Using document.querySelector in React? Should I use refs instead? How?

javascript reactjs ref use-effect js-scrollintoview
R. Kohlisch picture R. Kohlisch · Dec 5, 2019 · Viewed 34.9k times · Source

I am building a carousel right now, in React. To scroll to the individual slides I am using document.querySelector like so :

useEffect(() => {
    document.querySelector(`#slide-${activeSlide}`).scrollIntoView({
      behavior: 'smooth',
      block: 'nearest',
      inline: 'nearest'
    });
  }, [activeSlide]);

Is this bad practice? After all, I am accessing the DOM directly here? What would be the React way of doing this?

edit: full return method

return (
    <>
      <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveLeft)}>PREV</button>
      <Wrapper id="test">
        {children.map((child, i) => {
          return (
            <Slide id={`slide-${i}`} key={`slide-${i}`}>
              {child}
            </Slide>
          );
        })}
      </Wrapper>

      <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveRight)}>NEXT</button>
    </>
  );

Answer

T.J. Crowder picture T.J. Crowder · Dec 5, 2019

I can't answer the "should you" part of whether to use refs for this instead other than if you do, you don't need those id values unless you use them for something else.

But here's how you would:

  1. Use useRef(null) to create the ref.

    const activeSlideRef = useRef(null);

  2. Put it on the Slide that's currently active

    <Slide ref={i === activeSlide ? activeSlideRef : null} ...>

  3. In your useEffect, use the ref's current property

    useEffect(() => {
    if (activeSlideRef.current) {
        activeSlideRef.current.scrollIntoView({
          behavior: 'smooth',
          block: 'nearest',
          inline: 'nearest'
        });
    }
}, [activeSlide]);

    (I think activeSlide is a reasonable dependency for that effect. You can't use the ref, the ref itself doesn't vary...)

Live example, I've turned some of your components into divs for convenience:

const {useEffect, useRef, useState} = React;

function Deck({children}) {
    const [activeSlide, setActiveSlide] = useState(0);
    const activeSlideRef = useRef(null);

    useEffect(() => {
        if (activeSlideRef.current) {
            activeSlideRef.current.scrollIntoView({
              behavior: 'smooth',
              block: 'nearest',
              inline: 'nearest'
            });
        }
    }, [activeSlide]);

    const moveLeft = Math.max(0, activeSlide - 1);
    const moveRight = Math.min(children.length - 1, activeSlide + 1);

    return (
        <React.Fragment>
          <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveLeft)}>PREV</button>
          <div id="test">
            {children.map((child, i) => {
              const active = i === activeSlide;
              return (
                <div className={`slide ${active ? "active" : ""}`} ref={active ? activeSlideRef : null} id={`slide-${i}`} key={`slide-${i}`}>
                  {child}
                </div>
              );
            })}
          </div>

          <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveRight)}>NEXT</button>
        </React.Fragment>
    );
}

ReactDOM.render(
    <Deck>
      <div>slide 0 </div>
      <div>slide 1 </div>
      <div>slide 2 </div>
      <div>slide 3 </div>
      <div>slide 4 </div>
      <div>slide 5 </div>
      <div>slide 6 </div>
      <div>slide 7 </div>
      <div>slide 8 </div>
      <div>slide 9 </div>
    </Deck>,
    document.getElementById("root")
);
.slide {
  height: 4em;
  vertical-align: middle;
  text-align: center;
}
#test {
  overflow: scroll;
  max-height: 20em;
}
.active {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: blue;
}
<div id="root"></div>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.10.2/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.10.2/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>

In a comment you've asked:

Do you know whether it's possible to disable useEffect here for the first render?

To keep non-state per-component info around, interestingly you use useRef. The docs for useRef point out that it's not just for DOM element references, it's also for per-component non-state data. So you could have

const firstRenderRef = useRef(true);

then in your useEffect callback, check firstRenderRef.current &mndash if it's true, set it false, otherwise do the scrolling:

const {useEffect, useRef, useState} = React;

function Deck({children}) {
    const [activeSlide, setActiveSlide] = useState(0);
    const activeSlideRef = useRef(null);
    // *** Use a ref with the initial value `true`
    const firstRenderRef = useRef(true);

    console.log("render");

    useEffect(() => {
        // *** After render, don't do anything, just remember we've seen the render
        if (firstRenderRef.current) {
            console.log("set false");
            firstRenderRef.current = false;
        } else if (activeSlideRef.current) {
            console.log("scroll");
            activeSlideRef.current.scrollIntoView({
              behavior: 'smooth',
              block: 'nearest',
              inline: 'nearest'
            });
        }
    }, [activeSlide]);

    const moveLeft = Math.max(0, activeSlide - 1);
    const moveRight = Math.min(children.length - 1, activeSlide + 1);

    return (
        <React.Fragment>
          <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveLeft)}>PREV</button>
          <div id="test">
            {children.map((child, i) => {
              const active = i === activeSlide;
              return (
                <div className={`slide ${active ? "active" : ""}`} ref={active ? activeSlideRef : null} id={`slide-${i}`} key={`slide-${i}`}>
                  {child}
                </div>
              );
            })}
          </div>

