react-sortablejs

React bindings to SortableJS

Please note that this is not considered ready for production, as there are still a number of bugs being sent through.

Features

Installation

sortablejs and @types/sortablejs are peer dependencies. The latter is only used if intellisense/typescript is desired.

1npm install --save react-sortablejs sortablejs
2npm install --save-dev @types/sortablejs
3
4# OR
5yarn add react-sortablejs sortablejs
6yarn add -D @types/sortablejs

Learn

Here is the TLDR of what sortable is:

1- Shopping List: # list of items / sortable. This represents `react-sortablejs`
2  - eggs # list item. These are all the items in the list and are what you move around.
3  - bread # list item
4  - milk # list item

Usage/Examples

Function Component

1import React, { FC, useState } from "react";
2import { ReactSortable } from "react-sortablejs";
3
4interface ItemType {
5  id: number;
6  name: string;
7}
8
9export const BasicFunction: FC = (props) => {
10  const [state, setState] = useState<ItemType[]>([
11    { id: 1, name: "shrek" },
12    { id: 2, name: "fiona" },
13  ]);
14
15  return (
16    <ReactSortable list={state} setList={setState}>
17      {state.map((item) => (
18        <div key={item.id}>{item.name}</div>
19      ))}
20    </ReactSortable>
21  );
22};

Class Component

1import React, { Component } from "react";
2import { ReactSortable } from "react-sortablejs";
3
4interface BasicClassState {
5  list: { id: string; name: string }[];
6}
7
8export class BasicClass extends Component<{}, BasicClassState> {
9  state: BasicClassState = {
10    list: [{ id: "1", name: "shrek" }],
11  };
12  render() {
13    return (
14      <ReactSortable
15        list={this.state.list}
16        setList={(newState) => this.setState({ list: newState })}
17      >
18        {this.state.list.map((item) => (
19          <div key={item.id}>{item.name}</div>
20        ))}
21      </ReactSortable>
22    );
23  }
24}

Plugins

Sortable has some pretty cool plugins such as MultiDrag and Swap.

By Default:

• AutoScroll is premounted and enabled.
• OnSpill is premounted and NOT enabled.
• MultiDrag and Swap and NOT premounted and NOT enabled

You must mount the plugin with sortable ONCE ONLY.

1import React from "react";
2import { ReactSortable, Sortable, MultiDrag, Swap } from "react-sortablejs";
3
4// mount whatever plugins you'd like to. These are the only current options.
5Sortable.mount(new MultiDrag(), new Swap());
6
7const App = () => {
8  const [state, setState] = useState([
9    { id: 1, name: "shrek" },
10    { id: 2, name: "fiona" },
11  ]);
12
13  return (
14    <ReactSortable
15      multiDrag // enables mutidrag
16      // OR
17      swap // enables swap
18    >
19      {state.map((item) => (
20        <div key={item.id}>{item.name}</div>
21      ))}
22    </ReactSortable>
23  );
24};

Sortable API

For a comprehensive list of options, please visit https://github.com/SortableJS/Sortable#options.

Those options are applied as follows.

1Sortable.create(element, {
2  group: " groupName",
3  animation: 200,
4  delayOnTouchStart: true,
5  delay: 2,
6});
7
8// --------------------------
9// Will now be...
10// --------------------------
11
12import React from "react";
13import { ReactSortable } from "react-sortablejs";
14
15const App = () => {
16  const [state, setState] = useState([
17    { id: 1, name: "shrek" },
18    { id: 2, name: "fiona" },
19  ]);
20
21  return (
22    <ReactSortable
23      // here they are!
24      group="groupName"
25      animation={200}
26      delayOnTouchStart={true}
27      delay={2}
28    >
29      {state.map((item) => (
30        <div key={item.id}>{item.name}</div>
31      ))}
32    </ReactSortable>
33  );
34};

React API

id, className, style

These are all default DOM attributes. Nothing special here.

list

The same as state in const [ state, setState] = useState([{ id: 1}, {id: 2}])

state must be an array of items, with each item being an object that has the following shape:

1  /** The unique id associated with your item. It's recommended this is the same as the key prop for your list item. */
2  id: string | number;
3  /** When true, the item is selected using MultiDrag */
4  selected?: boolean;
5  /** When true, the item is deemed "chosen", which basically just a mousedown event. */
6  chosen?: boolean;
7  /** When true, it will not be possible to pick this item up in the list. */
8  filtered?: boolean;
9  [property: string]: any;

setList

The same as setState in const [ state, setState] = useState([{ id: 1}, {id: 2}])

clone

If you're using {group: { name: 'groupName', pull: 'clone'}}, this means you're in 'clone' mode. You should provide a function for this.

Check out the source code of the clone example for more information. I'll write it here soon.

tag

ReactSortable is a div element by default. This can be changed to be any HTML element (for example ul, ol) or can be a React component.

This value, be it the component or the HTML element, should be passed down under props.tag.

Let's explore both here.

HTML Element

Here we will use an ul. You can use any HTML. Just add the string and ReactSortable will use a ul instead of a div.

1import React, { FC, useState } from "react";
2import { ReactSortable } from "react-sortablejs";
3
4export const BasicFunction: FC = (props) => {
5  const [state, setState] = useState([{ id: "1", name: "shrek" }]);
6
7  return (
8    <ReactSortable tag="ul" list={state} setList={setState}>
9      {state.map((item) => (
10        <li key={item.id}>{item.name}</li>
11      ))}
12    </ReactSortable>
13  );
14};

Custom Component

When using a custom component in the tag prop, the only component it allows is a forwardRef component. Currently, we only support components that use the React.forwardRef API.

If it doesn't have one, you can add one using React.forwardRef().

todo: Some third-party UI components may have nested elements to create the look they're after. This could be an issue and not sure how to fix it.

1import React, { FC, useState, forwardRef } from "react";
2import { ReactSortable } from "react-sortablejs";
3
4// This is just like a normal component, but now has a ref.
5const CustomComponent = forwardRef<HTMLDivElement, any>((props, ref) => {
6  return <div ref={ref}>{props.children}</div>;
7});
8
9export const BasicFunction: FC = (props) => {
10  const [state, setState] = useState([
11    { id: 1, name: "shrek" },
12    { id: 2, name: "fiona" },
13  ]);
14
15  return (
16    <ReactSortable tag={CustomComponent} list={state} setList={setState}>
17      {state.map((item) => (
18        <div key={item.id}>{item.name}</div>
19      ))}
20    </ReactSortable>
21  );
22};

How does it work?

Sortable affects the DOM, adding, and removing nodes/css when it needs to in order to achieve the smooth transitions we all know an love. This component reverses many of its actions of the DOM so React can handle this when the state changes.

Caveats / Gotchas

key !== index

DO NOT use the index as a key for your list items. Sorting will not work.

In all the examples above, I used an object with an ID. You should do the same!

I may even enforce this into the design to eliminate errors.

Nesting

Problem

Basically, the child updates the state twice. I'm working on this.

What does work?

Our usage indicates that as long as we only move items between lists that don't use the same setState function.

I hope to provide an example soon.

Solutions

We don't have anything that works 100%, but here I'd like to spitball some potential avenues to look down.

• Use onMove to handle state changes instead of onAdd,onRemove, etc.
• Create a Sortable plugin specifically for react-sortbalejs