallyToAdjacentPageIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the closest position on the previous/next adjacent page
ExtendSelectionToDocumentBoundaryIntent(collapseSelection: false) Moves the selection's TextSelection.extent to the start/end of the document
SelectAllTextIntent Selects the entire document

Other Intents

Intent Class Default Behavior
DoNothingAndStopPropagationTextIntent Does nothing in the input field, and prevents the key event from further propagating in the widget tree.
ReplaceTextIntent Replaces the current TextEditingValue in the input field's TextEditingController, and triggers all related user callbacks and TextInputFormatters.
UpdateSelectionIntent Updates the current selection in the input field's TextEditingController, and triggers the onSelectionChanged callback.
CopySelectionTextIntent Copies or cuts the selected text into the clipboard
PasteTextIntent Inserts the current text in the clipboard after the caret location, or replaces the selected text if the selection is not collapsed.

Text Editing Shortcuts

It's also possible to directly remap keyboard shortcuts to new Intents by inserting a Shortcuts widget above this in the widget tree. When using WidgetsApp, the large set of default text editing keyboard shortcuts are declared near the top of the widget tree in DefaultTextEditingShortcuts, and any Shortcuts widget between it and this EditableText will override those defaults.

Interactions Between Shortcuts and Text Input

Shortcuts prevent text input fields from receiving their keystrokes as text input. For example, placing a Shortcuts widget in the widget tree above a text input field and creating a shortcut for LogicalKeyboardKey.keyA will prevent the field from receiving that key as text input. In other words, typing key "A" into the field will trigger the shortcut and will not insert a letter "a" into the field.

This happens because of the way that key strokes are handled in Flutter. When a keystroke is received in Flutter's engine, it first gives the framework the opportunity to handle it as a raw key event through SystemChannels.keyEvent. This is what Shortcuts listens to indirectly through its FocusNode. If it is not handled, then it will proceed to try handling it as text input through SystemChannels.textInput, which is what EditableTextState listens to through TextInputClient.

This behavior, where a shortcut prevents text input into some field, can be overridden by using another Shortcuts widget lower in the widget tree and mapping the desired key stroke(s) to DoNothingAndStopPropagationIntent. The key event will be reported as unhandled by the framework and will then be sent as text input as usual.

Gesture Events Handling

When rendererIgnoresPointer is false (the default), this widget provides rudimentary, platform-agnostic gesture handling for user actions such as tapping, long-pressing, and scrolling.

To provide more complete gesture handling, including double-click to select a word, drag selection, and platform-specific handling of gestures such as long presses, consider setting rendererIgnoresPointer to true and using TextSelectionGestureDetectorBuilder.

Keep the caret visible when focused

When focused, this widget will make attempts to keep the text area and its caret (even when showCursor is false) visible, on these occasions:

  • When the user focuses this text field and it is not readOnly.
  • When the user changes the selection of the text field, or changes the text when the text field is not readOnly.
  • When the virtual keyboard pops up.

Scrolling Considerations

If this EditableText is not a descendant of Scaffold and is being used within a Scrollable or nested Scrollables, consider placing a ScrollNotificationObserver above the root Scrollable that contains this EditableText to ensure proper scroll coordination for EditableText and its components like TextSelectionOverlay.

Troubleshooting Common Accessibility Issues

Customizing User Input Accessibility Announcements

To customize user input accessibility announcements triggered by text changes, use SemanticsService.announce to make the desired accessibility announcement.

