tab_overview 0.2.0

A widget that enables smooth tab transitions with a grid view of thumbnails for easy tab management and navigation.

Changelog

0.2.0

0.2.0 removes what 0.1.20 and 0.1.21 deprecated, and changes a few names and errors. Fix any deprecation warnings on 0.1.21 first; the table below covers the rest.

Migrating from 0.1

0.1	0.2.0
removeTabAt(index)	removeAt(index)
indexOfActiveTab()	activeIndex, which is null rather than −1
isAnyExpanding, isAnyCollapsing, isExpanding(tab), isCollapsing(tab)	isTransitioning
addOffScreenThumbTabAddedListener and the other three stand-in listener methods	Removed. Listen to the controller as a ChangeNotifier, or to its typed listeners.
A tab model implementing RemovableTab or ReorderableTab	TabOverview(isTabRemovable: (tab) => tab.removable, isTabReorderable: (tab) => tab.reorderable)
RemoveTabButton(controller: controller, tab: tab)	RemoveTabButton(onPressed: () => controller.remove(tab))
thumbnailsMotionAnimationDuration and thumbnailsMotionAnimationCurve	thumbnailsMotion: TabTransition(duration: ..., curve: ...)
kExpandedTabPageViewportFraction, kThumbsGridScaleWhenExpanded, kThumbsGridOpacityWhenExpanded, kDefaultThumbnailsGrid…Spacing	Removed. Set the grid's spacing through thumbnailsGridDelegate.
activeTab = tab for a tab not in the overview	Throws an ArgumentError, as expand does
TabOverviewController(activeTab: tab) with a tab not among initialTabs	Throws an ArgumentError, where it used to make the first tab active
scrollToTab(tab) for a tab not in the overview	Throws an ArgumentError
scrollToTabAt(index) for an index out of range	Throws a RangeError

Added

• TabTransition(duration, curve), and TabOverviewController.transition. The transition sets how tabs expand and collapse, 300 ms along easeInOut by default. expand, expandAt, collapse and toggleMode take a nullable duration and curve that override it.
• isTransitioning: whether a tab is flying between its thumbnail and its page.
• RemoveTabButton is exported, so a custom removeTabButtonBuilder can keep the default look.
• ModelWidgetBuilder is exported.
• TabOverview.builder is const.

Changed

• A controller method that takes a tab throws an ArgumentError for a tab that isn't in the overview. remove is the exception: it returns false. A method that takes an index throws a RangeError for an index out of range. The controller's docs say so.
• removeTabButtonBuilder and tabThumbnailBuilder are nullable. null means the default, built when the overview builds.
• The package exports each public name explicitly, so internal names can't leak into the API.
• Requires animated_reorderable 2.2.1.
• Allows hero_here 2.0.0, as well as 1.5.4 and later 1.x releases.
• Square tabs clip their content with a hard edge. Only a rounded or shaped decoration uses an anti-aliased clip, which costs more on every frame of a flight.

Fixed

• TabOverviewController(initialTabs: []) no longer throws a StateError. With no tabs, no tab is active.
• Long-pressing a thumbnail while it's still sliding into place no longer makes it jump back where it was, up to a row away, as the drag begins. Fixed in animated_reorderable 2.2.1, which this release requires.
• With tabs added while a tab is expanded, setting activeTab shows that tab's page and keeps it active. The expanded pages kept the scroll length they had until a swipe, so the setter's jump stopped short, a different tab became active, and a collapse then left the overview ignoring taps. It goes back to 0.1.17 at least.

Removed

• Everything deprecated in 0.1.20 and 0.1.21, as listed in the table above.
• The five k… tuning constants, and RemoveTabButton's buttonStyle and buttonColor getters.

0.1.21

Added

• activeIndex: the active tab's index in tabs, or null if no tab is active.

Fixed

• expand, toggleMode, collapse and scrollToTab no longer throw when called before the overview is first built, as from an app's initState. With nothing to animate yet:
  • expand makes the tab active and the mode expanded, and the overview builds showing that tab's page.
  • collapse makes the mode overview.
  • scrollToTab does nothing in overview mode, with no grid to scroll yet, and shows the tab's page in expanded mode.