          <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveRight)}>NEXT</button>
        </React.Fragment>
    );
}

ReactDOM.render(
    <Deck>
      <div>slide 0 </div>
      <div>slide 1 </div>
      <div>slide 2 </div>
      <div>slide 3 </div>
      <div>slide 4 </div>
      <div>slide 5 </div>
      <div>slide 6 </div>
      <div>slide 7 </div>
      <div>slide 8 </div>
      <div>slide 9 </div>
    </Deck>,
    document.getElementById("root")
);
.slide {
  height: 4em;
  vertical-align: middle;
  text-align: center;
}
#test {
  overflow: scroll;
  max-height: 10em;
}
.active {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: blue;
}
<div id="root"></div>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.10.2/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.10.2/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>

As a thought experiment, I wrote a hook to make the ergonomics a bit easier:

function useInstance(instance = {}) {
    // assertion: instance && typeof instance === "object"
    const ref = useRef(instance);
    return ref.current;
}

Usage:

const inst = useInstance({first: true});

In useEffect, if inst.first is true, do inst.first = false;; otherwise, do the scrolling.

Live:

const {useEffect, useRef, useState} = React;

function useInstance(instance = {}) {
    // assertion: instance && typeof instance === "object"
    const ref = useRef(instance);
    return ref.current;
}

function Deck({children}) {
    const [activeSlide, setActiveSlide] = useState(0);
    const activeSlideRef = useRef(null);
    const inst = useInstance({first: true});

    console.log("render");

    useEffect(() => {
        // *** After render, don't do anything, just remember we've seen the render
        if (inst.first) {
            console.log("set false");
            inst.first = false;
        } else if (activeSlideRef.current) {
            console.log("scroll");
            activeSlideRef.current.scrollIntoView({
              behavior: 'smooth',
              block: 'nearest',
              inline: 'nearest'
            });
        }
    }, [activeSlide]);

    const moveLeft = Math.max(0, activeSlide - 1);
    const moveRight = Math.min(children.length - 1, activeSlide + 1);

    return (
        <React.Fragment>
          <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveLeft)}>PREV</button>
          <div id="test">
            {children.map((child, i) => {
              const active = i === activeSlide;
              return (
                <div className={`slide ${active ? "active" : ""}`} ref={active ? activeSlideRef : null} id={`slide-${i}`} key={`slide-${i}`}>
                  {child}
                </div>
              );
            })}
          </div>

          <button onClick={() => setActiveSlide(moveRight)}>NEXT</button>
        </React.Fragment>
    );
}

ReactDOM.render(
    <Deck>
      <div>slide 0 </div>
      <div>slide 1 </div>
      <div>slide 2 </div>
      <div>slide 3 </div>
      <div>slide 4 </div>
      <div>slide 5 </div>
      <div>slide 6 </div>
      <div>slide 7 </div>
      <div>slide 8 </div>
      <div>slide 9 </div>
    </Deck>,
    document.getElementById("root")
);
.slide {
  height: 4em;
  vertical-align: middle;
  text-align: center;
}
#test {
  overflow: scroll;
  max-height: 10em;
}
.active {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: blue;
}
<div id="root"></div>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.10.2/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.10.2/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>

Related questions

current is always null when using React.createRef

I was trying to do this. I must be missing something, but I don't understand why current is always null in this example. class App extends React.PureComponent { constructor(props) { super(props); this.test = React.createRef(); } render() { return <div …

Read More
TypeError: __WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_0_react___default.a.createRef is not a function

I am new to React.js and just now i was learning the concept of ref in React. They have new createRef API in V16.3. I was trying to learn this from REACT DOC's like this - import React from "…

Read More
Understanding: Warning: Function components cannot be given refs

I know that refs are used to access DOM elements directly without altering the state. I read that it's not possible to give refs to function components because they don't have a state. Refs cannot be attached to function components. …

Read More