@neodrag/svelte

A lightweight Svelte Action to make your elements draggable.

Inspired from the amazing react-draggable library, and implements the same API.

Features

• 🤏 Tiny - Only 1.85KB min+brotli.
• 🐇 Simple - Quite simple to use, and effectively no-config required!
• 🧙‍♀️ Elegant - Svelte Action, to keep the usage simple, elegant and expressive.
• 🗃️ Highly customizable - Offers tons of options that you can modify to get different behavior.
• ⚛️ Reactive - Change options passed to it on the fly, it will just work 🙂

Try it in Svelte REPL

Installing

pnpm add @neodrag/svelte

# npm
npm install @neodrag/svelte

# yarn
yarn add @neodrag/svelte

Migrating from svelte-drag

svelte-drag is the predecessor of this package. To migrate, follow this short guide: svelte-drag to @neodrag/svelte migration guide

Usage

Basic usage

<script>
  import { draggable } from '@neodrag/svelte';
</script>

<div use:draggable>Hello</div>

With options

<script>
  import { draggable } from '@neodrag/svelte';
</script>

<div use:draggable={{ axis: 'x', grid: [10, 10] }}>Hello</div>

Defining options elsewhere with typescript

<script lang="ts">
  import { draggable } from '@neodrag/svelte';
  import type { DragOptions } from '@neodrag/svelte';

  let options: DragOptions = {
    axis: 'y',
    bounds: 'parent',
  };
</script>

<div use:draggable={options}>Hello</div>

Options

There are tons of options available for this package. All of them are already documented within the code itself, so you'll never have to leave the code editor.

axis

type: 'both' | 'x' | 'y' | 'none'

Default Value: 'both'

Axis on which the element can be dragged on. Valid values: both, x, y, none.

• both - Element can move in any direction
• x - Only horizontal movement possible
• y - Only vertical movement possible
• none - No movement at all

Examples:

<!-- Drag only in x direction -->
<div use:draggable={{ axis: 'x' }}>Text</div>

Dynamically change axis using radio buttons.

<script>
let axis;
</script>

<div>
  Axis:
  <label>
    <input type="radio" bind:group={axis} value="both" />
    Both
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" bind:group={axis} value="x" />
    x
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" bind:group={axis} value="y" />
    y
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" bind:group={axis} value="none" />
    none
  </label>
</div>

<!-- Dynamically change axis -->
<div use:draggable={{ axis }}>Text</div>

bounds

type: HTMLElement | 'parent' | string | { top?: number; right?: number; bottom?: number; left?: number }

Default Value: undefined

Optionally limit the drag area

parent: Limit to parent

Or, you can specify any selector and it will be bound to that.

Note: This library doesn't check whether the selector is bigger than the node element. You yourself will have to make sure of that, or it may lead to unexpected behavior.

Or, finally, you can pass an object of type { top: number; right: number; bottom: number; left: number }. These mimic the css top, right, bottom and left, in the sense that bottom starts from the bottom of the window, and right from right of window. If any of these properties are unspecified, they are assumed to be 0.

Examples:

Bound to any element

<div use:draggable={{ bounds: document.querySelector('.some-element') }}>Hello</div>

Bound to parent

<div use:draggable={{ bounds: 'parent' }}>Hello</div>

Bound to body

<div use:draggable={{ bounds: 'body' }}>Hello</div>

Bound to an ancestor selector somewhere in page

<div use:draggable={{ bounds: '.way-up-in-the-dom' }}>Hello</div>

Manually through coordinates. Empty object means bound to the window.

NOTE: It isn't strictly empty object. If you omit any property from this object, it will be assumed as 0.

<div use:draggable={{ bounds: {} }}>Hello</div>

Bound only to top and bottom, and unbounded horizontally in practice by setting bounds way beyond the screen.

<div use:draggable={{ bounds: { top: 0, bottom: 0, left: -1000, right: -1000 } }}>Hello</div>

gpuAcceleration

type: boolean

Default value: true

If true, uses translate3d instead of translate to move the element around, and the hardware acceleration kicks in.

true by default, but can be set to false if blurry text issue occurs.

Example 👇

<div use:draggable={{ gpuAcceleration: false }}>Hello</div>

applyUserSelectHack

type: boolean

Default value: true

Applies user-select: none on <body /> element when dragging, to prevent the irritating effect where dragging doesn't happen and the text is selected. Applied when dragging starts and removed when it stops.

ignoreMultitouch

type: boolean

Default value: false

Ignores touch events with more than 1 touch. This helps when you have multiple elements on a canvas where you want to implement pinch-to-zoom behaviour.

<!-- Ignore Multitouch -->
<div use:draggable={{ ignoreMultitouch: true }}>Text</div>

disabled

type: boolean

Default Value: undefined

Disables dragging.

grid

type: [number, number]

Default value: undefined

Applies a grid on the page to which the element snaps to when dragging, rather than the default continuous grid.

