Introduction to Flutter: Building Beautiful Cross-Platform Apps Flutter is an open-source UI software development toolkit created by Google. It is designed to build natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. Flutter provides a fast, expressive, and flexible way to develop visually stunning applications with high performance. It is a powerful framework for building cross-platform applications with beautiful, highly-customizable UIs. By leveraging Flutter's rich set of widgets, hot reload feature, and platform-specific integrations, developers can create high-quality apps that run smoothly on multiple platforms with minimal effort. Why Choose Flutter? One of the primary advantages of Flutter is its ability to create beautiful, highly-customized user interfaces (UI) quickly and efficiently. Here's why Flutter stands out: 1- Single Codebase: With Flutter, you write one codebase that runs on multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, web, and desktop. This means you can reach a broader audience with less effort. 2- Expressive UI: Flutter uses a declarative approach to building UI, meaning you describe what you want your UI to look like, and Flutter handles the rendering. This allows for highly expressive and customizable UI designs. 3- Fast Development: Flutter's hot reload feature allows developers to instantly see changes they make to the code reflected on the app UI, speeding up the development process significantly. 4- Native Performance: Flutter apps are compiled directly to native machine code, providing near-native performance on each platform. 5- Rich Set of Widgets: Flutter comes with an extensive collection of pre-designed widgets for building UI elements such as buttons, text inputs, sliders, and more. These widgets are highly customizable and can be combined to create complex UI layouts. Widgets: The Building Blocks of Flutter In Flutter, everything is a widget. A widget is a lightweight, reusable component that represents a part of the UI. Flutter provides two types of widgets: 1- Stateless Widgets: These widgets are immutable and do not have any internal state. Stateless widgets are used for UI elements that do not change over time, such as buttons, icons, or static text. 2- Stateful Widgets: Stateful widgets maintain internal state that can change over time. They are used for UI elements that need to update dynamically, such as input fields, animations, or lists. How Flutter Works At the heart of Flutter's architecture is the Flutter Engine, which is written primarily in C++. The Flutter Engine provides low-level rendering support through Google's Skia graphics library. Here's a simplified overview of how Flutter works: 1- UI Rendering: Flutter uses a custom rendering engine to draw UI elements directly to the screen, bypassing the platform's native UI components. This allows for consistent UI across different platforms. 2- Dart Programming Language: Flutter apps are written in the Dart programming language, which was also developed by Google. Dart provides features such as a just-in-time (JIT) compiler for rapid development and a ahead-of-time (AOT) compiler for producing highly optimized native code. 3- Widgets Layer: Developers use Flutter's extensive widget library to compose the UI of their applications. Widgets are arranged in a tree hierarchy, with each widget responsible for rendering a specific part of the UI. 4- Hot Reload: Flutter's hot reload feature allows developers to make changes to the code and see the results instantly without restarting the app. This greatly speeds up the development process and enables iterative UI design 5- Platform Channels: Flutter provides platform channels that allow communication between Flutter code and platform-specific code written in Java (for Android) or Objective-C/Swift (for iOS). This enables developers to access platform-specific features and APIs when needed. Understanding constraints in Flutter info Note If you are experiencing specific layout errors, you might check out Common Flutter errors. When someone learning Flutter asks you why some widget with width: 100 isn’t 100 pixels wide, the default answer is to tell them to put that widget inside of a Center, right? Don’t do that. If you do, they’ll come back again and again, asking why some FittedBox isn’t working, why that Column is overflowing, or what IntrinsicWidth is supposed to be doing. Instead, first tell them that Flutter layout is very different from HTML layout (which is probably where they’re coming from), and then make them memorize the following rule: Flutter layout can’t really be understood without knowing this rule, so Flutter developers should learn it early on. In more detail: For example, if a composed widget contains a column with some padding, and wants to lay out its two children as follows: The negotiation goes something like this: Widget: “Hey parent, what are my constraints?” Parent: “You must be from 0 to 300 pixels wide, and 0 to 85 tall.” Widget: “Hmmm, since I want to have 5 pixels of padding, then my children can have at most 290 pixels of width and 75 pixels of height.” Widget: “Hey first child, You must be from 0 to 290 pixels wide, and 0 to 75 tall.” First child: “OK, then I wish to be 290 pixels wide, and 20 pixels tall.” Widget: “Hmmm, since I want to put my second child below the first one, this leaves only 55 pixels of height for my second child.” Widget: “Hey second child, You must be from 0 to 290 wide, and 0 to 55 tall.” Second child: “OK, I wish to be 140 pixels wide, and 30 pixels tall.” Widget: “Very well. My first child has position x: 5 and y: 5, and my second child has x: 80 and y: 25.” Widget: “Hey parent, I’ve decided that my size is going to be 300 pixels wide, and 60 pixels tall.” Limitations Flutter’s layout engine is designed to be a one-pass process. This means that Flutter lays out its widgets very efficiently, but does result in a few limitations: A widget can decide its own size only within the constraints given to it by its parent. This means a widget usually can’t have any size