Skip to content

Conversation

@ValentinVignal
Copy link
Contributor

Fixes #175090

Pre-launch Checklist

If you need help, consider asking for advice on the #hackers-new channel on Discord.

Note: The Flutter team is currently trialing the use of Gemini Code Assist for GitHub. Comments from the gemini-code-assist bot should not be taken as authoritative feedback from the Flutter team. If you find its comments useful you can update your code accordingly, but if you are unsure or disagree with the feedback, please feel free to wait for a Flutter team member's review for guidance on which automated comments should be addressed.

@flutter-dashboard
Copy link

It looks like this pull request may not have tests. Please make sure to add tests or get an explicit test exemption before merging.

If you are not sure if you need tests, consider this rule of thumb: the purpose of a test is to make sure someone doesn't accidentally revert the fix. Ask yourself, is there anything in your PR that you feel it is important we not accidentally revert back to how it was before your fix?

Reviewers: Read the Tree Hygiene page and make sure this patch meets those guidelines before LGTMing. If you believe this PR qualifies for a test exemption, contact "@test-exemption-reviewer" in the #hackers channel in Discord (don't just cc them here, they won't see it!). The test exemption team is a small volunteer group, so all reviewers should feel empowered to ask for tests, without delegating that responsibility entirely to the test exemption group.

@github-actions github-actions bot added framework flutter/packages/flutter repository. See also f: labels. f: material design flutter/packages/flutter/material repository. labels Oct 8, 2025
@ValentinVignal
Copy link
Contributor Author

I have 2 questions:

  1. Is it considered a breaking change?
  2. Is this PR text-exempted?

Copy link
Contributor

@gemini-code-assist gemini-code-assist bot left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Code Review

This pull request makes the generic type T for DropdownMenu and DropdownMenuFormField non-nullable by adding an extends Object constraint. This is a good change for type safety, as it ensures that the value of a DropdownMenuEntry is always non-nullable within these widgets. The documentation for onSelected has also been updated to be more descriptive and clear, which is a great improvement. The changes are consistent and well-implemented across both dropdown_menu.dart and dropdown_menu_form_field.dart.

@bleroux
Copy link
Contributor

bleroux commented Oct 8, 2025

I'm in favor of making this change.
It will avoid confusion and clarify that DropdownMenuEntry.value cannot be null.
It is probably a breaking change as previously the following code was possible:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

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

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      home: Card(
        child: DropdownMenu<String?>(
          dropdownMenuEntries: [
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: null, label: 'Label'),
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: '1', label: '1'),
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: '2', label: '2'),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Copy link
Contributor

@justinmc justinmc left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

LGTM 👍 . Also tagged @LongCatIsLooong for review since he wrote the issue.

Is it considered a breaking change?

See https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/master/docs/contributing/Tree-hygiene.md#1-determine-if-your-change-is-a-breaking-change. It certainly could break customers, but it looks like the customer tests are passing at least. Let's see if it passes Google tests too.

Is this PR text-exempted?

I can't think of any way to test this. Can you request an exemption? See that bot's comment above.

Copy link
Contributor

@LongCatIsLooong LongCatIsLooong left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

LGTM, thanks for the fix! This will need an exemption from discord. Since the ci is passing this is not considered breaking.

/// selection was cleared / that no item was chosen.
///
/// Defaults to null. If this callback itself is null, the widget still updates
/// the text field with the selected label but does not notify the caller.
Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Nit: remove the part after "but" since that sounds obvious and it's unclear who the "caller" is

Copy link
Contributor Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Sure, I removed it in Remove extra sentence

@nebkat
Copy link
Contributor

nebkat commented Oct 9, 2025

#176753 something to consider before this gets merged.

@stuartmorgan-g
Copy link
Contributor

test-exempt: code refactor with no semantic change

@ValentinVignal
Copy link
Contributor Author

#176753 something to consider before this gets merged.

