React DnD Preview

Try it here!

This project is a React component compatible with React DnD that can be used to emulate a Drag'n'Drop "ghost" when a Backend system doesn't have one (e.g. react-dnd-touch-backend).

See the migration section for instructions when switching from 4.x.x or 6.x.x.

Installation

npm install -S react-dnd-preview

Usage & Example

Just include the Preview component close to the top component of your application (it places itself absolutely).

It is usable in different ways: hook-based, function-based and context-based. All of them receive the same data formatted the same way, an object containing the following properties:

• display: only with usePreview, boolean indicating if you should render your preview
• itemType: the type of the item (monitor.getItemType())
• item: the item (monitor.getItem())
• style: an object representing the style (used for positioning), it should be passed to the style property of your preview component
• ref: a reference which can be passed to the final component that will use style, it will allow Preview to position the previewed component correctly (closer to what HTML5 DnD can do)
• monitor: the actual DragLayerMonitor from react-dnd

The function needs to return something that React can render (React component, null, etc).

See also the examples for more information.

Hook-based

import { usePreview } from 'react-dnd-preview'

const MyPreview = () => {
  const preview = usePreview()
  if (!preview.display) {
    return null
  }
  const {itemType, item, style} = preview;
  return <div className="item-list__item" style={style}>{itemType}</div>
}

const App = () => {
  return (
    <DndProvider backend={MyBackend}>
      <ItemList />
      <MyPreview />
    </DndProvider>
  )
}

Function-based

import { Preview } from 'react-dnd-preview'

const generatePreview = ({itemType, item, style}) => {
  return <div className="item-list__item" style={style}>{itemType}</div>
}

class App extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <DndProvider backend={MyBackend}>
        <ItemList />
        <Preview generator={generatePreview} />
        // or
        <Preview>{generatePreview}</Preview>
      </DndProvider>
    )
  }
}

Context-based

import { Preview, Context } from 'react-dnd-preview'

const MyPreview = () => {
  const {itemType, item, style} = useContext(Preview.Component)
  return <div className="item-list__item" style={style}>{itemType}</div>
}

const App = () => {
  return (
    <DndProvider backend={MyBackend}>
      <ItemList />
      <Preview>
        <MyPreview />
        // or
        <Context.Consumer>
          {({itemType, item, style}) => <div className="item-list__item" style={style}>{itemType}</div>}
        </Context.Consumer>
      </Preview>
    </DndProvider>
  )
}

Migrating

Migrating from 6.x.x

Starting with 7.0.0, react-dnd-preview doesn't have a default export anymore.

Previously:

import Preview from 'react-dnd-preview'

Now:

import { Preview } from 'react-dnd-preview'

Migrating from 4.x.x

Starting with 5.0.0, react-dnd-preview will start passing its arguments packed in one argument, an object {itemType, item, style}, instead of 3 different arguments (itemType, item and style). This means that will need to change your generator function to receive arguments correctly.

License

MIT, Copyright (c) 2016-2022 Louis Brunner