custom_text 0.6.0-dev.6

A highly customisable text widget that allows styles and gestures to be applied to strings in it flexibly.

A highly customisable text widget that allows styles and tap gestures to be applied to strings in it flexibly.

This widget is useful for making part of text tappable, such as URLs, email addresses or phone numbers, or for only highlighting partial strings in text with colors and different font settings depending on the types of the elements parsed by regular expressions.

Usage by examples

Most of the examples here are contained in the sample app in the example/ folder. Just click on the link below to open its web version and see what this package can achieve.

Web Demo

The app also shows the source code with keywords highlighted, which itself is made possible by this package.

Simplest example

example1.dart (Code / Demo)

A very basic example with URLs and email addresses styled. They are not tappable in this example.

CustomText(
  'URL: https://example.com/\n'
  'Email: [e-mail]',
  definitions: const [
    TextDefinition(matcher: UrlMatcher()),
    TextDefinition(matcher: EmailMatcher()),
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.lightBlue),
)

Preset matchers

The matchers listed below are for general use. If stricter patterns are necessary, create custom matchers instead of using these.

• UrlMatcher for URLs
• EmailMatcher for email addresses
• TelMatcher for phone numbers
• LinkMatcher for Markdown-style links or for use with SelectiveDefinition

Unique styles and actions per definition

example2.dart (Code / Demo)

An example to apply styles to URLs, email addresses and phone numbers, and also enable them to be tapped/long-pressed.

All of the three are styled, but only phone numbers among them are given unique matchStyle and tapStyle.

Tip: Use url_launcher or its equivalent to open a browser or another app by a tap/long-press on a string.

CustomText(
  'URL: https://example.com/\n'
  'Email: [e-mail]\n'
  'Tel: [phone]',
  definitions: [
    const TextDefinition(matcher: UrlMatcher()),
    const TextDefinition(matcher: EmailMatcher()),
    TextDefinition(
      matcher: const TelMatcher(),
      // `matchStyle`, `tapStyle`, `onTap` and `onLongPress` here
      // override the equivalent parameters of CustomText.
      matchStyle: const TextStyle(
        color: Colors.green,
        decoration: TextDecoration.underline,
      ),
      tapStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.orange),
      onTap: (tel) => print(tel),
      onLongPress: (tel) => print('[Long press] $tel'),
    ),
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(
    color: Colors.lightBlue,
    decoration: TextDecoration.underline,
  ),
  tapStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.indigo),
  onTap: (type, text) => print(text),
  onLongPress: (type, text) => print('[Long press] $text'),
)

Overwriting patterns

example3.dart (Code / Demo)

An example to overwrite the default pattern of TelMatcher.

The new pattern regards only the {3 digits}-{4 digits}-{4 digits} format as a phone number.

CustomText(
  'Tel: [phone]',
  definitions: const [
    TextDefinition(matcher: TelMatcher(r'\d{3}-\d{4}-\d{4}')),
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.lightBlue),
  onTap: (_, text) => print(text),
)

Custom pattern

example4.dart (Code / Demo)

An example to parse hashtags with a custom pattern and apply styles to them.

A hashtag has a wide variety of definitions, but here as an example, it is defined as a string that starts with "#" followed by an alphabet and then by alphanumerics, and is enclosed with white spaces.

TextDefinition(
  matcher: PatternMatcher(r'(?<=\s|^)\#[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]{1,}(?=\s|$)'),
),

Alternatively, you can define a matcher by extending TextMatcher. This is useful when you want to define one and use it in various places.

class HashTagMatcher extends TextMatcher {
  const HashTagMatcher()
      : super(r'(?<=\s|^)\#[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]{1,}(?=\s|$)');
}

CustomText(
  'Hello world! #CustomText',
  definitions: const [
    TextDefinition(matcher: HashTagMatcher()),
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.lightBlue),
)

SelectiveDefinition

example5.dart (Code / Demo)

An example to parse markdown-style links, like [label](url) using SelectiveDefinition, and make them tappable.

Each of the string shown in the widget and the string passed to the tap callbacks is selected individually from the fragments (groups) that have matched the patterns enclosed with parentheses within the match pattern.

For details of groups, see the document of the text_parser package that this package uses internally.

// This matcher comes with the package, so there's no need to prepare it yourself.
class LinkMatcher extends TextMatcher {
  const LinkMatcher([String pattern = r'\[(.+?)\]\((.*?)\)']) : super(pattern);
}

CustomText(
  'Markdown-style link\n'
  '[Tap here](Tapped!)',
  definitions: [
    SelectiveDefinition(
      matcher: const LinkMatcher(),
      // `labelSelector` is used to choose the string to show.
      // `groups` provided to `labelSelector` is an array of
      // strings matching the fragments enclosed in parentheses
      // within the match pattern.
      labelSelector: (groups) => groups[0]!,
      // `tapSelector` is used to choose the string to be passed
      // to the `onTap` and `onLongPress` callbacks.
      tapSelector: (groups) => groups[1]!,
    ),
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.lightBlue),
  tapStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.green),
  onTap: (_, text) => print(text),
)

LinkMatcher used together with SelectiveDefinition is handy not only for making a text link but also for just decorating the bracketed strings (but not showing the bracket symbols).