it wants. A widget can’t know and doesn’t decide its own position in the screen, since it’s the widget’s parent who decides the position of the widget. Since the parent’s size and position, in its turn, also depends on its own parent, it’s impossible to precisely define the size and position of any widget without taking into consideration the tree as a whole. If a child wants a different size from its parent and the parent doesn’t have enough information to align it, then the child’s size might be ignored. Be specific when defining alignment. In Flutter, widgets are rendered by their underlying RenderBox objects. Many boxes in Flutter, especially those that just take a single child, pass their constraint on to their children. Generally, there are three kinds of boxes, in terms of how they handle their constraints: Some widgets, for example Container, vary from type to type based on their constructor arguments. The Container constructor defaults to trying to be as big as possible, but if you give it a width, for instance, it tries to honor that and be that particular size. Others, for example Row and Column (flex boxes) vary based on the constraints they are given, as described in the Flex section. Examples For an interactive experience, use the following DartPad. Use the numbered horizontal scrolling bar to switch between 29 different examples. import 'package:flutter/material.dart'; void main() => runApp(const HomePage()); const red = Colors.red; const green = Colors.green; const blue = Colors.blue; const big = TextStyle(fontSize: 30); class HomePage extends StatelessWidget { const HomePage({super.key}); @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return const FlutterLayoutArticle([ Example1(), Example2(), Example3(), Example4(), Example5(), Example6(), Example7(), Example8(), Example9(), Example10(), Example11(), Example12(), Example13(), Example14(), Example15(), Example16(), Example17(), Example18(), Example19(), Example20(), Example21(), Example22(), Example23(), Example24(), Example25(), Example26(), Example27(), Example28(), Example29(), ]); } } abstract class Example extends StatelessWidget { const Example({super.key}); String get code; String get explanation; } class FlutterLayoutArticle extends StatefulWidget { const FlutterLayoutArticle( this.examples, { super.key, }); final List examples; @override State createState() => _FlutterLayoutArticleState(); } class _FlutterLayoutArticleState extends State { late int count; late Widget example; late String code; late String explanation; @override void initState() { count = 1; code = const Example1().code; explanation = const Example1().explanation; super.initState(); } @override void didUpdateWidget(FlutterLayoutArticle oldWidget) { super.didUpdateWidget(oldWidget); var example = widget.examples[count - 1]; code = example.code; explanation = example.explanation; } @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return MaterialApp( debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false, title: 'Flutter Layout Article', home: SafeArea( child: Material( color: Colors.black, child: FittedBox( child: Container( width: 400, height: 670, color: const Color(0xFFCCCCCC), child: Column( crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.center, children: [ Expanded( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints.tightFor( width: double.infinity, height: double.infinity), child: widget.examples[count - 1])), Container( height: 50, width: double.infinity, color: Colors.black, child: SingleChildScrollView( scrollDirection: Axis.horizontal, child: Row( mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min, children: [ for (int i = 0; i < widget.examples.length; i++) Container( width: 58, padding: const EdgeInsets.only(left: 4, right: 4), child: button(i + 1), ), ], ), ), ), Container( height: 273, color: Colors.grey[50], child: Scrollbar( child: SingleChildScrollView( key: ValueKey(count), child: Padding( padding: const EdgeInsets.all(10), child: Column( children: [ Center(child: Text(code)), const SizedBox(height: 15), Text( explanation, style: TextStyle( color: Colors.blue[900], fontStyle: FontStyle.italic), ), ], ), ), ), ), ), ], ), ), ), ), ), ); } Widget button(int exampleNumber) { return Button( key: ValueKey('button$exampleNumber'), isSelected: count == exampleNumber, exampleNumber: exampleNumber, onPressed: () { showExample( exampleNumber, widget.examples[exampleNumber - 1].code, widget.examples[exampleNumber - 1].explanation, ); }, ); } void showExample(int exampleNumber, String code, String explanation) { setState(() { count = exampleNumber; this.code = code; this.explanation = explanation; }); } } class Button extends StatelessWidget { final bool isSelected; final int exampleNumber; final VoidCallback onPressed; const Button({ super.key, required this.isSelected, required this.exampleNumber, required this.onPressed, }); @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return TextButton( style: TextButton.styleFrom( foregroundColor: Colors.white, backgroundColor: isSelected ? Colors.grey : Colors.grey[800], ), child: Text(exampleNumber.toString()), onPressed: () { Scrollable.ensureVisible( context, duration: const Duration(milliseconds: 350), curve: Curves.easeOut, alignment: 0.5, ); onPressed(); }, ); } } class Example1 extends Example { const Example1({super.key}); @override final code = 'Container(color: red)'; @override final explanation = 'The screen is the parent of the Container, ' 'and it forces the Container to be exactly the same size as the screen.' '\n\n' 'So the Container fills the screen and paints it red.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Container(color: red); } } class Example2 extends Example { const Example2({super.key}); @override final code = 'Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red)'; @override final String explanation = 'The red Container wants to be 100x100, but it can\'t, ' 'because the screen forces it to be exactly the same size as the screen.' '\n\n' 'So the Container fills the screen.