Drag and Drop

This page describes how to enable drag and drop functionality for the various React Spectrum components that support it.

Introduction#


Drag and drop is a common UI interaction that allows users to transfer data between two locations by directly moving a visual representation on screen. It is a flexible, efficient, and intuitive way for users to perform a variety of tasks, and is widely supported across both desktop and mobile operating systems. In addition to the standard mouse and touch interactions, React Spectrum also implements keyboard and screen reader accessible alternatives for drag and drop to enable all users to perform these tasks.

Drag and Drop Concepts#


Before we dive into how to enable drag and drop in React Spectrum, let's touch briefly on the terminology and concepts of drag and drop. In a drag and drop operation, there is a drag source and a drop target. The drag source is the starting location of your dragged data and the drop target is its intended destination. The dragged data is made up of one or more drag items, each of which contains information specific to their original item within the drag source.

PicturesMusicDocumentsVideosApplicationsFolderDownloadsSharedMusic2Drag previewDrag sourceDrop target

A drag item contains several pieces of information: the type of the data, the item's kind, and the actual data itself. The type of a drag item can be one of the common mime types or a custom type specific to your application. Multiple types can be attached to a single drag item so that the item's data can be provided in different formats for interoperability with various drop targets. For example, an image could be represented by an image/jpeg type and thus be recognized as a JPEG by a file upload drop target but also have a plain/text type that allows the image's file name to be communicated to a text input drop target. In addition, there are two kinds of items: string items include inline data in the form of a Unicode string, and file items include a reference to a file from the user's computer.

There are several drop operations that can be performed in a drag and drop operation: "move", "copy", "link", and "cancel". A "move" operation indicates that the dragged data will be moved from its source location to the target location. A "copy" operation indicates that the dragged data will be copied to the target destination. A "link" operation indicates that there will be a relationship established between the source and target locations. Finally, a "cancel" operation indicates that the drag and drop operation will be canceled, resulting in no changes made to the source or target. The drag source can specify what drop operations are allowed for its data, allowing the drop target to decide what operation to perform, using the restrictions set by the drag source as a guideline.

DocumentsApplicationsPicturesDownloadsDragged FolderApplicationsPicturesDownloadsDocumentsDragged FolderDragged FolderPicturesDocumentsDownloadsDragged Folder
The "root", "on", and "between" drop positions.

Collection components, such as ListView, support multiple drop positions. The component may support a "root" drop position, allowing items to be dropped on the collection as a whole. It may also support "on" drop positions, such as when dropping into a folder in a list. If the collection allows reordering of its items, it could support "between" drop positions, allowing the user to insert or move items between other items. Any number of these drop positions can be allowed at the same time and the component can use the types of the dragged items to selectively allow or disallow certain positions.

Interaction modes#

There are several interaction modes that need to be considered for drag and drop. When using a mouse, you can click an item and drag by holding the mouse button down and moving the pointer. A drop can be performed by releasing the mouse button or canceled by the Esc key. A similar interaction can be performed via touch, with a drag initiated via a long press and a drop performed by removing your finger from the screen. In both cases, selecting and dragging an item is often accompanied by a drag preview. The drag preview is a smaller version of the dragged item that follows the cursor or touch point. When multiple items are dragged at once, the drag preview displays a stack of items instead, accompanied by a badge reflecting the total number of dragged items. Drop targets are visually highlighted when dragged over, and the desired drop operation can be controlled via modifier key presses or drop activations via hovering over the drop target for a period of time.

Documents5
A custom drag preview representing multiple drag items.

For keyboards, copy and paste shortcuts have traditionally been the alternative method to drag and drop. This comes with many limitations as it is often hard to know where pasting is allowed and difficult to control the exact positioning of the pasted items. Touch screen readers are even more limited in their ability to perform these operations since they often lack access to a keyboard and thus cannot copy paste in the same manner.

