How to Make TextField Read Only in Flutter

I already have a blog post on how to disable Flutter TextField. In this tutorial, let’s learn how to make TextField read-only in Flutter.

You might be thinking what’s the difference between disabling and making read-only? When the TextField is made read-only then you cannot change the text but you can select the text. The property readOnly helps you in this case.

See the code snippet given below.

TextField(
        readOnly: true,
        controller: _controller..text = 'Default Value',
        decoration: const InputDecoration(
          border: OutlineInputBorder(),
        ),
        onSubmitted: (String value) {
          debugPrint(value);
        },
      )

And following is the output.

Following is the complete example.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

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

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

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
      ),
      home: const MyHomePage(),
    );
  }
}

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

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(
          title: const Text('Flutter TextField Border'),
        ),
        body: const MyStatefulWidget());
  }
}

class MyStatefulWidget extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyStatefulWidget({super.key});

  @override
  State<MyStatefulWidget> createState() => _MyStatefulWidgetState();
}

class _MyStatefulWidgetState extends State<MyStatefulWidget> {
  late TextEditingController _controller;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    _controller = TextEditingController();
  }

  @override
  void dispose() {
    _controller.dispose();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Center(
        child: Padding(
      padding: const EdgeInsets.all(16.0),
      child: TextField(
        readOnly: true,
        controller: _controller..text = 'Default Value',
        decoration: const InputDecoration(
          border: OutlineInputBorder(),
        ),
        onSubmitted: (String value) {
          debugPrint(value);
        },
      ),
    ));
  }
}

That’s how you make TextField read-only in Flutter.