How do I supply an initial value to a text field?

Question

I\'d like to supply an initial value to a text field and redraw it with an empty value to clear the text. What\'s the best approach to do that with Flutter\'s APIs?

Answer 1

You don't have to define a separate variable in the widget scope, just do it inline:

TextField(
  controller: TextEditingController()..text = 'Your initial value',
  onChanged: (text) => {},
)

Answer 2

You can use a TextFormField instead of TextField, and use the initialValue property. for example

TextFormField(initialValue: "I am smart")

Answer 3

If you are using TextEditingController then set the text to it, like below

TextEditingController _controller = new TextEditingController();


_controller.text = 'your initial text';

final your_text_name = TextFormField(
      autofocus: false,
      controller: _controller,
      decoration: InputDecoration(
        hintText: 'Hint Value',
      ),
    );

and if you are not using any TextEditingController then you can directly use initialValue like below

final last_name = TextFormField(
      autofocus: false,
      initialValue: 'your initial text',
      decoration: InputDecoration(
        hintText: 'Last Name',
      ),
    );

For more reference TextEditingController

Answer 4

(From the mailing list. I didn't come up with this answer.)

class _FooState extends State<Foo> {
  TextEditingController _controller;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    _controller = new TextEditingController(text: 'Initial value');
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return new Column(
      children: <Widget>[
        new TextField(
          // The TextField is first built, the controller has some initial text,
          // which the TextField shows. As the user edits, the text property of
          // the controller is updated.
          controller: _controller,
        ),
        new RaisedButton(
          onPressed: () {
            // You can also use the controller to manipuate what is shown in the
            // text field. For example, the clear() method removes all the text
            // from the text field.
            _controller.clear();
          },
          child: new Text('CLEAR'),
        ),
      ],
    );
  }
}