---
title: Widget Styling Using Only CSS
order: 65
layout: page
---

[[widget-styling-using-only-css]]
Widget styling using only CSS
-----------------------------

The preferred way of styling your widget is to only use static CSS
included in the theme's styles.css file. For information on how to
create custom themes, please refer to
https://vaadin.com/book/-/page/themes.creating.html. Your component can
be styled using the CSS class names that are defined to the widget using
`setStyleName`.

Normal styling of components works in the same way as any styling using
CSS, but there are some special features to pay attention to when Vaadin
7 is used.

[[some-sizing-theory]]
Some sizing theory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All Vaadin 7 components get the CSS class v-widget which sets the
box-sizing to border-box. This causes borders and paddings to be
considered when the browser calculates the component's size. This means
that e.g. a component with padding: 5px and width: 100% inside a 200px
wide slot will fill the slot without any overflow because the inner
width of the component will be calculated to 190px by the browser.

The Vaadin 7 server side API allows setting the size of the component in
three different ways:

* Undefined size, set e.g. using `setWidth(null)`, means that the
component's size should have it's default size that might vary depending
on its content.
* Relative size, set e.g. using `setWidth("100%")` means that the
component's size is determined by the size and settings of the
component's parent.
* Fixed size, set e.g. using `setWidth("250px")` or `setWidth("10em")` means
that the component's size is fixed, so that the parent doesn't affect
the size and neither does the component's content.

The three different ways of setting the size means that a component
should both support having its own natural size and filling the
allocated space depending on how the size is set. This usually means
that the main area of the component should adjust based on the settings.

[[a-simple-sample]]
A simple sample
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Consider e.g. a simple date picker component with a text field where a
date can be entered and where the currently selected is displayed and a
button that is used to open a calendar view where a date can be picked
using the mouse.

[source,java]
....
public class MyPickerWidget extends ComplexPanel {
  public static final String CLASSNAME = "mypicker";

  private final TextBox textBox = new TextBox();
  private final PushButton button = new PushButton("...");

  public MyPickerWidget() {
    setElement(Document.get().createDivElement());
    setStylePrimaryName(CLASSNAME);

    textBox.setStylePrimaryName(CLASSNAME + "-field");
    button.setStylePrimaryName(CLASSNAME + "-button");

    add(textBox, getElement());
    add(button, getElement());

    button.addClickHandler(new ClickHandler() {
      public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
        Window.alert("Calendar picker not yet supported!");
      }
    });
  }
}
....

We then add this basic styling to the theme CSS file

[source,scss]
....
.mypicker {
  white-space: nowrap;
}
.mypicker-button {
  display: inline-block;
  border: 1px solid black;
  padding: 3px;
  width: 15px;
  text-align: center;
}
....

`display: inline-block` makes the button continue on the same line as the
text field, placing it to the right of the field. We also add
`white-space: nowrap` to the main div element to ensure the button is not
wrapped to the next row. Finally, there is some padding and a border to
make the button look more like a real button.

[[using-available-space]]
Using available space
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This simple layout works well as long as the component's has it's
default undefined width. Changing the width from the server does however
not have any visible effect because only the size of the main div is
changed. If the component is made smaller, the contents goes beyond the
size of the element (this can be verified by adding `overflow: hidden;` to
`.mypicker`) and if it gets larger the extra space is just left as empty
space to the right of the button.

The first step towards making the size adjust is to make the text field
adjust to the main div element's width whenever the width is something
else then than undefined. In these situations, Vaadin 7 adds a
`v-has-width` class to the component's main element (`v-has-height` added
when the height is not undefined).

[source,scss]
....
.mypicker.v-has-width > .mypicker-field {
    width: 100%;
}
....

With this additional CSS, the text field directly inside a picker that
has a defined width gets full width.

[[making-room-for-the-button-again]]
Making room for the button again
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We're however not done yet. Setting the width of the text field to 100%
makes it as wide as the main div is, which means that the button goes
outside the main div. This can be verified using the DOM inspector in
your browser or by setting `overflow: hidden` to the style for `mypicker`.
To reserve space for the button, we can add some padding to the right
edge of the main div element. This does however cause the padding space
to remain unused if the component size is undefined. To compensate for
this, negative margin can be added to the right edge of the button,
effectively reducing its occupied size to 0px.

Finally, we need to use `box-sizing: border-box` to make the field's
borders and paddings be included in the 100% width.

The full CSS for the sample component:

[source,scss]
....
.mypicker {
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding-right: 23px;
}
.mypicker-button {
  display: inline-block;
  border: 1px solid black;
  padding: 3px;
  width: 15px;
  text-align: center;
  margin-right: -23px;
}
.mypicker.v-has-width > .mypicker-field {
  width: 100%;
}
.mypicker-field {
  -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
  -webkit-boz-sizing: border-box;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
....