react-sortable-hoc

What is react-sortable-hoc?

The react-sortable-hoc package is a set of higher-order components to turn any list into an animated, touch-friendly, sortable list. It is highly customizable and provides a simple API to create sortable lists with React.

What are react-sortable-hoc's main functionalities?

Sortable List

This feature allows you to create a sortable list where items can be dragged and dropped to reorder them. The SortableContainer and SortableElement higher-order components are used to wrap the list and list items, respectively.

import React from 'react';
import { SortableContainer, SortableElement } from 'react-sortable-hoc';
import arrayMove from 'array-move';

const SortableItem = SortableElement(({ value }) => <li>{value}</li>);

const SortableList = SortableContainer(({ items }) => {
  return (
    <ul>
      {items.map((value, index) => (
        <SortableItem key={`item-${index}`} index={index} value={value} />
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
});

class SortableComponent extends React.Component {
  state = {
    items: ['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3', 'Item 4', 'Item 5']
  };

  onSortEnd = ({ oldIndex, newIndex }) => {
    this.setState(({ items }) => ({
      items: arrayMove(items, oldIndex, newIndex),
    }));
  };

  render() {
    return <SortableList items={this.state.items} onSortEnd={this.onSortEnd} />;
  }
}

export default SortableComponent;

Drag Handle

This feature allows you to add a drag handle to each item in the list, making it possible to drag items only by the handle. The SortableHandle higher-order component is used to create the handle.

import React from 'react';
import { SortableContainer, SortableElement, SortableHandle } from 'react-sortable-hoc';
import arrayMove from 'array-move';

const DragHandle = SortableHandle(() => <span>::</span>);

const SortableItem = SortableElement(({ value }) => (
  <li>
    <DragHandle />
    {value}
  </li>
));

const SortableList = SortableContainer(({ items }) => {
  return (
    <ul>
      {items.map((value, index) => (
        <SortableItem key={`item-${index}`} index={index} value={value} />
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
});

class SortableComponent extends React.Component {
  state = {
    items: ['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3', 'Item 4', 'Item 5']
  };

  onSortEnd = ({ oldIndex, newIndex }) => {
    this.setState(({ items }) => ({
      items: arrayMove(items, oldIndex, newIndex),
    }));
  };

  render() {
    return <SortableList items={this.state.items} onSortEnd={this.onSortEnd} useDragHandle />;
  }
}

export default SortableComponent;

Grid Layout

This feature allows you to create a sortable grid layout where items can be dragged and dropped to reorder them in both horizontal and vertical directions. The axis prop is set to 'xy' to enable this functionality.

import React from 'react';
import { SortableContainer, SortableElement } from 'react-sortable-hoc';
import arrayMove from 'array-move';

const SortableItem = SortableElement(({ value }) => <div className="grid-item">{value}</div>);

const SortableGrid = SortableContainer(({ items }) => {
  return (
    <div className="grid">
      {items.map((value, index) => (
        <SortableItem key={`item-${index}`} index={index} value={value} />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
});

class SortableComponent extends React.Component {
  state = {
    items: ['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3', 'Item 4', 'Item 5']
  };

  onSortEnd = ({ oldIndex, newIndex }) => {
    this.setState(({ items }) => ({
      items: arrayMove(items, oldIndex, newIndex),
    }));
  };

  render() {
    return <SortableGrid items={this.state.items} onSortEnd={this.onSortEnd} axis="xy" />;
  }
}

export default SortableComponent;

Other packages similar to react-sortable-hoc

react-beautiful-dnd

react-beautiful-dnd is a drag-and-drop library for React that focuses on beautiful and accessible drag-and-drop interactions. It provides a higher level of customization and accessibility compared to react-sortable-hoc, but it can be more complex to set up.

react-dnd

react-dnd is a flexible HTML5 drag-and-drop library for React. It provides a powerful API for creating complex drag-and-drop interfaces. It is more versatile than react-sortable-hoc but requires more boilerplate code and setup.

react-draggable

react-draggable is a simple component for making elements draggable. It is less feature-rich compared to react-sortable-hoc but is easier to use for basic drag-and-drop functionality.

