Detect click outside React component

Question

I'm looking for a way to detect if a click event happened outside of a component, as described in this article. jQuery closest() is used to see if the target from a click event has the dom element as one of its parents. If there is a match the click event belongs to one of the children and is thus not considered to be outside of the component.

So in my component I want to attach a click handler to window. When the handler fires I need to compare the target with the dom children of my component.

The click event contains properties like "path" which seems to hold the dom path that the event has travelled. I'm not sure what to compare or how to best traverse it, and I'm thinking someone must have already put that in a clever utility function... No?

Answer 1

2021 Update:

It has bee a while since I added this response, and since it still seems to garner some interest, I thought I would update it to a more current React version. On 2021, this is how I would write this component:

import React, { useState } from "react";
import "./DropDown.css";

export function DropDown({ options, callback }) {
    const [selected, setSelected] = useState("");
    const [expanded, setExpanded] = useState(false);

    function expand() {
        setExpanded(true);
    }

    function close() {
        setExpanded(false);
    }

    function select(event) {
        const value = event.target.textContent;
        callback(value);
        close();
        setSelected(value);
    }

    return (
        <div className="dropdown" tabIndex={0} onFocus={expand} onBlur={close} >
            <div>{selected}</div>
            {expanded ? (
                <div className={"dropdown-options-list"}>
                    {options.map((O) => (
                        <div className={"dropdown-option"} onClick={select}>
                            {O}
                        </div>
                    ))}
                </div>
            ) : null}
        </div>
    );
}

---

Original Answer (2016):

Here is the solution that best worked for me without attaching events to the container:

Certain HTML elements can have what is known as "focus", for example input elements. Those elements will also respond to the blur event, when they lose that focus.

To give any element the capacity to have focus, just make sure its tabindex attribute is set to anything other than -1. In regular HTML that would be by setting the tabindex attribute, but in React you have to use tabIndex (note the capital I).

You can also do it via JavaScript with element.setAttribute('tabindex',0)

This is what I was using it for, to make a custom DropDown menu.

var DropDownMenu = React.createClass({
    getInitialState: function(){
        return {
            expanded: false
        }
    },
    expand: function(){
        this.setState({expanded: true});
    },
    collapse: function(){
        this.setState({expanded: false});
    },
    render: function(){
        if(this.state.expanded){
            var dropdown = ...; //the dropdown content
        } else {
            var dropdown = undefined;
        }
        
        return (
            <div className="dropDownMenu" tabIndex="0" onBlur={ this.collapse } >
                <div className="currentValue" onClick={this.expand}>
                    {this.props.displayValue}
                </div>
                {dropdown}
            </div>
        );
    }
});

Answer 2

I was stuck on the same issue. I am a bit late to the party here, but for me this is a really good solution. Hopefully it will be of help to someone else. You need to import findDOMNode from react-dom

import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
// ... ?

componentDidMount() {
    document.addEventListener('click', this.handleClickOutside, true);
}

componentWillUnmount() {
    document.removeEventListener('click', this.handleClickOutside, true);
}

handleClickOutside = event => {
    const domNode = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this);

    if (!domNode || !domNode.contains(event.target)) {
        this.setState({
            visible: false
        });
    }
}

---

React Hooks Approach (16.8 +)

You can create a reusable hook called useComponentVisible.

import { useState, useEffect, useRef } from 'react';

export default function useComponentVisible(initialIsVisible) {
    const [isComponentVisible, setIsComponentVisible] = useState(initialIsVisible);
    const ref = useRef(null);

    const handleClickOutside = (event) => {
        if (ref.current && !ref.current.contains(event.target)) {
            setIsComponentVisible(false);
        }
    };

    useEffect(() => {
        document.addEventListener('click', handleClickOutside, true);
        return () => {
            document.removeEventListener('click', handleClickOutside, true);
        };
    }, []);

    return { ref, isComponentVisible, setIsComponentVisible };
}

Then in the component you wish to add the functionality to do the following:

const DropDown = () => {
    const { ref, isComponentVisible } = useComponentVisible(true);
    return (
       <div ref={ref}>
          {isComponentVisible && (<p>Dropdown Component</p>)}
       </div>
    );
 
}

Find a codesandbox example here.

