[material_ui] Document how to programmatically clear DropdownMenu selection by dkbharti-glitch · Pull Request #13266 · flutter/packages

dkbharti-glitch · 2026-10-15T07:34:55Z

Description

Clarifies how to programmatically clear or reset the selection in DropdownMenu.

Setting initialSelection to null on a rebuild does not clear the text field, because DropdownMenu only updates the text field when initialSelection changes to a value that matches one of the dropdownMenuEntries. This PR documents that the selection should be cleared by providing a TextEditingController and calling controller.clear() alongside setting the state variable to null, and adds an interactive code sample demonstrating this pattern.

Fixes flutter/flutter#177599

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google-cla · 2026-10-15T07:35:06Z

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Code Review

This pull request adds a new code sample and widget tests demonstrating how to programmatically clear or reset the selection in a DropdownMenu using a TextEditingController. It also updates the documentation for DropdownMenu, its controller property, and its initialSelection property to explain this behavior and reference the new example. A pending changelog entry is also included. There are no review comments, and I have no feedback to provide.

elliette · 2026-11-05T22:58:38Z

+/// <callout-box>
+///
+/// This sample demonstrates how to programmatically clear or reset the selection
+/// in a [DropdownMenu] using a [TextEditingController].
+///
+// TODO(framework): Replace the following block with a @dartpad directive
+// when it's supported. https://github.com/dart-lang/dartdoc/issues/4123
+/// {@macro material_ui.dartpad_guide}
+///
+/// {@example /example/lib/dropdown_menu/dropdown_menu.3.dart#body}
+///
+/// </callout-box>


nit: Since this sample specifically demonstrates controller and initialSelection and is already embedded in the doc comments for both of those properties below, could we omit this copy from the class-level doc comment so the generated API page doesn't render the same sample three times?

Done, removed the class-level copy.

elliette · 2026-11-05T22:58:38Z

+  /// Setting this to null does not clear the text field because [initialSelection]
+  /// only specifies an initial selection and does not act as a reactive, controlled
+  /// selection property.


didUpdateWidget actually does update the text controller when initialSelection changes to a value that matches an entry in dropdownMenuEntries (see lines 890–900); it only leaves the text field unchanged when initialSelection is null (or doesn't match any entry).

Suggested change

/// Setting this to null does not clear the text field because [initialSelection]

/// only specifies an initial selection and does not act as a reactive, controlled

/// selection property.

/// Setting this to null on a rebuild does not clear the text field, because

/// [DropdownMenu] only updates the text field when [initialSelection] changes

/// to a value that matches one of the [dropdownMenuEntries].

Good catch, thanks! Updated to your suggested wording and aligned the controller docs with it.

elliette · 2026-11-05T22:58:38Z

+
+class _DropdownMenuClearExampleState extends State<DropdownMenuClearExample> {
+  final TextEditingController _controller = TextEditingController();
+  ColorItem? _selectedColor;


nit: Consider initializing _selectedColor = ColorItem.red here (and updating the initial expectation in the test) so initialSelection: _selectedColor on line 68 also demonstrates clearing an initial selection present on startup.

Done. The sample now starts with ColorItem.red, and I added a test that clears the initial selection.

elliette

LGTM, thank you!

…ection Improve documentation and add an interactive sample demonstrating how to programmatically clear or reset the selection in DropdownMenu using a TextEditingController alongside resetting the state variable. Fixes flutter/flutter#177599

… docs - Remove the duplicate clear-selection sample from the DropdownMenu class docs. It is already embedded in the controller and initialSelection docs, so the generated API page rendered the same sample three times. - Correct the initialSelection docs using the reviewer's suggested wording: didUpdateWidget does update the text field when initialSelection changes to a value that matches one of the dropdownMenuEntries, and only leaves it unchanged when the new value is null or matches no entry. - Align the controller docs with that wording by saying that setting initialSelection to null (rather than updating it) does not clear the text field. - Start the dropdown_menu.3 sample with ColorItem.red so it also demonstrates clearing an initial selection present on startup, update the first test's initial expectations, and add a test that clears the initial selection.

