react-voyager

A library that allows you to create stunning interactive guides.

Introduction

Once, I faced the task of creating a large interactive guide to lead users through a specific website usage process. I experimented with libraries such as react-joyride and reactour. While these are great libraries, they didn't quite suit my task's conditions. I needed to consider that an element might not appear immediately on the page, or its dimensions could change. It might move, or the user could accidentally reload the page. That's when the idea of creating a new library to solve these issues came to mind.

Quick Start

To get started, you need to install the package:

npm install react-voyager

Then, to use the guide, you need to wrap your application with the VoyagerProvider and pass it the steps of your guide as well as the PopperContent that will display your tooltip content:

import React from 'react';
import { VoyagerProvider, PopperContentProps } from 'react-voyager';

const steps = [
    {
        selector: '[data-voyager=One]',
        content: 'Content of the first step', // Here you can place your content. It can be any JSX.Element
    },
    {
        selector: '[data-voyager=Two]',
        content: 'Content of the second step',
    },
    {
        selector: '[data-voyager=Three]',
        content: 'Content of the third step',
    },
];

const PopperContent = ({
    content,
    goNextStep,
    goBackStep,
    skip,
}: PopperContentProps) => {
    return (
        <div>
            {content}
            <button onClick={skip}>skip</button>
            <button onClick={goBackStep}>back</button>
            <button onClick={goNextStep}>next</button>
        </div>
    );
};

const App = ({ children }) => {
    return (
        <VoyagerProvider
            PopperContent={PopperContent}
            steps={steps}
        >
            {children}
        </VoyagerProvider>
    );
};

To initiate the guide, you need to call the start function from useVoyagerHelpers:

import { useVoyagerHelpers } from 'react-voyager';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const { start } = useVoyagerHelpers();
    return (
        <div>
            ...some content here
            <button onClick={start}>Start voyage</button>
        </div>
    );
};

Hooks

There are two main hooks you can use to control the guide in your components: useVoyager and useVoyagerHelpers

useVoyager:

isOpen: indicates whether the guide is currently active or not.

currentStep: the index of the current step.

steps: an array containing your guide steps.

currStep: the current step.

nextStep: move to the next step.

prevStep: move to the previous step.

startAt: the step at which the guide started.

status: the current status of the step (VoyagerStatusesEnum).

useVoyagerHelpers:

start: initiates the guide (transitions to VoyagerStatusesEnum.Active).

stop: stops the guide (transitions to VoyagerStatusesEnum.Stopped).

goNextStep: navigates to the next step.

goBackStep: navigates to the previous step.

goToStep: navigates to a specific step, taking the step index as an argument.

skip: skips and completes the guide (transitions to VoyagerStatusesEnum.Skipped).

updateSteps: updates the steps of your guide, taking the step selector and StepType as arguments.

Types

VoyagerProviderProps:

rootEl?: selector inside which the guide components will be placed. Default is body

localStorageKey?: key for saving guide steps in local storage, if provided, the guide will remember its state upon page reload

loadingTimeout?: time in milliseconds the guide will wait for a step to appear on the page. Default is 5000

loader?: JSX.Element to be displayed while the guide is waiting for loadingTimeout

steps: array of guide steps

styles?: styles object. You can pass styles for popper, mask, and overlay

padding?: padding for popper, mask, and overlay

placement?: guide placement, can be controlled at each step. Default is bottom

disableInteraction?: disables interaction with the highlighted area. Default is none

afterOpen?: function that will be executed upon provider mounting

beforeClose?: function that will be executed upon provider unmounting

onClickHighlighted?: function for clicking on the background

scrollSmooth?: controls smooth scrolling. If true, the scroll will be smooth; otherwise, auto. Default is true

PopperContent: component to be passed as the tooltip content

Wrapper?: wrapper component for all VoyagerProvider components. Default is React.Fragment

onChangeStep?: asynchronous function that will be called when the step changes

defaultOpen?: default is false. If true, the guide will start immediately

startAt?: default is 0. Index of the step where the guide starts

beforeStart?: asynchronous function executed before starting the guide

afterStart?: asynchronous function executed immediately after starting the guide

beforeStop?: asynchronous function executed before stopping the guide

afterStop?: asynchronous function executed after stopping the guide

StepType:

selector: CSS selector of your step

title?: step title

content: step content

placement?: tooltip placement next to the highlighted area

stepInteraction?: if true, interaction with the highlighted content is possible

padding?: padding for popper, mask, and overlay

styles?: styles for popper, mask, and overlay

loadingTimeout?: time in milliseconds the guide will wait for the step to appear. Default is 5000

onBeforeStep?: asynchronous function executed before transitioning to the next step

onAfterStep?: asynchronous function executed after transitioning to the next step

onChangeStep?: asynchronous function executed during the transition to the next step

meta?: any information you want, accessible inside PopperContent

canDisplayWhenPageReload?: controls whether this step should be displayed on page reload. Default is true. If false, it will display the previous step

disableNextStepBtn?: disable the next button

disableBackStepBtn?: disable the back button