Changed

• The controller is restructured inside, with no change in behaviour or public API:
  • The grid and the expanded pages connect to the controller through two small interfaces, rather than GlobalKeys.
  • The tabs' animations between thumbnail and page are tracked in a class of their own.
  • One sealed type tracks whether the overview is heading to the grid or to the expanded view, including an off-screen tab's expand while it waits a frame.

Deprecated

• indexOfActiveTab(): use activeIndex. It goes in 0.2.0.

0.1.20

Added

• TabOverviewController is a ChangeNotifier. It notifies its listeners when the mode, the active tab or the tabs change, so a ListenableBuilder can rebuild with it. The typed listeners stay.
• TabOverview.isTabRemovable and isTabReorderable tell which tabs the user may close or move. The tab model no longer has to implement an interface.
• removeAt(index), the name List uses.

Fixed

• remove(tab) for a tab that isn't in the overview does nothing and returns false. Before, it threw a RangeError. It returns true once the tab is removed, so remove now returns a bool.

Changed

• Requires hero_here 1.5.4 and animated_reorderable 2.1.0. Both fix problems found while testing tab_overview:
  • A flight no longer throws when the page view moves the page it's flying to.
  • A flight whose destination goes away mid-flight shows its source again.
  • Thumbnails move in place.
  • Opening the keyboard no longer rebuilds every thumbnail's content on each frame.
• Calling dispose twice, or using the controller after it, fails an assertion in debug mode, as Flutter's own controllers do.
• The activeTab docs say what the active tab is: the tab the expanded view shows and that toggleMode expands, wherever its thumbnail is scrolled.

Deprecated

These go in 0.2.0:

• removeTabAt: use removeAt.
• RemovableTab and ReorderableTab: use isTabRemovable and isTabReorderable.
• The four stand-in listener methods, add/removeOffScreenThumbTabAddedListener and add/removeOffScreenThumbTabRemovedListener. Stand-ins are placeholders the overview keeps for its own animations, and nothing an app can act on.

0.1.19

Fixed

• A collapse lands in view when the expanded tab's thumbnail was built just past the edge of the grid's view. The grid builds thumbnails a little beyond its edges. It scrolled to the expanded tab's thumbnail only if that thumbnail wasn't built, so the tab flew out of view in two cases:

  • after a relayout, such as a window shrinking rows of a fixed height
  • after expanding a tab whose thumbnail was built out of view

  Now the grid scrolls to the thumbnail unless its middle is in view. A thumbnail mostly in view, such as one tapped at the bottom edge, stays where it is.

0.1.18

Fixed

• Setting activeTab while expanded shows that tab's page, as its doc says. Before, the pages went on showing the tab that was active, and a collapse then left the overview ignoring taps, with both tabs' thumbnails empty.
• Setting activeTab while an expand is still under way turns the expand to that tab. That covers both an expand whose pages aren't built yet, which left the overview ignoring taps, and an off-screen expand still waiting for its stand-in, which the setter cancelled.
• Setting activeTab while the active tab still flies to its page flies that tab back to its thumbnail as the new tab's page opens. The mode listeners are told of the collapse and the expand.

0.1.17

Fixed

• Expanding a tab, then expanding another or calling scrollToTab in the same event, no longer throws. The overview expands the second tab. It goes back to 0.0.5 at least.
• A call in the same event as expanding a tab whose thumbnail is off screen now wins. Before, the off-screen expand, which waits a frame for its stand-in, came last.
  • Expanding another tab expands that tab.
  • collapse() cancels the expand.
  • Making another tab active with the activeTab setter no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps.
• Collapsing a tab whose thumbnail is off screen switches to the grid at once, rather than a frame later. Its flight sets off a frame sooner.
  • An expand in the same event, of another tab or the same one, now expands it, rather than being lost.
  • Removing the tab in the same event tells the mode listeners of the change once, rather than twice.

0.1.16

Fixed

• The expanded tab keeps its State when a tab before it is removed: what was typed in a text field, its focus, and any other State of the tab's content. Its page was built anew one place down. It goes back to 0.0.5, where adding or removing any tab lost it.

