Work with tabs

Working with tabs is a common pattern in apps that follow the Material Design guidelines. Flutter includes a convenient way to create tab layouts as part of the material library.

This recipe creates a tabbed example using the following steps;

1. Create a TabController.
2. Create the tabs.
3. Create content for each tab.

For tabs to work, you need to keep the selected tab and content sections in sync. This is the job of the TabController.

Either create a TabController manually, or automatically by using a DefaultTabController widget.

Using DefaultTabController is the simplest option, since it creates a TabController and makes it available to all descendant widgets.

return MaterialApp(
  home: DefaultTabController(
    length: 3,
    child: Scaffold(),
  ),
);

When a tab is selected, it needs to display content. You can create tabs using the TabBar widget. In this example, create a TabBar with three Tab widgets and place it within an AppBar.

return MaterialApp(
  home: DefaultTabController(
    length: 3,
    child: Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        bottom: const TabBar(
          tabs: [
            Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.directions_car)),
            Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.directions_transit)),
            Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.directions_bike)),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    ),
  ),
);

By default, the TabBar looks up the widget tree for the nearest DefaultTabController. If you're manually creating a TabController, pass it to the TabBar.

Now that you have tabs, display content when a tab is selected. For this purpose, use the TabBarView widget.

body: const TabBarView(
  children: [
    Icon(Icons.directions_car),
    Icon(Icons.directions_transit),
    Icon(Icons.directions_bike),
  ],
),

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

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

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

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: DefaultTabController(
        length: 3,
        child: Scaffold(
          appBar: AppBar(
            bottom: const TabBar(
              tabs: [
                Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.directions_car)),
                Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.directions_transit)),
                Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.directions_bike)),
              ],
            ),
            title: const Text('Tabs Demo'),
          ),
          body: const TabBarView(
            children: [
              Icon(Icons.directions_car),
              Icon(Icons.directions_transit),
              Icon(Icons.directions_bike),
            ],
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}