@nebkat do you see an issue with this PR? It looks like to me they are compatible

@nebkat
Copy link
Contributor

nebkat commented Oct 12, 2025

@ValentinVignal my bad, I assumed this was changing the onSelected signature as well but I see that is still a T?.

@ValentinVignal ValentinVignal added the autosubmit Merge PR when tree becomes green via auto submit App label Oct 13, 2025
@auto-submit auto-submit bot added this pull request to the merge queue Oct 13, 2025
Merged via the queue into flutter:master with commit 0205d4e Oct 13, 2025
77 checks passed
@flutter-dashboard flutter-dashboard bot removed the autosubmit Merge PR when tree becomes green via auto submit App label Oct 13, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 13, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 13, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 13, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 15, 2025
engine-flutter-autoroll added a commit to engine-flutter-autoroll/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 15, 2025
auto-submit bot pushed a commit to flutter/packages that referenced this pull request Oct 15, 2025
…10229)

Manual roll Flutter from e11e2c11288b to 7cd821c21093 (73 revisions)

Manual roll requested by [email protected]

flutter/flutter@e11e2c1...7cd821c

2025-10-14 [email protected] Fix computeDistanceToActualBaseline throws when accessing child size (flutter/flutter#176906)
2025-10-14 [email protected] iOS can set application locale before view controller is set (flutter/flutter#176592)
2025-10-14 [email protected] Roll ANGLE to a branch based on d9fa255a5c22 (flutter/flutter#176747)
2025-10-14 [email protected] Relands "Fixes keyboard selects disabled radio" (flutter/flutter#176977)
2025-10-14 [email protected] Fix expansion tile is missing state announcement on non-Apple platforms (flutter/flutter#175480)
2025-10-14 [email protected] impeller: allows access of float uniforms by name (flutter/flutter#176728)
2025-10-14 [email protected] Roll dart sdk to 3.11.0-17.0.dev (flutter/flutter#176947)
2025-10-13 [email protected] Move iOS integration tests (flutter/flutter#176940)
2025-10-13 [email protected] Make sure that an InputDatePickerFormField doesn't crash in 0x0 envir… (flutter/flutter#176047)
2025-10-13 [email protected] [web] Match the behavior of other platforms in Web Locale.toString if the country code is an empty string (flutter/flutter#176862)
2025-10-13 98614782+auto-submit[bot]@users.noreply.github.com Reverts "Fixes keyboard selects disabled radio (#176727)" (flutter/flutter#176958)
2025-10-13 [email protected] Fixes keyboard selects disabled radio (flutter/flutter#176727)
2025-10-13 [email protected] Roll Packages from e319c40 to d062181 (2 revisions) (flutter/flutter#176916)
2025-10-13 [email protected] Roll SwiftShader to 794b0cfce1d8 (flutter/flutter#176806)
2025-10-13 [email protected] Make DropdownMenu generic type non nullable (flutter/flutter#176711)
2025-10-12 [email protected] Roll Fuchsia Linux SDK from BWGpRvpdQh-HJpq1c... to _dd0Jv50H0oUI2Ad8... (flutter/flutter#176895)
2025-10-11 [email protected] Roll Fuchsia Linux SDK from JpiUsek1hU5r9QVKP... to BWGpRvpdQh-HJpq1c... (flutter/flutter#176880)
2025-10-11 [email protected] fix: content hash check for LUCI_CONTEXT (flutter/flutter#176867)
2025-10-11 [email protected] Feat: make tooltip position customizeable (flutter/flutter#175047)
2025-10-11 [email protected] Roll Dart SDK from d88d8bf2b53c to 65b171958c93 (3 revisions) (flutter/flutter#176871)
2025-10-11 [email protected] feat: apply radioGroup role to segmented control widgets (flutter/flutter#176157)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Make sure that a CheckboxMenuButton doesn't crash in 0x0 environment (flutter/flutter#176450)
2025-10-10 [email protected] [WebParagraph] Support for more styles, placeholders, decorations, etc (flutter/flutter#172853)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Set up a version of build_ios_framework_module_test that only runs on x64 machines and extend its timeout (flutter/flutter#176811)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Roll Packages from 0b41de3 to e319c40 (1 revision) (flutter/flutter#176833)
2025-10-10 [email protected] [tool/dap] Forward app.warning events from Flutter to DAP client (flutter/flutter#176827)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Roll Dart SDK from 70c00d3ceb3a to d88d8bf2b53c (1 revision) (flutter/flutter#176830)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Remove unnecessary nullable types in examples. (flutter/flutter#176713)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Roll Fuchsia Linux SDK from xArtL4DH0FsdwSqG_... to JpiUsek1hU5r9QVKP... (flutter/flutter#176822)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Cleanup OutlinedButton.icon documentation and implementation (flutter/flutter#176630)
2025-10-10 [email protected] [HCPP] Properly remove hcpp views that are no longer visible (flutter/flutter#176742)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Make sure that an InputChip doesn't crash in 0x0 environment (flutter/flutter#175930)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Update Flutter templates' Dart style (flutter/flutter#175963)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Make sure that a DropdownButtonFormField doesn't crash in 0x0 environ… (flutter/flutter#174958)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Make sure that an InkWell doesn't crash in 0x0 environment (flutter/flutter#175871)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Handle#6537 end drawer button (flutter/flutter#173026)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Roll Dart SDK from a9b7bd4b0b32 to 70c00d3ceb3a (4 revisions) (flutter/flutter#176815)
2025-10-10 [email protected] Change default Linux thread policy to merge platform and UI threads. (flutter/flutter#176759)
2025-10-09 [email protected] [ Tool ] Roll package:dwds to 26.0.0 (flutter/flutter#176808)
2025-10-09 [email protected] Update `CHANGELOG` to include 3.35.6 notes (flutter/flutter#176803)
2025-10-09 [email protected] Announce text and button together when DropdownMenu is treated as a button (flutter/flutter#176428)
2025-10-09 [email protected] [native_assets] create macOS CCompilerConfig via xcrun --find (flutter/flutter#175717)
2025-10-09 [email protected] [Impeller] Fix broken links in README. (flutter/flutter#176770)
2025-10-09 [email protected] Fix links to Custom Flutter Engine Embedders in README. (flutter/flutter#175807)
...
@bleroux
Copy link
Contributor

