How to detect click outside of component in React

In this tutorial we will learn how to detect click outside of React component. It is very useful when we want to apply some actions when we moveout from the component. For example resetting state values, hide or show elements or apply some animations etc. Here we can do this in functional or class component.

Using Functional Component in React

To do this we can use useEffect hook in our component.

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

/**
 * Hook that alerts clicks outside of the passed ref
 */
function useOutsideAlerter(ref) {
    useEffect(() => {
        /**
         * Alert if clicked on outside of element
         */
        function handleClickOutside(event) {
            if (ref.current && !ref.current.contains(event.target)) {
                alert("You clicked outside of me!");
            }
        }

        // 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 OutsideAlerter(props) {
    const wrapperRef = useRef(null);
    useOutsideAlerter(wrapperRef);

    return <div ref={wrapperRef}>{props.children}</div>;
}

Using Class Component in React

To do this we can use componentDidMount and componentWillUnmount methods of react lifecycle for class component.

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import PropTypes from 'prop-types';

/**
 * Component that alerts if you click outside of it
 */
export default class OutsideAlerter extends Component {
    constructor(props) {
        super(props);

        this.wrapperRef = React.createRef();
        this.setWrapperRef = this.setWrapperRef.bind(this);
        this.handleClickOutside = this.handleClickOutside.bind(this);
    }

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

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

    /**
     * Alert if clicked on outside of element
     */
    handleClickOutside(event) {
        if (this.wrapperRef && !this.wrapperRef.current.contains(event.target)) {
            alert('You clicked outside of me!');
        }
    }

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

OutsideAlerter.propTypes = {
    children: PropTypes.element.isRequired,
};

So, you can use any of the approach to detect click outside of component in react.

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