Dropdown Flutter

A customizable Flutter dropdown — search, network search, multi-select and form validation built in.

Install

dependencies:
  dropdown_flutter: ^1.2.1

import 'package:dropdown_flutter/custom_dropdown.dart';

DropdownFlutter<String>(
  hintText: 'Select priority',
  items: const ['Low', 'Medium', 'High', 'Urgent'],
  initialItem: 'Medium',                       // optional
  onChanged: (value) => print(value),
)

That is the whole setup — no builders, controllers or config required.

Constructors

Constructor	Use it for
DropdownFlutter()	A plain list of items
.search()	Filtering a local list as the user types
.searchRequest()	Fetching results from an API
.multiSelect()	Selecting several items with checkboxes
.multiSelectSearch()	Multi-select over a filtered local list
.multiSelectSearchRequest()	Multi-select over API results

Swap the constructor and keep the rest — every option below applies to all six. The multiSelect* variants report through onListChanged; the rest use onChanged.

Screenshots

Multi-select	Grouped	Highlighting	Dark theme

Usage

Search — local and network

Plain String items search out of the box. For your own type, mix in CustomDropdownListFilter and decide what counts as a match.

class Member with CustomDropdownListFilter {
  // toString() supplies the row label; filter() decides what matches.
  @override
  String toString() => name;

  @override
  bool filter(String q) => name.toLowerCase().contains(q.toLowerCase()) ||
      role.toLowerCase().contains(q.toLowerCase()); // "engineer" finds them all
}

DropdownFlutter<Member>.search(items: members, onChanged: print);

DropdownFlutter<Member>.searchRequest(          // same, but from an API
  futureRequest: (query) async => api.searchMembers(query),
  futureRequestDelay: const Duration(milliseconds: 300),
  onChanged: print,
);

Validation and controllers

final controller = SingleSelectController<String?>('Medium');
// MultiSelectController<String>(['Medium']) for multi-select

DropdownFlutter<String>(
  items: priorities,
  controller: controller,                       // read and set from anywhere
  validator: (value) => value == null ? 'Required' : null,
  validateOnChange: true,                       // listValidator for multi-select
  onChanged: print,
);

controller.value = 'High';
controller.clear();

Custom rows

toString() gives the default label. For anything richer, supply a listItemBuilder — headerBuilder, hintBuilder and noResultFoundBuilder work the same way.

DropdownFlutter<Member>(
  items: members,
  listItemBuilder: (context, item, isSelected, onItemSelect) => Row(
    children: [
      CircleAvatar(child: Text(item.name[0])),
      const SizedBox(width: 12),
      Text(item.name),
    ],
  ),
  onChanged: print,
)

Modern UX

All opt-in and off by default, so upgrading changes nothing.

Property	Effect
groupBy	Splits the list into labelled sections
highlightMatchedText	Emphasises the matched substring in results
recentSelectionsMaxCount	Pins recently picked items to the top
showSelectAll	Adds a select-all / clear-all row (multi-select)
selectAllText / clearAllText	Relabel that row
enableKeyboardNavigation	Arrow keys move, Enter selects, Escape closes
enableHapticFeedback	Light impact on open, click on select
animationDuration / animationCurve	Tunes the open/close animation

DropdownFlutter<Member>(
  items: members,
  groupBy: (member) => member.team,             // any combination works
  recentSelectionsMaxCount: 3,
  enableKeyboardNavigation: true,
  onChanged: print,
)

Styling

decoration covers colors, borders, shadows and text styles; the builders replace widgets outright. Colors fall back to the ambient ColorScheme, so dropdowns follow a dark theme with no extra configuration.

DropdownFlutter<String>(
  items: items,
  decoration: CustomDropdownDecoration(
    closedFillColor: const Color(0xFF1E1B33),
    closedBorderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(16),
    headerStyle: const TextStyle(color: Colors.white),
  ),
  onChanged: print,
)

final withIcon = base.copyWith(prefixIcon: const Icon(Icons.person));

Size is controlled by overlayHeight, listItemPadding and listItemHeight — the last defaults to null so rows fit their content; setting it lets the list scroll more efficiently.

All properties

Group	Properties
Items	items, initialItem / initialItems, excludeSelected, and the onChanged / onListChanged callbacks
Text	hintText, searchHintText, noResultFoundText, maxlines (line limit on the closed header)
Sizing	listItemHeight, overlayHeight, listItemPadding / itemsListPadding, closedHeaderPadding / expandedHeaderPadding
Behaviour	enabled, canCloseOutsideBounds, hideSelectedFieldWhenExpanded, closeDropDownOnClearFilterSearch, visibility
Control	controller / multiSelectController, overlayController, itemsScrollController
Async	futureRequest / futureRequestDelay, searchRequestLoadingIndicator
Recents	initialRecentItems, onRecentItemsChanged
Validation	validator / listValidator, validateOnChange
Appearance	decoration / disabledDecoration
Builders	listItemBuilder, headerBuilder / headerListBuilder, hintBuilder, noResultFoundBuilder, groupHeaderBuilder

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Made by Farhan Sadik Galib

If this package saved you time, consider starring the repo ⭐

See the changelog for release notes. Released under the MIT License.