react-reorder-list

A simple react component that facilitates the reordering of JSX/HTML elements through drag-and-drop functionality, allowing for easy position changes.

Features

• Reorders list of elements using drag and drop.
• Easy to use
• Smooth transition using animation.
• Listens to children updates. See listen to children updates
• Disables reordering for individual children. See disable reordering for individual children
• Handles nested lists easily. See nested list usage

Installation

To install react-reorder-list

  # with npm:
  npm install react-reorder-list --save

  # with yarn:
  yarn add react-reorder-list

  # with pnpm:
  pnpm add react-reorder-list

  # with bun:
  bun add react-reorder-list

Usage

react-reorder-list default exports <ReorderList> component which encapsulates all the list items as its children.

Items in this list can be reordered by simply dragging an item and dropping it in place of another item.

Basic Usage

Each <div> component inside <ReorderList> can now be drag-and-dropped to another <div> to reorder them.

import React from "react";
import ReorderList from "react-reorder-list";

export default function App() {
  return (
    <ReorderList>
      {[0, 1, 2, 3, 4].map((i) => {
        return <div key={i}>Item {i}</div>; // Having a unique key is important
      })}
    </ReorderList>
  );
}

Usage with ReorderIcon

The dragging behavior can be changed using the useOnlyIconToDrag prop of <ReorderList> component.

If set to false, an item can be dragged by clicking anywhere inside the item.

If set to true, an item can be dragged only using the <ReorderIcon> present inside the item.

import React from 'react'
import ReorderList, { ReorderIcon } from 'react-reorder-list'

export default function App() {
  return <ReorderList useOnlyIconToDrag={true}>
    {[0, 1, 2, 3, 4].map(i => {
      return <div key={i}>
        <ReorderIcon /> {/* Default icon */}
        <ReorderIcon>
          {/* Custom icon/component */}
        </Reordericon>
        <span>{i}</span>
      </div>
    })}
  </ReorderList>
}

Listen to Children Updates

<ReorderList> can listen to updates to it's children components using the watchChildrenUpdates prop as shown below.

If set to false, any updates made in children component except reordering by user won't reflect.

If set to true, updates to children like state changes, additions/omissions of children components will reflect in real time.
Further if preserveOrder is set to false, the order in which new children appear will be maintained.
Whereas if preserveOrder is set to true, the order of existing items will be preserved as before the update occured and new items will be placed at the end irrespective of their order in children. Also, if an item is being dragged and an update occurs at that moment, that item will be placed at respective location and onPositionChange will be called to prevent any inconsistency.

NOTE: The props watchChildrenUpdates and preserveOrder should be used carefully to avoid any unexpected behaviour

import React, { useState } from "react";
import ReorderList from "react-reorder-list";

export default function App() {
  const [array, setArray] = useState([0, 1, 2, 3, 4]);

  function setNewArray() {
    setArray((prev) => {
      const array = [];
      prev.forEach((_) => {
        do {
          var item = Math.floor(Math.random() * 9);
        } while (array.includes(item));
        array.push(item);
      });
      return array;
    });
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <ReorderList watchChildrenUpdates={true} animationDuration={200}>
        {array.map((i) => (
          <div key={i}>Item {i}</div>
        ))}
      </ReorderList>
      <button onClick={setNewArray}>Click me</button>
    </div>
  );
}

Disable reordering for individual children

import React from "react";
import ReorderList from "react-reorder-list";

export default function App() {
  return (
    <ReorderList>
      <div key="div" data-disable-reorder={true}>
        This div cannot be reordered
      </div>
      {[0, 1, 2, 3, 4].map((i) => {
        return <div key={i}>Item {i}</div>; // Having a unique key is important
      })}
      <p key="p" data-disable-reorder={true}>
        This p cannot be reordered either
      </p>
    </ReorderList>
  );
}

Nested List Usage

import React from "react";
import ReorderList, { ReorderIcon } from "react-reorder-list";

export default function App() {
  return (
    <ReorderList>
      {[0, 1, 2].map((i) => {
        return (
          <div key={i}>
            <ReorderIcon />
            <span>{"Parent" + i}</span>
            <ReorderList useOnlyIconToDrag={true}>
              {[0, 1, 2].map((j) => {
                return (
                  <div key={j} style={{ paddingLeft: "16px" }}>
                    <ReorderIcon />
                    <span>{"Child" + i + j}</span>
                  </div>
                );
              })}
            </ReorderList>
          </div>
        );
      })}
    </ReorderList>
  );
}

ReorderList Component API Reference

Here is the full API for the <ReorderList> component, these properties can be set on an instance of ReorderList:

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
useOnlyIconToDrag	boolean	No	false	See usage with ReorderIcon
selectedItemOpacity	number (0 to 1)	No	0.5	This determines the opacity of the item being dragged, until released.
animationDuration	number	No	400	The duration (in ms) of swapping animation between items. If set to 0, animation will be disabled.
watchChildrenUpdates	boolean	No	false	Enable this to listen to any updates in children of <ReorderList> and update the state accordingly. See listen to children updates
preserveOrder	boolean	No	false	Works along woth watchChildrenUpdates to determine whether to preserve existing order or not. See listen to children updates
onPositionChange	PositionChangeHandler	No	-	Function to be executed on item position change.
disabled	boolean	No	false	When set to true, <ReorderList> will work as a plain div with no functionality.
props	React.DetailedHTMLProps	No	-	Props to customize the <ReorderList> component.

Types

PositionChangeHandler

import { ReactNode } from "react";
type RevertHandler = () => void;
type PositionChangeParams = {
  start?: number; // Index of the item being dragged
  end?: number; // Index of the item being displaced by the starting item
  oldItems?: ReactNode[]; // Array of children before reordering
  newItems?: ReactNode[]; // Array of children after reordering
  revert: RevertHandler; // A fallback handler to revert the reordering
};
type PositionChangeHandler = (params?: PositionChangeParams) => void;

Author

Sahil Aggarwal