Handling Soft Keyboard Behavior in Flutter

In mobile app development, managing soft keyboard behavior is crucial for delivering a smooth and user-friendly experience. This blog will explore handling soft keyboard behavior in Flutter.

When working with Flutter, handling keyboard interactions such as dismissing the keyboard, ensuring it doesn’t obstruct input fields, and managing focus enhances the overall app experience.

Handling Soft Keyboard Behavior in Flutter

Understanding the Problem

When the soft keyboard appears, it can cover important parts of the UI, particularly text fields. This issue is prevalent when input forms are placed near the bottom of the screen.

As users type, they may find that they cannot see what they are entering, leading to frustration.

To address this, developers must ensure that their UI adapts dynamically to the keyboard’s presence.

1. Dismissing the Keyboard with Tap Outside

To manage soft keyboard behavior is by dismissing it when the user taps outside of an input field. By default, Flutter doesn’t automatically hide the keyboard when a tap occurs outside the text field.

GestureDetector(

onTap: () {

FocusScope.of(context).unfocus();

child: Scaffold(

appBar: AppBar(title: Text("Keyboard Dismiss Example")),

body: Center(child: TextField()),

);

The FocusScope.of(context).unfocus() method removes the focus from the currently focused widget, thereby hiding the keyboard.

2. Using MediaQuery

MediaQuery allows you to adjust your layout based on the keyboard’s height. By modifying padding or margins dynamically, you can ensure that input fields remain visible.

Container(

padding: EdgeInsets.only(bottom: MediaQuery.of(context).viewInsets.bottom),

child: TextField(),

);

In the above code snippet, the bottom padding of a container is based on the keyboard’s height, ensuring that the text field remains accessible.

3. Managing Scroll Behavior

When the keyboard appears, you might want the form or input fields to remain accessible.

Wrapping the content in a SingleChildScrollView ensures that the user can scroll through the form even when the keyboard is visible.

SingleChildScrollView(

child: Column(

children: [

TextField(),

// Other widgets

);

This allows users to navigate through long forms without being obstructed by the keyboard.

4. Using KeyboardVisibility Package

To detect when the keyboard is shown or hidden, you can use the keyboard_visibility package. This helps trigger UI changes based on the keyboard’s visibility status.

import 'package:keyboard_visibility/keyboard_visibility.dart';

KeyboardVisibilityNotification().addListener(() {

if (KeyboardVisibilityNotification().isKeyboardVisible()) {

print("Keyboard is visible");

} else {

print("Keyboard is hidden");

}

});

This is useful for triggering animations or adjusting the UI when the keyboard visibility changes.

5. Customizing Keyboard Behavior with TextInputFormatter

Flutter provides TextInputFormatter to customize input behavior. For example, you can restrict the keyboard to allow only numbers or specific characters.

TextField(

inputFormatters: [

FilteringTextInputFormatter.digitsOnly, // Only numbers

)

This ensures users input only the allowed characters, making the keyboard behavior fit specific needs.

6. Handling Keyboard in Full-Screen Modes

In apps where you may want full-screen mode (media players or games), you might not want the keyboard to appear.

Flutter provides a way to hide the system UI elements, including the keyboard, using SystemChrome.setEnabledSystemUIOverlays([]).

import 'package:flutter/services.dart';

SystemChrome.setEnabledSystemUIOverlays([]);

You can re-enable system UI elements with:

1	SystemChrome.setEnabledSystemUIOverlays(SystemUiOverlay.values);

This is useful when you need to temporarily hide the keyboard in full-screen apps.

Output