On iOS, the on-screen keyboard may announce the most recent input incorrectly when a TextInputFormatter inserts a thousands separator to a currency value text field. The following example demonstrates how to suppress the default accessibility announcements by always announcing the content of the text field as a US currency value (the \$ inserts a dollar sign, the $newText interpolates the newText variable):

onChanged: (String newText) {
  if (newText.isNotEmpty) {
    SemanticsService.announce('\$$newText', Directionality.of(context));
  }
}

See also:

  • TextField, which is a full-featured, material-design text input field with placeholder text, labels, and Form integration.
Inheritance

Constructors

EditableText({Key? key, required TextEditingController controller, required FocusNode focusNode, bool readOnly = false, String obscuringCharacter = '•', bool obscureText = false, bool autocorrect = true, SmartDashesType? smartDashesType, SmartQuotesType? smartQuotesType, bool enableSuggestions = true, required TextStyle style, StrutStyle? strutStyle, required Color cursorColor, required Color backgroundCursorColor, TextAlign textAlign = TextAlign.start, TextDirection? textDirection, Locale? locale, @Deprecated('Use textScaler instead. ' 'Use of textScaleFactor was deprecated in preparation for the upcoming nonlinear text scaling support. ' 'This feature was deprecated after v3.12.0-2.0.pre.') double? textScaleFactor, TextScaler? textScaler, int? maxLines = 1, int? minLines, bool expands = false, bool forceLine = true, TextHeightBehavior? textHeightBehavior, TextWidthBasis textWidthBasis = TextWidthBasis.parent, bool autofocus = false, bool? showCursor, bool showSelectionHandles = false, Color? selectionColor, TextSelectionControls? selectionControls, TextInputType? keyboardType, TextInputAction? textInputAction, TextCapitalization textCapitalization = TextCapitalization.none, ValueChanged<String>? onChanged, VoidCallback? onEditingComplete, ValueChanged<String>? onSubmitted, AppPrivateCommandCallback? onAppPrivateCommand, SelectionChangedCallback? onSelectionChanged, VoidCallback? onSelectionHandleTapped, Object groupId = EditableText, TapRegionCallback? onTapOutside, List<TextInputFormatter>? inputFormatters, MouseCursor? mouseCursor, bool rendererIgnoresPointer = false, double cursorWidth = 2.0, double? cursorHeight, Radius? cursorRadius, bool cursorOpacityAnimates = false, Offset? cursorOffset, bool paintCursorAboveText = false, BoxHeightStyle selectionHeightStyle = ui.BoxHeightStyle.tight, BoxWidthStyle selectionWidthStyle = ui.BoxWidthStyle.tight, EdgeInsets scrollPadding = const EdgeInsets.all(20.0), Brightness keyboardAppearance = Brightness.light, DragStartBehavior dragStartBehavior = DragStartBehavior.start, bool? enableInteractiveSelection, ScrollController? scrollController, ScrollPhysics? scrollPhysics, Color? autocorrectionTextRectColor, @Deprecated('Use `contextMenuBuilder` instead. ' 'This feature was deprecated after v3.3.0-0.5.pre.') ToolbarOptions? toolbarOptions, Iterable<String>? autofillHints = const <String>[], AutofillClient? autofillClient, Clip clipBehavior = Clip.hardEdge, String? restorationId, ScrollBehavior? scrollBehavior, bool scribbleEnabled = true, bool enableIMEPersonalizedLearning = true, ContentInsertionConfiguration? contentInsertionConfiguration, EditableTextContextMenuBuilder? contextMenuBuilder, SpellCheckConfiguration? spellCheckConfiguration, TextMagnifierConfiguration magnifierConfiguration = TextMagnifierConfiguration.disabled, UndoHistoryController? undoController})
Creates a basic text input control.

