Style BottomNavigationBar in Flutter

Question

I am trying out Flutter and I am trying to change the colour of the BottomNavigationBar on the app but all I could achieve was change the colour of the BottomNavigationItem (icon and text).

Here is where i declare my BottomNavigationBar:

class _BottomNavigationState extends State<BottomNavigationHolder>{

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return new Scaffold(
      appBar: null,
      body: pages(),
      bottomNavigationBar:new BottomNavigationBar(
        items: <BottomNavigationBarItem>[
          new BottomNavigationBarItem(
              icon: const Icon(Icons.home),
              title: new Text("Home")
          ),
          new BottomNavigationBarItem(
              icon: const Icon(Icons.work),
              title: new Text("Self Help")
          ),
          new BottomNavigationBarItem(
              icon: const Icon(Icons.face),
              title: new Text("Profile")
          )
        ],
        currentIndex: index,
        onTap: (int i){setState((){index = i;});},
        fixedColor: Colors.white,
      ),
    );
  }

Earlier I thought I had it figured out by editing canvasColor to green on my main app theme but it messed up the entire app colour scheme:

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,
        canvasColor: Colors.green
      ),
      home: new FirstScreen(),
    );
  }
}

Answer 1

There is no option to specify the background color of BottomNavigationBar but to change the canvasColor. One way you can achieve it without messing up the whole app would be by wrapping BottomNavigationBar in a Theme with desired canvasColor.

Example:

  bottomNavigationBar: new Theme(
    data: Theme.of(context).copyWith(
        // sets the background color of the `BottomNavigationBar`
        canvasColor: Colors.green,
        // sets the active color of the `BottomNavigationBar` if `Brightness` is light
        primaryColor: Colors.red,
        textTheme: Theme
            .of(context)
            .textTheme
            .copyWith(caption: new TextStyle(color: Colors.yellow))), // sets the inactive color of the `BottomNavigationBar`
    child: new BottomNavigationBar(
      type: BottomNavigationBarType.fixed,
      currentIndex: 0,
      items: [
        new BottomNavigationBarItem(
          icon: new Icon(Icons.add),
          title: new Text("Add"),
        ),
        new BottomNavigationBarItem(
          icon: new Icon(Icons.delete),
          title: new Text("Delete"),
        )
      ],
    ),
  ),

Hope that helps!