compose-jb/tutorials/Desktop_Components

Desktop components

What is covered

In this tutorial, we will show you how to use desktop-specific components of Compose for Desktop such as scrollbars and tooltips.

Scrollbars

You can apply scrollbars to scrollable components. The scrollbar and scrollable components share a common state to synchronize with each other. For example, VerticalScrollbar can be attached to Modifier.verticalScroll, and LazyColumnFor and HorizontalScrollbar can be attached to Modifier.horizontalScroll and LazyRowFor.

import androidx.compose.foundation.HorizontalScrollbar
import androidx.compose.foundation.VerticalScrollbar
import androidx.compose.foundation.background
import androidx.compose.foundation.horizontalScroll
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Box
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Column
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Spacer
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxHeight
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxWidth
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.height
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.padding
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.width
import androidx.compose.foundation.rememberScrollState
import androidx.compose.foundation.rememberScrollbarAdapter
import androidx.compose.foundation.verticalScroll
import androidx.compose.material.Text
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
import androidx.compose.ui.window.WindowState
import androidx.compose.ui.window.singleWindowApplication

fun main() = singleWindowApplication(
    title = "Scrollbars",
    state = WindowState(width = 250.dp, height = 400.dp)
) {
    Box(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize()
            .background(color = Color(180, 180, 180))
            .padding(10.dp)
    ) {
        val stateVertical = rememberScrollState(0)
        val stateHorizontal = rememberScrollState(0)

        Box(
            modifier = Modifier
                .fillMaxSize()
                .verticalScroll(stateVertical)
                .padding(end = 12.dp, bottom = 12.dp)
                .horizontalScroll(stateHorizontal)
        ) {
            Column {
                for (item in 0..30) {
                    TextBox("Item #$item")
                    if (item < 30) {
                        Spacer(modifier = Modifier.height(5.dp))
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        VerticalScrollbar(
            modifier = Modifier.align(Alignment.CenterEnd)
                .fillMaxHeight(),
            adapter = rememberScrollbarAdapter(stateVertical)
        )
        HorizontalScrollbar(
            modifier = Modifier.align(Alignment.BottomStart)
                .fillMaxWidth()
                .padding(end = 12.dp),
            adapter = rememberScrollbarAdapter(stateHorizontal)
        )
    }
}

@Composable
fun TextBox(text: String = "Item") {
    Box(
        modifier = Modifier.height(32.dp)
            .width(400.dp)
            .background(color = Color(200, 0, 0, 20))
            .padding(start = 10.dp),
        contentAlignment = Alignment.CenterStart
    ) {
        Text(text = text)
    }
}

Scrollbars can be moved by dragging the bars and using the mouse wheel or the touchpad. Horizontal scrolling with the mouse wheel can be performed by side-clicking the wheel or by holding down Shift.

Lazy scrollable components with Scrollbar

You can use scrollbars with lazy scrollable components, for example, LazyColumn.

import androidx.compose.foundation.VerticalScrollbar
import androidx.compose.foundation.background
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Box
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Spacer
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxHeight
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxWidth
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.height
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.padding
import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.LazyColumn
import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.rememberLazyListState
import androidx.compose.foundation.rememberScrollbarAdapter
import androidx.compose.material.Text
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
import androidx.compose.ui.window.Window
import androidx.compose.ui.window.application
import androidx.compose.ui.window.rememberWindowState

fun main() = application {
    Window(
        onCloseRequest = ::exitApplication,
        title = "Scrollbars",
        state = rememberWindowState(width = 250.dp, height = 400.dp)
    ) {
        LazyScrollable()
    }
}

@Composable
fun LazyScrollable() {
    Box(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize()
            .background(color = Color(180, 180, 180))
            .padding(10.dp)
    ) {

        val state = rememberLazyListState()

        LazyColumn(Modifier.fillMaxSize().padding(end = 12.dp), state) {
            items(1000) { x ->
                TextBox("Item #$x")
                Spacer(modifier = Modifier.height(5.dp))
            }
        }
        VerticalScrollbar(
            modifier = Modifier.align(Alignment.CenterEnd).fillMaxHeight(),
            adapter = rememberScrollbarAdapter(
                scrollState = state
            )
        )
    }
}

@Composable
fun TextBox(text: String = "Item") {
    Box(
        modifier = Modifier.height(32.dp)
            .fillMaxWidth()
            .background(color = Color(0, 0, 0, 20))
            .padding(start = 10.dp),
        contentAlignment = Alignment.CenterStart
    ) {
        Text(text = text)
    }
}