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red); } } class Example3 extends Example { const Example3({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red))'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'so the Center fills the screen.' '\n\n' 'The Center tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen.' 'Now the Container can indeed be 100x100.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red), ); } } class Example4 extends Example { const Example4({super.key}); @override final code = 'Align(\n' ' alignment: Alignment.bottomRight,\n' ' child: Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red))'; @override final String explanation = 'This is different from the previous example in that it uses Align instead of Center.' '\n\n' 'Align also tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but if there is empty space it won\'t center the Container. ' 'Instead, it aligns the Container to the bottom-right of the available space.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Align( alignment: Alignment.bottomRight, child: Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red), ); } } class Example5 extends Example { const Example5({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: Container(\n' ' color: red,\n' ' width: double.infinity,\n' ' height: double.infinity))'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'so the Center fills the screen.' '\n\n' 'The Center tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen.' 'The Container wants to be of infinite size, but since it can\'t be bigger than the screen, it just fills the screen.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: Container( width: double.infinity, height: double.infinity, color: red), ); } } class Example6 extends Example { const Example6({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(child: Container(color: red))'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'so the Center fills the screen.' '\n\n' 'The Center tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen.' '\n\n' 'Since the Container has no child and no fixed size, it decides it wants to be as big as possible, so it fills the whole screen.' '\n\n' 'But why does the Container decide that? ' 'Simply because that\'s a design decision by those who created the Container widget. ' 'It could have been created differently, and you have to read the Container documentation to understand how it behaves, depending on the circumstances. '; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: Container(color: red), ); } } class Example7 extends Example { const Example7({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: Container(color: red\n' ' child: Container(color: green, width: 30, height: 30)))'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'so the Center fills the screen.' '\n\n' 'The Center tells the red Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen.' 'Since the red Container has no size but has a child, it decides it wants to be the same size as its child.' '\n\n' 'The red Container tells its child that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen.' '\n\n' 'The child is a green Container that wants to be 30x30.' '\n\n' 'Since the red `Container` has no size but has a child, it decides it wants to be the same size as its child. ' 'The red color isn\'t visible, since the green Container entirely covers all of the red Container.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: Container( color: red, child: Container(color: green, width: 30, height: 30), ), ); } } class Example8 extends Example { const Example8({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: Container(color: red\n' ' padding: const EdgeInsets.all(20),\n' ' child: Container(color: green, width: 30, height: 30)))'; @override final String explanation = 'The red Container sizes itself to its children size, but it takes its own padding into consideration. ' 'So it is also 30x30 plus padding. ' 'The red color is visible because of the padding, and the green Container has the same size as in the previous example.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: Container( padding: const EdgeInsets.all(20), color: red, child: Container(color: green, width: 30, height: 30), ), ); } } class Example9 extends Example { const Example9({super.key}); @override final code = 'ConstrainedBox(\n' ' constraints: BoxConstraints(\n' ' minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70,\n' ' maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150),\n' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 10, height: 10)))'; @override final String explanation = 'You might guess that the Container has to be between 70 and 150 pixels, but you would be wrong. ' 'The ConstrainedBox only imposes ADDITIONAL constraints from those it receives from its parent.' '\n\n' 'Here, the screen forces the ConstrainedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'so it tells its child Container to also assume the size of the screen, ' 'thus ignoring its \'constraints\' parameter.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 10, height: 10), ); } } class Example10 extends Example { const Example10({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: ConstrainedBox(\n' ' constraints: BoxConstraints(\n' ' minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70,\n' ' maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150),\n' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 10, height: 10))))'; @override final String explanation = 'Now, Center allows ConstrainedBox to be any size up to the screen size.' '\n\n' 'The ConstrainedBox imposes ADDITIONAL constraints from its \'constraints\' parameter onto its child.' '\n\n' 'The Container must be between 70 and 150 pixels. It wants to have 10 pixels, so it will end up having 70 (the MINIMUM).'