bleroux commented Nov 5, 2025

Hey @ValentinVignal 👋

Just found that there migt be a valid use case for allowing item's value to be null.
See this Material Web demo, Material Web select component, where the first entry is a blank entry used to clear the content.
Before this PR, implementing a DropdownMenu with such behavior was straightforward:

Code sample
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const ReproApp());
}

class ReproApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const ReproApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const MaterialApp(title: 'DropdownMenu reset option', home: HomePage());
  }
}

class HomePage extends StatelessWidget {
  const HomePage({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const Material(
      child: Center(
        child: DropdownMenu<String?>(
          initialSelection: 500,
          dropdownMenuEntries: const [
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: null, label: ""),
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: "value1", label: "Option 1"),
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: "value2", label: "Option 2"),
            DropdownMenuEntry(value: "value3", label: "Option 3"),
          ],
          requestFocusOnTap: false,
          textInputAction: TextInputAction.next,
          label: Text('DropdownMenu'),
          inputDecorationTheme: InputDecorationTheme(
            floatingLabelBehavior: FloatingLabelBehavior.always,
            border: OutlineInputBorder(),
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}
Screen.Recording.2025-11-05.at.09.50.48.mov

@ValentinVignal
Copy link
Contributor Author

Oh no... @justinmc @LongCatIsLooong do we want to revert this PR then and only update the documentation to explain what null means ?

