Nested Flex Container Not Stretching To The Remaining Space

I am trying to create a simple flexbox layout with nested containers. It works well when I have a single container and use the full width + height. The problem is to have nested co

Solution 1:

Actually the answer already exists on this stackoverflow thread

Getting the child of a flex-item to fill height 100%

1. Set position:relative; on the parent of the child.
2. Set position:absolute; on the child.
3. You can then set width/height as required (100% in my sample).

Updated fiddle

<div class="flexbox-parent">
    <div class="flexbox-item header">
        Header
    </div>

    <div class="flexbox-item fill-area content flexbox-item-grow">
        <div class="fill-area-content flexbox-item-grow" style="position:relative;">
            <div class="flexbox-parent" style="position:absolute;">
                <div class="flexbox-item header">
                    2nd layer header
                </div>
                <div class="flexbox-item fill-area content flexbox-item-grow">
                    <div class="fill-area-content flexbox-item-grow">
                        <strong>How to make this section use all the remaining space? </strong><br/>
                        It should also overflow:auto if too much data.
                        <br/>

                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="flexbox-item footer">
                    2nd layer Footer
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="flexbox-item footer">
        Footer
    </div>
</div>

Solution 2:

.flexbox-item {padding: 8px;}

You add some padding in this class. And see this

 <div class="flexbox-item fill-area content flexbox-item-grow">
            <div class="fill-area-content flexbox-item-grow">
                <strong>How to make this section use all the remaining space? </strong><br/>
                It should also overflow:auto if too much data.
                <br/>

            </div>
        </div>

The parent has "flexbox-item" class. So it's adding some padd between you "item with text" and your flex container

Updated Fiddle