Flutter Layout Row / Column - share width, expand height

Question

I'm still having a bit of trouble with the layouting in Flutter.
Right now I want to have the available space shared between 3 widgets, in a quadrant layout. The width is evenly shared (this works fine via 2 Expanded widgets in a Row), but now I also want the height to adjust automatically so widget3.height == widget1.height + widget2.height. If the content of widget3 is larger, I want widget1 and widget2 to adjust their height and vice versa.

Is this even possible in Flutter?

score 275 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 16 '21 at 00:23

275

Have a look at IntrinsicHeight; wrapping the root Row should provide the effect you're looking for:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
      ),
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(title: Text('Rows & Columns')),
        body: RowsAndColumns(),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class RowsAndColumns extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Padding(
      padding: const EdgeInsets.only(top: 100.0),
      child: IntrinsicHeight(
        child: Row(crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.stretch, children: [
          Expanded(
            child: Column(children: [
              Container(height: 120.0, color: Colors.yellow),
              Container(height: 100.0, color: Colors.cyan),
            ]),
          ),
          Expanded(child: Container(color: Colors.amber)),
        ]),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Adjusting the heights in the containers in the column cause the container on the right to resize to match:

https://gist.github.com/mjohnsullivan/c5b661d7b3b4ca00599e8ef87ff6ac61

edited Dec 16 '21 at 00:23

Yeasin Sheikh

16,243
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answered Jul 13 '18 at 17:24

Matt S.

8,234
6
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16

Awesome, never heard of `IntrinsicHeight` before! – TommyF Jul 14 '18 at 11:54
10

Are you sure there isn'y any other way to do this? Because in the official documentation, it says not to use this Widget because it is too expensive. – Gurleen Sethi Jan 10 '19 at 22:27
24

Note from the flutter docs on IntrinsicHeight: `This class is relatively expensive. Avoid using it where possible.` – stevenspiel Feb 06 '19 at 16:00
5

It's expensive but I don't think flutter provides any other way that is better and faster. – Giraldi May 14 '19 at 05:24
3

Is it ok to use it inside a list? @matt-s – Sp4Rx Jun 20 '19 at 12:26
@Sp4Rx tested inside a list and it works perfectly! – Ray Li Sep 24 '19 at 18:18
Awesome! Thanks. This saved me a lot of time. – Ndivhuwo Nov 15 '19 at 12:57
Is it cheaper to call WidgetsBinding.addPostFrameCallback(() {}), measure widget height and set it to the other widget? – Александр Бабич Mar 02 '20 at 19:10
1

The `Row`'s `crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.stretch` should be emphasized for this to work. – Giraldi Jun 11 '20 at 06:35
How can I put a ListView inside the container with Amber color? If I place ListView there everything disappears. – Taha Ali Jul 30 '20 at 13:17
You saved me! Thank you! – Caio Santos Apr 15 '21 at 14:40
It is a perfect solution! Thanks a lot! – 임세준 Nov 01 '21 at 14:48
There is a way to avoid `IntrinsicHeight` by using `Table` and `TableCell` with `verticalAlignment: TableCellVerticalAlignment.fill`. Added the answer below, hope it helps! – oblomov Jan 21 '22 at 22:02

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '20 at 13:28

I'm new to flutter. Please correct me if I'm doing something wrong here. I think It can also be achieved using setState((){}) without using IntrinsicHeight.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(MyApp());
}`enter code here`

class MyApp extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  State<StatefulWidget> createState() {
    return MyAppState();
  }
}

class MyAppState extends State<MyApp> {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    double h1 = 100;
    double h2 = 200;
    double h3;
    setState(() {
      h3 = h1 + h2;
    });
    return MaterialApp(
      home: Scaffold(
        body: SafeArea(
          child: Padding(
            padding: const EdgeInsets.only(top: 100.0),
            child: Row(
              crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
              children: [
                Expanded(
                  child: Column(
                    children: [
                      Container(
                        color: Colors.green,
                        height: h1,
                      ),
                      Container(
                        color: Colors.orange,
                        height: h2,
                      )
                    ],
                  ),
                ),
                Expanded(
                  child: Container(
                    color: Colors.yellow,
                    height: h3,
                  ),
                )
              ],
            ),
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Find image here

Code can also be found here: https://gist.github.com/Amrit0786/9d228017c2df6cf277fbbaa4a6b20e83

If you have a big app, you would wanna limit the `StatefulWidget` as much as possible. Alternatively, use `StatelessWidget` with built-in solution. Using Stateful for layout is not technically wrong, but you should not use it unless you have no other option. — Smily, Nov 29 '20 at 10:50
am trying to understand why u use setstate in build ??!! wow....! — youssef ali, Jun 03 '21 at 12:28

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 12 '22 at 14:32

I think that you can set the height of the row instead, then you only must to set the height of you column containers, and with the crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.stretch the second row will be expand occupying his parent height:

SizedBox(
 height: 100,
 child: Row(
 crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.stretch,
 children: [
  Expanded(
    child: Column(
      children: [
        Expanded( //If you dont have the height you can expanded with flex
          flex: 1,
          child: Container(
            height: 50,
            color: Colors.blue,
          ),
        ),
        Expanded(
          flex: 1,
          child: Container(
            height: 50,
            color: Colors.red,
          ),
        )
      ],
    ),
  ),
  Expanded(
    child: Container(
      color: Colors.yellow,
    ),
   )
  ],
 ),
),

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 21 '22 at 21:54

Since IntrinsicHeight is considered relatively expensive, it's better to avoid it. You can use Table with verticalAlignment: TableCellVerticalAlignment.fill in the largest TableCell.

Please note that if you use .fill in all cells, the TableRow will have zero height.

  Table(children: [
    TableRow(children: [
      Column(
        crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.stretch,
        children: [
          Container(
            alignment: Alignment.center,
            color: Colors.blue,
            child: Text('Widget 1'),
          ),
          Container(
            alignment: Alignment.center,
            color: Colors.green,
            child: Text('Widget 2'),
          ),
        ],
      ),
      TableCell(
          verticalAlignment: TableCellVerticalAlignment.fill,
          child: Container(
            alignment: Alignment.center,
            color: Colors.orange,
            child: Text('Widget 3'),
          )),
    ]),
  ]),

Flutter Layout Row / Column - share width, expand height

4 Answers4

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