Flutter AbsorbPointer vs IgnorePointer difference

Question

What is the difference between AbsorbPointer and IgnorePointer in flutter?

Docs mention:

AbsorbPointer prevents its subtree from receiving pointer events by terminating hit testing at itself.

IgnorePointer, which also prevents its children from receiving pointer events but is itself invisible to hit testing.

I didn't get what is the real life difference between the two.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50600747/flutter-ignore-touch-events-on-a-widget — Kartik Shandilya, Mar 30 '19 at 11:33
Possible duplicate of [Flutter: Ignore touch events on a Widget](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50600747/flutter-ignore-touch-events-on-a-widget) — creativecreatorormaybenot, Apr 03 '19 at 08:19

score 128 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '20 at 06:52

128

The difference is when we have two widgets overlapping each other, that can both receive clicks.

Consider a red and blue square, both clickable, where the blue square is smaller and on the top of the red square:

Stack(
  alignment: Alignment.center,
  children: [
     Container(color: Colors.red),
     Container(width: 42, height: 42, color: Colors.blue),
  ],
)

By default, without IgnorePointer/AbsorbPointer, tapping the blue square will send a click event on blue and red gets nothing.

In that situation, wrapping blue square into an AbsorbPointer means that when tapping the blue square, neither the blue square nor the red one gets the click event.

If we instead used an IgnorePointer, the red square would receive click events when tapping the blue square.

edited Aug 21 '20 at 06:52

Birju Vachhani

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answered Mar 30 '19 at 11:36

Rémi Rousselet

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Interesting, but has anyone needed this distinction? – Ben Butterworth Jun 12 '20 at 08:40
15

Interesting. Could you replace the documentation for these widgets with this short answer? – Andrey Chaschev Jul 07 '20 at 01:27
Actually in real life when you will come across some problems like, if you don't want the gestures in the maps or don't want any two-finger zoom or else, then you will need this. – Shîvam Yadav Sep 12 '20 at 06:23
It is really interesting but when I try to disable my click events on WebView using webview_flutter none of them works. Is anyone know why? – Code Runner Oct 28 '20 at 19:55
tks bro, my brain just rescued!!! – Nghien Nghien Nov 28 '22 at 10:46

Flutter AbsorbPointer vs IgnorePointer difference

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