Flexbox that wraps around a fixed container - css

Question

I'm trying to create a form with a variable number of form fields that would expand horizontally. Each field would have a minimum width of 300 px, but would expand to fill the row if there is extra space. If there is not enough space for each field at 300px, then it would wrap to another row. Flexbox would be the perfect solution for this. However, I also want there to be a variable width container for submit & cancel buttons that is fixed on the right side of the first row. (See the attached illustration.)
How can I create this fixed, right-aligned container that Flexbox would flow around? Can this be done with Flexbox alone? Would CSS Grid (or a combination of Flexbox & Grid) be helpful here? Example code would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I think your best solution is to use float and inline-block. then you can adjust sizing considering media query
body>.container {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
margin: auto;
margin-top: 24px;
padding: 0px;
}
.container {
border: solid 1px #F00;
font-size:0;
}
.box {
box-sizing: border-box;
border: 1px solid #000;
text-align: center;
vertical-align: middle;
min-height: 36px;
width: calc(25% - 10px);
min-width: 200px;
display:inline-block;
margin: 5px;
font-size:initial;
}
.box.buttons {
float:right;
}
<link data-require="bootstrap-css#*" data-semver="4.0.0-alpha.4" rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-alpha.4/css/bootstrap.min.css" />
<div class="container">
<div class="box buttons">
<button>Submit</button>
<button>Cancel</button>
</div>
<div class="box a">Box A</div>
<div class="box b">Box B</div>
<div class="box c">Box C</div>
<div class="box e">Box E</div>
<div class="box f">Box F</div>
</div>

Answer 2

After some experimentation, I found that this is possible with CSS Grid. Here is the basic layout:
HTML:
<div class="auto-fit">
<div class="A">A</div>
<div class="B">B</div>
<div class="C">C</div>
<div class="D">D</div>
<div class="E">E</div>
<div class="F">F</div>
<div class="G">G</div>
<div class="H">H</div>
<div class="I">I</div>
<div class="J">J</div>
<div class="K">K</div>
<div class="L">L</div>
<div class="M">M</div>
<div class="buttons"><button>Submit</button><button>Cancel</button></div>
</div>
CSS:
div.auto-fit {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(200px, 1fr));
grid-gap: 10px;
}
div.auto-fit > div {
background-color: #fff;
border-radius: 3px;
padding: 15px;
font-size: 14px;
}
div.buttons {
grid-column: -1/-2;
grid-row: 1/2;
}
Here is a jsfiddle that shows it in action: https://jsfiddle.net/lobo78/5ufqdm4y/22/