README

A set of higher-order components to turn any list into an animated, accessible and touch-friendly sortable list

Examples available here: http://clauderic.github.io/react-sortable-hoc/

Features

• Higher Order Components – Integrates with your existing components
• Drag handle, auto-scrolling, locked axis, events, and more!
• Suuuper smooth animations – Chasing the 60FPS dream 🌈
• Works with virtualization libraries: react-virtualized, react-tiny-virtual-list, react-infinite, etc.
• Horizontal lists, vertical lists, or a grid ↔ ↕ ⤡
• Touch support 👌
• Accessible: supports keyboard sorting

Installation

Using npm:

$ npm install react-sortable-hoc --save

Then, using a module bundler that supports either CommonJS or ES2015 modules, such as webpack:

// Using an ES6 transpiler like Babel
import {SortableContainer, SortableElement} from 'react-sortable-hoc';

// Not using an ES6 transpiler
var Sortable = require('react-sortable-hoc');
var SortableContainer = Sortable.SortableContainer;
var SortableElement = Sortable.SortableElement;

Alternatively, an UMD build is also available:

<script src="react-sortable-hoc/dist/react-sortable-hoc.umd.js"></script>

Usage

Basic Example

import React, {Component} from 'react';
import {render} from 'react-dom';
import {SortableContainer, SortableElement} from 'react-sortable-hoc';
import arrayMove from 'array-move';

const SortableItem = SortableElement(({value}) => <li>{value}</li>);

const SortableList = SortableContainer(({items}) => {
  return (
    <ul>
      {items.map((value, index) => (
        <SortableItem key={`item-${value}`} index={index} value={value} />
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
});

class SortableComponent extends Component {
  state = {
    items: ['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3', 'Item 4', 'Item 5', 'Item 6'],
  };
  onSortEnd = ({oldIndex, newIndex}) => {
    this.setState(({items}) => ({
      items: arrayMove(items, oldIndex, newIndex),
    }));
  };
  render() {
    return <SortableList items={this.state.items} onSortEnd={this.onSortEnd} />;
  }
}

render(<SortableComponent />, document.getElementById('root'));

That's it! React Sortable does not come with any styles by default, since it's meant to enhance your existing components.

More code examples are available here.

Why should I use this?

There are already a number of great Drag & Drop libraries out there (for instance, react-dnd is fantastic). If those libraries fit your needs, you should definitely give them a try first. However, most of those libraries rely on the HTML5 Drag & Drop API, which has some severe limitations. For instance, things rapidly become tricky if you need to support touch devices, if you need to lock dragging to an axis, or want to animate the nodes as they're being sorted. React Sortable HOC aims to provide a simple set of higher-order components to fill those gaps. If you're looking for a dead-simple, mobile-friendly way to add sortable functionality to your lists, then you're in the right place.

Prop Types

SortableContainer HOC

Property	Type	Default	Description
axis	String	y	Items can be sorted horizontally, vertically or in a grid. Possible values: x, y or xy
lockAxis	String		If you'd like, you can lock movement to an axis while sorting. This is not something that is possible with HTML5 Drag & Drop. Possible values: x or y.
helperClass	String		You can provide a class you'd like to add to the sortable helper to add some styles to it
transitionDuration	Number	300	The duration of the transition when elements shift positions. Set this to 0 if you'd like to disable transitions
keyboardSortingTransitionDuration	Number	transitionDuration	The duration of the transition when the helper is shifted during keyboard sorting. Set this to 0 if you'd like to disable transitions for the keyboard sorting helper. Defaults to the value set for transitionDuration if undefined
keyCodes	Array	{   lift: [32],   drop: [32],   cancel: [27],   up: [38, 37],   down: [40, 39] }	An object containing an array of keycodes for each keyboard-accessible action.
pressDelay	Number	0	If you'd like elements to only become sortable after being pressed for a certain time, change this property. A good sensible default value for mobile is 200. Cannot be used in conjunction with the distance prop.
pressThreshold	Number	5	Number of pixels of movement to tolerate before ignoring a press event.
distance	Number	0	If you'd like elements to only become sortable after being dragged a certain number of pixels. Cannot be used in conjunction with the pressDelay prop.
shouldCancelStart	Function	Function	This function is invoked before sorting begins, and can be used to programatically cancel sorting before it begins. By default, it will cancel sorting if the event target is either an input, textarea, select, option, or button.
updateBeforeSortStart	Function		This function is invoked before sorting begins. It can return a promise, allowing you to run asynchronous updates (such as setState) before sorting begins. function({node, index, collection, isKeySorting}, event)
onSortStart	Function		Callback that is invoked when sorting begins. function({node, index, collection, isKeySorting}, event)
onSortMove	Function		Callback that is invoked during sorting as the cursor moves. function(event)
onSortOver	Function		Callback that is invoked when moving over an item. function({index, oldIndex, newIndex, collection, isKeySorting}, e)
onSortEnd	Function		Callback that is invoked when sorting ends. function({oldIndex, newIndex, collection, isKeySorting}, e)
useDragHandle	Boolean	false	If you're using the SortableHandle HOC, set this to true
useWindowAsScrollContainer	Boolean	false	If you want, you can set the window as the scrolling container
hideSortableGhost	Boolean	true	Whether to auto-hide the ghost element. By default, as a convenience, React Sortable List will automatically hide the element that is currently being sorted. Set this to false if you would like to apply your own styling.
lockToContainerEdges	Boolean	false	You can lock movement of the sortable element to it's parent SortableContainer
lockOffset	OffsetValue* | [OffsetValue*, OffsetValue*]	"50%"	WhenlockToContainerEdgesis set totrue, this controls the offset distance between the sortable helper and the top/bottom edges of it's parentSortableContainer. Percentage values are relative to the height of the item currently being sorted. If you wish to specify different behaviours for locking to the top of the container vs the bottom, you may also pass in anarray(For example:["0%", "100%"]).
getContainer	Function		Optional function to return the scrollable container element. This property defaults to the SortableContainer element itself or (if useWindowAsScrollContainer is true) the window. Use this function to specify a custom container object (eg this is useful for integrating with certain 3rd party components such as FlexTable). This function is passed a single parameter (the wrappedInstance React element) and it is expected to return a DOM element.
getHelperDimensions	Function	Function	Optional function({node, index, collection}) that should return the computed dimensions of the SortableHelper. See default implementation for more details
helperContainer	HTMLElement | Function	document.body	By default, the cloned sortable helper is appended to the document body. Use this prop to specify a different container for the sortable clone to be appended to. Accepts an HTMLElement or a function returning an HTMLElement that will be invoked before right before sorting begins
disableAutoscroll	Boolean	false	Disables autoscrolling while dragging

