How to use useRef to change the style of a element?

Question

I want to use the useRef hook to change the style of a DOM element:

const Box = props => {
  const box = useRef(0);

  const onClick = () => {
    box.current.backgroundColor = "blue";
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <div
        ref={box}
        style={{ width: "300px", height: "300px", backgroundColor: "red" }}
      />
      <button onClick={onClick}>Change color of box</button>
    </div>
  );
};

However, if I click on the button the backgroundColor of the box doesn't change.

I also created a simple code snippet, which illustrates my problem.

Answer 1

You're trying to modify a non-existent backgroundColor property directly on your DOM element:

box.current.backgroundColor = "blue";

Which would (if it worked) modify your DOM element to this:

<div backgroundColor="blue" ... />

In order to make it work you need to modify the backgroundColor through the style property:

box.current.style.backgroundColor = "blue";

Working version of your snippet