Flutter how to add margin or padding in BottomNavigationBar

Question

I am trying to make bottom navigation bar, but with padding left and right on the screen. Right now I wrap the BottomNavigationBar with container and add padding there. The problem is the BottomNavigationBar default background still wrap all the layer, so could we remove the background color there?

Goal

Current result

bottomNavigationBar: Container(
    margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: 16, right: 16),
    decoration: BoxDecoration(
        color: Colors.black,
        borderRadius: BorderRadius.only(
            topLeft: Radius.circular(20),
            topRight: Radius.circular(20)),
        ),
    child: BottomNavigationBar(
      backgroundColor: Colors.transparent,
      showUnselectedLabels: true,
      type: BottomNavigationBarType.fixed,
      elevation: 0,
      currentIndex: _currentIndex,
      items: [
        BottomNavigationBarItem(
            icon: Icon(Icons.home), title: Text('Home')),
        BottomNavigationBarItem(
            icon: Icon(Icons.local_activity), title: Text('Activity')),
        BottomNavigationBarItem(
            icon: Icon(Icons.inbox), title: Text('Inbox')),
        BottomNavigationBarItem(
            icon: Icon(Icons.person), title: Text('Profile')),
      ],
    ),
  ),

Edit: I have removed background color in scaffold and all theme, but when you have scrolled item, you could see there is still background there Remove Scafold bg

Edit 2: here the code for the activity

class App extends StatelessWidget {
  final List<Widget> _children = [
    Center(
      child: Container(
        height: 850,
        color: Colors.red,
      ),
    )
  ];
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,
      home: Scaffold(
        body: _children[0],
        bottomNavigationBar: Container(
          margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: 16, right: 16),
          decoration: BoxDecoration(
            color: Colors.amber,
            borderRadius: BorderRadius.only(
                topLeft: Radius.circular(200), topRight: Radius.circular(200)),
          ),
          child: BottomNavigationBar(
            backgroundColor: Colors.transparent,
            showUnselectedLabels: true,
            type: BottomNavigationBarType.fixed,
            elevation: 0,
            items: [
              BottomNavigationBarItem(
                  icon: Icon(Icons.home), title: Text('Home')),
              BottomNavigationBarItem(
                  icon: Icon(Icons.local_activity), title: Text('Activity')),
              BottomNavigationBarItem(
                  icon: Icon(Icons.inbox), title: Text('Inbox')),
              BottomNavigationBarItem(
                  icon: Icon(Icons.person), title: Text('Profile')),
            ],
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

result

Answer 1

If you came here searching for how to add a padding at the bottom of the BottomNavigationBar, here it is the solution:

Wrap the BottomNavigationBar with a MediaQuery and provide a bottom padding, this value is taken in consideration when build the bottom bar.

MediaQuery(
  data: MediaQueryData(
    padding: EdgeInsets.only(bottom: 10) // here is the padding
  ),
  child: BottomNavigationBar(),
),

Answer 2

For some one is looking for solution: You can wrap BottomNatigationBar in a Container with padding/margin properties, set same background color an set elevation of BottomNavigationBar to 0. eg:

Container(
  color: Colors.white,
  padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 10),
  child: BottomNavigationBar(
    onTap: (index) {
      controller.tabIndex.value = index;
    },
    backgroundColor: Colors.white,
    elevation: 0,
    ...
  }

Answer 3

You need to put the Body and the BottomNavigationBar under a Stack so that the BottomNavigationBar can be placed on top of the main body content.

Your complete code will be:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

class App extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    final List<Widget> _children = [
      Center(
        child: Container(
          height: 850, // use 'MediaQuery.of(context).size.height' to fit the screen height,
          color: Colors.red,
        ),
      )
    ];

    return MaterialApp(
        debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,
        home: Scaffold(
          body: Stack(
            children: <Widget>[
              _children[0],
              Positioned(
                left: 0,
                right: 0,
                bottom: 0,
                child: bottomNavigationBar(),
              ),
            ],
          ),
        ));
  }
}

Widget bottomNavigationBar() {
  return Container(
    margin: EdgeInsets.only(left: 16, right: 16),
    decoration: BoxDecoration(
      color: Colors.amber,
      borderRadius: BorderRadius.only(
          topLeft: Radius.circular(200), topRight: Radius.circular(200)),
    ),
    child: BottomNavigationBar(
      backgroundColor: Colors.transparent,
      showUnselectedLabels: true,
      type: BottomNavigationBarType.fixed,
      elevation: 0,
      items: [
        BottomNavigationBarItem(icon: Icon(Icons.home), title: Text('Home')),
        BottomNavigationBarItem(
            icon: Icon(Icons.local_activity), title: Text('Activity')),
        BottomNavigationBarItem(icon: Icon(Icons.inbox), title: Text('Inbox')),
        BottomNavigationBarItem(
            icon: Icon(Icons.person), title: Text('Profile')),
      ],
    ),
  );
}

Partial code from:

How to set border radius to bottom app bar in a flutter app?

Answer 4

I know it's kinda late. But this should help future viewers like me.

The icon parameter from BottomNavigationBarItem takes in a Widget. What I did is to just wrap my Icon into a Container and defined a padding.

BottomNavigationBarItem(
 icon: Container(
   padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(vertical: 10),
   child: Icon(
     Icons.home
   )
 )    
)