// "def" and "jkl" are displayed in red.
CustomText(
  'abc[def]()ghi[jkl]()',
  definitions: [
    SelectiveDefinition(
      matcher: const LinkMatcher(),
      labelSelector: (groups) => groups[0]!,
    ),
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.red),
)

SpanDefinition

example6.dart (Code / Demo)

An example to show both strings and icons using SpanDefinition.

The builder parameter takes a function returning an InlineSpan. The function is provided with the matching string and groups, so it is possible to compose an InlineSpan flexibly with them.

CustomText(
  'Email 1: [@] [e-mail]\n'
  'Email 2: [@] [e-mail]',
  definitions: [
    SpanDefinition(
      matcher: const PatternMatcher(r'\[@\]'),
      builder: (text, groups) => const WidgetSpan(
        child: Icon(
          Icons.email,
          color: Colors.blueGrey,
          size: 18.0,
        ),
        alignment: PlaceholderAlignment.middle,
      ),
    ),
    const TextDefinition(
      matcher: EmailMatcher(),
      matchStyle: TextStyle(color: Colors.lightBlue),
      onTap: print,
    ),
  ],
)

Notes

• SpanDefinition does not have arguments for styles and tap callbacks, so it is totally up to you how the InlineSpan returned from it is decorated and how it reacts to gestures.
• The builder function is called on every rebuild. If you use GestureRecognizer to make a WidgetSpan tappable, be careful not to create it inside the function, or make sure to dispose of existing recognizers before creating a new one.

Changing mouse cursor and text style on hover

example7.dart (Code / Demo)

TextDefinition and SelectiveDefinition have the mouseCursor property. The mouse cursor type set to it is used while the pointer hovers over a string that has matched the matcher specified in the definition.

If a tap callback (onTap or onLongPress) is set and mouseCursor is not set, SystemMouseCursors.click is automatically used for the string that the tap callback is applied to.

A different text style can also be applied on hover using hoverStyle either in CustomText or in definitions.

Tip: Use hoverStyle and omit tapStyle if you want the same style to be applied on tap and hover.

CustomText(
  'URL: https://example.com/\n'
  'Email: [e-mail]',
  definitions: [
    const TextDefinition(
      matcher: UrlMatcher(),
      matchStyle: TextStyle(
        color: Colors.grey,
        decoration: TextDecoration.lineThrough,
      ),
      // `SystemMouseCursors.forbidden` is used for URLs.
      mouseCursor: SystemMouseCursors.forbidden,
    ),
    TextDefinition(
      matcher: const EmailMatcher(),
      matchStyle: const TextStyle(
        color: Colors.lightBlue,
        decoration: TextDecoration.underline,
      ),
      tapStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.green),
      // Text is shadowed while the mouse pointer hovers over it.
      hoverStyle: TextStyle(
        color: Colors.lightBlue,
        shadows: ...,
      ),
      // `SystemMouseCursors.click` is used for URLs automatically
      // even if `mouseCursor` is not set because a tap has been
      // enabled by the `onTap` callback.
      onTap: (text) => output(text),
    ),
  ],
)

CustomText.selectable

example8.dart (Code / Demo)

CustomText.selectable is now deprecated. Use either of the followings instead:

• SelectionArea available on Flutter 3.3 and above
• CustomTextEditingController and TextField with readOnly: true

Click to view details

This example is almost the same as example2, but with the CustomText.selectable constructor. It is based on SelectableText.rich, so text can be selected while it is partially decorated/tappable.

CustomText.selectable(
  'URL: https://example.com/\n'
  'Email: [e-mail]\n'
  'Tel: [phone]',
  definitions: [
    const TextDefinition(matcher: UrlMatcher()),
    ...,
  ],
  matchStyle: const TextStyle(...),
  ...,
)

CustomTextEditingController

example9.dart (Code / Demo)

Text decoration, tap/long-press actions and hover effects are available also in an editable text field via CustomTextEditingController.

final controller = CustomTextEditingController(
  text: 'abcde [e-mail]\nhttps://example.com/ #hashtag',
  definitions: [
    const TextDefinition(
      matcher: HashTagMatcher(),
      matchStyle: TextStyle(color: Colors.orange),
      hoverStyle: TextStyle(color: Colors.red),
    ),
    ...
  ],
);

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return TextField(
    controller: controller,
    ...,
  );
}

Notes

• CustomTextEditingController does not support SelectiveDefinition and SpanDefinition. It only accepts TextDefinition.
• Debouncing of text parsing is available as an experimental feature for getting slightly better performance in handling long text.
  • Pass some duration to debounceDuration to enable the feature.
  • Use it at your own risk.
  • Text input will be still slow even with debouncing because Flutter itself has performance issues in editable text.

Limitations

• The regular expression pattern of TelMatcher contains a lookbehind assertion, but Safari does not support it. Avoid using TelMatcher as is if your app targets Safari.
• Highlight of selected text in CustomText.selectable is lost if the widget is rebuild, e.g. when hoverStyle is applied or removed.

Links

• text_parser
  • CustomText is dependent on the text_parser package made by the same author. See its documentation for details if you're interested or for troubleshooting on parsing.