0.1.15

Fixed

• Removing the expanded tab no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps when a tab is added or removed in the same event or the next frame, or when the overview's parent rebuilds then, as setState(() => controller.remove(tab)) does. The removed tab's collapse never started, and adding or removing a tab showed the first tab's page for a frame.
• Collapsing the expanded tab and expanding another in the same event expands it. The overview kept showing the collapsed tab's page, and ignored taps from then on.
• Removing the expanded tab and expanding another, or calling toggleMode, in the same event expands that tab, rather than ending in the overview.
• Expanding a tab whose thumbnail is off screen and another tab in the same event no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps. It ends on the off-screen tab, whose expand waits a frame for its stand-in and so comes last.

The first two go back to 0.0.5 at least.

Changed

• Removing the expanded tab collapses it at once: by the time remove returns, the mode is overview and the tab after it is active, and the listeners have been told, rather than two frames later. Its collapse sets off two frames sooner, together with its thumbnail's shrinking.

0.1.14

Changed

• Require animated_reorderable 2.0.0. An app that depends on animated_reorderable itself needs 2.0 too. tab_overview's API doesn't change.
• Thumbnails move with animated_reorderable 2.0's motion: a thumbnail whose place moves again while it's moving heads there at the speed it has, rather than starting over from rest.

0.1.13

Changed

• Add tabs through animated_reorderable's insertTransition, rather than the insertItem builder, which animated_reorderable 1.6 deprecates and 2.0 removes. Tabs are added and removed as before.

0.1.12

Fixed

• While tabs are reordered, a tab moved again just as its slide ends slides there, rather than jumping a slot without animating. Fixed in animated_reorderable 1.6.1.

Changed

• Require animated_reorderable 1.6.1.

0.1.11

Added

• pullToCollapse, off by default: pull the expanded tab down to collapse it, as in hero_here's show details example. The tab is pulled from the top of its vertical scroll view, or from anywhere on a tab without one. As it's pulled, it shrinks and its corners round toward the thumbnail's. Let go once it's pulled 50 pixels, or while it moves down fast, and it collapses from where it is, at the speed it had. Otherwise it goes back. The example turns it on, and lets the mouse drag, as hero_here's examples do.

0.1.10

Fixed

• Removing a tab in the same event as expanding it from off screen no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps. The overview expanded the tab that took the removed one's place instead of staying put, and its grid ignored taps from then on, after a collapse too.
• Removing a tab right after expanding it, before the overview builds its page, leaves the overview where it was. It scrolled to its top, and the removed tab stayed built, hidden, for as long as the overview lived.
• Removing the active tab of a controller created expanded, before the overview is first built, no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps.

All three go back to 0.0.5 at least.

0.1.9

Fixed

• Removing a tab other than the last and adding one in the same event, such as closing a tab and opening another in one handler, no longer throws RangeErrors. Fixed in animated_reorderable 1.6.0.

Changed

• Require animated_reorderable 1.6.0.

0.1.8

Fixed

• Removing the expanded tab collapses to the tab that takes its place. Since 0.0.6, the overview scrolled to its top instead, leaving that tab off screen.
• Removing a tab while it expands from off screen leaves the overview where it was. It scrolled to the top.

0.1.7

Changed

• Rebuild only the thumbnail of the tab that expands or collapses, not every thumbnail. Expanding a tab rebuilt every other thumbnail once, and collapsing it rebuilt every thumbnail twice.

0.1.6

Fixed

• A tab whose hash code changes while it flies, such as one whose equality follows a title that changes as its page loads, no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps.
• scrollToTab scrolls all the way to a tab just added on a new row. It stopped a row short.

0.1.5

Fixed

• Show a tab that's added again while its removal still animates, as when a closed tab is brought back right away. It was in tabs, but its thumbnail never showed.
• Listen to a tab's add or remove animation once, rather than once more on every rebuild while it animated.
• In the example, the minus button closes the active tab. It removed the second tab, and threw once only one was left. New tabs are numbered from a counter, so numbers don't repeat after a removal.

0.1.4

Fixed

• Expanding a tab while it collapses, or collapsing it while it expands, no longer leaves the overview ignoring taps, or the expanded tab with the thumbnail's decoration. 0.1.0 had this when the turn came early in the flight; with hero_here 1.5.0 it came at any point. The same goes for expanding and collapsing in one go.