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 10, height: 10), ), ); } } class Example11 extends Example { const Example11({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: ConstrainedBox(\n' ' constraints: BoxConstraints(\n' ' minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70,\n' ' maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150),\n' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 1000, height: 1000))))'; @override final String explanation = 'Center allows ConstrainedBox to be any size up to the screen size.' 'The ConstrainedBox imposes ADDITIONAL constraints from its \'constraints\' parameter onto its child' '\n\n' 'The Container must be between 70 and 150 pixels. It wants to have 1000 pixels, so it ends up having 150 (the MAXIMUM).'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 1000, height: 1000), ), ); } } class Example12 extends Example { const Example12({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: ConstrainedBox(\n' ' constraints: BoxConstraints(\n' ' minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70,\n' ' maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150),\n' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 100, height: 100))))'; @override final String explanation = 'Center allows ConstrainedBox to be any size up to the screen size.' 'ConstrainedBox imposes ADDITIONAL constraints from its \'constraints\' parameter onto its child.' '\n\n' 'The Container must be between 70 and 150 pixels. It wants to have 100 pixels, and that\'s the size it has, since that\'s between 70 and 150.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Center( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 100, height: 100), ), ); } } class Example13 extends Example { const Example13({super.key}); @override final code = 'UnconstrainedBox(\n' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 20, height: 50));'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the UnconstrainedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen.' 'However, the UnconstrainedBox lets its child Container be any size it wants.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return UnconstrainedBox( child: Container(color: red, width: 20, height: 50), ); } } class Example14 extends Example { const Example14({super.key}); @override final code = 'UnconstrainedBox(\n' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 4000, height: 50));'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the UnconstrainedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'and UnconstrainedBox lets its child Container be any size it wants.' '\n\n' 'Unfortunately, in this case the Container has 4000 pixels of width and is too big to fit in the UnconstrainedBox, ' 'so the UnconstrainedBox displays the much dreaded "overflow warning".'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return UnconstrainedBox( child: Container(color: red, width: 4000, height: 50), ); } } class Example15 extends Example { const Example15({super.key}); @override final code = 'OverflowBox(\n' ' minWidth: 0,' ' minHeight: 0,' ' maxWidth: double.infinity,' ' maxHeight: double.infinity,' ' child: Container(color: red, width: 4000, height: 50));'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the OverflowBox to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'and OverflowBox lets its child Container be any size it wants.' '\n\n' 'OverflowBox is similar to UnconstrainedBox, and the difference is that it won\'t display any warnings if the child doesn\'t fit the space.' '\n\n' 'In this case the Container is 4000 pixels wide, and is too big to fit in the OverflowBox, ' 'but the OverflowBox simply shows as much as it can, with no warnings given.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return OverflowBox( minWidth: 0, minHeight: 0, maxWidth: double.infinity, maxHeight: double.infinity, child: Container(color: red, width: 4000, height: 50), ); } } class Example16 extends Example { const Example16({super.key}); @override final code = 'UnconstrainedBox(\n' ' child: Container(color: Colors.red, width: double.infinity, height: 100));'; @override final String explanation = 'This won\'t render anything, and you\'ll see an error in the console.' '\n\n' 'The UnconstrainedBox lets its child be any size it wants, ' 'however its child is a Container with infinite size.' '\n\n' 'Flutter can\'t render infinite sizes, so it throws an error with the following message: ' '"BoxConstraints forces an infinite width."'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return UnconstrainedBox( child: Container(color: Colors.red, width: double.infinity, height: 100), ); } } class Example17 extends Example { const Example17({super.key}); @override final code = 'UnconstrainedBox(\n' ' child: LimitedBox(maxWidth: 100,\n' ' child: Container(color: Colors.red,\n' ' width: double.infinity, height: 100));'; @override final String explanation = 'Here you won\'t get an error anymore, ' 'because when the LimitedBox is given an infinite size by the UnconstrainedBox, ' 'it passes a maximum width of 100 down to its child.' '\n\n' 'If you swap the UnconstrainedBox for a Center widget, ' 'the LimitedBox won\'t apply its limit anymore (since its limit is only applied when it gets infinite constraints), ' 'and the width of the Container is allowed to grow past 100.' '\n\n' 'This explains the difference between a LimitedBox and a ConstrainedBox.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return UnconstrainedBox( child: LimitedBox( maxWidth: 100, child: Container( color: Colors.red, width: double.infinity, height: 100, ), ), ); } } class Example18 extends Example { const Example18({super.key}); @override final code = 'FittedBox(\n' ' child: Text(\'Some Example Text.\'));'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the FittedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen.' 'The Text has some natural width (also called its intrinsic width) that depends on the amount of text, its font size, and so on.' '\n\n' 'The FittedBox lets the Text be any size it wants, ' 'but after the Text tells its size to the FittedBox, ' 'the FittedBox scales the Text until it fills all of the available width.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return const FittedBox( child: Text('Some Example Text.'), ); } } class Example19 extends Example { const Example19({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: FittedBox(\n' ' child: Text(\'Some Example Text.