Answer 3

After trying many methods here, I decided to use github.com/Pomax/react-onclickoutside because of how complete it is.

I installed the module via npm and imported it into my component:

import onClickOutside from 'react-onclickoutside'

Then, in my component class I defined the handleClickOutside method:

handleClickOutside = () => {
  console.log('onClickOutside() method called')
}

And when exporting my component I wrapped it in onClickOutside():

export default onClickOutside(NameOfComponent)

That's it.

Answer 4

Hook implementation based on Tanner Linsley's excellent talk at JSConf Hawaii 2020:

useOuterClick API

const Client = () => {
  const innerRef = useOuterClick(ev => {/*event handler code on outer click*/});
  return <div ref={innerRef}> Inside </div> 
};

Implementation

function useOuterClick(callback) {
  const callbackRef = useRef(); // initialize mutable ref, which stores callback
  const innerRef = useRef(); // returned to client, who marks "border" element

  // update cb on each render, so second useEffect has access to current value 
  useEffect(() => { callbackRef.current = callback; });
  
  useEffect(() => {
    document.addEventListener("click", handleClick);
    return () => document.removeEventListener("click", handleClick);
    function handleClick(e) {
      if (innerRef.current && callbackRef.current && 
        !innerRef.current.contains(e.target)
      ) callbackRef.current(e);
    }
  }, []); // no dependencies -> stable click listener
      
  return innerRef; // convenience for client (doesn't need to init ref himself) 
}

Here is a working example:

/*
  Custom Hook
*/
function useOuterClick(callback) {
  const innerRef = useRef();
  const callbackRef = useRef();

  // set current callback in ref, before second useEffect uses it
  useEffect(() => { // useEffect wrapper to be safe for concurrent mode
    callbackRef.current = callback;
  });

  useEffect(() => {
    document.addEventListener("click", handleClick);
    return () => document.removeEventListener("click", handleClick);

    // read most recent callback and innerRef dom node from refs
    function handleClick(e) {
      if (
        innerRef.current && 
        callbackRef.current &&
        !innerRef.current.contains(e.target)
      ) {
        callbackRef.current(e);
      }
    }
  }, []); // no need for callback + innerRef dep
  
  return innerRef; // return ref; client can omit `useRef`
}

/*
  Usage 
*/
const Client = () => {
  const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);
  const innerRef = useOuterClick(e => {
    // counter state is up-to-date, when handler is called
    alert(`Clicked outside! Increment counter to ${counter + 1}`);
    setCounter(c => c + 1);
  });
  return (
    <div>
      <p>Click outside!</p>
      <div id="container" ref={innerRef}>
        Inside, counter: {counter}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

ReactDOM.render(<Client />, document.getElementById("root"));

#container { border: 1px solid red; padding: 20px; }

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.12.0/umd/react.production.min.js" integrity="sha256-Ef0vObdWpkMAnxp39TYSLVS/vVUokDE8CDFnx7tjY6U=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.12.0/umd/react-dom.production.min.js" integrity="sha256-p2yuFdE8hNZsQ31Qk+s8N+Me2fL5cc6NKXOC0U9uGww=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script> var {useRef, useEffect, useCallback, useState} = React</script>
<div id="root"></div>

Key points

• useOuterClick makes use of mutable refs to provide lean Client API
• stable click listener for lifetime of containing component ([] deps)
• Client can set callback without needing to memoize it by useCallback
• callback body has access to the most recent props and state - no stale closure values

(Side note for iOS)

iOS in general treats only certain elements as clickable. To make outer clicks work, choose a different click listener than document - nothing upwards including body. E.g. add a listener on the React root div and expand its height, like height: 100vh, to catch all outside clicks. Source: quirksmode.org

Answer 5

[Update] Solution with React ^16.8 using Hooks

CodeSandbox

import React, { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';

const SampleComponent = () => {
    const [clickedOutside, setClickedOutside] = useState(false);
    const myRef = useRef();

    const handleClickOutside = e => {
        if (!myRef.current.contains(e.target)) {
            setClickedOutside(true);
        }
    };

    const handleClickInside = () => setClickedOutside(false);

    useEffect(() => {
        document.addEventListener('mousedown', handleClickOutside);
        return () => document.removeEventListener('mousedown', handleClickOutside);
    });

    return (
        <button ref={myRef} onClick={handleClickInside}>
            {clickedOutside ? 'Bye!' : 'Hello!'}
        </button>
    );
};

export default SampleComponent;

