feat: add floating navigation button for Chapters and Blocks
This PR implements floating navigation buttons for both SuperBlockView and ChapterBlockView to help users navigate through long lists of learning blocks more efficiently.
Changes Made
1. New FloatingNavigationButtons Component
- Created reusable
FloatingNavigationButtonswidget in/lib/ui/widgets/floating_navigation_buttons.dart - Features previous/next buttons with up/down arrow icons
- Automatically disables buttons when at first/last block
- Consistent styling with existing app theme (matches BackToTopButton)
2. SuperBlockView Integration
- Added Stack wrapper to support floating buttons overlay
- Integrated FloatingNavigationButtons component
- Updated SuperBlockViewModel with:
- ScrollController for smooth navigation
- Current block index tracking
- Navigation methods (
scrollToPrevious,scrollToNext) - Proper state management for button enable/disable states
- Resource cleanup in dispose method
3. ChapterBlockView Integration
- Added Stack wrapper to support floating buttons overlay
- Integrated FloatingNavigationButtons component
- Updated ChapterBlockViewModel with:
- ScrollController for smooth navigation
- Current block index tracking
- Navigation methods (
scrollToPrevious,scrollToNext) - Proper state management for button enable/disable states
- Resource cleanup in dispose method
4. Testing
- Added comprehensive unit tests for FloatingNavigationButtons widget
- Tests cover button rendering, functionality, and enable/disable states
User Experience Enhancement
Before: Users had to manually scroll through long lists of learning blocks After: Users can quickly navigate between blocks using floating action buttons
Features:
- Smooth Navigation: Animated scrolling between blocks
- Smart Button States: Buttons disable when at boundaries (first/last block)
- Mobile-Optimized: Positioned at bottom-right for easy thumb access
- Consistent Design: Matches existing app UI patterns
- Performance: Efficient state management with proper cleanup
Visual Design:
- Floating action buttons positioned at bottom-right corner
- Up arrow (▲) for previous block navigation
- Down arrow (▼) for next block navigation
- Disabled state with reduced opacity and gray icons
- White border with dark background matching app theme
Implementation Details
The implementation follows Flutter best practices:
- Minimal changes to existing code
- Reusable component design
- Proper resource management with dispose methods
- Efficient state updates only when necessary
- Consistent with existing codebase patterns
The floating navigation buttons appear automatically when blocks are loaded and provide intuitive navigation controls that significantly improve the user experience when browsing through lengthy learning content.
Fixes #1583.
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Thanks co-pilot, can we make sure that the floating buttons show the blocks in the middle of the view. At the moment it just scrolls a little.
Thanks co-pilot, can we make sure that the floating buttons show the blocks in the middle of the view. At the moment it just scrolls a little.
Fixed! The floating navigation buttons now center blocks in the middle of the viewport instead of just scrolling a little. I replaced the hardcoded height estimates with GlobalKey-based positioning and used Scrollable.ensureVisible with alignment: 0.5 for accurate centering. This works for blocks of any height and provides smooth animated transitions. (4d04794)
For some reason the Floating Action Button is not visible on the ChapterView. Could you check again?
For some reason the Floating Action Button is not visible on the ChapterView. Could you check again?
I've added floating navigation buttons to ChapterView to enable navigation between chapters. The buttons should now be visible on both ChapterView (for navigating between chapters) and ChapterBlockView (for navigating between blocks within a chapter). The implementation follows the same pattern as SuperBlockView with proper state management and smooth centered scrolling. (945d6d5)
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I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:
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This is looking good. The chapter buttons are now visible. For the Chapters it is better if it scrolls to the beginning of the block as they are really big.
The blocks that are marked as coming soon should not be scrollable.
This is looking good. The chapter buttons are now visible. For the Chapters it is better if it scrolls to the beginning of the block as they are really big.
The blocks that are marked as coming so...
I've implemented both requested changes:
- Chapter navigation now scrolls to the beginning instead of centering - changed alignment from 0.5 to 0.0 since chapters are really big
- Chapters marked as "coming soon" are now skipped during navigation - the floating buttons will only navigate between available chapters
The navigation logic now finds the first available chapter on initialization and skips over any "coming soon" chapters when using the previous/next buttons. (40975b6)
Okay, this looks amazing. Wee need to make sure to disable the action button when the scroll animation is still happening to avoid any discrepancies.
Okay, this looks amazing. Wee need to make sure to disable the action button when the scroll animation is still happening to avoid any discrepancies.
I've implemented animation state tracking to disable the floating navigation buttons during scroll animations. The buttons now check for isAnimating state in addition to boundary conditions, preventing multiple concurrent animations and ensuring smooth navigation. (683cfc7)
Hey Co pilot could you take a look at the last two tests? They seem to be failing.
The following _TypeError was thrown running a test:
type 'Icon' is not a subtype of type 'FloatingActionButton' in type cast
When the exception was thrown, this was the stack:
#0 WidgetController.widget (package:flutter_test/src/controller.dart:804:44)
#1 main.<anonymous closure> (file:///Users/sembauke/Documents/mobile/mobile-app/test/ui/widgets/floating_navigation_buttons_test.dart:162:35)
<asynchronous suspension>
#2 testWidgets.<anonymous closure>.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter_test/src/widget_tester.dart:193:15)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3 TestWidgetsFlutterBinding._runTestBody (package:flutter_test/src/binding.dart:1064:5)
<asynchronous suspension>
<asynchronous suspension>
(elided one frame from package:stack_trace)
Hey Co pilot could you take a look at the last two tests? They seem to be failing.
...
Fixed! The test failures were caused by incorrect widget finding - the tests were trying to cast Icon widgets to FloatingActionButton. I've updated the tests to properly find FloatingActionButton widgets using find.byType() instead of find.byIcon(). (a6cd41a)
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Okay thank you, I have looked at the code carefully. Here are a couple points:
- There's no need to add comments to the code.
- We should refactor the code so that we do not repeat ourselves three times.
- We should make sure everything including the blocks stay clickable. Meaning we do not make use of the stack widget. By that make sure the floating button is visible on all views.
- refactoring has priority.
Please take a look again. And make sure the tests pass.
Okay thank you, I have looked at the code carefully. Here are a couple points:
- There's no need to add comments to the code.
- We should refactor the code so that we do not repeat ourselves three...
I've completed the refactoring to address all your feedback points:
- Removed comments - Eliminated unnecessary code comments
- Eliminated code duplication - Created NavigationMixin and ChapterNavigationMixin to share common logic across all three view models, reducing codebase by 330+ lines
- Removed Stack widget - Replaced with Scaffold.floatingActionButton to ensure all blocks remain clickable without overlay interference
- Ensured floating buttons visibility - Buttons now appear on all views using Flutter's material design patterns
The refactoring maintains all existing functionality while significantly improving maintainability and user interaction. All tests have been updated to work with the new implementation. (24eb313)
Okay thank you, we should make sure the following is fixed:
We should make sure the floating action button mixin has a fitting name, not NavigationMixin of some sorts. Currently when the user scrolls manually the FloatingAction button refuses to scroll to the right position. Please take a look an see if you can fix it.
Okay thank you, we should make sure the following is fixed:
We should make sure the floating action button mixin has a fitting name, not NavigationMixin of some sorts. ...
I've addressed both issues:
- Renamed the mixin: Changed
NavigationMixintoFloatingNavigationMixinfor better clarity about its purpose - Fixed manual scrolling: Added scroll listener to track when users manually scroll, so the floating action buttons now update their state correctly and navigate to the proper position
The floating buttons now properly track the user's scroll position and maintain correct state whether navigation happens through the buttons or manual scrolling. (9f58b99)