[material_ui] Add alternative input method for `RangeSlider` in `NavigationMode.directional` by mbcorona · Pull Request #12630 · flutter/packages

mbcorona · 2026-08-26T01:27:47Z

Ports flutter/flutter#187816 to material_ui, following the instructions in flutter/flutter#188444. The commits were cherry-picked from the original PR, with only file paths and imports adjusted for this repo.

In NavigationMode.directional (TV remotes, D-pads) the arrow keys are needed to move focus between views, so a focused RangeSlider thumb had no way to adjust its value. This adds the pattern discussed in flutter/flutter#181968:

Arrow keys only move focus.
Enter on a focused thumb enters a value adjustment mode, where Left and Right adjust the value.
Enter again, or losing focus, exits that mode.

NavigationMode.traditional is unchanged: arrow keys adjust the value directly. This mirrors the keyboard handling Slider already has in this package.

Tests

New test group RangeSlider keyboard with NavigationMode.directional in packages/material_ui/test/range_slider_test.dart, covering each case above plus traditional navigation.

Fixes flutter/flutter#181968

Supersedes flutter/flutter#187816, which will be closed with a pointer to this PR.

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Code Review

This pull request introduces alternative keyboard input support for RangeSlider when operating in NavigationMode.directional. It adds a toggleable value-adjustment mode to allow arrow keys to either navigate focus or adjust the slider values, along with corresponding tests and a changelog entry. Feedback suggests implementing defensive null checks in _actionHandler instead of using null-assertion operators to prevent potential runtime exceptions if the widget is unmounted.

gemini-code-assist · 2026-08-26T01:28:46Z

+  void _actionHandler(_AdjustSliderIntent intent, Thumb thumb) {
+    final slider = _renderObjectKey.currentContext!.findRenderObject()! as _RenderRangeSlider;
+    final TextDirection directionality = Directionality.of(_renderObjectKey.currentContext!);
+    final bool increase = switch (intent.type) {
+      _SliderAdjustmentType.up => true,
+      _SliderAdjustmentType.down => false,
+      _SliderAdjustmentType.left => directionality == TextDirection.rtl,
+      _SliderAdjustmentType.right => directionality == TextDirection.ltr,
+    };
+    switch (thumb) {
+      case Thumb.start:
+        increase ? slider.increaseStartAction() : slider.decreaseStartAction();
+      case Thumb.end:
+        increase ? slider.increaseEndAction() : slider.decreaseEndAction();
+    }
+  }


Using the null-assertion operator ! on _renderObjectKey.currentContext and findRenderObject() can lead to runtime exceptions if the widget is ever unmounted or in a teardown state when an action is triggered. Following defensive programming practices, it is safer to perform null checks before accessing these properties.

void _actionHandler(_AdjustSliderIntent intent, Thumb thumb) { final BuildContext? context = _renderObjectKey.currentContext; if (context == null) { return; } final RenderObject? renderObject = context.findRenderObject(); if (renderObject == null) { return; } final _RenderRangeSlider slider = renderObject as _RenderRangeSlider; final TextDirection directionality = Directionality.of(context); final bool increase = switch (intent.type) { _SliderAdjustmentType.up => true, _SliderAdjustmentType.down => false, _SliderAdjustmentType.left => directionality == TextDirection.rtl, _SliderAdjustmentType.right => directionality == TextDirection.ltr, }; switch (thumb) { case Thumb.start: increase ? slider.increaseStartAction() : slider.decreaseStartAction(); case Thumb.end: increase ? slider.increaseEndAction() : slider.decreaseEndAction(); } }

This mirrors the existing pattern in Slider._actionHandler in this package (slider.dart), which this PR intentionally follows per the porting guidelines. If the defensive style is preferred, I'd suggest changing both Slider and RangeSlider together in a follow-up for consistency.

elliette · 2026-09-03T18:28:23Z

Oops didn't notice the original PR was already being reviewed by @navaronbracke - @navaronbracke I've assigned you as reviewer but please let us know if you don't have the bandwidth at the moment and we'll take a look! Thank you :)

navaronbracke

Just some minor nits on the test

auto-submit · 2026-09-08T15:12:12Z

autosubmit label was removed for flutter/packages/12630, because - The status or check suite Dashboard Checks has failed. Please fix the issues identified (or deflake) before re-applying this label.

navaronbracke · 2026-09-08T16:38:38Z

FYI: dashboard checks is failing for the same reason as to why the tree is red right now.

auto-submit · 2026-09-08T19:47:39Z

autosubmit label was removed for flutter/packages/12630, because - The status or check suite Dashboard Checks has failed. Please fix the issues identified (or deflake) before re-applying this label.