---

Solution with React ^16.3:

CodeSandbox

import React, { Component } from "react";

class SampleComponent extends Component {
  state = {
    clickedOutside: false
  };

  componentDidMount() {
    document.addEventListener("mousedown", this.handleClickOutside);
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
    document.removeEventListener("mousedown", this.handleClickOutside);
  }

  myRef = React.createRef();

  handleClickOutside = e => {
    if (!this.myRef.current.contains(e.target)) {
      this.setState({ clickedOutside: true });
    }
  };

  handleClickInside = () => this.setState({ clickedOutside: false });

  render() {
    return (
      <button ref={this.myRef} onClick={this.handleClickInside}>
        {this.state.clickedOutside ? "Bye!" : "Hello!"}
      </button>
    );
  }
}

export default SampleComponent;

Answer 6

None of the other answers here worked for me. I was trying to hide a popup on blur, but since the contents were absolutely positioned, the onBlur was firing even on the click of inner contents too.

Here is an approach that did work for me:

// Inside the component:
onBlur(event) {
    // currentTarget refers to this component.
    // relatedTarget refers to the element where the user clicked (or focused) which
    // triggered this event.
    // So in effect, this condition checks if the user clicked outside the component.
    if (!event.currentTarget.contains(event.relatedTarget)) {
        // do your thing.
    }
},

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

I found a solution thanks to Ben Alpert on discuss.reactjs.org. The suggested approach attaches a handler to the document but that turned out to be problematic. Clicking on one of the components in my tree resulted in a rerender which removed the clicked element on update. Because the rerender from React happens before the document body handler is called, the element was not detected as "inside" the tree.

The solution to this was to add the handler on the application root element.

main:

window.__myapp_container = document.getElementById('app')
React.render(<App/>, window.__myapp_container)

component:

import { Component, PropTypes } from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';

export default class ClickListener extends Component {

  static propTypes = {
    children: PropTypes.node.isRequired,
    onClickOutside: PropTypes.func.isRequired
  }

  componentDidMount () {
    window.__myapp_container.addEventListener('click', this.handleDocumentClick)
  }

  componentWillUnmount () {
    window.__myapp_container.removeEventListener('click', this.handleDocumentClick)
  }

  /* using fat arrow to bind to instance */
  handleDocumentClick = (evt) => {
    const area = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.area);

    if (!area.contains(evt.target)) {
      this.props.onClickOutside(evt)
    }
  }

  render () {
    return (
      <div ref='area'>
       {this.props.children}
      </div>
    )
  }
}

Answer 8

The Ez way...

const componentRef = useRef();

useEffect(() => {
    document.addEventListener("click", handleClick);
    return () => document.removeEventListener("click", handleClick);
    function handleClick(e: any) {
        if(componentRef && componentRef.current){
            const ref: any = componentRef.current
            if(!ref.contains(e.target)){
                // put your action here
            }
        }
    }
}, []);

then put the ref on your component

<div ref={componentRef as any}> My Component </div>

Answer 9

MUI has a small component to solve this problem: https://mui.com/base/react-click-away-listener/ that you can cherry-pick it. It weights below 1 kB gzipped, it supports mobile, IE 11, and portals.

Answer 10

Alternatively:

const onClickOutsideListener = () => {
    alert("click outside")
    document.removeEventListener("click", onClickOutsideListener)
  }

...

return (
  <div
    onMouseLeave={() => {
          document.addEventListener("click", onClickOutsideListener)
        }}
  >
   ...
  </div>

Answer 11

For those who need absolute positioning, a simple option I opted for is to add a wrapper component that is styled to cover the whole page with a transparent background. Then you can add an onClick on this element to close your inside component.

<div style={{
        position: 'fixed',
        top: '0', right: '0', bottom: '0', left: '0',
        zIndex: '1000',
      }} onClick={() => handleOutsideClick()} >
    <Content style={{position: 'absolute'}}/>
</div>

As it is right now if you add a click handler on content, the event will also be propagated to the upper div and therefore trigger the handlerOutsideClick. If this is not your desired behavior, simply stop the event progation on your handler.