Note: If you're programmatically creating the grid, do not set it to [0, 0] ever, that will stop drag at all. Set it to undefined to make it continuous once again.

position

type: { x: number; y: number }

Default Value: undefined

Controls the position of the element programmatically. Fully reactive.

Read more below in the Controlled vs Uncontrolled section.

cancel

type: string | HTMLElement

Default value: undefined

CSS Selector of an element inside the parent node(on which use:draggable is applied). Can be an element too. If it is provided, Trying to drag inside the cancel selector will prevent dragging.

Selector:

<div use:draggable={{ cancel: '.cancel' }}>
  This will drag!
  <div class="cancel">You shall not drag!!🧙‍♂️</div>
</div>

Element:

<div use:draggable={{ cancel }}>
  This will drag!
  <div class="cancel" bind:this={cancel}>You shall not drag!!🧙‍♂️</div>
</div>

handle

type: string | HTMLElement

Default Value: undefined

CSS Selector of an element inside the parent node(on which use:draggable is applied). Can be an element too. If it is provided, Only clicking and dragging on this element will allow the parent to drag, anywhere else on the parent won't work.

<div use:draggable={{ handle: '.handle' }}>
  You shall not drag!!🧙‍♂️
  <div class="handle">This will drag 😁</div>
</div>

<div use:draggable={{ handle }}>
  You shall not drag!!🧙‍♂️
  <div class="handle" bind:this={handle}>This will drag 😁</div>
</div>

defaultClass

type: string

Default Value: 'neodrag'

Class to apply on the element on which use:draggable is applied. Note that if handle is provided, it will still apply class on the parent element, NOT the handle

defaultClassDragging

type: string

Default Value: 'neodrag-dragging'

Class to apply on the parent element when it is dragging

defaultClassDragged

type: string

Default Value: 'neodrag-dragged'

Class to apply on the parent element if it has been dragged at least once.

defaultPosition

type: { x: number; y: number }

Default Value: { x: 0, y: 0 }

Offsets your element to the position you specify in the very beginning. x and y should be in pixels

onDragStart

type: (data: { offsetX: number; offsetY: number; domRect: DOMRect }) => void

Default Value: undefined

Fires when dragging start.

onDrag

type: (data: { offsetX: number; offsetY: number; domRect: DOMRect }) => void

Default Value: undefined

Fires when dragging is going on.

onDragEnd

type: (data: { offsetX: number; offsetY: number; domRect: DOMRect }) => void

Default Value: undefined

Fires when dragging ends.

Events

@neodrag/svelte emits 3 events, on:neodrag, on:neodrag:start & on:neodrag:end. These are all custom events, and can be listened on the node the use:draggable is applied to

Example:

<div
  use:draggable
  on:neodrag:start={(e) => console.log('Dragging started', e)}
  on:neodrag={(e) => console.log(e.detail)}
  on:neodrag:end={(e) => console.log('Dragging stopped', e)}
>
  Hello
</div>

Event signatures:

on:neodrag:start: (e: CustomEvent<{ offsetX: number; offsetY: number; domRect: DOMRect }>) => void. Provides the initial offset when dragging starts, on the e.detail object.

on:neodrag:: (e: CustomEvent<{ offsetX: number; offsetY: number; domRect: DOMRect }>. Provides how far the element has been dragged from it's original position in x and y coordinates on the event.detail object

on:neodrag:end: (e: CustomEvent<{ offsetX: number; offsetY: number; domRect: DOMRect }>) => void. No internal state provided to event.detail. Provides the final offset when dragging ends, on the e.detail object.

Alternative

If you scroll up, you'll see 3 options, onDragStart, onDrag and onDragEnd. These are basically event handlers that you specify as methods of the options object.

Why have two ways to listen to events? Because at the time of writing, the Svelte extension for VSCode doesn't work fully well with custom events when using TypeScript, even after they're explicitly typed by the user in TypeScript.

I take TypeScript very seriously, hence I am going an extra step to provide duplicate implementations for event handling.

How to use events-as-options? The syntax is similar to the custom events one 👇

<div
  use:draggable={{
    onDragStart: ({ offsetX, offsetY, domRect }) => {
      // Do something
    },
    onDrag: ({ offsetX, offsetY, domRect }) => {
      // Do something
    },
    onDragEnd: ({ offsetX, offsetY, domRect }) => {
      // Do something
    },

  }}
  class="box"
/>

Ultimately, this gives everyone a choice. non-TypeScript users will prefer the on:neodrag:* method because it is more idiomatic, and TypeScript users can go with events-as-options way to get better TS experience

Note: Do not use same event in two different ways. I.E., having on:neodrag:start and onDragStart at once will have both fire at the time when dragging starts. Use only one at a time.

If you're a TypeScript user, read on below 👇

TypeScript

This library ships with proper TypeScript typings, for the best Developer Experience, whether authoring JS or TS.

