DefaultTextEditingShortcuts class

A widget with the shortcuts used for the default text editing behavior.

This default behavior can be overridden by placing a Shortcuts widget lower in the widget tree than this. See the Action class for an example of remapping an Intent to a custom Action.

The Shortcuts widget usually takes precedence over system keybindings. Proceed with caution if the shortcut you wish to override is also used by the system. For example, overriding LogicalKeyboardKey.backspace could cause CJK input methods to discard more text than they should when the backspace key is pressed during text composition on iOS.

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.

This example shows how to use an additional Shortcuts widget to override some default text editing keyboard shortcuts to have new behavior. Instead of moving the cursor, alt + up/down will change the focused widget.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  // If using WidgetsApp or its descendants MaterialApp or CupertinoApp,
  // then DefaultTextEditingShortcuts is already being inserted into the
  // widget tree.
  return const DefaultTextEditingShortcuts(
    child: Center(
      child: Shortcuts(
        shortcuts: <ShortcutActivator, Intent>{
          SingleActivator(LogicalKeyboardKey.arrowDown, alt: true): NextFocusIntent(),
          SingleActivator(LogicalKeyboardKey.arrowUp, alt: true): PreviousFocusIntent(),
        },
        child: Column(
          children: <Widget>[
            TextField(
              decoration: InputDecoration(
                hintText: 'alt + down moves to the next field.',
              ),
            ),
            TextField(
              decoration: InputDecoration(
                hintText: 'And alt + up moves to the previous.',
              ),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    ),
  );
}

This example shows how to use an additional Shortcuts widget to override default text editing shortcuts to have completely custom behavior defined by a custom Intent and Action. Here, the up/down arrow keys increment/decrement a counter instead of moving the cursor.

class IncrementCounterIntent extends Intent {}
class DecrementCounterIntent extends Intent {}

class MyWidget extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyWidget({ super.key });

  @override
  MyWidgetState createState() => MyWidgetState();
}

class MyWidgetState extends State<MyWidget> {

  int _counter = 0;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    // If using WidgetsApp or its descendants MaterialApp or CupertinoApp,
    // then DefaultTextEditingShortcuts is already being inserted into the
    // widget tree.
    return DefaultTextEditingShortcuts(
      child: Center(
        child: Column(
          mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
          children: <Widget>[
            const Text(
              'You have pushed the button this many times:',
            ),
            Text(
              '$_counter',
              style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.headlineMedium,
            ),
            Shortcuts(
              shortcuts: <ShortcutActivator, Intent>{
                const SingleActivator(LogicalKeyboardKey.arrowUp): IncrementCounterIntent(),
                const SingleActivator(LogicalKeyboardKey.arrowDown): DecrementCounterIntent(),
              },
              child: Actions(
                actions: <Type, Action<Intent>>{
                  IncrementCounterIntent: CallbackAction<IncrementCounterIntent>(
                    onInvoke: (IncrementCounterIntent intent) {
                      setState(() {
                        _counter++;
                      });
                      return null;
                    },
                  ),
                  DecrementCounterIntent: CallbackAction<DecrementCounterIntent>(
                    onInvoke: (DecrementCounterIntent intent) {
                      setState(() {
                        _counter--;
                      });
                      return null;
                    },
                  ),
                },
                child: const TextField(
                  maxLines: 2,
                  decoration: InputDecoration(
                    hintText: 'Up/down increment/decrement here.',
                  ),
                ),
              ),
            ),
            const TextField(
              maxLines: 2,
              decoration: InputDecoration(
                hintText: 'Up/down behave normally here.',
              ),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Constructors

DefaultTextEditingShortcuts({Key? key, required Widget child}): Creates a DefaultTextEditingShortcuts widget that provides the default text editing shortcuts on the current platform.
const

Properties

child → Widget: This widget can only have one child. To lay out multiple children, let this widget's child be a widget such as Row, Column, or Stack, which have a children property, and then provide the children to that widget.
final
hashCode → int: The hash code for this object.
no setterinherited
key → Key?: Controls how one widget replaces another widget in the tree.
finalinherited
runtimeType → Type: A representation of the runtime type of the object.
no setterinherited

Methods

build(BuildContext context) → Widget: Describes the part of the user interface represented by this widget.
override
createElement() → StatelessElement: Creates a StatelessElement to manage this widget's location in the tree.
inherited
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.
inherited
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