\')));'; @override final String explanation = 'But what happens if you put the FittedBox inside of a Center widget? ' 'The Center lets the FittedBox be any size it wants, up to the screen size.' '\n\n' 'The FittedBox then sizes itself to the Text, and lets the Text be any size it wants.' '\n\n' 'Since both FittedBox and the Text have the same size, no scaling happens.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return const Center( child: FittedBox( child: Text('Some Example Text.'), ), ); } } class Example20 extends Example { const Example20({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: FittedBox(\n' ' child: Text(\'…\')));'; @override final String explanation = 'However, what happens if FittedBox is inside of a Center widget, but the Text is too large to fit the screen?' '\n\n' 'FittedBox tries to size itself to the Text, but it can\'t be bigger than the screen. ' 'It then assumes the screen size, and resizes Text so that it fits the screen, too.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return const Center( child: FittedBox( child: Text( 'This is some very very very large text that is too big to fit a regular screen in a single line.'), ), ); } } class Example21 extends Example { const Example21({super.key}); @override final code = 'Center(\n' ' child: Text(\'…\'));'; @override final String explanation = 'If, however, you remove the FittedBox, ' 'the Text gets its maximum width from the screen, ' 'and breaks the line so that it fits the screen.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return const Center( child: Text( 'This is some very very very large text that is too big to fit a regular screen in a single line.'), ); } } class Example22 extends Example { const Example22({super.key}); @override final code = 'FittedBox(\n' ' child: Container(\n' ' height: 20, width: double.infinity));'; @override final String explanation = 'FittedBox can only scale a widget that is BOUNDED (has non-infinite width and height).' 'Otherwise, it won\'t render anything, and you\'ll see an error in the console.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return FittedBox( child: Container( height: 20, width: double.infinity, color: Colors.red, ), ); } } class Example23 extends Example { const Example23({super.key}); @override final code = 'Row(children:[\n' ' Container(color: red, child: Text(\'Hello!\'))\n' ' Container(color: green, child: Text(\'Goodbye!\'))]'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the Row to be exactly the same size as the screen.' '\n\n' 'Just like an UnconstrainedBox, the Row won\'t impose any constraints onto its children, ' 'and instead lets them be any size they want.' '\n\n' 'The Row then puts them side-by-side, and any extra space remains empty.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Row( children: [ Container(color: red, child: const Text('Hello!', style: big)), Container(color: green, child: const Text('Goodbye!', style: big)), ], ); } } class Example24 extends Example { const Example24({super.key}); @override final code = 'Row(children:[\n' ' Container(color: red, child: Text(\'…\'))\n' ' Container(color: green, child: Text(\'Goodbye!\'))]'; @override final String explanation = 'Since the Row won\'t impose any constraints onto its children, ' 'it\'s quite possible that the children might be too big to fit the available width of the Row.' 'In this case, just like an UnconstrainedBox, the Row displays the "overflow warning".'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Row( children: [ Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that ' 'won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), Container(color: green, child: const Text('Goodbye!', style: big)), ], ); } } class Example25 extends Example { const Example25({super.key}); @override final code = 'Row(children:[\n' ' Expanded(\n' ' child: Container(color: red, child: Text(\'…\')))\n' ' Container(color: green, child: Text(\'Goodbye!\'))]'; @override final String explanation = 'When a Row\'s child is wrapped in an Expanded widget, the Row won\'t let this child define its own width anymore.' '\n\n' 'Instead, it defines the Expanded width according to the other children, and only then the Expanded widget forces the original child to have the Expanded\'s width.' '\n\n' 'In other words, once you use Expanded, the original child\'s width becomes irrelevant, and is ignored.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Row( children: [ Expanded( child: Center( child: Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), ), ), Container(color: green, child: const Text('Goodbye!', style: big)), ], ); } } class Example26 extends Example { const Example26({super.key}); @override final code = 'Row(children:[\n' ' Expanded(\n' ' child: Container(color: red, child: Text(\'…\')))\n' ' Expanded(\n' ' child: Container(color: green, child: Text(\'Goodbye!\'))]'; @override final String explanation = 'If all of Row\'s children are wrapped in Expanded widgets, each Expanded has a size proportional to its flex parameter, ' 'and only then each Expanded widget forces its child to have the Expanded\'s width.' '\n\n' 'In other words, Expanded ignores the preferred width of its children.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Row( children: [ Expanded( child: Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), ), Expanded( child: Container( color: green, child: const Text( 'Goodbye!', style: big, ), ), ), ], ); } } class Example27 extends Example { const Example27({super.key}); @override final code = 'Row(children:[\n' ' Flexible(\n' ' child: Container(color: red, child: Text(\'…\')))\n' ' Flexible(\n' ' child: Container(color: green, child: Text(\'Goodbye!