…er#196381) flutter/packages@08faf64...653628e 2026-11-11 [email protected] Roll Flutter from fffd8c2 to b98afb5 (31 revisions) (flutter/packages#13623) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [material_ui] Document how to programmatically clear DropdownMenu selection (flutter/packages#13266) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [pigeon] Fix basePath resolution when paths share a string prefix with basePath (flutter/packages#13342) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Fix CupertinoSheetRoute throwing when a drag ends during a pending relayout (flutter/packages#13316) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [shared_preferences] Updates Pigeon to 30.0.1 to support multi-engine registration and deregistration. (flutter/packages#13617) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [vector_graphics] Catch any throwable in useHtmlRenderObject() and cache HTML fallback (flutter/packages#13545) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Include selectionHandleColor in NoDefaultCupertinoThemeData equality (flutter/packages#13450) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [flutter_svg] Remove failed async loads from Cache._pending (flutter/packages#13604) 2026-11-11 [email protected] [pigeon] Adds Native Interop FFI codec serialization for NS types (flutter/packages#13616) 2026-11-10 [email protected] [pigeon] Support multi-engine Native Interop registration and instance-aware unregistration (flutter/packages#13576) 2026-11-10 [email protected] [image_picker_ios] Convert the iOS example app and UI tests to Swift (flutter/packages#13570) 2026-11-10 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Localize CupertinoActionSheet semantics label (flutter/packages#13377) 2026-11-10 [email protected] [camera_android] Fix stopVideoRecording returning JPEG when takePicture runs during recording (flutter/packages#13070) 2026-11-10 [email protected] [google_sign_in_android] Rename keep.xml to google_sign_in_keep.xml (flutter/packages#13475) 2026-11-10 [email protected] [web_benchmarks] Fix benchmark stalling when only repainting views that are dirty (flutter/packages#13089) 2026-11-10 [email protected] Roll Flutter from d463821 to fffd8c2 (21 revisions) (flutter/packages#13614) If this roll has caused a breakage, revert this CL and set the roller to dry run mode using the controls here: https://autoroll.skia.org/r/flutter-packages-flutter-autoroll Please CC [email protected] on the revert to ensure that a human is aware of the problem. To file a bug in Flutter: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/new/choose To report a problem with the AutoRoller itself, please file a bug: https://issues.skia.org/issues/new?component=1389291&template=1850622 Documentation for the AutoRoller is here: https://skia.googlesource.com/buildbot/+doc/main/autoroll/README.md

flutter-dashboard Bot added the CICD Run CI/CD label Oct 15, 2026

github-actions Bot added p: material_ui triage-design Should be looked at in design triage labels Oct 15, 2026

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dkbharti-glitch mentioned this pull request Oct 15, 2026

docs: clarify programmatic clearing for DropdownMenu and add code sample flutter/flutter#194382

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dkbharti-glitch force-pushed the dropdown-menu-clear-doc branch 2 times, most recently from ea69ee2 to 90aa5d2 Compare October 23, 2026 08:29

elliette requested review from QuncCccccc and elliette October 27, 2026 21:22

elliette requested changes Nov 6, 2026

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dkbharti-glitch force-pushed the dropdown-menu-clear-doc branch from 488f829 to 9ebcbc7 Compare November 9, 2026 08:01

dkbharti-glitch requested a review from elliette November 9, 2026 08:07

elliette approved these changes Nov 10, 2026

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dkbharti-glitch added 2 commits November 11, 2026 15:11

dkbharti-glitch force-pushed the dropdown-menu-clear-doc branch from 9ebcbc7 to cd88635 Compare November 11, 2026 09:45

dkbharti-glitch added the autosubmit Merge PR when tree becomes green via auto submit App label Nov 11, 2026

auto-submit Bot merged commit b9397f2 into flutter:main Nov 11, 2026
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This was referenced Nov 11, 2026

Roll Packages from 08faf6409187 to b9397f207c07 (15 revisions) flutter/flutter#196380

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Roll Packages from 08faf6409187 to 653628e8a646 (16 revisions) flutter/flutter#196381

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[material_ui] Document how to programmatically clear DropdownMenu selection - #13266

[material_ui] Document how to programmatically clear DropdownMenu selection#13266
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