…rness, matching slider_test

mbcorona · 2026-09-17T19:05:24Z

Hi @navaronbracke , I adjusted some tests, but it looks like the Dashboard checks are still failing.

navaronbracke · 2026-09-17T19:25:57Z

https://flutter-dashboard.appspot.com/#/presubmit?repo=packages&pr=12630&sha=ac9e232eca4fc27b3e72f48089bcaa759fa95d6a&job=Mac_x64%20ios_build_all_packages%20master

Shows that it is unrelated to your change, though. (you can inspect failures like these by clicking the three dots in the GH action line, then via "view more details on flutter-dashboard" you can select the same task again to get logs)

This task appears to have been cancelled? Other PR's after this one don't hit this, so I'd push an empty commit to rerun?

@example

…er#193289) Roll Packages from c2b58e1a97fb to 431ea69a42e2 (56 revisions) flutter/packages@c2b58e1...431ea69 2026-09-24 [email protected] [cross_file] Updates cross_file to a package separated federated plugin (flutter/packages#11010) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [material_ui] Remove static access of `copyWith` from `dart fix` golden tests for `ThemeData/TextTheme` (flutter/packages#12994) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [camera_avfoundation] Replace deprecated high-resolution capture APIs (flutter/packages#12372) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [pigeon] update nullish checks to use new isNullish method (flutter/packages#12985) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [ci] Assign batch release PR approver as reviewer on sync-back PR (flutter/packages#12976) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [image_picker] Fix scaling 10-bit images (flutter/packages#12557) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [material_ui] Improve Autocomplete, DrawerHeader, and Tooltip accessibility (flutter/packages#12918) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [google_fonts] Decouple GoogleFontsLite for full tree-shaking and add full feature parity (flutter/packages#12830) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [file_selector] Ignore flakey `file_selector_android` tests (flutter/packages#12992) 2026-09-23 [email protected] [CI] Remove bringup from `Mac_arm64 build_all_packages` targets (flutter/packages#12978) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [material_ui] Unskip 5 passing web tests in bottom_app_bar_test and text_field_test (flutter/packages#12983) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Unskip 5 passing web tests in adaptive_text_selection_toolbar_test and text_field_test (flutter/packages#12984) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [go_router] Fix ShellRoute chrome dropped from semantics tree by ModalBarrier (flutter/packages#12353) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [material_ui] Add contrastLevel for M3 ColorScheme (flutter/packages#12743) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [go_router] Preserve nested pushes during config updates (flutter/packages#12611) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [material_ui] Migrate M3 Chip template to use new gen_defaults (flutter/packages#12847) 2026-09-22 [email protected] [material_ui] Fix LocalHistoryEntry leak when double tapping Drawer scrim (flutter/packages#12552) 2026-09-22 [email protected] Update suggested reviewers (flutter/packages#12974) 2026-09-22 [email protected] Sync release-material_ui-1.4.0 to main (flutter/packages#12966) 2026-09-22 [email protected] Sync release-cupertino_ui-1.1.1 to main (flutter/packages#12965) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [ci] Update repo for 3.47 stable release (flutter/packages#12959) 2026-09-21 [email protected] Manual roll Flutter from 27fec0e to 4fcd90b (1 revision) (flutter/packages#12904) 2026-09-21 [email protected] Revert "[go_router_builder] Migrate to material_ui" (flutter/packages#12962) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [material_ui] Update `material_ui` tests to prevent them from failing when framework `TextStyle` changes (flutter/packages#12728) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [go_router_builder] Migrate to material_ui (flutter/packages#12913) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [material_ui, cupertino_ui] Bump Flutter version from to 3.47 (flutter/packages#12944) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Work around dart2wasm optional parameter inference bug in example checkbox tests (flutter/packages#12961) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Work around dart2wasm optional parameter inference bug in checkbox_test.dart (flutter/packages#12956) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [google_sign_in] PR 3/4 Migrate ViewProvider and GID SDK wrappers from Objective-C to Swift (flutter/packages#12657) 2026-09-21 [email protected] [google_sign_in] PR 2/4 Migrate the plugin class from Objective-C to Swift. (flutter/packages#12655) 2026-09-20 [email protected] [cross_file_darwin] iOS/macOS implementation of `cross_file` (flutter/packages#12910) 2026-09-20 [email protected] [cross_file_web] Web implementation of `cross_file` (flutter/packages#12908) 2026-09-20 [email protected] [material_ui] Migrate M3 `InputChip` template to use new gen_defaults (flutter/packages#12850) 2026-09-20 [email protected] [material_ui] Migrate M3 Checkbox defaults to new gen_defaults (flutter/packages#12816) 2026-09-20 [email protected] [material_ui] Migrate M3 `FilterChip` template to use new gen_defaults (flutter/packages#12849) 2026-09-19 [email protected] [material_ui] Announce PopupMenuButton with a child as a button (flutter/packages#12585) 2026-09-19 [email protected] Roll Flutter (stable) from 9584c67 to 6a19cca (7 revisions) (flutter/packages#12950) 2026-09-18 [email protected] [material_ui] Reduce the `material_ui` non-wasm web test suite (flutter/packages#12763) 2026-09-18 [email protected] Replace `Mac_x64` builders with `Mac_arm64` ones (flutter/packages#12941) 2026-09-18 [email protected] [in_app_purchase_storekit] Use `_$SKPaymentDiscountWrapperToJson` (flutter/packages#12721) 2026-09-18 [email protected] [In_app _purchase] README excerpt examples and changelog (flutter/packages#12739) 2026-09-18 [email protected] [material_ui] Add alternative input method for `RangeSlider` in `NavigationMode.directional` (flutter/packages#12630) 2026-09-18 [email protected] [cross_file_android] Android implementation of `cross_file` (flutter/packages#12909) 2026-09-18 [email protected] [camera_platform_interface] Adds videoOutputPath support to startVideoRecording (flutter/packages#12667) 2026-09-17 [email protected] [cupertino_ui] Migrate a snippet in `CupertinoCheckbox`'s API doc to `{@example}` and add unit tests (flutter/packages#12180) 2026-09-17 [email protected] [material_ui] Default gen_defaults color helper prefix (flutter/packages#12848) ...

