Flutter: Finding X and Y coordinates of a widget at runtime

There may be times you want to calculate the X and Y positions of a widget in your Flutter application, for instance, programmatically scrolling to a particular destination when the user presses a tab or a button, etc.

• X: The left position (in pixels) relative to the left of the screen.
• Y offset: The top position (in pixels) relative to the top of the screen.

To get the exact position of a widget, we need to give it a key. To make it easier to understand, see the following example.

Example

App Preview

This sample app contains an amber box and a floating button. Once the user presses the button, we’ll calculate and then display the X and Y coordinates of the box on the screen.

The Code

The complete code in main.dart (with explanations):

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

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

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({Key? key}) : super(key: key);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const MaterialApp(
      debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,
      title: 'Kindacode.com',
      home: HomePage(),
    );
  }
}

class HomePage extends StatefulWidget {
  const HomePage({Key? key}) : super(key: key);

  @override
  State<HomePage> createState() => _HomePageState();
}

class _HomePageState extends State<HomePage> {
  // This key will be associated with the amber box
  final GlobalKey _key = GlobalKey();

  // Coordinates
  double? _x, _y;

  // This function is called when the user presses the floating button
  void _getOffset(GlobalKey key) {
    RenderBox? box = key.currentContext?.findRenderObject() as RenderBox?;
    Offset? position = box?.localToGlobal(Offset.zero);
    if (position != null) {
      setState(() {
        _x = position.dx;
        _y = position.dy;
      });
    }
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: const Text('Kindacode.com'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: Stack(children: [
          Positioned(
            top: 100,
            left: 30,
            // The amber box
            child: Container(
              key: _key,
              width: 360,
              height: 200,
              padding: const EdgeInsets.all(30),
              color: Colors.amber,
              child: Text(
                _x != null
                    ? "X: $_x, \nY: $_y"
                    : 'Press the button to calculate',
                style: const TextStyle(fontSize: 24),
              ),
            ),
          ),
        ]),
      ),
      floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
          onPressed: () => _getOffset(_key),
          child: const Icon(Icons.calculate)),
    );
  }
}

Conclusion

You’ve learned the technique to get the X and Y coordinates of a widget in Flutter. If you would like to explore more about the SDK, read also the following articles:

• Flutter: Scrolling to a desired Item in a ListView
• How to create a zebra striped ListView in Flutter
• How to make an image carousel in Flutter
• How to implement Star Rating in Flutter
• Using Stack and IndexedStack in Flutter
• Programmatically show/hide a widget using Visibility

You can also check out our Flutter category page or Dart category page for the latest tutorials and examples.