Flutter Overflow Fixes: Simple guide to overflow🚀

Introduction ✍🏻

The distribution of elements on the screen makes the application look consistent. Today, we will focus on the topic of handling overflow errors.

Table of contents

1- What is overflow?

2- Types of overflow in flutter.

3- Text Overflow.

4- Conclusion.

What is overflow? 🤔

Knowing that there are different sizes of phones, we should ensure our application is responsive. Consequently, when the content exceeds the space on the page, it leads to overflow. This can lead to content being cut off or extending beyond its container, making the shape inaccurate.

There are several types of overflow in Flutter 📝

• Text overflow.

• widget overflow.

• Flex overflow.

• List overflow.

• Overflow bar.

• Scaffold overflow.

In today’s discussion, we will focus on text overflow.

What is text Overflow?🔎

Placing any text on the page results in different sizes, as we work with various device dimensions. Especially since the text won’t be alone, we’ll have images and icons. This can cause an overflow if the text size and the screen are small, creating a visual issue. Therefore, we need to ensure that the text size we choose is suitable for all devices and consistent with the overall design of our application.

Let’s see what Flutter offers to solve this problem.

There is a property in the Text widget called overflow, it controls what happens if the text exceeds the space that allows it and it takes other properties with it to show correctly.

Max lines property :

This sets the number of lines the text can span if its size exceeds the width of the screen, and it takes integer values.

Softwrap property:

This determines whether the text can wrap onto multiple lines or stay on a single line, and it takes a Boolean value.

False: means that if the text exceeds the screen width, it will not wrap to a new line.

True: means that if the text exceeds the screen width, it can wrap onto multiple lines as appropriate for the screen size.

Now let’s see the different values to overflow property and how can we use it!

• Overflow.ellipses:
  When an overflow occurs, I make the remaining text appear as dots (….).

• overflow.visible:
  Here it will make the text appear entirely even if it exceeds the container’s bounds, which can distort the page layout if there are other elements underneath. We should use it correctly according to our needs.

• Overflow.fade:
  Makes the text fade out gradually if it exceeds a specified space, ensuring it doesn’t abruptly cut off and potentially disrupt the page layout.

• Overflow.clip:
  Cuts off any extra text that exceeds the specified space, ensuring it doesn’t display beyond the container’s boundaries.

• Overflow.values:
  Displays a list of all possible values for the TextOverflow property.

Let’s take an example:

Here, if the text exceeds its bounds, I tell it to display on two lines. However, if it goes beyond these two lines, I instruct it to show “…..” at the end of the text, hiding the rest of it.

Now, with SoftWrap set to false, it means the text adjusts to the specified number of lines without any spaces. If we set it to true, it still adjusts to the specified number of lines but includes spaces between them.

In practice, there isn’t much difference between true and false because in both cases, if it exceeds two lines, it will display “…..”. However, this is just in appearance.

Remember, if you use maxLines alone without overflow, it will give you an error.

Output

So when do we use softWrap property?

We can use softWrap with text and set its value to true without specifying maxLines. In this case, the text will naturally wrap to fit the screen size, adapting to different device sizes. This is useful when displaying product descriptions, writing articles, or any paragraph.

If we set it to false, we ensure that the text does not wrap onto multiple lines and remains on a single line, which is useful for titles or labels.

For example:

Output

If I want the text to have scrolling, or if part of it should be truncated and moved to the next line, or even if it shouldn’t be displayed at all, then here I use overflow with maxLines. It’s preferable that softWrap be set to false.

Here’s the output for the examples we discussed before of overflow values.

Certainly, the text will typically be inside other widgets like Rows or Columns, and it will have a font size. Here, overflow can occur if the font size is large and the screen size is small.

Here, we can use Expanded and use overflow normally with it, and if we also set maxLines, it’s okay according to the desired layout.

Alternatively, using FittedBox with Expanded and setting fit: BoxFit.scaleDown, it adjusts the font size based on the screen size, scaling it down if it’s too large.

Here, if I set maxLines, it won’t do anything and will ignore it because fit continues to scale down the font size to keep it on one line.

Output

There’s another package called autosize_text:

It allows you to adjust the font appearance and specify a minimum font size so that it doesn’t shrink below a certain value. This package can be explored further for more details. Still, of course, it’s better to manually adjust the font size yourself to avoid reducing your application’s performance caused by additional packages.

https://pub.dev/packages/auto_size_text

Conclusion

You can follow different sequences to fix the overflowing text issue while preparing the UI for your Flutter app. Taking the help of the right team of experts should help you with the process.

And that’s how we handle Text Overflow. Remember to use each property according to your UI needs and how you’re building it. Insha’Allah, we’ll talk about the remaining types in other articles.

If there are any additions or other methods, remember to share them with us in the comments!🌟

Connect with me on LinkedIn and GitHub for more articles and insights. If you have questions, contact me.👀

https://linktr.ee/rowan_ibrahim

See you on the new topic!🌟