mbcorona added 4 commits August 25, 2026 18:59

fix range-slider-directional-nav

3143d8a

dart format

d2076a7

Address review feedback on RangeSlider directional nav

bd026cf

Add pending changelog entry

6d8e8f8

flutter-dashboard Bot added the CICD Run CI/CD label Aug 26, 2026

github-actions Bot added p: material_ui triage-design Should be looked at in design triage labels Aug 26, 2026

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Piinks mentioned this pull request Sep 2, 2026

Add alternative input method for RangeSlider in NavigationMode.directional flutter/flutter#187816

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elliette requested review from QuncCccccc and elliette September 2, 2026 23:31

QuncCccccc changed the title ~~[material_ui] Port flutter/flutter #187816 "Add alternative input method for RangeSlider in NavigationMode.directional"~~ [material_ui] Add alternative input method for RangeSlider in NavigationMode.directional Sep 3, 2026

QuncCccccc changed the title ~~[material_ui] Add alternative input method for RangeSlider in NavigationMode.directional~~ [material_ui] Add alternative input method for RangeSlider in NavigationMode.directional Sep 3, 2026

elliette requested review from navaronbracke and removed request for QuncCccccc and elliette September 3, 2026 18:28

navaronbracke requested changes Sep 3, 2026

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mbcorona added 2 commits September 7, 2026 13:37

Merge branch 'main' into port-187816

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Address review feedback

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mbcorona requested a review from navaronbracke September 8, 2026 00:09

navaronbracke approved these changes Sep 8, 2026

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Fix web test shards: bind arrows to DirectionalFocusIntent in test ha…

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…rness, matching slider_test

Merge branch 'main' into port-187816

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Merge branch 'main' into port-187816

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mbcorona added the autosubmit Merge PR when tree becomes green via auto submit App label Sep 18, 2026

auto-submit Bot merged commit 8f96e69 into flutter:main Sep 18, 2026
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Roll Packages from c2b58e1a97fb to 431ea69a42e2 (56 revisions) flutter/flutter#193289

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[material_ui] Add alternative input method for `RangeSlider` in `NavigationMode.directional` - #12630

[material_ui] Add alternative input method for `RangeSlider` in `NavigationMode.directional`#12630
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