<Content style={{position: 'absolute'}} onClick={e => {
                                          e.stopPropagation();
                                          desiredFunctionCall();
                                        }}/>

`

Answer 12

This already has many answers but they don't address e.stopPropagation() and preventing clicking on react links outside of the element you wish to close.

Due to the fact that React has it's own artificial event handler you aren't able to use document as the base for event listeners. You need to e.stopPropagation() before this as React uses document itself. If you use for example document.querySelector('body') instead. You are able to prevent the click from the React link. Following is an example of how I implement click outside and close.
This uses ES6 and React 16.3.

import React, { Component } from 'react';

class App extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      isOpen: false,
    };

    this.insideContainer = React.createRef();
  }

  componentWillMount() {
    document.querySelector('body').addEventListener("click", this.handleClick, false);
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
    document.querySelector('body').removeEventListener("click", this.handleClick, false);
  }

  handleClick(e) {
    /* Check that we've clicked outside of the container and that it is open */
    if (!this.insideContainer.current.contains(e.target) && this.state.isOpen === true) {
      e.preventDefault();
      e.stopPropagation();
      this.setState({
        isOpen: false,
      })
    }
  };

  togggleOpenHandler(e) {
    e.preventDefault();

    this.setState({
      isOpen: !this.state.isOpen,
    })
  }

  render(){
    return(
      <div>
        <span ref={this.insideContainer}>
          <a href="#open-container" onClick={(e) => this.togggleOpenHandler(e)}>Open me</a>
        </span>
        <a href="/" onClick({/* clickHandler */})>
          Will not trigger a click when inside is open.
        </a>
      </div>
    );
  }
}

export default App;

Answer 13

import { useClickAway } from "react-use";

useClickAway(ref, () => console.log('OUTSIDE CLICKED'));

Answer 14

I did this partly by following this and by following the React official docs on handling refs which requires react ^16.3. This is the only thing that worked for me after trying some of the other suggestions here...

class App extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.inputRef = React.createRef();
  }
  componentWillMount() {
    document.addEventListener("mousedown", this.handleClick, false);
  }
  componentWillUnmount() {
    document.removeEventListener("mousedown", this.handleClick, false);
  }
  handleClick = e => {
    /*Validating click is made inside a component*/
    if ( this.inputRef.current === e.target ) {
      return;
    }
    this.handleclickOutside();
  };
  handleClickOutside(){
    /*code to handle what to do when clicked outside*/
  }
  render(){
    return(
      <div>
        <span ref={this.inputRef} />
      </div>
    )
  }
}

Answer 15

Here is my approach (demo - https://jsfiddle.net/agymay93/4/):

I've created special component called WatchClickOutside and it can be used like (I assume JSX syntax):

<WatchClickOutside onClickOutside={this.handleClose}>
  <SomeDropdownEtc>
</WatchClickOutside>

Here is code of WatchClickOutside component:

import React, { Component } from 'react';

export default class WatchClickOutside extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);
  }

  componentWillMount() {
    document.body.addEventListener('click', this.handleClick);
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
    // remember to remove all events to avoid memory leaks
    document.body.removeEventListener('click', this.handleClick);
  }

  handleClick(event) {
    const {container} = this.refs; // get container that we'll wait to be clicked outside
    const {onClickOutside} = this.props; // get click outside callback
    const {target} = event; // get direct click event target

    // if there is no proper callback - no point of checking
    if (typeof onClickOutside !== 'function') {
      return;
    }

    // if target is container - container was not clicked outside
    // if container contains clicked target - click was not outside of it
    if (target !== container && !container.contains(target)) {
      onClickOutside(event); // clicked outside - fire callback
    }
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div ref="container">
        {this.props.children}
      </div>
    );
  }
}

Answer 16

To extend on the accepted answer made by Ben Bud, if you are using styled-components, passing refs that way will give you an error such as "this.wrapperRef.contains is not a function".

The suggested fix, in the comments, to wrap the styled component with a div and pass the ref there, works. Having said that, in their docs they already explain the reason for this and the proper use of refs within styled-components:

Passing a ref prop to a styled component will give you an instance of the StyledComponent wrapper, but not to the underlying DOM node. This is due to how refs work. It's not possible to call DOM methods, like focus, on our wrappers directly. To get a ref to the actual, wrapped DOM node, pass the callback to the innerRef prop instead.

