I want to build a chat system and automatically scroll to the bottom when entering the window and when new messages come in. How do you automatically scroll to the bottom of a container in React?
This question is related to
reactjs
Reference your messages container.
<div ref={(el) => { this.messagesContainer = el; }}> YOUR MESSAGES </div>
Find your messages container and make its scrollTop attribute equal scrollHeight:
scrollToBottom = () => {
const messagesContainer = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.messagesContainer);
messagesContainer.scrollTop = messagesContainer.scrollHeight;
};
Evoke above method on componentDidMount and componentDidUpdate.
componentDidMount() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
componentDidUpdate() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
This is how I am using this in my code:
export default class StoryView extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.scrollToBottom = this.scrollToBottom.bind(this);
}
scrollToBottom = () => {
const messagesContainer = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.messagesContainer);
messagesContainer.scrollTop = messagesContainer.scrollHeight;
};
componentDidMount() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
componentDidUpdate() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<Grid className="storyView">
<Row>
<div className="codeView">
<Col md={8} mdOffset={2}>
<div ref={(el) => { this.messagesContainer = el; }}
className="chat">
{
this.props.messages.map(function (message, i) {
return (
<div key={i}>
<div className="bubble" >
{message.body}
</div>
</div>
);
}, this)
}
</div>
</Col>
</div>
</Row>
</Grid>
</div>
);
}
}
I could not get any of below answers to work but simple js did the trick for me:
window.scrollTo({
top: document.body.scrollHeight,
left: 0,
behavior: 'smooth'
});
My ReactJS version: 16.12.0
For Class Components
HTML structure inside render() function
render()
return(
<body>
<div ref="messageList">
<div>Message 1</div>
<div>Message 2</div>
<div>Message 3</div>
</div>
</body>
)
)
scrollToBottom() function which will get reference of the element.
and scroll according to scrollIntoView() function.
scrollToBottom = () => {
const { messageList } = this.refs;
messageList.scrollIntoView({behavior: "smooth", block: "end", inline: "nearest"});
}
and call the above function inside componentDidMount() and componentDidUpdate()
For Functional Components (Hooks)
Import useRef() and useEffect()
import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
Inside your export function, (same as calling a useState())
const messageRef = useRef();
And let's assume you have to scroll when page load,
useEffect(() => {
if (messageRef.current) {
messageRef.current.scrollIntoView(
{
behavior: 'smooth',
block: 'end',
inline: 'nearest'
})
}
})
OR if you want it to trigger once an action performed,
useEffect(() => {
if (messageRef.current) {
messageRef.current.scrollIntoView(
{
behavior: 'smooth',
block: 'end',
inline: 'nearest'
})
}
},
[stateVariable])
And Finally, to your HTML structure
return(
<body>
<div ref={messageRef}> // <= The only different is we are calling a variable here
<div>Message 1</div>
<div>Message 2</div>
<div>Message 3</div>
</div>
</body>
)
for more explanation about Element.scrollIntoView() visit developer.mozilla.org
More detailed explanation in Callback refs visit reactjs.org
I like doing it the following way.
componentDidUpdate(prevProps, prevState){
this.scrollToBottom();
}
scrollToBottom() {
const {thing} = this.refs;
thing.scrollTop = thing.scrollHeight - thing.clientHeight;
}
render(){
return(
<div ref={`thing`}>
<ManyThings things={}>
</div>
)
}
Full version (Typescript):
import * as React from 'react'_x000D_
_x000D_
export class DivWithScrollHere extends React.Component<any, any> {_x000D_
_x000D_
loading:any = React.createRef();_x000D_
_x000D_
componentDidMount() {_x000D_
this.loading.scrollIntoView(false);_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
render() {_x000D_
_x000D_
return (_x000D_
<div ref={e => { this.loading = e; }}> <LoadingTile /> </div>_x000D_
)_x000D_
}_x000D_
}react-scrollable-feed automatically scrolls down to the latest element if the user was already at the bottom of the scrollable section. Otherwise, it will leave the user at the same position. I think this is pretty useful for chat components :)
I think the other answers here will force scroll everytime no matter where the scrollbar was. The other issue with scrollIntoView is that it will scroll the whole page if your scrollable div was not in view.
