What library/libraries do I need to import to use ...

# compose

[Russell Stewart]

What library/libraries do I need to import to use FlowLayouts? I'm specifically interested in using FlowRow. There's plenty of documentation on how to actually use these elements, but nothing consistent on how to import them so they're available. I'm currently importing androidx.compose.foundation:foundation, but apparently that's not good enough. I've tried androidx.compose.foundation:foundation-layout, but that doesn't help either. None of the documentation or tutorial pages I've seen give useful information on this.

[Ian Lake]

What version of Compose are you using? The docs say FlowRow was introduced in Compose 1.5: https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/androidx/compose/foundation/layout/package-summary#FlowRow(androidx.compose.ui.Modifier,androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Arrangement.Horizontal,androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Arrangement.Vertical,kotlin.Int,kotlin.Function1)

[Russell Stewart]

Oh sorry, I completely missed that. That would explain it; I'm on 1.4.8.

[Russell Stewart]

OK, so I've updated Compose to 1.5.0 and added this to my imports:

implementation("androidx.compose.foundation:foundation-layout")

But it's still not finding it. Is there something else I need to add?

[Roland]

I would try importing whole foundation and always provide a version number:

implementation("androidx.compose.foundation:foundation:$composeVersion")

[Russell Stewart]

I'm already importing that, and I'm skipping the version number because I use compose-bom and define the Compose version in composeOptions. Here's what I have:

val composeVersion = findProperty("composeVersion") as String
    composeOptions {
        kotlinCompilerExtensionVersion = composeVersion
    }
    implementation(platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2022.12.00"))
    implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling")
    implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui")
    implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling-preview")
    implementation("androidx.compose.foundation:foundation")
    implementation("androidx.compose.foundation:foundation-layout")
    implementation("androidx.compose.material:material")
    implementation("androidx.compose.material:material-icons-extended")
    implementation("androidx.compose.runtime:runtime")
    implementation("androidx.compose.runtime:runtime-livedata")

Where composeVersion is defined in `gradle.properties`:

composeVersion=1.5.0

[Ian Lake]

"androidx.compose:compose-bom:2022.12.00" corresponds with Compose 1.3.2: https://developer.android.com/jetpack/compose/bom/bom-mapping

[Russell Stewart]

Aha!

[Russell Stewart]

That would explain a lot.

[Ian Lake]

You'll need to use 2023.08.00 if you want Compose 1.5.0

[Russell Stewart]

OK, got it. Trying that now.

[Russell Stewart]

Yep, looks like that fixed it. Makes perfect sense now. Thank you @Ian Lake!

[Ian Lake]

You'll also want to make sure you're actually using the latest Compose Compiler for the version of Kotlin you're using: https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/compose-kotlin

So you'd probably want to update that to 1.5.2 (note that the versioning for the Compiler is completely independent from the rest of Compose)

[Russell Stewart]

OK, thank you, I'll check that as well.

[Ian Lake]

that way you'll get the latest Compiler bug fixes as well 🙂

[Russell Stewart]

Very nice. Thank you again! Much appreciated.