React Spectrum attempts to resolve the above limitations by providing interactive drag affordances that bring a user into drag and drop mode when triggered via keyboard or screen reader virtual click. To perform a drag and drop operation via a keyboard, first select the items to be dragged by focusing the row and pressing Space. You can then start the drag operation by moving focus to the drag handle on any of the selected rows via the arrow keys and hitting Enter or Space. Once a drag operation is started, you will be automatically brought to the first valid drop target. Tab can then be used to cycle through other valid drop targets. For collection components like the ListView above, Tab will move you on or off the overall component itself whereas ArrowUp and ArrowDown will cycle through the valid drop targets within the component itself. Hitting Enter will then confirm the drop operation on the focused drop target. To cancel a drag operation, you can hit Esc at any time.

PandaKangarooDogCat
A focusable drag affordance to initiate keyboard and screen reader drag and drop.

For screen readers, please follow the custom instructions announced when focusing the row's drag handle to begin a drag operation. For screen readers on mobile devices, swiping left and right will move you between valid drop targets and double tapping will confirm a drop operation. Go ahead and try out drag and drop in the example below!

Examples#


Creating the draggable list#

For the first ListView in the example above, we want to make the rows draggable and have the dragged rows removed from the list upon a successful drop. To accomplish this, we first want to set up the initial list of items for our draggable ListView via useListData so that we have access to some helper methods to modify the list of items on the fly. Note that this is completely optional and is not required to enable drag and drop in React Spectrum. You may substitute useListData with useAsyncList or with any other state management solution.

let list = useListData({
  initialItems: [
    {id: 'a', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Photoshop'},
    {id: 'b', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe XD'},
    {id: 'c', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Dreamweaver'},
    {id: 'd', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe InDesign'},
    {id: 'e', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Connect'}
  ]
});
let list = useListData({
  initialItems: [
    {id: 'a', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Photoshop'},
    {id: 'b', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe XD'},
    {id: 'c', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Dreamweaver'},
    {id: 'd', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe InDesign'},
    {id: 'e', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Connect'}
  ]
});
let list = useListData({
  initialItems: [
    {
      id: 'a',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Photoshop'
    },
    {
      id: 'b',
      type: 'file',
      name: 'Adobe XD'
    },
    {
      id: 'c',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Dreamweaver'
    },
    {
      id: 'd',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe InDesign'
    },
    {
      id: 'e',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Connect'
    }
  ]
});

Next, we need to specify the data associated with each dragged item by returning an array from the getItems function. As described above in the concepts section, each item includes a mapping of drag types to serialized data. In this case, we look up the information for each dragged item and serialize it, mapping it to a custom item type. This information will be processed and provided to the drop target's drop handlers on drop.

let getItems = (keys) => [...keys].map(key => {
  let item = list.getItem(key);
  return {
    'adobe-app': JSON.stringify(item)
  };
})
let getItems = (keys) => [...keys].map(key => {
  let item = list.getItem(key);
  return {
    'adobe-app': JSON.stringify(item)
  };
})
let getItems = (keys) =>
  [...keys].map(
    (key) => {
      let item = list
        .getItem(key);
      return {
        'adobe-app': JSON
          .stringify(
            item
          )
      };
    }
  );

We also create an onDragEnd event handler for useDragAndDrop that handles removing the dragged items from the draggable list upon a successful drop operation. Note how we use the .remove method provided by useListData to remove the dropped items from our list.

let onDragEnd = (e) => {
  if (e.dropOperation === 'move') {
    list.remove(...e.keys);
  }
}
let onDragEnd = (e) => {
  if (e.dropOperation === 'move') {
    list.remove(...e.keys);
  }
}
let onDragEnd = (e) => {
  if (
    e.dropOperation ===
      'move'
  ) {
    list.remove(
      ...e.keys
    );
  }
};

Finally, we provide our getItems and onDragEnd functions as options to useDragAndDrop, providing us with a set of dragAndDropHooks that we can pass to our ListView directly. Below is what our draggable ListView would look like after combining everything together. For more info on getItems and onDragEnd, see the props section below and the React Aria docs.

