How to Implement Dynamic Navigation Bar in Flutter and Identify Tapped Icons

Learn how to create a dynamic Bottom Navigation Bar in Flutter and identify which icon was tapped using the label instead of index. Perfect for apps with conditional navigation!
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How to Implement Dynamic Navigation Bar in Flutter and Identify Tapped Icons

Creating a dynamic Bottom Navigation Bar in Flutter can be challenging, especially when the number of navigation items changes based on certain conditions. Usually, you can easily identify which icon was tapped by using its index. However, when the order of icons changes dynamically, relying solely on the index can lead to confusion. In this post, we will explore how to dynamically manage navigation icons in Flutter and identify which icon is tapped by reading the associated label.

The Problem at Hand

When building an app that uses a BottomNavigationBar, you might want to display a different number of icons depending on certain criteria—like whether an invoice has been billed or not. This creates a situation where the icons are no longer displayed in a fixed order, making it difficult to determine which icon was tapped based on the index alone. This can lead to a less-than-optimal user experience and complicate your code.

Example Scenario

In our example, we have a dynamic list of BottomNavigationBarItem created based on a condition that checks whether an item is billed or not. If it's not billed, an additional icon will be displayed. Your goal is to respond to the onTap event by reading the label of the selected icon instead of using the index.

Implementing a Solution

Step 1: Setting Up Your Flutter App

Let’s start by creating a simple Flutter app structure that will include the BottomNavigationBar:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Creating the Navigation Widget

Now, we will create a stateful widget for our BottomNavigationBar. Inside this widget, we'll manage the state for the selected index and the conditional display of our navigation items:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Defining Navigation Items

Next, we will define our dynamic navigation items using the getNavbarItems method. This will include logic to conditionally add the "Bill it?" option:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 4: Using the Bottom Navigation Bar

The BottomNavigationBar will use the items defined in the getNavbarItems method. In the onTap callback, we can access the label of the tapped item using its index:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 5: Adding a Toggle Button

To allow for dynamic changes to the billIt variable, you can add a button in the body of your scaffold:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Complete Code

Here’s the complete code for the dynamic Bottom Navigation Bar:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By following this guide, you can implement a dynamic Bottom Navigation Bar in your Flutter app and respond to icon taps based on their labels instead of fixed indices. This not only makes your navigation adaptable but also enhances the overall user experience of your application. Happy coding!