\'))]'; @override final String explanation = 'The only difference if you use Flexible instead of Expanded, ' 'is that Flexible lets its child be SMALLER than the Flexible width, ' 'while Expanded forces its child to have the same width of the Expanded.' '\n\n' 'But both Expanded and Flexible ignore their children\'s width when sizing themselves.' '\n\n' 'This means that it\'s IMPOSSIBLE to expand Row children proportionally to their sizes. ' 'The Row either uses the exact child\'s width, or ignores it completely when you use Expanded or Flexible.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Row( children: [ Flexible( child: Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), ), Flexible( child: Container( color: green, child: const Text( 'Goodbye!', style: big, ), ), ), ], ); } } class Example28 extends Example { const Example28({super.key}); @override final code = 'Scaffold(\n' ' body: Container(color: blue,\n' ' child: Column(\n' ' children: [\n' ' Text(\'Hello!\'),\n' ' Text(\'Goodbye!\')])))'; @override final String explanation = 'The screen forces the Scaffold to be exactly the same size as the screen, ' 'so the Scaffold fills the screen.' '\n\n' 'The Scaffold tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen.' '\n\n' 'When a widget tells its child that it can be smaller than a certain size, ' 'we say the widget supplies "loose" constraints to its child. More on that later.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Scaffold( body: Container( color: blue, child: const Column( children: [ Text('Hello!'), Text('Goodbye!'), ], ), ), ); } } class Example29 extends Example { const Example29({super.key}); @override final code = 'Scaffold(\n' ' body: Container(color: blue,\n' ' child: SizedBox.expand(\n' ' child: Column(\n' ' children: [\n' ' Text(\'Hello!\'),\n' ' Text(\'Goodbye!\')]))))'; @override final String explanation = 'If you want the Scaffold\'s child to be exactly the same size as the Scaffold itself, ' 'you can wrap its child with SizedBox.expand.' '\n\n' 'When a widget tells its child that it must be of a certain size, ' 'we say the widget supplies "tight" constraints to its child. More on that later.'; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Scaffold( body: SizedBox.expand( child: Container( color: blue, child: const Column( children: [ Text('Hello!'), Text('Goodbye!'), ], ), ), ), ); } } If you prefer, you can grab the code from this GitHub repo. The examples are explained in the following sections. Example 1 Container(color: red) The screen is the parent of the Container, and it forces the Container to be exactly the same size as the screen. So the Container fills the screen and paints it red. Example 2 Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red) The red Container wants to be 100 × 100, but it can’t, because the screen forces it to be exactly the same size as the screen. So the Container fills the screen. Example 3 Center( child: Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red), ) The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, so the Center fills the screen. The Center tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen. Now the Container can indeed be 100 × 100. Example 4 Align( alignment: Alignment.bottomRight, child: Container(width: 100, height: 100, color: red), ) This is different from the previous example in that it uses Align instead of Center. Align also tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but if there is empty space it won’t center the Container. Instead, it aligns the container to the bottom-right of the available space. Example 5 Center( child: Container( width: double.infinity, height: double.infinity, color: red), ) The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, so the Center fills the screen. The Center tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen. The Container wants to be of infinite size, but since it can’t be bigger than the screen, it just fills the screen. Example 6 Center( child: Container(color: red), ) The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, so the Center fills the screen. The Center tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen. Since the Container has no child and no fixed size, it decides it wants to be as big as possible, so it fills the whole screen. But why does the Container decide that? Simply because that’s a design decision by those who created the Container widget. It could have been created differently, and you have to read the Container API documentation to understand how it behaves, depending on the circumstances. Example 7 Center( child: Container( color: red, child: Container(color: green, width: 30, height: 30), ), ) The screen forces the Center to be exactly the same size as the screen, so the Center fills the screen. The Center tells the red Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen. Since the red Container has no size but has a child, it decides it wants to be the same size as its child. The red Container tells its child that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen. The child is a green Container that wants to be 30 × 30. Given that the red Container sizes itself to the size of its child, it is also 30 × 30. The red color isn’t visible because the green Container entirely covers the red Container. Example 8 Center( child: Container( padding: const EdgeInsets.all(20), color: red, child: Container(color: green, width: 30, height: 30), ), ) The red Container sizes itself to its children’s size, but it takes its own padding into consideration. So it is also 30 × 30 plus padding. The red color is visible because of the padding, and the green Container has the same size as in the previous example. Example 9 ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 10, height: 10), ) You might guess that the Container has to be between 70 and 150 pixels, but you would be wrong. The ConstrainedBox only imposes additional constraints from those it receives from its parent. Here, the screen forces the ConstrainedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen, so it tells its child Container to also assume the size of the screen, thus ignoring its constraints parameter. Example 10 Center( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 10, height: 10), ), ) Now, Center allows ConstrainedBox