# The RenderEditable needs to be laid out before hit testing

> The hit testing of RenderEditable requires additional information that is only available after the layout.




:::important
These breaking change docs are accurate, as of the release
under which they are published. Over time, the
workarounds described here might become inaccurate.
We don't, in general, keep these breaking change docs up
to date as of each release.

The [breaking change index file](/release/breaking-changes)
lists the docs created for each release.
:::


## Summary

Instances of `RenderEditable` must be laid out before processing hit
testing. Trying to hit-test a `RenderEditable` object before layout
results in an assertion such as the following:

```plaintext
Failed assertion: line 123 pos 45: '!debugNeedsLayout': is not true.
```

## Context

To support gesture recognizers in selectable text, the
`RenderEditable` requires the layout information for its
text spans to determine which text span receives the
pointer event. (Before this change, `RenderEditable` objects
didn't take their text into account when evaluating hit tests.)
To implement this, layout was made a prerequisite for performing
hit testing on a `RenderEditable` object.

In practice, this is rarely an issue. The widget library
ensures that layout is performed before any hit test on all
render objects. This problem is only likely to be seen in
code that directly interacts with render objects, for
example in tests of custom render objects.

## Migration guide

If you see the `'!debugNeedsLayout': is not true`
assertion error while hit testing the `RenderEditable`,
lay out the `RenderEditable` before doing so.

Code before migration:

```dart
import 'package:flutter/rendering.dart';
import 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  test('attach and detach correctly handle gesture', () {
    final RenderEditable editable = RenderEditable(
      textDirection: TextDirection.ltr,
      offset: ViewportOffset.zero(),
      textSelectionDelegate: FakeEditableTextState(),
      startHandleLayerLink: LayerLink(),
      endHandleLayerLink: LayerLink(),
    );
    final PipelineOwner owner = PipelineOwner(onNeedVisualUpdate: () {});
    editable.attach(owner);
    // This throws an assertion error because
    // the RenderEditable hasn't been laid out.
    editable.handleEvent(const PointerDownEvent(),
        BoxHitTestEntry(editable, const Offset(10, 10)));
    editable.detach();
  });
}

class FakeEditableTextState extends TextSelectionDelegate {
  @override
  TextEditingValue textEditingValue;
  @override
  void hideToolbar() {}
  @override
  void bringIntoView(TextPosition position) {}
}
```

Code after migration:

```dart
import 'package:flutter/rendering.dart';
import 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  test('attach and detach correctly handle gesture', () {
    final RenderEditable editable = RenderEditable(
      textDirection: TextDirection.ltr,
      offset: ViewportOffset.zero(),
      textSelectionDelegate: FakeEditableTextState(),
      startHandleLayerLink: LayerLink(),
      endHandleLayerLink: LayerLink(),
    );
    // Lay out the RenderEditable first.
    editable.layout(BoxConstraints.loose(const Size(1000.0, 1000.0)));
    final PipelineOwner owner = PipelineOwner(onNeedVisualUpdate: () {});
    editable.attach(owner);
    editable.handleEvent(const PointerDownEvent(),
        BoxHitTestEntry(editable, const Offset(10, 10)));
    editable.detach();
  });
}

class FakeEditableTextState extends TextSelectionDelegate {
  @override
  TextEditingValue textEditingValue;
  @override
  void hideToolbar() {}
  @override
  void bringIntoView(TextPosition position) {}
}
```

## Timeline

Landed in version: 1.18.0<br>
In stable release: 1.20

## References

API documentation:

* [`RenderEditable`][]

Relevant issue:

* [Issue 43494][]: SelectableText.rich used along with
  TapGestureRecognizer isn't working

Relevant PR:

* [PR 54479: Enable gesture recognizer in selectable rich text][]


[Issue 43494]: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/43494
[`RenderEditable`]: https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/rendering/RenderEditable-class.html
[PR 54479: Enable gesture recognizer in selectable rich text]: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/pull/54479