Like so:

<StyledDiv innerRef={el => { this.el = el }} />

Then you can access it directly within the "handleClickOutside" function:

handleClickOutside = e => {
    if (this.el && !this.el.contains(e.target)) {
        console.log('clicked outside')
    }
}

This also applies for the "onBlur" approach:

componentDidMount(){
    this.el.focus()
}
blurHandler = () => {
    console.log('clicked outside')
}
render(){
    return(
        <StyledDiv
            onBlur={this.blurHandler}
            tabIndex="0"
            innerRef={el => { this.el = el }}
        />
    )
}

Answer 17

So I faced a similar problem but in my case the selected answer here wasn't working because I had a button for the dropdown which is, well, a part of the document. So clicking the button also triggered the handleClickOutside function. To stop that from triggering, I had to add a new ref to the button and this !menuBtnRef.current.contains(e.target) to the conditional. I'm leaving it here if someone is facing the same issue like me.

Here's how the component looks like now:

const Component = () => {

    const [isDropdownOpen, setIsDropdownOpen] = useState(false);
    const menuRef     = useRef(null);
    const menuBtnRef  = useRef(null);

    const handleDropdown = (e) => {
        setIsDropdownOpen(!isDropdownOpen);
    }

    const handleClickOutside = (e) => {
        if (menuRef.current && !menuRef.current.contains(e.target) && !menuBtnRef.current.contains(e.target)) {
            setIsDropdownOpen(false);
        }
    }

    useEffect(() => {
        document.addEventListener('mousedown', handleClickOutside, true);
        return () => {
            document.removeEventListener('mousedown', handleClickOutside, true);
        };
    }, []);

    return (

           <button ref={menuBtnRef} onClick={handleDropdown}></button>

           <div ref={menuRef} className={`${isDropdownOpen ? styles.dropdownMenuOpen : ''}`}>
                // ...dropdown items
           </div>
    )
}

Answer 18

This is my way of solving the problem

I return a boolean value from my custom hook, and when this value changes (true if the click was outside of the ref that I passed as an arg), this way i can catch this change with an useEffect hook, i hope it's clear for you.

Here's a live example: Live Example on codesandbox

import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";

const useOutsideClick = (ref) => {
  const [outsieClick, setOutsideClick] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    const handleClickOutside = (e) => {
      if (!ref.current.contains(e.target)) {
        setOutsideClick(true);
      } else {
        setOutsideClick(false);
      }

      setOutsideClick(null);
    };

    document.addEventListener("mousedown", handleClickOutside);

    return () => {
      document.removeEventListener("mousedown", handleClickOutside);
    };
  }, [ref]);

  return outsieClick;
};

export const App = () => {
  const buttonRef = useRef(null);
  const buttonClickedOutside = useOutsideClick(buttonRef);

  useEffect(() => {
    // if the the click was outside of the button
    // do whatever you want
    if (buttonClickedOutside) {
      alert("hey you clicked outside of the button");
    }
  }, [buttonClickedOutside]);

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <button ref={buttonRef}>click outside me</button>
    </div>
  );
}

Answer 19

I used this module (I have no association with the author)

npm install react-onclickout --save

const ClickOutHandler = require('react-onclickout');
 
class ExampleComponent extends React.Component {
 
  onClickOut(e) {
    if (hasClass(e.target, 'ignore-me')) return;
    alert('user clicked outside of the component!');
  }
 
  render() {
    return (
      <ClickOutHandler onClickOut={this.onClickOut}>
        <div>Click outside of me!</div>
      </ClickOutHandler>
    );
  }
}

It did the job nicely.

Answer 20

Typescript with Hooks

Note: I'm using React version 16.3, with React.createRef. For other versions use the ref callback.