It can be used like this :
import * as React from 'react'
import ScrollableFeed from 'react-scrollable-feed'
class App extends React.Component {
render() {
const messages = ['Item 1', 'Item 2'];
return (
<ScrollableFeed>
{messages.map((message, i) => <div key={i}>{message}</div>)}
</ScrollableFeed>
);
}
}
Just make sure to have a wrapper component with a specific height or max-height
Disclaimer: I am the owner of the package
I created a empty element in the end of messages, and scrolled to that element. No need of keeping track of refs.
You can use refs to keep track of the components.
If you know of a way to set the ref of one individual component (the last one), please post!
Here's what I found worked for me:
class ChatContainer extends React.Component {
render() {
const {
messages
} = this.props;
var messageBubbles = messages.map((message, idx) => (
<MessageBubble
key={message.id}
message={message.body}
ref={(ref) => this['_div' + idx] = ref}
/>
));
return (
<div>
{messageBubbles}
</div>
);
}
componentDidMount() {
this.handleResize();
// Scroll to the bottom on initialization
var len = this.props.messages.length - 1;
const node = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this['_div' + len]);
if (node) {
node.scrollIntoView();
}
}
componentDidUpdate() {
// Scroll as new elements come along
var len = this.props.messages.length - 1;
const node = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this['_div' + len]);
if (node) {
node.scrollIntoView();
}
}
}
Working Example:
You can use the DOM scrollIntoView method to make a component visible in the view.
For this, while rendering the component just give a reference ID for the DOM element using ref attribute. Then use the method scrollIntoView on componentDidMount life cycle. I am just putting a working sample code for this solution. The following is a component rendering each time a message received. You should write code/methods for rendering this component.
class ChatMessage extends Component {
scrollToBottom = (ref) => {
this.refs[ref].scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth" });
}
componentDidMount() {
this.scrollToBottom(this.props.message.MessageId);
}
render() {
return(
<div ref={this.props.message.MessageId}>
<div>Message content here...</div>
</div>
);
}
}
Here this.props.message.MessageId is the unique ID of the particular chat message passed as props
Using React.createRef()
class MessageBox extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props)
this.boxRef = React.createRef()
}
scrollToBottom = () => {
this.boxRef.current.scrollTop = this.boxRef.current.scrollHeight
}
componentDidUpdate = () => {
this.scrollToBottom()
}
render() {
return (
<div ref={this.boxRef}></div>
)
}
}
Thanks to @enlitement
we should avoid using findDOMNode,
we can use refs to keep track of the components
render() {
...
return (
<div>
<div
className="MessageList"
ref={(div) => {
this.messageList = div;
}}
>
{ messageListContent }
</div>
</div>
);
}
scrollToBottom() {
const scrollHeight = this.messageList.scrollHeight;
const height = this.messageList.clientHeight;
const maxScrollTop = scrollHeight - height;
this.messageList.scrollTop = maxScrollTop > 0 ? maxScrollTop : 0;
}
componentDidUpdate() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
reference:
thank you 'metakermit' for his good answer, but I think we can make it a bit better, for scroll to bottom, we should use this:
scrollToBottom = () => {
this.messagesEnd.scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth", block: "end", inline: "nearest" });
}
but if you want to scroll top, you should use this:
scrollToTop = () => {
this.messagesEnd.scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth", block: "start", inline: "nearest" });
}
and this codes are common:
componentDidMount() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
componentDidUpdate() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
render () {
return (
<div>
<div className="MessageContainer" >
<div className="MessagesList">
{this.renderMessages()}
</div>
<div style={{ float:"left", clear: "both" }}
ref={(el) => { this.messagesEnd = el; }}>
</div>
</div>
</div>
);
}
I just want to update the answer to match the new React.createRef() method, but it's basically the same, just have in mind the current property in the created ref:
class Messages extends React.Component {
const messagesEndRef = React.createRef()
componentDidMount () {
this.scrollToBottom()
}
componentDidUpdate () {
this.scrollToBottom()
}
scrollToBottom = () => {
this.messagesEnd.current.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth' })
}
render () {
const { messages } = this.props
return (
<div>