Theme applying

Scrollbars support themes to change their appearance. The example below shows how to use the DesktopMaterialTheme appearance for the scrollbar.

import androidx.compose.desktop.DesktopMaterialTheme
import androidx.compose.foundation.background
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Box
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxHeight
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxWidth
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.height
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.padding
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Spacer
import androidx.compose.foundation.rememberScrollbarAdapter
import androidx.compose.foundation.rememberScrollState
import androidx.compose.material.Text
import androidx.compose.foundation.VerticalScrollbar
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Column
import androidx.compose.foundation.verticalScroll
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
import androidx.compose.ui.window.Window
import androidx.compose.ui.window.application
import androidx.compose.ui.window.rememberWindowState

fun main() = application {
    Window(
        onCloseRequest = ::exitApplication,
        title = "Scrollbars",
        state = rememberWindowState(width = 250.dp, height = 400.dp)
    ) {
        DesktopMaterialTheme {
            Box(
                modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize()
                    .background(color = Color(180, 180, 180))
                    .padding(10.dp)
            ) {
                val state = rememberScrollState(0)

                Column(
                    modifier = Modifier
                        .verticalScroll(state)
                        .fillMaxSize()
                        .padding(end = 12.dp)
                ) {
                    for (item in 0..30) {
                        TextBox("Item #$item")
                        if (item < 30) {
                            Spacer(modifier = Modifier.height(5.dp))
                        }
                    }
                }
                VerticalScrollbar(
                    modifier = Modifier.align(Alignment.CenterEnd)
                        .fillMaxHeight(),
                    adapter = rememberScrollbarAdapter(state)
                )
            }
        }
    }
}

@Composable
fun TextBox(text: String = "Item") {
    Box(
        modifier = Modifier.height(32.dp)
            .fillMaxWidth()
            .background(color = Color(0, 0, 0, 20))
            .padding(start = 10.dp),
        contentAlignment = Alignment.CenterStart
    ) {
        Text(text = text)
    }
}

Tooltips

You can add tooltip to any components using BoxWithTooltip. Basically BoxWithTooltip is a Box with the ability to show a tooltip, and has the same arguments and behavior as Box. The main arguments of the BoxWithTooltip function:

• tooltip - composable content representing tooltip
• tooltipPlacement - describes how to place tooltip. You can specify an anchor (the mouse cursor or the component), an offset and an alignment
• delay - time delay in milliseconds after which the tooltip will be shown (default is 500 ms)

import androidx.compose.foundation.BoxWithTooltip
import androidx.compose.foundation.TooltipPlacement
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Arrangement
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Column
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.padding
import androidx.compose.foundation.shape.RoundedCornerShape
import androidx.compose.material.Button
import androidx.compose.material.Surface
import androidx.compose.material.Text
import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
import androidx.compose.ui.ExperimentalComposeUiApi
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.compose.ui.draw.shadow
import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.DpOffset
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
import androidx.compose.ui.window.Window
import androidx.compose.ui.window.application
import androidx.compose.ui.window.rememberWindowState

@OptIn(ExperimentalComposeUiApi::class)
fun main() = application {
    Window(
        onCloseRequest = ::exitApplication,
        title = "Tooltip Example",
        state = rememberWindowState(width = 300.dp, height = 300.dp)
    ) {
        val buttons = listOf("Button A", "Button B", "Button C", "Button D", "Button E", "Button F")
        Column(Modifier.fillMaxSize(), Arrangement.spacedBy(5.dp)) {
            buttons.forEachIndexed { index, name ->
                // wrap button in BoxWithTooltip
                BoxWithTooltip(
                    modifier = Modifier.padding(start = 40.dp),
                    tooltip = {
                        // composable tooltip content
                        Surface(
                            modifier = Modifier.shadow(4.dp),
                            color = Color(255, 255, 210),
                            shape = RoundedCornerShape(4.dp)
                        ) {
                            Text(
                                text = "Tooltip for ${name}",
                                modifier = Modifier.padding(10.dp)
                            )
                        }
                    },
                    delay = 600, // in milliseconds
                    tooltipPlacement = TooltipPlacement.CursorPoint(
                        alignment = Alignment.BottomEnd,
                        offset = if (index % 2 == 0) DpOffset(-16.dp, 0.dp) else DpOffset.Zero // tooltip offset
                    )
                ) {
                    Button(onClick = {}) { Text(text = name) }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}