to be any size up to the screen size. The ConstrainedBox imposes additional constraints from its constraints parameter onto its child. The Container must be between 70 and 150 pixels. It wants to have 10 pixels, so it ends up having 70 (the minimum). Example 11 Center( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 1000, height: 1000), ), ) Center allows ConstrainedBox to be any size up to the screen size. The ConstrainedBox imposes additional constraints from its constraints parameter onto its child. The Container must be between 70 and 150 pixels. It wants to have 1000 pixels, so it ends up having 150 (the maximum). Example 12 Center( child: ConstrainedBox( constraints: const BoxConstraints( minWidth: 70, minHeight: 70, maxWidth: 150, maxHeight: 150, ), child: Container(color: red, width: 100, height: 100), ), ) Center allows ConstrainedBox to be any size up to the screen size. The ConstrainedBox imposes additional constraints from its constraints parameter onto its child. The Container must be between 70 and 150 pixels. It wants to have 100 pixels, and that’s the size it has, since that’s between 70 and 150. Example 13 UnconstrainedBox( child: Container(color: red, width: 20, height: 50), ) The screen forces the UnconstrainedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen. However, the UnconstrainedBox lets its child Container be any size it wants. Example 14 UnconstrainedBox( child: Container(color: red, width: 4000, height: 50), ) The screen forces the UnconstrainedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen, and UnconstrainedBox lets its child Container be any size it wants. Unfortunately, in this case the Container is 4000 pixels wide and is too big to fit in the UnconstrainedBox, so the UnconstrainedBox displays the much dreaded “overflow warning”. Example 15 OverflowBox( minWidth: 0, minHeight: 0, maxWidth: double.infinity, maxHeight: double.infinity, child: Container(color: red, width: 4000, height: 50), ) The screen forces the OverflowBox to be exactly the same size as the screen, and OverflowBox lets its child Container be any size it wants. OverflowBox is similar to UnconstrainedBox; the difference is that it won’t display any warnings if the child doesn’t fit the space. In this case, the Container has 4000 pixels of width, and is too big to fit in the OverflowBox, but the OverflowBox simply shows as much as it can, with no warnings given. Example 16 UnconstrainedBox( child: Container(color: Colors.red, width: double.infinity, height: 100), ) This won’t render anything, and you’ll see an error in the console. The UnconstrainedBox lets its child be any size it wants, however its child is a Container with infinite size. Flutter can’t render infinite sizes, so it throws an error with the following message: BoxConstraints forces an infinite width. Example 17 UnconstrainedBox( child: LimitedBox( maxWidth: 100, child: Container( color: Colors.red, width: double.infinity, height: 100, ), ), ) Here you won’t get an error anymore, because when the LimitedBox is given an infinite size by the UnconstrainedBox; it passes a maximum width of 100 down to its child. If you swap the UnconstrainedBox for a Center widget, the LimitedBox won’t apply its limit anymore (since its limit is only applied when it gets infinite constraints), and the width of the Container is allowed to grow past 100. This explains the difference between a LimitedBox and a ConstrainedBox. Example 18 const FittedBox( child: Text('Some Example Text.'), ) The screen forces the FittedBox to be exactly the same size as the screen. The Text has some natural width (also called its intrinsic width) that depends on the amount of text, its font size, and so on. The FittedBox lets the Text be any size it wants, but after the Text tells its size to the FittedBox, the FittedBox scales the Text until it fills all of the available width. Example 19 const Center( child: FittedBox( child: Text('Some Example Text.'), ), ) But what happens if you put the FittedBox inside of a Center widget? The Center lets the FittedBox be any size it wants, up to the screen size. The FittedBox then sizes itself to the Text, and lets the Text be any size it wants. Since both FittedBox and the Text have the same size, no scaling happens. Example 20 const Center( child: FittedBox( child: Text( 'This is some very very very large text that is too big to fit a regular screen in a single line.'), ), ) However, what happens if FittedBox is inside of a Center widget, but the Text is too large to fit the screen? FittedBox tries to size itself to the Text, but it can’t be bigger than the screen. It then assumes the screen size, and resizes Text so that it fits the screen, too. Example 21 const Center( child: Text( 'This is some very very very large text that is too big to fit a regular screen in a single line.'), ) If, however, you remove the FittedBox, the Text gets its maximum width from the screen, and breaks the line so that it fits the screen. Example 22 FittedBox( child: Container( height: 20, width: double.infinity, color: Colors.red, ), ) FittedBox can only scale a widget that is bounded (has non-infinite width and height). Otherwise, it won’t render anything, and you’ll see an error in the console. Example 23 Row( children: [ Container(color: red, child: const Text('Hello!', style: big)), Container(color: green, child: const Text('Goodbye!', style: big)), ], ) The screen forces the Row to be exactly the same size as the screen. Just like an UnconstrainedBox, the Row won’t impose any constraints onto its children, and instead lets them be any size they want. The Row then puts them side-by-side, and any extra space remains empty. Example 24 Row( children: [ Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that ' 'won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), Container(color: green, child: const Text('Goodbye!', style: big)), ], ) Since Row won’t impose any constraints onto its children, it’s quite possible that the children might be too big to fit the available width of the Row. In this case, just like an