Scaffold Story in Android Jetpack Compose

Scaffold in Jetpack Compose

• A Scaffold is a like a main layout which can hold different widgets and elements inside it.
• Scaffold can locate each of the widgets and elements in the great position.
• Its primary purpose is to streamline the development process by offering a standardized layout that can be easily customized.

The Scaffold composable is used to set up a basic layout for the app. It helps to organize the UI components in a consistent way.

We can say inside the Scaffold we can have

• Top App bar
• Drawer
• Floating Action Bar
• Bottom Navigation
• Content Area

— Column / Row

— Image

— Button

— Text

Why suddenly Scaffold ?

Using a Scaffold gives a lot of things for free. They help with the placement of composables in the screen and their theming.

• Scaffold will automatically apply the MaterialTheme.color.background (or MaterialTheme.colorScheme.background) to its background
• set the content color to the respective MaterialTheme.color.onBackground (or MaterialTheme.colorScheme.onBackground color ).

Roles of Scaffold in Jetpack Compose

1. App Bar Configuration: Scaffold composable allows to define a top app bar (TopAppBar) that typically includes a title, navigation icon, and action items, reducing the boilerplate code needed for creating a standard app bar.

2. Main Content Area: It simplifies the organization of the UI components and ensures that they are laid out appropriately within the screen.

3. Floating Action Button (FAB): Scaffold allows to include a floating action button (FAB) within the floatingActionButton parameter. The FAB is automatically positioned based on material design guidelines.

4. Bottom Navigation Bar: If the app requires a bottom navigation bar, one can define it within the bottomBar parameter of the Scaffold which contains navigation items for different sections or features of the app.

5. Integration with Navigation: Scaffold integrates well with the Jetpack Navigation library. One can specify navigation-related actions, such as handling navigation icon clicks or bottom navigation item clicks.

6. Consistent UI Structure: By using Scaffold, one establish a consistent structure, helps in creating a cohesive user experience across different screens and sections of the app.

What happens if we do not use a Scaffold?

If we choose not to use a Scaffold, then ->

• responsible for manually managing the layout and structure of the UI components.
• While this gives more flexibility and control over the UI, it also means that one needs to handle tasks that are typically handled by the Scaffold, such as managing the AppBar, BottomBar, and handling navigation.
• The Scaffold includes features for handling responsive layouts and dynamic UI changes. Without it, one may need to implement own responsive design logic.

On the other hand using a Scaffold will make sure of using the Material Design, which will guarantee consistency in the app’s screens.

Using of Scaffold in Android jetpack compose

If we are using below code snippet and run the code then, we will have an App bar with the name of the App i.e. `Compose App`. Also we will have a Floating action button at the right bottom corner and a text of `Main Content Area` in the screen.

For more deep information, dive into the link :https://developer.android.com/jetpack/compose/components/scaffold

Parameters inside the Scaffold

Parameters

This ends to the blog. Happy Learning !!!