Events

To get proper TypeScript typing for the events, add this line to your root globals.d.ts file:

/// <reference types="@neodrag/svelte/globals" />

Or, add to tsconfig.json:

{
	"compilerOptions": {
		"types": ["@neodrag/svelte/globals"]
	}
}

Types Exported from package

This package exports these types you can use:

import type { DragAxis, DragBounds, DragBoundsCoords, DragOptions } from '@neodrag/svelte';

DragOptions is the documented list of all options provided by the component.

DragAxis is the type of axis option, and is equal to 'both' | 'x' | 'y' | 'none'.

DragBounds is 'parent' | string | Partial<DragBoundsCoords>, the complete type of bounds option.

DragBoundsCoords is when you're specifying the bounds field using an object, this is the type needed for that.

export type DragBoundsCoords = {
	/** Number of pixels from left of the window */
	left: number;

	/** Number of pixels from top of the window */
	top: number;

	/** Number of pixels from the right side of window */
	right: number;

	/** Number of pixels from the bottom of the window */
	bottom: number;
};

Controlled vs Uncontrolled

This is taken straight from React's philosophy(After all, this package is inspired from react-draggable).

Uncontrolled means your app doesn't control the dragging of the app. Meaning, the user drags the element, it changes position, and you do something with that action. You yourself don't change position of the element or anything. This is the default behavior of this library.

Controlled means your app, using state variables, changes the position of the element, or in simple terms, programmatically drag the element. You basically set the position property to { x: 10, y: 50 }(or any other numbers), and voila! yur now controlling the position of the element programmatically 🥳🥳

OFC, this library doesn't go fully Controlled. The user can still drag it around even when position is set.

So, when you change position, the element position changes. However, when the element is dragged by user interaction, position is not changed. This is done intentionally, as two-way data binding here isn't possible and also will lead to unexpected behavior. To keep the position variable up to date, use the on:neodrag event to keep your state up to date to the draggable's internal state.

To have it be strictly Controlled, meaning it can only be moved programmatically, add the disabled option to your draggable element's config

<div use:draggable={{ position: { x: 0, y: 10 }, disabled: true }} />

Here are a bunch of examples showing controlled behavior 👇

1. Changing with inputs
2. Changing with Sliders
3. Draggable only through external state, not user input
4. Comes back to original position after drag end
5. Comes back to original position with transition

Why an action and not a component?

In case you're wondering why this library is an action, and not a component, the answer is simple: Actions usage is much much simpler and elegant than a component for this case could ever be.

If it were a component, its syntax would be like this 👇

<Draggable axis="x" grid={[50, 50]}>
  <div>
    Hello
  </div>
</Draggable>

This is ok, but what if there are more than 2 elements at the top.

<Draggable axis="x" grid={[50, 50]}>
  <div>
    Hello
  </div>

  <div>
    You shall not pass ~ Gandalf the wizard
  </div>
</Draggable>

This poses a problem: How would I decide which of these to make a draggable? Ofc, I could wrap the <slot /> in a <div>, apply event listeners on it, set it to display: contents, but it would add an extra DOM element, and sometimes, that alone can make a huge difference!

So to not add a wrapper myself, I would need to write here in docs to pass only one root element, and give an error when I detect multiple. or I'd need to enforce passing the ref of the element into the component using bind:this, like this 👇

<script>
let ref;
</script>

<Draggable nodeRef={ref} axis="x" grid={[50, 50]}>
  <div bind:this={ref}>
    Hello
  </div>
</Draggable>

You'd have to bind the element ref which you want to make a draggable, and pass it to the component.

This is doable, but it adds an unnecessary amount of API layer, and the code isn't idiomatic and elegant, not to mention how much extra code I would have to add as the library author.

Not to mention, it would require much more work to make it SSR compliant, which makes no sense, cuz the server isn't dragging elements around, so why need to SSR it in the first place ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I would have to add browser checks everywhere to make it work, which is less than ideal.

On the other hand, as an action, this gives ultimate control to both the user and me.

<div use:draggable={{ axis: 'x', grid: [50, 50] }}>
  Hello
</div>

This is extremely simple, elegant and expressive. By applying the action, you are specifying which element you want to be draggable, without any extra overhead. It just works!! And Actions aren't run in SSR, so your app will server render without errors caused from this library, and will spare me the gruelling task of adding browser checks everywhere!! It's a win win for everyone!! 🙂

Contributing

Feel free to open an issue with a bug or feature request.

If you wish to make a PR fixing something, please open an issue about it first!

Help needed 🛑

This library lacks something very important: Automated Tests!

I'll be straight about this: I don't know how to write tests. I've tried, but not been able to.

So I need your help. If you wish to contribute and can add tests here, it would be great for everyone using this! 🙂

Specifications here: #7

License

MIT License