import {useDragAndDrop} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {Item, ListView, useListData} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';

function DraggableList() {
  let list = useListData({
    initialItems: [
      { id: 'a', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Photoshop' },
      { id: 'b', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe XD' },
      { id: 'c', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Dreamweaver' },
      { id: 'd', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe InDesign' },
      { id: 'e', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Connect' }
    ]
  });

  let { dragAndDropHooks } = useDragAndDrop({
    getItems: (keys) =>
      [...keys].map((key) => {
        let item = list.getItem(key);
        return {
          'adobe-app': JSON.stringify(item)
        };
      }),
    onDragEnd: (e) => {
      if (e.dropOperation === 'move') {
        list.remove(...e.keys);
      }
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Draggable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item textValue={item.name}>
          {item.name}
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}
import {useDragAndDrop} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {
  Item,
  ListView,
  useListData
} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';

function DraggableList() {
  let list = useListData({
    initialItems: [
      { id: 'a', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Photoshop' },
      { id: 'b', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe XD' },
      { id: 'c', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Dreamweaver' },
      { id: 'd', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe InDesign' },
      { id: 'e', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Connect' }
    ]
  });

  let { dragAndDropHooks } = useDragAndDrop({
    getItems: (keys) =>
      [...keys].map((key) => {
        let item = list.getItem(key);
        return {
          'adobe-app': JSON.stringify(item)
        };
      }),
    onDragEnd: (e) => {
      if (e.dropOperation === 'move') {
        list.remove(...e.keys);
      }
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Draggable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item textValue={item.name}>
          {item.name}
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}
import {useDragAndDrop} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {
  Item,
  ListView,
  useListData
} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';

function DraggableList() {
  let list = useListData(
    {
      initialItems: [
        {
          id: 'a',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Photoshop'
        },
        {
          id: 'b',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe XD'
        },
        {
          id: 'c',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Dreamweaver'
        },
        {
          id: 'd',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe InDesign'
        },
        {
          id: 'e',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Connect'
        }
      ]
    }
  );

  let {
    dragAndDropHooks
  } = useDragAndDrop({
    getItems: (keys) =>
      [...keys].map(
        (key) => {
          let item = list
            .getItem(
              key
            );
          return {
            'adobe-app':
              JSON
                .stringify(
                  item
                )
          };
        }
      ),
    onDragEnd: (e) => {
      if (
        e.dropOperation ===
          'move'
      ) {
        list.remove(
          ...e.keys
        );
      }
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Draggable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item
          textValue={item
            .name}
        >
          {item.name}
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}

Creating the droppable list#

We want to make the second ListView droppable, accepting drops between items and onto folders but not at the root of the list. Similar to the draggable ListView, we'll start by initializing the default item list via useListData. As a reminder, useListData is completely optional here and can be replaced by useAsyncList or any other state management solution.

let list = useListData({
  initialItems: [
    {id: 'f', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe AfterEffects'},
    {id: 'g', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Illustrator'},
    {id: 'h', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Lightroom'},
    {id: 'i', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Premiere Pro'},
    {id: 'j', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Fresco'},
    {id: 'k', type: 'folder', name: 'Apps', childNodes: []}
  ]
});
let list = useListData({
  initialItems: [
    {id: 'f', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe AfterEffects'},
    {id: 'g', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Illustrator'},
    {id: 'h', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Lightroom'},
    {id: 'i', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Premiere Pro'},
    {id: 'j', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Fresco'},
    {id: 'k', type: 'folder', name: 'Apps', childNodes: []}
  ]
});
let list = useListData({
  initialItems: [
    {
      id: 'f',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe AfterEffects'
    },
    {
      id: 'g',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Illustrator'
    },
    {
      id: 'h',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Lightroom'
    },
    {
      id: 'i',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Premiere Pro'
    },
    {
      id: 'j',
      type: 'file',
      name:
        'Adobe Fresco'
    },
    {
      id: 'k',
      type: 'folder',
      name: 'Apps',
      childNodes: []
    }
  ]
});

Since we only want to accept items from the first ListView, we set up an array containing our custom type that will be provided to useDragAndDrop's acceptedDragTypes option.

let acceptedDragTypes = ['adobe-app'];
let acceptedDragTypes = ['adobe-app'];
let acceptedDragTypes = [
  'adobe-app'
];

Next, we add support for insertion drops by providing an onInsert handler. This handler uses the relative drop position to insert the dropped items before or after the target item. Note how we can access each drop item's information by using the expected drag type and getText.