Dropdown component:

interface DropdownProps {
 ...
};

export const Dropdown: React.FC<DropdownProps> () {
  const ref: React.RefObject<HTMLDivElement> = React.createRef();
  
  const handleClickOutside = (event: MouseEvent) => {
    if (ref && ref !== null) {
      const cur = ref.current;
      if (cur && !cur.contains(event.target as Node)) {
        // close all dropdowns
      }
    }
  }

  useEffect(() => {
    // Bind the event listener
    document.addEventListener("mousedown", handleClickOutside);
    return () => {
      // Unbind the event listener on clean up
      document.removeEventListener("mousedown", handleClickOutside);
    };
  });

  return (
    <div ref={ref}>
        ...
    </div>
  );
}

Answer 21

My biggest concern with all of the other answers is having to filter click events from the root/parent down. I found the easiest way was to simply set a sibling element with position: fixed, a z-index 1 behind the dropdown and handle the click event on the fixed element inside the same component. Keeps everything centralized to a given component.

Example code

#HTML
<div className="parent">
  <div className={`dropdown ${this.state.open ? open : ''}`}>
    ...content
  </div>
  <div className="outer-handler" onClick={() => this.setState({open: false})}>
  </div>
</div>

#SASS
.dropdown {
  display: none;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0px;
  left: 0px;
  z-index: 100;
  &.open {
    display: block;
  }
}
.outer-handler {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;
    bottom: 0;
    opacity: 0;
    z-index: 99;
    display: none;
    &.open {
      display: block;
    }
}

Answer 22

componentWillMount(){

  document.addEventListener('mousedown', this.handleClickOutside)
}

handleClickOutside(event) {

  if(event.path[0].id !== 'your-button'){
     this.setState({showWhatever: false})
  }
}

Event path[0] is the last item clicked

Answer 23

UseOnClickOutside Hook - React 16.8 +

Create a general useOnOutsideClick function

export const useOnOutsideClick = handleOutsideClick => {
  const innerBorderRef = useRef();

  const onClick = event => {
    if (
      innerBorderRef.current &&
      !innerBorderRef.current.contains(event.target)
    ) {
      handleOutsideClick();
    }
  };

  useMountEffect(() => {
    document.addEventListener("click", onClick, true);
    return () => {
      document.removeEventListener("click", onClick, true);
    };
  });

  return { innerBorderRef };
};

const useMountEffect = fun => useEffect(fun, []);

Then use the hook in any functional component.

const OutsideClickDemo = ({ currentMode, changeContactAppMode }) => {

  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
  const { innerBorderRef } = useOnOutsideClick(() => setOpen(false));

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={() => setOpen(true)}>open</button>
      {open && (
        <div ref={innerBorderRef}>
           <SomeChild/>
        </div>
      )}
    </div>
  );

};

Link to demo

Partially inspired by @pau1fitzgerald answer.

Answer 24

In my DROPDOWN case the Ben Bud's solution worked well, but I had a separate toggle button with an onClick handler. So the outside clicking logic conflicted with the button onClick toggler. Here is how I solved it by passing the button's ref as well:

import React, { useRef, useEffect, useState } from "react";

/**
 * Hook that triggers onClose when clicked outside of ref and buttonRef elements
 */
function useOutsideClicker(ref, buttonRef, onOutsideClick) {
  useEffect(() => {

    function handleClickOutside(event) {
      /* clicked on the element itself */
      if (ref.current && !ref.current.contains(event.target)) {
        return;
      }

      /* clicked on the toggle button */
      if (buttonRef.current && !buttonRef.current.contains(event.target)) {
        return;
      }

      /* If it's something else, trigger onClose */
      onOutsideClick();
    }

    // Bind the event listener
    document.addEventListener("mousedown", handleClickOutside);
    return () => {
      // Unbind the event listener on clean up
      document.removeEventListener("mousedown", handleClickOutside);
    };
  }, [ref]);
}

/**
 * Component that alerts if you click outside of it
 */
export default function DropdownMenu(props) {
  const wrapperRef = useRef(null);
  const buttonRef = useRef(null);
  const [dropdownVisible, setDropdownVisible] = useState(false);

  useOutsideClicker(wrapperRef, buttonRef, closeDropdown);

  const toggleDropdown = () => setDropdownVisible(visible => !visible);

  const closeDropdown = () => setDropdownVisible(false);

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={toggleDropdown} ref={buttonRef}>Dropdown Toggler</button>
      {dropdownVisible && <div ref={wrapperRef}>{props.children}</div>}
    </div>
  );
}

