[javascript] ReactJS - Get Height of an element

How can I get the Height of an element after React renders that element?

HTML

<div id="container">
<!-- This element's contents will be replaced with your component. -->
<p>
jnknwqkjnkj<br>
jhiwhiw (this is 36px height)
</p>
</div>

ReactJS

var DivSize = React.createClass({

  render: function() {
    let elHeight = document.getElementById('container').clientHeight
    return <div className="test">Size: <b>{elHeight}px</b> but it should be 18px after the render</div>;
  }
});

ReactDOM.render(
  <DivSize />,
  document.getElementById('container')
);

RESULT

Size: 36px but it should be 18px after the render

It's calculating the container height before the render (36px). I want to get the height after the render. The right result should be 18px in this case. jsfiddle

This question is related to javascript reactjs

The answer is


I found useful npm package https://www.npmjs.com/package/element-resize-detector

An optimized cross-browser resize listener for elements.

Can use it with React component or functional component(Specially useful for react hooks)


Here is another one if you need window resize event:

class DivSize extends React.Component {

  constructor(props) {
    super(props)

    this.state = {
      width: 0,
      height: 0
    }
    this.resizeHandler = this.resizeHandler.bind(this);
  }

  resizeHandler() {
    const width = this.divElement.clientWidth;
    const height = this.divElement.clientHeight;
    this.setState({ width, height });
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    this.resizeHandler();
    window.addEventListener('resize', this.resizeHandler);
  }

  componentWillUnmount(){
    window.removeEventListener('resize', this.resizeHandler);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div 
        className="test"
        ref={ (divElement) => { this.divElement = divElement } }
      >
        Size: widht: <b>{this.state.width}px</b>, height: <b>{this.state.height}px</b>
      </div>
    )
  }
}

ReactDOM.render(<DivSize />, document.querySelector('#container'))

code pen


You would also want to use refs on the element instead of using document.getElementById, it's just a slightly more robust thing.


Here's a nice reusable hook amended from https://swizec.com/blog/usedimensions-a-react-hook-to-measure-dom-nodes:

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

function getDimensionObject(node) {
  const rect = node.getBoundingClientRect();

  return {
    width: rect.width,
    height: rect.height,
    top: 'x' in rect ? rect.x : rect.top,
    left: 'y' in rect ? rect.y : rect.left,
    x: 'x' in rect ? rect.x : rect.left,
    y: 'y' in rect ? rect.y : rect.top,
    right: rect.right,
    bottom: rect.bottom
  };
}

export function useDimensions(data = null, liveMeasure = true) {
  const [dimensions, setDimensions] = useState({});
  const [node, setNode] = useState(null);

  const ref = useCallback(node => {
    setNode(node);
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (node) {
      const measure = () =>
        window.requestAnimationFrame(() =>
          setDimensions(getDimensionObject(node))
        );
      measure();

      if (liveMeasure) {
        window.addEventListener('resize', measure);
        window.addEventListener('scroll', measure);

        return () => {
          window.removeEventListener('resize', measure);
          window.removeEventListener('scroll', measure);
        };
      }
    }
  }, [node, data]);

  return [ref, dimensions, node];
}

To implement:

import { useDimensions } from '../hooks';

// Include data if you want updated dimensions based on a change.
const MyComponent = ({ data }) => {
  const [
    ref,
    { height, width, top, left, x, y, right, bottom }
  ] = useDimensions(data);

  console.log({ height, width, top, left, x, y, right, bottom });

  return (
    <div ref={ref}>
      {data.map(d => (
        <h2>{d.title}</h2>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
};


Following is an up to date ES6 example using a ref.

Remember that we have to use a React class component since we need to access the Lifecycle method componentDidMount() because we can only determine the height of an element after it is rendered in the DOM.

import React, {Component} from 'react'
import {render} from 'react-dom'

class DivSize extends Component {

  constructor(props) {
    super(props)

    this.state = {
      height: 0
    }
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    const height = this.divElement.clientHeight;
    this.setState({ height });
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div 
        className="test"
        ref={ (divElement) => { this.divElement = divElement } }
      >
        Size: <b>{this.state.height}px</b> but it should be 18px after the render
      </div>
    )
  }
}

render(<DivSize />, document.querySelector('#container'))

You can find the running example here: https://codepen.io/bassgang/pen/povzjKw


Using with hooks :

This answer would be helpful if your content dimension changes after loading.

onreadystatechange : Occurs when the load state of the data that belongs to an element or a HTML document changes. The onreadystatechange event is fired on a HTML document when the load state of the page's content has changed.

import {useState, useEffect, useRef} from 'react';
const ref = useRef();
useEffect(() => {
    document.onreadystatechange = () => {
      console.log(ref.current.clientHeight);
    };
  }, []);

I was trying to work with a youtube video player embedding whose dimensions may change after loading.


