Mastering User Input and Navigation in Flutter: A Comprehensive Guide

Ahmed El Otmani
3 min readFeb 14, 2023

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Handling User Input and Navigation In Flutter

Every app needs to manage user input and navigation, and Flutter offers a comprehensive set of capabilities for doing so. In this article, we’ll look at how to handle user input and move between screens in a Flutter app.

User Input

To collect user input, Flutter offers a variety of widgets, including text fields, buttons, checkboxes, and radio buttons. Examples of how to incorporate these widgets into your app are provided below:

Text Field

Text input from the user is captured via text fields. The TextField widget can be used to create a text field:

TextField(
decoration: InputDecoration(
hintText: 'Enter your name',
),
)

In this example, we’re creating a text field with a hint text that tells the user what to enter.

Button

When a user taps a button, an action is initiated. The RaisedButton widget can be used to generate buttons:

RaisedButton(
onPressed: () {
// Do something when the button is pressed.
},
child: Text('Press me'),
)

In this example, we’re making a button that, when pressed, does an action.

Checkbox

The user can choose one or more things from a list using checkboxes. You may use the Checkbox widget to generate a checkbox:

Checkbox(
value: true,
onChanged: (bool newValue) {
// Do something when the checkbox value changes.
},
)

In this example above, we’re creating a checkbox that is initially checked and triggers an action when the value changes.

Radio Button

The user can choose one item from a list of options using radio buttons. You may use the Radio widget to make a radio button:

Radio(
value: 1,
groupValue: _selectedValue,
onChanged: (int newValue) {
setState(() {
_selectedValue = newValue;
});
},
)

Here we’re making a radio button with the value 1 that, when its value changes, performs an action.

Navigation

You may control how your app navigates between screens by using the Navigator widget that Flutter offers. This is how to apply it:

Navigate to a new screen

The Navigator.push() method can be used to move to a new screen:

Navigator.push(
context,
MaterialPageRoute(builder: (context) => MyNewScreen()),
);

In this example, we’re navigating to a new screen called MyNewScreen.

Navigate back to the previous screen

As for navigating back to the previous screen, you can use the Navigator.pop() method:

Navigator.pop(context);

By this, we’re navigating back to the previous screen.

Pass data between screens

To pass data between screens, you can use the arguments parameter in the Navigator.push() method:

Navigator.push(
context,
MaterialPageRoute(builder: (context) => MyNewScreen(data: myData)),
);

As presented, we’re passing a variable called myData to the new screen.

Receive data from the previous screen

To receive data from the previous screen, you can use the ModalRoute.of() method:

final MyData data = ModalRoute.of(context).settings.arguments;

In this example, we’re receiving a variable called data from the previous screen.

Conclusion

We looked at how to manage user input and navigation in a Flutter app in this article. You may collect user input for your app by utilizing widgets like text fields, buttons, checkboxes, and radio buttons. Additionally, you may control screen switching and transport information across them by using the Navigator widget.

Thank you for reading this article on handling user input and navigation in Flutter. I hope that this article was helpful and informative for you. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. Also, don’t forget to clap if you found this article useful. Your support and feedback keep me motivated to continue writing helpful content.

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Ahmed El Otmani
Ahmed El Otmani

Written by Ahmed El Otmani

I am a Flutter developer creating intuitive mobile apps. I am passionate about learning and sharing knowledge on software development.

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