UnconstrainedBox, the Row displays the “overflow warning”. Example 25 Row( children: [ Expanded( child: Center( child: Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), ), ), Container(color: green, child: const Text('Goodbye!', style: big)), ], ) When a Row’s child is wrapped in an Expanded widget, the Row won’t let this child define its own width anymore. Instead, it defines the Expanded width according to the other children, and only then the Expanded widget forces the original child to have the Expanded’s width. In other words, once you use Expanded, the original child’s width becomes irrelevant, and is ignored. Example 26 Row( children: [ Expanded( child: Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), ), Expanded( child: Container( color: green, child: const Text( 'Goodbye!', style: big, ), ), ), ], ) If all of Row’s children are wrapped in Expanded widgets, each Expanded has a size proportional to its flex parameter, and only then each Expanded widget forces its child to have the Expanded’s width. In other words, Expanded ignores the preferred width of its children. Example 27 Row( children: [ Flexible( child: Container( color: red, child: const Text( 'This is a very long text that won\'t fit the line.', style: big, ), ), ), Flexible( child: Container( color: green, child: const Text( 'Goodbye!', style: big, ), ), ), ], ) The only difference if you use Flexible instead of Expanded, is that Flexible lets its child have the same or smaller width than the Flexible itself, while Expanded forces its child to have the exact same width of the Expanded. But both Expanded and Flexible ignore their children’s width when sizing themselves. info Note This means that it’s impossible to expand Row children proportionally to their sizes. The Row either uses the exact child’s width, or ignores it completely when you use Expanded or Flexible. Example 28 Scaffold( body: Container( color: blue, child: const Column( children: [ Text('Hello!'), Text('Goodbye!'), ], ), ), ) The screen forces the Scaffold to be exactly the same size as the screen, so the Scaffold fills the screen. The Scaffold tells the Container that it can be any size it wants, but not bigger than the screen. info Note When a widget tells its child that it can be smaller than a certain size, we say the widget supplies loose constraints to its child. More on that later. Example 29 Scaffold( body: SizedBox.expand( child: Container( color: blue, child: const Column( children: [ Text('Hello!'), Text('Goodbye!'), ], ), ), ), ) If you want the Scaffold’s child to be exactly the same size as the Scaffold itself, you can wrap its child with SizedBox.expand. Tight vs loose constraints It’s very common to hear that some constraint is “tight” or “loose”, so what does that mean? Tight constraints A tight constraint offers a single possibility, an exact size. In other words, a tight constraint has its maximum width equal to its minimum width; and has its maximum height equal to its minimum height. An example of this is the App widget, which is contained by the RenderView class: the box used by the child returned by the application’s build function is given a constraint that forces it to exactly fill the application’s content area (typically, the entire screen). Another example: if you nest a bunch of boxes inside each other at the root of your application’s render tree, they’ll all exactly fit in each other, forced by the box’s tight constraints. If you go to Flutter’s box.dart file and search for the BoxConstraints constructors, you’ll find the following: If you revisit Example 2, the screen forces the red Container to be exactly the same size as the screen. The screen achieves that, of course, by passing tight constraints to the Container. Loose constraints A loose constraint is one that has a minimum of zero and a maximum non-zero. Some boxes loosen the incoming constraints, meaning the maximum is maintained but the minimum is removed, so the widget can have a minimum width and height both equal to zero. Ultimately, Center’s purpose is to transform the tight constraints it received from its parent (the screen) to loose constraints for its child (the Container). If you revisit Example 3, the Center allows the red Container to be smaller, but not bigger than the screen. Unbounded constraints info Note You might be directed here if the framework detects a problem involving box constraints. The Flex section below might also apply. In certain situations, a box’s constraint is unbounded, or infinite. This means that either the maximum width or the maximum height is set to double.infinity. A box that tries to be as big as possible won’t function usefully when given an unbounded constraint and, in debug mode, throws an exception. The most common case where a render box ends up with an unbounded constraint is within a flex box (Row or Column), and within a scrollable region (such as ListView and other ScrollView subclasses). ListView, for example, tries to expand to fit the space available in its cross-direction (perhaps it’s a vertically-scrolling block and tries to be as wide as its parent). If you nest a vertically scrolling ListView inside a horizontally scrolling ListView, the inner list tries to be as wide as possible, which is infinitely wide, since the outer one is scrollable in that direction. The next section describes the error you might encounter with unbounded constraints in a Flex widget. Flex A flex box (Row and Column) behaves differently depending on whether its constraint is bounded or unbounded in its primary direction. A flex box with a bounded constraint in its primary direction tries to be as big as possible. A flex box with an unbounded constraint in its primary direction tries to fit its children in that space. Each child’s flex value must be set to zero, meaning that you can’t use Expanded when the flex box is inside another flex box or a scrollable; otherwise it throws an exception. The cross direction (width for Column or height for Row), must never be unbounded, or it can’t reasonably align its children.