Properties

autocorrect bool
Whether to enable autocorrection.
final
autocorrectionTextRectColor Color?
The color to use when painting the autocorrection Rect.
final
autofillClient AutofillClient?
The AutofillClient that controls this input field's autofill behavior.
final
autofillHints Iterable<String>?
A list of strings that helps the autofill service identify the type of this text input.
final
autofocus bool
Whether this text field should focus itself if nothing else is already focused.
final
backgroundCursorColor Color
The color to use when painting the background cursor aligned with the text while rendering the floating cursor.
final
clipBehavior Clip
The content will be clipped (or not) according to this option.
final
contentInsertionConfiguration ContentInsertionConfiguration?
Configuration of handler for media content inserted via the system input method.
final
contextMenuBuilder EditableTextContextMenuBuilder?
Builds the text selection toolbar when requested by the user.
final
controller TextEditingController
Controls the text being edited.
final
cursorColor Color
The color to use when painting the cursor.
final
cursorHeight double?
How tall the cursor will be.
final
cursorOffset Offset?
The offset that is used, in pixels, when painting the cursor on screen.
final
cursorOpacityAnimates bool
Whether the cursor will animate from fully transparent to fully opaque during each cursor blink.
final
cursorRadius Radius?
How rounded the corners of the cursor should be.
final
cursorWidth double
How thick the cursor will be.
final
dragStartBehavior DragStartBehavior
Determines the way that drag start behavior is handled.
final
enableIMEPersonalizedLearning bool
Whether to enable that the IME update personalized data such as typing history and user dictionary data.
final
enableInteractiveSelection bool
Whether to enable user interface affordances for changing the text selection.
final
enableSuggestions bool
Whether to show input suggestions as the user types.
final
expands bool
Whether this widget's height will be sized to fill its parent.
final
focusNode FocusNode
Controls whether this widget has keyboard focus.
final
forceLine bool
Whether the text will take the full width regardless of the text width.
final
groupId Object
The group identifier for the TextFieldTapRegion of this text field.
final
hashCode int
The hash code for this object.
no setterinherited
inputFormatters List<TextInputFormatter>?
Optional input validation and formatting overrides.
final
key Key?
Controls how one widget replaces another widget in the tree.
finalinherited
keyboardAppearance Brightness
The appearance of the keyboard.
final
keyboardType TextInputType
The type of keyboard to use for editing the text.
final
locale Locale?
Used to select a font when the same Unicode character can be rendered differently, depending on the locale.
final
magnifierConfiguration TextMagnifierConfiguration
The configuration for the magnifier to use with selections in this text field.
final
maxLines int?
The maximum number of lines to show at one time, wrapping if necessary.
final
minLines int?
The minimum number of lines to occupy when the content spans fewer lines.
final
mouseCursor MouseCursor?
The cursor for a mouse pointer when it enters or is hovering over the widget.
final
obscureText bool
Whether to hide the text being edited (e.g., for passwords).
final
obscuringCharacter String
Character used for obscuring text if obscureText is true.
final
onAppPrivateCommand AppPrivateCommandCallback?
This is used to receive a private command from the input method.
final
onChanged ValueChanged<String>?
Called when the user initiates a change to the TextField's value: when they have inserted or deleted text.
final
onEditingComplete VoidCallback?
Called when the user submits editable content (e.g., user presses the "done" button on the keyboard).
final
onSelectionChanged SelectionChangedCallback?
Called when the user changes the selection of text (including the cursor location).
final
onSelectionHandleTapped VoidCallback?
A callback that's optionally invoked when a selection handle is tapped.
final
onSubmitted ValueChanged<String>?
Called when the user indicates that they are done editing the text in the field.
final
onTapOutside TapRegionCallback?
Called for each tap that occurs outside of theTextFieldTapRegion group when the text field is focused.
final
paintCursorAboveText bool
If the cursor should be painted on top of the text or underneath it.
final
readOnly bool
Whether the text can be changed.
final
rendererIgnoresPointer bool
Whether the caller will provide gesture handling (true), or if the EditableText is expected to handle basic gestures (false).
final
restorationId String?
Restoration ID to save and restore the scroll offset of the EditableText.
final
runtimeType Type
A representation of the runtime type of the object.
no setterinherited
scribbleEnabled bool
Whether iOS 14 Scribble features are enabled for this widget.
final
scrollBehavior ScrollBehavior?
A ScrollBehavior that will be applied to this widget individually.
final
scrollController ScrollController?
The ScrollController to use when vertically scrolling the input.
final
scrollPadding EdgeInsets
Configures padding to edges surrounding a Scrollable when the Textfield scrolls into view.
final
scrollPhysics ScrollPhysics?
The ScrollPhysics to use when vertically scrolling the input.
final
selectionColor Color?
The color to use when painting the selection.
final
selectionControls TextSelectionControls?
Optional delegate for building the text selection handles.
final
selectionEnabled bool
Same as enableInteractiveSelection.
no setter
selectionHeightStyle BoxHeightStyle
Controls how tall the selection highlight boxes are computed to be.
final
selectionWidthStyle BoxWidthStyle
Controls how wide the selection highlight boxes are computed to be.
final
showCursor bool
Whether to show cursor.
final
showSelectionHandles bool
Whether to show selection handles.
final
smartDashesType SmartDashesType
Whether to allow the platform to automatically format dashes.
final
smartQuotesType SmartQuotesType
Whether to allow the platform to automatically format quotes.
final
spellCheckConfiguration SpellCheckConfiguration?
Configuration that details how spell check should be performed.
final
strutStyle StrutStyle
The strut style used for the vertical layout.
no setter
style TextStyle
The text style to use for the editable text.
final
textAlign TextAlign
How the text should be aligned horizontally.
final
textCapitalization TextCapitalization
Configures how the platform keyboard will select an uppercase or lowercase keyboard.
final
textDirection TextDirection?
The directionality of the text.
final
textHeightBehavior TextHeightBehavior?
Defines how to apply TextStyle.height over and under text.
final
textInputAction TextInputAction?
The type of action button to use with the soft keyboard.
final
textScaleFactor double?
Deprecated. Will be removed in a future version of Flutter. Use textScaler instead.
final
textScaler TextScaler?
The font scaling strategy to use when laying out and rendering the text.
final
textWidthBasis TextWidthBasis
Defines how to measure the width of the rendered text.
final
toolbarOptions ToolbarOptions
Configuration of toolbar options.
final
undoController UndoHistoryController?
Controls the undo state of the current editable text.
final

