Expandable Text in Jetpack Compose

Issue

so I am using a Text() composable like so:

Text(
    text = "this is some sample text that is long and so it is 
            ellipsized",
    maxLines = 1,
    overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis
)

and it ellipsizes the text properly:

The issue is that I want a See More tag at the end of the ellipsis, prompting the user to expand the visible text box. How would I go about adding that?

Solution

To solve this you need to use onTextLayout to get TextLayoutResult: it contains all info about the state of drawn text.

Making it work for multiple lines is a tricky task. To do that you need to calculate sizes of both ellipsized text and "... See more" text, then, when you have both values you need to calculate how much text needs to be removed so "... See more" fits perfectly at the end of line:

@Composable
fun ExpandableText(
    text: String,
    modifier: Modifier = Modifier,
    minimizedMaxLines: Int = 1,
) {
    var cutText by remember(text) { mutableStateOf<String?>(null) }
    var expanded by remember { mutableStateOf(false) }
    val textLayoutResultState = remember { mutableStateOf<TextLayoutResult?>(null) }
    val seeMoreSizeState = remember { mutableStateOf<IntSize?>(null) }
    val seeMoreOffsetState = remember { mutableStateOf<Offset?>(null) }

    // getting raw values for smart cast
    val textLayoutResult = textLayoutResultState.value
    val seeMoreSize = seeMoreSizeState.value
    val seeMoreOffset = seeMoreOffsetState.value

    LaunchedEffect(text, expanded, textLayoutResult, seeMoreSize) {
        val lastLineIndex = minimizedMaxLines - 1
        if (!expanded && textLayoutResult != null && seeMoreSize != null
            && lastLineIndex + 1 == textLayoutResult.lineCount
            && textLayoutResult.isLineEllipsized(lastLineIndex)
        ) {
            var lastCharIndex = textLayoutResult.getLineEnd(lastLineIndex, visibleEnd = true) + 1
            var charRect: Rect
            do {
                lastCharIndex -= 1
                charRect = textLayoutResult.getCursorRect(lastCharIndex)
            } while (
                charRect.left > textLayoutResult.size.width - seeMoreSize.width
            )
            seeMoreOffsetState.value = Offset(charRect.left, charRect.bottom - seeMoreSize.height)
            cutText = text.substring(startIndex = 0, endIndex = lastCharIndex)
        }
    }
    
    Box(modifier) {
        Text(
            text = cutText ?: text,
            maxLines = if (expanded) Int.MAX_VALUE else minimizedMaxLines,
            overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis,
            onTextLayout = { textLayoutResultState.value = it },
        )
        if (!expanded) {
            val density = LocalDensity.current
            Text(
                "... See more",
                onTextLayout = { seeMoreSizeState.value = it.size },
                modifier = Modifier
                    .then(
                        if (seeMoreOffset != null)
                            Modifier.offset(
                                x = with(density) { seeMoreOffset.x.toDp() },
                                y = with(density) { seeMoreOffset.y.toDp() },
                            )
                        else
                            Modifier
                    )
                    .clickable {
                        expanded = true
                        cutText = null
                    }
                    .alpha(if (seeMoreOffset != null) 1f else 0f)
            )
        }
    }
}

Answered By - Philip Dukhov