let onInsert = async (e) => {
  let {
    items,
    target
  } = e;

  let processedItems = await Promise.all(
    items.map(async item => JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app')))
  );

  if (target.dropPosition === 'before') {
    list.insertBefore(target.key, ...processedItems);
  } else if (target.dropPosition === 'after') {
    list.insertAfter(target.key, ...processedItems);
  }
}
let onInsert = async (e) => {
  let {
    items,
    target
  } = e;

  let processedItems = await Promise.all(
    items.map(async (item) =>
      JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app'))
    )
  );

  if (target.dropPosition === 'before') {
    list.insertBefore(target.key, ...processedItems);
  } else if (target.dropPosition === 'after') {
    list.insertAfter(target.key, ...processedItems);
  }
};
let onInsert = async (
  e
) => {
  let {
    items,
    target
  } = e;

  let processedItems =
    await Promise.all(
      items.map(
        async (item) =>
          JSON.parse(
            await item
              .getText(
                'adobe-app'
              )
          )
      )
    );

  if (
    target
      .dropPosition ===
      'before'
  ) {
    list.insertBefore(
      target.key,
      ...processedItems
    );
  } else if (
    target
      .dropPosition ===
      'after'
  ) {
    list.insertAfter(
      target.key,
      ...processedItems
    );
  }
};

Similarly, item drops are enabled by providing an onItemDrop handler. The folder's contents are updated by using list.update to add the dropped items to the folder's childNodes. To ensure that we can only drop on the folder in the droppable list, we create a shouldAcceptItemDrop function that only returns true if the drop target has childNodes.

let onItemDrop = async (e) => {
  let {
    items,
    target
  } = e;
  let processedItems = await Promise.all(
    items.map(async (item) => JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app')))
  );
  let targetItem = list.getItem(target.key);
  list.update(target.key, {
    ...targetItem,
    childNodes: [...targetItem.childNodes, ...processedItems]
  });
};

let shouldAcceptItemDrop = (target) => !!list.getItem(target.key).childNodes;
let onItemDrop = async (e) => {
  let {
    items,
    target
  } = e;
  let processedItems = await Promise.all(
    items.map(async (item) =>
      JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app'))
    )
  );
  let targetItem = list.getItem(target.key);
  list.update(target.key, {
    ...targetItem,
    childNodes: [
      ...targetItem.childNodes,
      ...processedItems
    ]
  });
};

let shouldAcceptItemDrop = (target) =>
  !!list.getItem(target.key).childNodes;
let onItemDrop = async (
  e
) => {
  let {
    items,
    target
  } = e;
  let processedItems =
    await Promise.all(
      items.map(
        async (item) =>
          JSON.parse(
            await item
              .getText(
                'adobe-app'
              )
          )
      )
    );
  let targetItem = list
    .getItem(target.key);
  list.update(
    target.key,
    {
      ...targetItem,
      childNodes: [
        ...targetItem
          .childNodes,
        ...processedItems
      ]
    }
  );
};

let shouldAcceptItemDrop =
  (target) =>
    !!list.getItem(
      target.key
    ).childNodes;

Below is what our droppable ListView would look like after combining everything together. By not supplying an onRootDrop handler to useDragAndDrop, we automatically exclude the root of the droppable list from the drop targets reachable via any of the drag and drop interaction modes. For more information on the options used above, please see the API section below.

import type {TextDropItem} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {Text, useDragAndDrop} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import Folder from '@spectrum-icons/illustrations/Folder';

function DroppableList() {
  let list = useListData({
    initialItems: [
      { id: 'f', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe AfterEffects' },
      { id: 'g', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Illustrator' },
      { id: 'h', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Lightroom' },
      { id: 'i', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Premiere Pro' },
      { id: 'j', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Fresco' },
      { id: 'k', type: 'folder', name: 'Apps', childNodes: [] }
    ]
  });

  let { dragAndDropHooks } = useDragAndDrop({
    acceptedDragTypes: ['adobe-app'],
    shouldAcceptItemDrop: (target) => !!list.getItem(target.key).childNodes,
    onInsert: async (e) => {
      let {
        items,
        target
      } = e;
      let processedItems = await Promise.all(
        items.map(async (item: TextDropItem) =>
          JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app'))
        )
      );

