Why doesn't Container respect the size it was given? - flutter

Question

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
void main() => runApp(MyApp());
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
title: 'Flutter Demo',
home: TestCode(),
);
}
}
class TestCode extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
width: 200,
height: 100,
color: Colors.red,
child: Container(
width: 100,
height: 100,
color: Colors.green,
),
);
}
}
In fact, this code is very simple. I just want to display a 200 * 100 red cube and a 100 * 100 green cube.
But the running effect is full screen green? Why is that?
Next, I added a Scaffold toTestCode, as follows
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
title: 'Flutter Demo',
home: Scaffold(body: TestCode()),
);
}
The effect again seems to be closer, showing a 200 * 100 green cuboid? Why is that?
Next, I added an alignment to the first Container, as follows
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
alignment: Alignment.topLeft,
width: 200,
height: 100,
color: Colors.red,
child: Container(
width: 100,
height: 100,
color: Colors.green,
),
);
}
Finally achieved the desired effect, why is this, who can explain, I must figure this out.

Answer 1

This is caused by what we call "tight vs loose constraints" in Flutter.
TD;DR, width/height are tight constraints (in the sense that there's only a single possibility).
But you never specified to the framework how to switch between the tight constraint of 200x200 specified by the parent, to the tight constraint of 100x100 of the child.
This cause a constraint conflict. Both widgets have a single possibility, and there's nothing that allows both to live together (like an alignment).
In that situation, the constraints of the parent always win, and we therefore end up with a 200x200 square where the child fills its parent.
If that is not what you want; then you should transform your "tight" constraint into a "loose" constraint.
A loose constraint is a constraint that offer the child multiple possibilities, which usually remove the conflict.
The most common way to introduce a loose constraint is to use Alignment (or Center or the alignment property of Container).
As such, if you write:
Container(
width: 200,
height: 100,
color: Colors.red,
child: Center(
child: Container(
width: 100,
height: 100,
color: Colors.green,
),
),
);
then in that situation, Center will act as a middle ground between the parent and child Container.
It will understand that both wants a different size. And it will solve the conflict by aligning the child in the parent.
Now, why is this desired you may ask? Why can't Flutter implicitly add an alignment here?
That is because in many situations, this behavior is desired.
Basically, this ensures that there's always a way to customize the size of something (without having to expose tons of properties on all widgets).
Take RaisedButton as an example. It doesn't expose anything to change its size, but we may want it to fill the screen.
In that situation we'd write:
SizedBox.expand(
child: RaisedButton(...),
)
Because of the behavior we explained previously with the parent overriding the child size when there's a conflict, this code will produce a RaisedButton that properly fills the screen.

Answer 2

height and width properties getting overrided. You can have more info about box constraints on this article:
Dealing with box constraints
Flutter has bunch of layout widgets that can get the job done. In your case you gave Container to the home property of MaterialApp. This set the minimum size of the Container to the screen size. MaterialApp wants his child to fill all the screen in order to prevent any black pixels. This is an expected behaviour. However you can use a layout widget that can break this constraint, it may be Center , FittedBox or else.
An example with FittedBox:
class TestCode extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return FittedBox(
fit: BoxFit.scaleDown,
child: Container(
width: 200,
height: 100,
color: Colors.red,
child: FittedBox(
fit: BoxFit.scaleDown,
child: Container(
width: 100,
height: 100,
color: Colors.green,
),
),
),
);
}
}
Output:

Answer 3

Always remember that the container by default takes the dimensions of the parent, and it's a good practice to wrap all your elements/widgets in a root top level Container and then wrap each container in the widget tree with widgets that position the desired Container (Center can be such a widget)
An easy work-around solution for your problem would be:
// The root container
Container(
//Center for positioning the child Container properly
child: Center(
child: Container(
height: 100,
width: 200,
color: Colors.red,
//Center for positioning the child Container properly
child: Center(
child: Container(
height: 100,
width: 100,
color: Colors.green,
),
),
),
),
),

Answer 4

Just change your code into this. You have to specify alignment.
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
void main() => runApp(MyApp());
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
title: 'Flutter Demo',
home: TestCode(),
);
}
}
class TestCode extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
width: 200.0,
height: 100.0,
color: Colors.red,
alignment: Alignment.center, // where to position the child
child: Container(
width: 100.0,
height: 100.0,
color: Colors.green,
),
);
}
}