[Bug] setText fails on widgets with rendererIgnoresPointer: true (e.g., Pinput OTP) due to unconditional .hitTestable() in findElements

[Achintha444]

Problem

findElements() in element_helper.dart unconditionally applies .hitTestable() to all element lookups (line 45). This makes it impossible to find and interact with widgets that use rendererIgnoresPointer: true internally — like Pinput OTP fields.

The cached finder carries .hitTestable() into SetTextHandler, which passes it to WidgetTester.enterText(). Since enterText() internally searches for an EditableText descendant, and Pinput's EditableText has rendererIgnoresPointer: true, the search fails.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Add a Pinput widget with a ValueKey: Pinput(key: ValueKey('otp_input'), length: 6)
2. Try to find it: browser.flutterByValueKey$('otp_input') → fails with "not present in DOM... considering only hit-testable widgets"
3. Wrapping in GestureDetector, Semantics, or SizedBox does not help — Pinput's internal render tree always blocks hit-testing

Why It Fails

Pinput's widget tree includes:

• IgnorePointer wrapping content
• EditableText with rendererIgnoresPointer: true

The .hitTestable() filter rejects these. But WidgetTester.enterText() does NOT need hit-testing — it finds EditableText by walking the widget tree directly.

How Patrol Solves This

Patrol successfully enters text into Pinput using the same WidgetTester.enterText(). The difference: Patrol does NOT bake .hitTestable() into the finder passed to enterText().

Pinput's own test suite confirms this pattern works:

await tester.enterText(find.byType(EditableText), '1234');

Suggested Fix

PR #39 addresses this by removing the unconditional .hitTestable() and adding an isVisibleOnAppScreen() fallback.

Environment

• appium_flutter_server: 0.0.33
• Pinput: 5.0.2
• Flutter: 3.32+
• Platform: Android 14 emulator

Related

• PR Find element work for non hitTestable elements. #39 (exact fix, open since March 2026)
• Pinput #205

[Achintha444]

Found that PR #39 addresses this exact issue by:

1. Removing the unconditional .hitTestable() from findElements()
2. Adding an isVisibleOnAppScreen() fallback for non-hit-testable elements
3. Preferring hit-testable elements when available via getFirstHitTestableElementIfPresent()

This would fix text entry on Pinput and any widget using rendererIgnoresPointer: true.

PR #39 has been open since March 2026 with no reviews — would appreciate a review/merge since this blocks E2E testing of OTP flows (a very common Flutter pattern).