Methods

createElement() StatefulElement
Creates a StatefulElement to manage this widget's location in the tree.
inherited
createState() EditableTextState
Creates the mutable state for this widget at a given location in the tree.
override
debugDescribeChildren() List<DiagnosticsNode>
Returns a list of DiagnosticsNode objects describing this node's children.
inherited
debugFillProperties(DiagnosticPropertiesBuilder properties) → void
Add additional properties associated with the node.
override
noSuchMethod(Invocation invocation) → dynamic
Invoked when a nonexistent method or property is accessed.
inherited
toDiagnosticsNode({String? name, DiagnosticsTreeStyle? style}) DiagnosticsNode
Returns a debug representation of the object that is used by debugging tools and by DiagnosticsNode.toStringDeep.
inherited
toString({DiagnosticLevel minLevel = DiagnosticLevel.info}) String
A string representation of this object.
inherited
toStringDeep({String prefixLineOne = '', String? prefixOtherLines, DiagnosticLevel minLevel = DiagnosticLevel.debug}) String
Returns a string representation of this node and its descendants.
inherited
toStringShallow({String joiner = ', ', DiagnosticLevel minLevel = DiagnosticLevel.debug}) String
Returns a one-line detailed description of the object.
inherited
toStringShort() String
A short, textual description of this widget.
inherited

Operators

operator ==(Object other) bool
The equality operator.
inherited

Static Properties

debugDeterministicCursor bool
Setting this property to true makes the cursor stop blinking or fading on and off once the cursor appears on focus. This property is useful for testing purposes.
getter/setter pair

Static Methods

getEditableButtonItems({required ClipboardStatus? clipboardStatus, required VoidCallback? onCopy, required VoidCallback? onCut, required VoidCallback? onPaste, required VoidCallback? onSelectAll, required VoidCallback? onLookUp, required VoidCallback? onSearchWeb, required VoidCallback? onShare, required VoidCallback? onLiveTextInput}) List<ContextMenuButtonItem>
Returns the ContextMenuButtonItems representing the buttons in this platform's default selection menu for an editable field.