@LongCatIsLooong
Copy link
Contributor

The type constraints on the class should stay because null is reserved by the widget. We can either allow items with null values, or the developer can use a different special value (if the widget allows developers to programmatically clear the selection)

@JaffaKetchup
Copy link
Contributor

JaffaKetchup commented Nov 20, 2025

I was using null without problems, this has caused a breaking change for me. I will admit I'm not proud of the code I was using it with :D

Can someone explain why null is reserved?

@ValentinVignal
Copy link
Contributor Author

Hi @JaffaKetchup,

The reasoning behind reserving null is that onSelected(null) is called when the field is cleared. This creates ambiguity if you also have a DropdownMenuEntry with value: null:

When onSelected(null) is triggered, it could mean either:

  1. The user cleared the field (backspaced/deleted the text), or
  2. The user selected the dropdown entry that has null as its value

There's no way to distinguish between these two scenarios, which is why the constraint was added.

That said, I understand your use case, you likely wanted a "clear selection" option in the dropdown itself.

As a workaround, you could use a sentinel value approach:

class Value<T> {
  const Value(this.value);

  final T? value;
}

And change

DropdownMenu<String?>(
  dropdownMenuEntries: const [
    DropdownMenuEntry(value: null, label: ""),
    DropdownMenuEntry(value: "value1", label: "Option 1"),
    DropdownMenuEntry(value: "value2", label: "Option 2"),
  ],
),

into

DropdownMenu<Value<String>>(
  dropdownMenuEntries: const [
    DropdownMenuEntry(value: Value(null), label: ""),
    DropdownMenuEntry(value: Value("value1"), label: "Option 1"),
    DropdownMenuEntry(value: Value("value2"), label: "Option 2"),
  ],
),

reidbaker pushed a commit to AbdeMohlbi/flutter that referenced this pull request Dec 10, 2025
Fixes flutter#175090

## Pre-launch Checklist

- [x] I read the [Contributor Guide] and followed the process outlined
there for submitting PRs.
- [x] I read the [Tree Hygiene] wiki page, which explains my
responsibilities.
- [x] I read and followed the [Flutter Style Guide], including [Features
we expect every widget to implement].
- [x] I signed the [CLA].
- [x] I listed at least one issue that this PR fixes in the description
above.
- [x] I updated/added relevant documentation (doc comments with `///`).
- [x] I added new tests to check the change I am making, or this PR is
[test-exempt].
- [x] I followed the [breaking change policy] and added [Data Driven
Fixes] where supported.
- [x] All existing and new tests are passing.

If you need help, consider asking for advice on the #hackers-new channel
on [Discord].

**Note**: The Flutter team is currently trialing the use of [Gemini Code
Assist for
GitHub](https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/docs/review-github-code).
Comments from the `gemini-code-assist` bot should not be taken as
authoritative feedback from the Flutter team. If you find its comments
useful you can update your code accordingly, but if you are unsure or
disagree with the feedback, please feel free to wait for a Flutter team
member's review for guidance on which automated comments should be
addressed.

<!-- Links -->
[Contributor Guide]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Tree-hygiene.md#overview
[Tree Hygiene]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Tree-hygiene.md
[test-exempt]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Tree-hygiene.md#tests
[Flutter Style Guide]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Style-guide-for-Flutter-repo.md
[Features we expect every widget to implement]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Style-guide-for-Flutter-repo.md#features-we-expect-every-widget-to-implement
[CLA]: https://cla.developers.google.com/
[flutter/tests]: https://github.com/flutter/tests
[breaking change policy]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Tree-hygiene.md#handling-breaking-changes
[Discord]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Chat.md
[Data Driven Fixes]:
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/docs/contributing/Data-driven-Fixes.md
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

f: material design flutter/packages/flutter/material repository. framework flutter/packages/flutter repository. See also f: labels.

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

Add documentation to DropdownMenu.onSelected and add appropriate type constraints

7 participants