{messages.map(message => <Message key={message.id} {...message} />)}
<div ref={this.messagesEndRef} />
</div>
)
}
}
UPDATE:
Now that hooks are available, I'm updating the answer to add the use of the useRef and useEffect hooks, the real thing doing the magic (React refs and scrollIntoView DOM method) remains the same:
import React, { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
const Messages = ({ messages }) => {
const messagesEndRef = useRef(null)
const scrollToBottom = () => {
messagesEndRef.current?.scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth" })
}
useEffect(() => {
scrollToBottom()
}, [messages]);
return (
<div>
{messages.map(message => <Message key={message.id} {...message} />)}
<div ref={messagesEndRef} />
</div>
)
}
Also made a (very basic) codesandbox if you wanna check the behaviour https://codesandbox.io/s/scrolltobottomexample-f90lz
This is how you would solve this in TypeScript (using the ref to a targeted element where you scroll to):
class Chat extends Component <TextChatPropsType, TextChatStateType> {
private scrollTarget = React.createRef<HTMLDivElement>();
componentDidMount() {
this.scrollToBottom();//scroll to bottom on mount
}
componentDidUpdate() {
this.scrollToBottom();//scroll to bottom when new message was added
}
scrollToBottom = () => {
const node: HTMLDivElement | null = this.scrollTarget.current; //get the element via ref
if (node) { //current ref can be null, so we have to check
node.scrollIntoView({behavior: 'smooth'}); //scroll to the targeted element
}
};
render <div>
{message.map((m: Message) => <ChatMessage key={`chat--${m.id}`} message={m}/>}
<div ref={this.scrollTarget} data-explanation="This is where we scroll to"></div>
</div>
}
For more information about using ref with React and Typescript you can find a great article here.
In order to scroll down to the bottom of the page first we have to select an id which resides at the bottom of the page. Then we can use the document.getElementById to select the id and scroll down using scrollIntoView(). Please refer the below code.
scrollToBottom= async ()=>{
document.getElementById('bottomID').scrollIntoView();
}
Do not use findDOMNode
class MyComponent extends Component {
componentDidMount() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
componentDidUpdate() {
this.scrollToBottom();
}
scrollToBottom() {
this.el.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth' });
}
render() {
return <div ref={el => { this.el = el; }} />
}
}
import React, { useRef, useEffect } from 'react';
const MyComponent = () => {
const divRref = useRef(null);
useEffect(() => {
divRef.current.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth' });
});
return <div ref={divRef} />;
}
This is modified from an answer above to support 'children' instead of a data array.
Note: The use of styled-components is of no importance to the solution.
import {useEffect, useRef} from "react";
import React from "react";
import styled from "styled-components";
export interface Props {
children: Array<any> | any,
}
export function AutoScrollList(props: Props) {
const bottomRef: any = useRef();
const scrollToBottom = () => {
bottomRef.current.scrollIntoView({
behavior: "smooth",
block: "start",
});
};
useEffect(() => {
scrollToBottom()
}, [props.children])
return (
<Container {...props}>
<div key={'child'}>{props.children}</div>
<div key={'dummy'} ref={bottomRef}/>
</Container>
);
}
const Container = styled.div``;
import React, {Component} from 'react';
export default class ChatOutPut extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
messages: props.chatmessages
};
}
componentDidUpdate = (previousProps, previousState) => {
if (this.refs.chatoutput != null) {
this.refs.chatoutput.scrollTop = this.refs.chatoutput.scrollHeight;
}
}
renderMessage(data) {
return (
<div key={data.key}>
{data.message}
</div>
);
}
render() {
return (
<div ref='chatoutput' className={classes.chatoutputcontainer}>
{this.state.messages.map(this.renderMessage, this)}
</div>
);
}
}
As another option it is worth looking at react scroll component.
If you want to do this with React Hooks, this method can be followed. For a dummy div has been placed at the bottom of the chat. useRef Hook is used here.
Hooks API Reference : https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-reference.html#useref
import React, { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
const ChatView = ({ ...props }) => {
const el = useRef(null);
useEffect(() => {
el.current.scrollIntoView({ block: 'end', behavior: 'smooth' });
});
return (
<div>
<div className="MessageContainer" >
<div className="MessagesList">
{this.renderMessages()}
</div>
<div id={'el'} ref={el}>
</div>
</div>
</div>
);
}
Source: Stackoverflow.com