      if (target.dropPosition === 'before') {
        list.insertBefore(target.key, ...processedItems);
      } else if (target.dropPosition === 'after') {
        list.insertAfter(target.key, ...processedItems);
      }
    },
    onItemDrop: async (e) => {
      let {
        items,
        target
      } = e;
      let processedItems = await Promise.all(
        items.map(async (item: TextDropItem) =>
          JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app'))
        )
      );
      let targetItem = list.getItem(target.key);
      list.update(target.key, {
        ...targetItem,
        childNodes: [...targetItem.childNodes, ...processedItems]
      });
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Droppable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item textValue={item.name} hasChildItems={item.type === 'folder'}>
          {item.type === 'folder' && <Folder />}
          <Text>{item.name}</Text>
          {item.type === 'folder' &&
            (
              <Text slot="description">
                {`contains ${item.childNodes.length} dropped item(s)`}
              </Text>
            )}
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}
import type {TextDropItem} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {Text, useDragAndDrop} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import Folder from '@spectrum-icons/illustrations/Folder';

function DroppableList() {
  let list = useListData({
    initialItems: [
      { id: 'f', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe AfterEffects' },
      { id: 'g', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Illustrator' },
      { id: 'h', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Lightroom' },
      { id: 'i', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Premiere Pro' },
      { id: 'j', type: 'file', name: 'Adobe Fresco' },
      {
        id: 'k',
        type: 'folder',
        name: 'Apps',
        childNodes: []
      }
    ]
  });

  let { dragAndDropHooks } = useDragAndDrop({
    acceptedDragTypes: ['adobe-app'],
    shouldAcceptItemDrop: (target) =>
      !!list.getItem(target.key).childNodes,
    onInsert: async (e) => {
      let {
        items,
        target
      } = e;
      let processedItems = await Promise.all(
        items.map(async (item: TextDropItem) =>
          JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app'))
        )
      );

      if (target.dropPosition === 'before') {
        list.insertBefore(target.key, ...processedItems);
      } else if (target.dropPosition === 'after') {
        list.insertAfter(target.key, ...processedItems);
      }
    },
    onItemDrop: async (e) => {
      let {
        items,
        target
      } = e;
      let processedItems = await Promise.all(
        items.map(async (item: TextDropItem) =>
          JSON.parse(await item.getText('adobe-app'))
        )
      );
      let targetItem = list.getItem(target.key);
      list.update(target.key, {
        ...targetItem,
        childNodes: [
          ...targetItem.childNodes,
          ...processedItems
        ]
      });
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Droppable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item
          textValue={item.name}
          hasChildItems={item.type === 'folder'}
        >
          {item.type === 'folder' && <Folder />}
          <Text>{item.name}</Text>
          {item.type === 'folder' &&
            (
              <Text slot="description">
                {`contains ${item.childNodes.length} dropped item(s)`}
              </Text>
            )}
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}
import type {TextDropItem} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {
  Text,
  useDragAndDrop
} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import Folder from '@spectrum-icons/illustrations/Folder';

function DroppableList() {
  let list = useListData(
    {
      initialItems: [
        {
          id: 'f',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe AfterEffects'
        },
        {
          id: 'g',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Illustrator'
        },
        {
          id: 'h',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Lightroom'
        },
        {
          id: 'i',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Premiere Pro'
        },
        {
          id: 'j',
          type: 'file',
          name:
            'Adobe Fresco'
        },
        {
          id: 'k',
          type: 'folder',
          name: 'Apps',
          childNodes: []
        }
      ]
    }
  );

  let {
    dragAndDropHooks
  } = useDragAndDrop({
    acceptedDragTypes: [
      'adobe-app'
    ],
    shouldAcceptItemDrop:
      (target) =>
        !!list.getItem(
          target.key
        ).childNodes,
    onInsert: async (
      e
    ) => {
      let {
        items,
        target
      } = e;
      let processedItems =
        await Promise
          .all(
            items.map(
              async (
                item:
                  TextDropItem
              ) =>
                JSON
                  .parse(
                    await item
                      .getText(
                        'adobe-app'
                      )
                  )
            )
          );