My 2020's (or 2019) answer

import React, {Component, useRef, useLayoutEffect} from 'react';
import { useDispatch } from 'react-redux';
import { Toast, ToastBody, ToastHeader } from 'reactstrap';

import {WidgetHead} from './WidgetHead';

export const Widget = ({title, toggle, reload, children, width, name}) => {
    let myself = useRef(null);
    const dispatch = useDispatch();
    useLayoutEffect(()=>{
        if (myself.current) {
            const height = myself.current.clientHeight
            dispatch({type:'GRID_WIDGET_HEIGHT', widget:name, height})
        }
    }, [myself.current, myself.current?myself.current.clientHeight:0])

    return (
        <Toast innerRef={myself}>
            <WidgetHead title={title}
                toggle={toggle}
                reload={reload} />
            <ToastBody>
            {children}
            </ToastBody>
        </Toast>
    )
}

let use your imagination for what is missing here (WidgetHead), reactstrap is something you can find on npm: replace innerRef with ref for a legacy dom element (say a <div>).

useEffect or useLayoutEffect

The last is said to be synchronous for changes

useLayoutEffect (or useEffect) second argument

Second argument is an array, and it is checked before executing the function in the first argument.

I used

[myself.current, myself.current?myself.current.clientHeight:0]

because myself.current is null before rendering, and that is a good thing not to check, the second parameter at the end myself.current.clientHeight is what I want to check for changes.

what I am solving here (or trying to solve)

I am solving here the problem of widget on a grid that change its height by their own will, and the grid system should be elastic enough to react ( https://github.com/STRML/react-grid-layout ).


For those who are interested in using react hooks, this might help you get started.

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

export default () => {
  const [height, setHeight] = useState(0)
  const ref = useRef(null)

  useEffect(() => {
    setHeight(ref.current.clientHeight)
  })

  return (
    <div ref={ref}>
      {height}
    </div>
  )
}

Instead of using document.getElementById(...), a better (up to date) solution is to use the React useRef hook that stores a reference to the component/element, combined with a useEffect hook, which fires at component renders.

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

export default App = () => {
  const [height, setHeight] = useState(0);
  const elementRef = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    setHeight(elementRef.current.clientHeight);
  }, []); //empty dependency array so it only runs once at render

  return (
    <div ref={elementRef}>
      {height}
    </div>
  )
}

it might show zero. setTimeout helps to get the correct value and update the state.

import React, { useState, useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
    
    export default () => {
      const [height, setHeight] = useState(0)
      const ref= useRef(null)
    
      useEffect(() => {
       if(elemRef.current.clientHeight){
         setTimeout(() => {
           setHeight(ref.current.clientHeight) 
         }, 1000)
       }
      })
    
      return (
        <div ref={ref}>
          {height}
        </div>
      )
    }

An alternative solution, in case you want to retrieve the size of a React element synchronously without having to visibly render the element, you can use ReactDOMServer and DOMParser.

I use this function to get the height of a my list item renderer when using react-window (react-virtualized) instead of having to hardcode the required itemSize prop for a FixedSizeList.

utilities.js:

/**
 * @description Common and reusable functions 
 * 
 * @requires react-dom/server
 * 
 * @public
 * @module
 * 
 */
import ReactDOMServer from "react-dom/server";

/**
 * @description Retrieve the width and/or heigh of a React element without rendering and committing the element to the DOM.
 * 
 * @param {object} elementJSX - The target React element written in JSX.
 * @return {object} 
 * @public
 * @function
 * 
 * @example
 * 
 * const { width, height } = getReactElementSize( <div style={{ width: "20px", height: "40px" }} ...props /> );
 * console.log(`W: ${width}, H: ${height});  // W: 20, H: 40
 * 
 */
const getReactElementSize = (elementJSX) => {

    const elementString = ReactDOMServer.renderToStaticMarkup(elementJSX);
    const elementDocument = new DOMParser().parseFromString(elementString, "text/html");
    const elementNode = elementDocument.getRootNode().body.firstChild;

    const container = document.createElement("div");
    const containerStyle = {

        display: "block",
        position: "absolute",
        boxSizing: "border-box",
        margin: "0",
        padding: "0",
        visibility: "hidden"
    };

    Object.assign(container.style, containerStyle);

    container.appendChild(elementNode);
    document.body.appendChild(container);

    const width = container.clientWidth;
    const height = container.clientHeight;

    container.removeChild(elementNode);
    document.body.removeChild(container);

    return {

        width,
        height
    };
};

/**
 * Export module
 * 
 */
export {

    getReactElementSize
};