* OffsetValue can either be a finite Number or a String made up of a number and a unit (px or %). Examples: 10 (which is the same as "10px"), "50%"

SortableElement HOC

Property	Type	Default	Required?	Description
index	Number		✓	This is the element's sortableIndex within it's collection. This prop is required.
collection	Number or String	0		The collection the element is part of. This is useful if you have multiple groups of sortable elements within the same SortableContainer. Example
disabled	Boolean	false		Whether the element should be sortable or not

FAQ

Running Examples

In root folder, run the following commands to launch React Storybook:

$ npm install
$ npm start

Accessibility

React Sortable HOC supports keyboard sorting out of the box. To enable it, make sure your SortableElement or SortableHandle is focusable. This can be done by setting tabIndex={0} on the outermost HTML node rendered by the component you're enhancing with SortableElement or SortableHandle.

Once an item is focused/tabbed to, pressing SPACE picks it up, ArrowUp or ArrowLeft moves it one place backward in the list, ArrowDown or ArrowRight moves items one place forward in the list, pressing SPACE again drops the item in its new position. Pressing ESC before the item is dropped will cancel the sort operations.

Grid support

Need to sort items in a grid? We've got you covered! Just set the axis prop to xy. Grid support is currently limited to a setup where all the cells in the grid have the same width and height, though we're working hard to get variable width support in the near future.

Item disappearing when sorting / CSS issues

Upon sorting, react-sortable-hoc creates a clone of the element you are sorting (the sortable-helper) and appends it to the end of the <body> tag. The original element will still be in-place to preserve its position in the DOM until the end of the drag (with inline-styling to make it invisible). If the sortable-helper gets messed up from a CSS standpoint, consider that maybe your selectors to the draggable item are dependent on a parent element which isn't present anymore (again, since the sortable-helper is at the end of the <body>). This can also be a z-index issue, for example, when using react-sortable-hoc within a Bootstrap modal, you'll need to increase the z-index of the SortableHelper so it is displayed on top of the modal (see #87 for more details).

Click events being swallowed

By default, react-sortable-hoc is triggered immediately on mousedown. If you'd like to prevent this behaviour, there are a number of strategies readily available. You can use the distance prop to set a minimum distance (in pixels) to be dragged before sorting is enabled. You can also use the pressDelay prop to add a delay before sorting is enabled. Alternatively, you can also use the SortableHandle HOC.

Wrapper props not passed down to wrapped Component

All props for SortableContainer and SortableElement listed above are intentionally consumed by the wrapper component and are not passed down to the wrapped component. To make them available pass down the desired prop again with a different name. E.g.:

const SortableItem = SortableElement(({value, sortIndex}) => (
  <li>
    {value} - #{sortIndex}
  </li>
));

const SortableList = SortableContainer(({items}) => {
  return (
    <ul>
      {items.map((value, index) => (
        <SortableItem
          key={`item-${index}`}
          index={index}
          sortIndex={index}
          value={value}
        />
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
});

Dependencies

React Sortable HOC only depends on invariant. It has the following peerDependencies: react, react-dom

Reporting Issues

If believe you've found an issue, please report it along with any relevant details to reproduce it. The easiest way to do so is to fork the react-sortable-hoc basic setup sandbox on CodeSandbox:

Asking for help

Please do not use the issue tracker for personal support requests. Instead, use Gitter or StackOverflow.

Contributions

Yes please! Feature requests / pull requests are welcome.