Changed

• A tab turned around mid-flight now swings toward where it's sent, from where it is and at the speed it had, rather than going back along its path. Its decoration turns from what it shows, and the flight keeps its duration and curve.
• Require hero_here 1.5.1, whose diverted flights slide along the overview's edge rather than out of it.

0.1.3

Added

• Export FittedTab, so a custom tabThumbnailBuilder can show a tab as the default thumbnail does: laid out at the overview's size and scaled to fit.

0.1.2

Fixed

• Keep an added tab's state, such as its text, focus and scroll position, when its add animation ends. The first rebuild after the animation re-created the content of its thumbnail, or of its page if it was expanded right away.

Changed

• Stop repainting a flying tab's content on each frame of the flight. During an expand or a collapse, it painted on 20 of the flight's 21 frames; now it paints twice, once as the flight starts and once where it lands.
• Rebuild only the thumbnails that a swipe between expanded tabs changes, not all of them.

0.1.1

Changed

• Require hero_here 1.5.0. Expanding or collapsing a tab no longer shows a screenshot of the overview for a frame, and the tab starts to fly a frame sooner.

0.1.0

Fixed

• Follow a new controller given to the overview. The overview showed the new tabs, but expand and toggleMode failed with a null check, and the old controller still drove it.
• Collapse a tab whose hash code is the same as another tab's. It failed with a null check, and the other tab's thumbnail stayed hidden.
• Move thumbnails along thumbnailsMotionAnimationCurve. It was ignored.
• Keep one PageController while a tab is expanded, rather than a new one on each build, and dispose it, and the grid's ScrollController, when they're no longer needed. Neither was disposed.

Changed

• Breaking: TabOverview.builder requires a controller. Without one, the overview created its own on each rebuild, which nothing could add tabs to, so it was always empty.

0.0.6

Fixed

• Keep an expanded tab's state, such as its text, focus and scroll position, the first time something rebuilds it after it expands, such as the keyboard opening or a setState above the overview. It was re-created.
• Collapse to the tab's thumbnail after a window resize while expanded. The tab flew off the screen, and the overview showed other tabs.
• Size tabs by the overview, not the screen. Under an app bar, an expanded tab was cropped; beside a sidebar, it was letterboxed; and off-screen tabs flew in from outside the overview.

Changed

• Require hero_here 1.4.1.
• Lay tab content out at the overview's size. Under a Scaffold, it now shrinks when the keyboard opens, like any other body, so content with a fixed height can overflow.
• Show the tabs on every frame while the window resizes, while the keyboard opens and when the overview's parent rebuilds. Only a change between overview and expanded runs a hero switch, which shows a snapshot for a frame.

0.0.5

Fixed

• Show the overview on screens narrower than 300 pixels; it showed a placeholder.

Changed

• Require Dart 3.13 and Flutter 3.47.
• Require animated_reorderable 1.5.0 and hero_here 1.1.0, so thumbnails keep their state while they move and tab transitions stay in place when the overview isn't at the screen's top-left corner.
• Update the example to the current Flutter templates.

0.0.4

Fixed

• Fix tab activation.

0.0.3

Fixed

• Flight animation creation for expanded initial mode.

0.0.2

Fixed

• Resolved a bug where the TabOverview widget would cause an error when in expanded mode with no tabs present.

0.0.1

Added

• Initial release of tab_overview, a customizable widget for managing tabs with smooth transitions and a thumbnail grid view.
• TabOverview widget: Displays tabs in both overview (grid of thumbnails) and expanded modes.
• Responsive grid layout: Automatically adjusts the number of columns based on screen size (large, medium, small, and extra small).
• TabOverviewController: Manages tab state, allowing users to add, remove, reorder, and toggle between tabs.
• Customizable animations: Adjustable animation duration and curve for smooth transitions.
• Reorderable and removable tabs: Supports tab reordering and optional removal through the ReorderableTab and RemovableTab interfaces.
• Optional Decorations: Customizable styling for thumbnails and expanded tab views.
• Dependencies:
  • animated_reorderable for drag-and-drop functionality in the grid view.
  • hero_here for smooth transitions between thumbnail and expanded views.