Use of DefaultTextStyle in flutter - flutter

Question

I am trying to apply a DefaultTextStyle, but even though the style is defined and available (as established by calling DefaultTextStyle.of(context).style), it does not get applied by default to child Text objects. So what am I doing wrong, or failing to understand?
Here is the build method from my calling class, where I define my DefaultTextStyle:
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return new MaterialApp(
onGenerateTitle: (BuildContext context) =>
Strings.of(context).getStr('app_title'),
localizationsDelegates: [
const StringsDelegate(),
GlobalWidgetsLocalizations.delegate,
],
localeResolutionCallback: Strings.resolveLocale,
// Watch out: MaterialApp creates a Localizations widget
// with the specified delegates. DemoLocalizations.of()
// will only find the app's Localizations widget if its
// context is a child of the app.
theme: new ThemeData(
primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
),
home: new DefaultTextStyle(
style: new TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
decoration: TextDecoration.underline,
decorationColor: Colors.red,
decorationStyle: TextDecorationStyle.wavy,
color: Colors.blue
),
child: new StatusPage())
);
}
And here is StatusPage, where I am trying to use the DefaultTextStyle:
class StatusPage extends MyStatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
TextStyle style = DefaultTextStyle.of(context).style;
print("STYLE: $style");
return new Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(
title: getText(context, 'app_title')
),
body: new Center(
child: new Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
new Text('wibble', style:style),
new ActivityStatus(),
new MonitoringStatus()]
)));
}
}
With the code as shown, the Text "wibble" is correctly shown with the appropriate style. My understanding from the docs, is that this style should be applied by default, so I should not need the style argument to the Text constructor for "wibble".
However, if I remove the style argument I do not get the style from my DefaultTextStyle.
What am I missing?

Answer 1

Apply the DefaultTextStyle to the Scaffold like this and you will get this style in all the descendant Text widgets
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return new MaterialApp(
theme: new ThemeData(
primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
),
home: new StatusPage());
}
}
class StatusPage extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
TextStyle style = DefaultTextStyle.of(context).style;
return new Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(),
body: new DefaultTextStyle(
style: new TextStyle(
inherit: true,
fontSize: 20.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
decoration: TextDecoration.underline,
decorationColor: Colors.red,
decorationStyle: TextDecorationStyle.wavy,
color: Colors.blue),
child: new Center(
child: new Column(
children: <Widget>[
new Text("hello"),
],
),
)));
}
}

Answer 2

I had same issue before, I think it comes when using custome fonts or changing language (at least that was my case)
the solution for me was to go MaterialApp widget and then override ALL textTheme attributes like this:
fontFamily: "STCBold",
textTheme: GoogleFonts.cairoTextTheme(textTheme).copyWith(
headline1: TextStyle(height: 1),
headline2: TextStyle(height: 1),
headline3: TextStyle(height: 1),
headline4: TextStyle(height: 1),
headline5: TextStyle(height: 1),
headline6: TextStyle(height: 1),
subtitle1: TextStyle(height: 1),
subtitle2: TextStyle(height: 1),
bodyText1: TextStyle(height: 1),
bodyText2: TextStyle(height: 1),
caption: TextStyle(height: 1),
button: TextStyle(height: 1),
overline: TextStyle(height: 1),
),
this will make all text themes have no extra padding thus all texts will be tight. but make sure to use style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.WHATEVERTEXT. in all your code