[flutter] Under which circumstances textAlign property works in Flutter?

In the code below, textAlign property doesn't work. If you remove DefaultTextStyle wrapper which is several levels above, textAlign starts to work.

Why and how to ensure it is always working?

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(new MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return new MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: new ThemeData(
        primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
      ),
      home: new DefaultTextStyle(style: new TextStyle(fontSize: 10.0), child: new Column(children: <Widget>[
        new Text("Should be left", textAlign: TextAlign.left,),
        new Text("Should be right", textAlign: TextAlign.right,)
      ],))
    );
  }
}

Both approaches, suggested by Remi apparently don't work "in the wild". Here is an example I nested both inside rows and columns. First approach doesn't do align and second approach makes application just crash:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(new MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return new Directionality(textDirection: TextDirection.ltr, child: new DefaultTextStyle(
            style: new TextStyle(fontSize: 10.0, color: Colors.white),
            child: new Column(children: <Widget>[
              new Row(children: <Widget>[
                new Container(color: Colors.grey, child: new Column(children: <Widget>[
                  new Align(alignment: Alignment.centerLeft, child: new Text("left")),
                  new Align(alignment: Alignment.centerRight, child: new Text("right")),
                ],)),
                new Container(color: Colors.grey, child: new Column(children: <Widget>[
                  new Align(alignment: Alignment.centerLeft, child: new Text("left")),
                  new Align(alignment: Alignment.centerRight, child: new Text("right")),
                ],)),
              ],),
              /*new Row(children: <Widget>[
                new Container(color: Colors.grey, child: new Column(children: <Widget>[
                  new SizedBox(width: double.infinity, child: new Text("left", textAlign: TextAlign.left,)),
                  new SizedBox(width: double.infinity, child: new Text("right", textAlign: TextAlign.right)),
                ],)),
                new Container(color: Colors.grey, child: new Column(children: <Widget>[
                  new SizedBox(width: double.infinity, child: new Text("left", textAlign: TextAlign.left)),
                  new SizedBox(width: double.infinity, child: new Text("right", textAlign: TextAlign.right)),
                ],)),
              ],)*/]
    )));
  }
}

What I get from code is

i.e. text is centered, ignoring alignment of Align element.

You can align text anywhere in the scaffold or container except center:-

Its works for me anywhere in my application:-

new Text(

                "Nextperience",

//i have setted in center.

                textAlign: TextAlign.center,

//when i want it left.

 //textAlign: TextAlign.left,

//when i want it right.

 //textAlign: TextAlign.right,

                style: TextStyle(

                    fontSize: 16,

                    color: Colors.blue[900],

                    fontWeight: FontWeight.w500),

              ), 

Specify crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start in your column

For maximum flexibility, I usually prefer working with SizedBox like this:

Row(
                                children: <Widget>[
                                  SizedBox(
                                      width: 235,
                                      child: Text('Hey, ')),
                                  SizedBox(
                                      width: 110,
                                      child: Text('how are'),
                                  SizedBox(
                                      width: 10,
                                      child: Text('you?'))
                                ],
                              )

I've experienced problems with text alignment when using alignment in the past, whereas sizedbox always does the work.

Set alignment: Alignment.centerRight in Container:

Container(
    alignment: Alignment.centerRight,
    child:Text(
       "Hello",
    ),
)

In Colum widget Text alignment will be centred automatically, so use crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start to align start.

Column( 
    crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start, 
    children: <Widget>[ 
    Text(""),
    Text(""),
    ]);

textAlign property only works when there is a more space left for the Text's content. Below are 2 examples which shows when textAlign has impact and when not.

No impact

For instance, in this example, it won't have any impact because there is no extra space for the content of the Text.

Text(
  "Hello",
  textAlign: TextAlign.end, // no impact
),

Has impact

If you wrap it in a Container and provide extra width such that it has more extra space.

Container(
  width: 200,
  color: Colors.orange,
  child: Text(
    "Hello",
    textAlign: TextAlign.end, // has impact
  ),
)

You can use the container, It will help you to set the alignment.

Widget _buildListWidget({Map reminder}) {
return Container(
  color: Colors.amber,
  alignment: Alignment.centerLeft,
  padding: EdgeInsets.all(20),
  height: 80,
  child: Column(
    mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
    crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.center,
    children: <Widget>[
      Container(
        alignment: Alignment.centerLeft,
        child: Text(
          reminder['title'],
          textAlign: TextAlign.left,
          style: TextStyle(
            fontSize: 16,
            color: Colors.black,
            backgroundColor: Colors.blue,
            fontWeight: FontWeight.normal,
          ),
        ),
      ),
      Container(
        alignment: Alignment.centerRight,
        child: Text(
          reminder['Date'],
          textAlign: TextAlign.right,
          style: TextStyle(
            fontSize: 12,
            color: Colors.grey,
            backgroundColor: Colors.blue,
            fontWeight: FontWeight.normal,
          ),
        ),
      ),
    ],
  ),
);
}