Answer 25

Typescript + simplified version of @ford04's proposal:

useOuterClick API

const Client = () => {
  const ref = useOuterClick<HTMLDivElement>(e => { /* Custom-event-handler */ });
  return <div ref={ref}> Inside </div> 
};

Implementation

export default function useOuterClick<T extends HTMLElement>(callback: Function) {
  const callbackRef = useRef<Function>(); // initialize mutable ref, which stores callback
  const innerRef = useRef<T>(null); // returned to client, who marks "border" element

  // update cb on each render, so second useEffect has access to current value
  useEffect(() => { callbackRef.current = callback; });

  useEffect(() => {
    document.addEventListener("click", _onClick);
    return () => document.removeEventListener("click", _onClick);
    function _onClick(e: any): void {
      const clickedOutside = !(innerRef.current?.contains(e.target));
      if (clickedOutside)
        callbackRef.current?.(e);
    }
  }, []); // no dependencies -> stable click listener

  return innerRef; // convenience for client (doesn't need to init ref himself)
}

Answer 26

Simply with ClickAwayListener from mui (material-ui):

<ClickAwayListener onClickAway={handleClickAway}>
    {children}
<ClickAwayListener >

for more info you can check:https://mui.com/base/react-click-away-listener/

Answer 27

An example with Strategy

I like the provided solutions that use to do the same thing by creating a wrapper around the component.

Since this is more of a behavior I thought of Strategy and came up with the following.

I'm new with React and I need a bit of help in order to save some boilerplate in the use cases

Please review and tell me what you think.

ClickOutsideBehavior

import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';

export default class ClickOutsideBehavior {

  constructor({component, appContainer, onClickOutside}) {

    // Can I extend the passed component's lifecycle events from here?
    this.component = component;
    this.appContainer = appContainer;
    this.onClickOutside = onClickOutside;
  }

  enable() {

    this.appContainer.addEventListener('click', this.handleDocumentClick);
  }

  disable() {

    this.appContainer.removeEventListener('click', this.handleDocumentClick);
  }

  handleDocumentClick = (event) => {

    const area = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.component);

    if (!area.contains(event.target)) {
        this.onClickOutside(event)
    }
  }
}

Sample Usage

import React, {Component} from 'react';
import {APP_CONTAINER} from '../const';
import ClickOutsideBehavior from '../ClickOutsideBehavior';

export default class AddCardControl extends Component {

  constructor() {
    super();

    this.state = {
      toggledOn: false,
      text: ''
    };

    this.clickOutsideStrategy = new ClickOutsideBehavior({
      component: this,
      appContainer: APP_CONTAINER,
      onClickOutside: () => this.toggleState(false)
    });
  }

  componentDidMount () {

    this.setState({toggledOn: !!this.props.toggledOn});
    this.clickOutsideStrategy.enable();
  }

  componentWillUnmount () {
    this.clickOutsideStrategy.disable();
  }

  toggleState(isOn) {

    this.setState({toggledOn: isOn});
  }

  render() {...}
}

Notes

I thought of storing the passed component lifecycle hooks and override them with methods simillar to this:

const baseDidMount = component.componentDidMount;

component.componentDidMount = () => {
  this.enable();
  baseDidMount.call(component)
}

component is the component passed to the constructor of ClickOutsideBehavior.
This will remove the enable/disable boilerplate from the user of this behavior but it doesn't look very nice though

Answer 28

I know this is an old question, but I keep coming across this and I had a lot of trouble figuring this out in a simple format. So if this would make anyones life a bit easier, use OutsideClickHandler by airbnb. It is a the simplest plugin to accomplish this task without writing your own code.

Example:

hideresults(){
   this.setState({show:false})
}
render(){
 return(
 <div><div onClick={() => this.setState({show:true})}>SHOW</div> {(this.state.show)? <OutsideClickHandler onOutsideClick={() => 
  {this.hideresults()}} > <div className="insideclick"></div> </OutsideClickHandler> :null}</div>
 )
}

Answer 29

Alternatively to .contains, you can use the .closest method. When you want to check if a click was outside of the element with id="apple" then i can use:

const isOutside = !e.target.closest("#apple");

This checks if any element in the tree above the clicked one has an id of "apple". We have to negate the result!