Crash: Null check operator used on a null value in RenderEditable.selectWord on text selection/long-press

[7H3-PR073C70R]

---

name: Bug report
about: Create a report to help us improve
title: 'Crash: Null check operator used on a null value in RenderEditable.selectWord'
labels: 'bug'
assignees: Tkko

---

Describe the bug
A crash occurs deep within Flutter's internal text selection logic (RenderEditable.selectWord) when a user long-presses or performs a tap-hold gesture on a Pinput widget cell. During the selection gesture, the engine attempts to select a word but encounters a null or inconsistent layout/text position state in the underlying RenderEditable.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Navigate to any screen containing a active Pinput field.
2. Tap and hold (long-press) on any of the pin input cells.
3. Observe the immediate application crash.

Screenshots
N/A (Crashes instantly)

Pinput version: 6.0.2

Result of: flutter doctor --verbose

Details

[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.22.2, on macOS 14.5 23F79 darwin-arm64, locale en-NG) • Flutter version 3.22.2 on channel stable at /Users/protector/development/flutter • Framework • revision 7617478bcf (9 months ago) • 2024-06-05 22:15:13 +0200 • Engine • revision 2a40c17a5c • Dart SDK version 3.4.3 • DevTools version 2.34.3

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
• Android SDK at /Users/protector/Library/Android/sdk
• Platform android-34, build-tools 34.0.0
• Java binary at: /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home/bin/java
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.9+0-17.0.9b1087.7-11185874)
• All Android licenses accepted.

[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 15.4)
• Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• Build 15F31d
• CocoaPods version 1.15.2

[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
• Chrome version 126.0.6478.61

[✓] Android Studio (version 2023.3)
• Android Studio at /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents
• Flutter plugin can be installed from:
🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
• Dart plugin can be installed from:
🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9354-dart
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.9+0-17.0.9b1087.7-11185874)

[✓] VS Code (version 1.90.1)
• VS Code at /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents
• Gutter Icons extension version 1.1.1

[✓] Connected device (3 available)
• SM A145F (mobile) • R9PX30DLYLJ • android-34 • Android 14 (API 34)
• macOS (desktop) • macos • darwin-arm64 • macOS 14.5 23F79 darwin-arm64
• Chrome (web) • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 126.0.6478.61

[✓] Network resources
• All expected network resources are available.

Smartphone:

• Device: Samsung Galaxy A14
• OS: Android 14 (API 34)
• Version: 14

Additional context
Setting enableInteractiveSelection: false does not fully prevent the crash on all Android versions, as the system selection overlay/magnifier may still try to call the text selector.

A reliable workaround we implemented was to fully suppress the text selection context menu builder:

Pinput(
  enableInteractiveSelection: false,
  contextMenuBuilder: (_, _) => const SizedBox.shrink(),
)