      if (
        target
          .dropPosition ===
          'before'
      ) {
        list
          .insertBefore(
            target.key,
            ...processedItems
          );
      } else if (
        target
          .dropPosition ===
          'after'
      ) {
        list.insertAfter(
          target.key,
          ...processedItems
        );
      }
    },
    onItemDrop: async (
      e
    ) => {
      let {
        items,
        target
      } = e;
      let processedItems =
        await Promise
          .all(
            items.map(
              async (
                item:
                  TextDropItem
              ) =>
                JSON
                  .parse(
                    await item
                      .getText(
                        'adobe-app'
                      )
                  )
            )
          );
      let targetItem =
        list.getItem(
          target.key
        );
      list.update(
        target.key,
        {
          ...targetItem,
          childNodes: [
            ...targetItem
              .childNodes,
            ...processedItems
          ]
        }
      );
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Droppable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item
          textValue={item
            .name}
          hasChildItems={item
            .type ===
            'folder'}
        >
          {item.type ===
              'folder' &&
            <Folder />}
          <Text>
            {item.name}
          </Text>
          {item.type ===
              'folder' &&
            (
              <Text slot="description">
                {`contains ${item.childNodes.length} dropped item(s)`}
              </Text>
            )}
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}

Low-level API#

The above example makes use of several high-level events and options supported by useDragAndDrop to define the droppable ListView's behavior. However, you may have complex operations that would be difficult or impossible to implement using the high-level options alone. For situations like this, you can use getDropOperation and onDrop instead, granting you complete control over what drop operations should be returned and how any drop on your collection should be handled. For a more general explanation of these low-level options and how they work, see the API section below and the useDroppableCollection React Aria docs.

The ListView below allows external directories to be dropped at its root level or between existing items. Files of a specific type can be dropped on certain pre-existing directories only.

import type {DirectoryDropItem, FileDropItem} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';

function DroppableListLowLevelAPI() {
  let list = useListData({
    initialItems: [
      {
        id: 1,
        name: 'Images',
        contains: 0,
        accept: ['image/png', 'image/jpeg']
      },
      { id: 2, name: 'Videos', contains: 0, accept: ['video/mp4'] },
      {
        id: 3,
        name: 'Documents',
        contains: 0,
        accept: ['text/plain', 'application/pdf']
      }
    ]
  });

  let { dragAndDropHooks } = useDragAndDrop({
    onDrop: async (e) => {
      let items = await Promise.all(
        e.items
          .filter((item) => {
            // Check if dropped item is accepted.
            if (
              item.kind === 'file' && e.target.type === 'item' &&
              e.target.dropPosition === 'on'
            ) {
              let folder = list.getItem(e.target.key);
              return folder.accept.includes(item.type);
            }

            return item.kind === 'directory';
          })
          .map(async (item: FileDropItem | DirectoryDropItem) => {
            // Collect child count from dropped directories.
            let contains = 0;
            let accept;
            if (item.kind === 'directory') {
              for await (let _ of item.getEntries()) {
                contains++;
                accept = [];
              }
            }

            return {
              id: Math.random(),
              name: item.name,
              contains,
              accept
            };
          })
      );

      // Update item count if dropping on an item, otherwise insert the new items in the list.
      if (e.target.type === 'item') {
        if (e.target.dropPosition === 'on') {
          let item = list.getItem(e.target.key);
          list.update(e.target.key, {
            ...item,
            contains: item.contains + items.length
          });
        } else if (e.target.dropPosition === 'before') {
          list.insertBefore(e.target.key, ...items);
        } else if (e.target.dropPosition === 'after') {
          list.insertAfter(e.target.key, ...items);
        }
      } else {
        // If dropping on the root, append the directory to the bottom of the list
        list.append(...items);
      }
    },
    getDropOperation: (target, types, allowedOperations) => {
      // When dropping on an item, check whether the item accepts the drag types and cancel if not.
      if (target.type === 'item' && target.dropPosition === 'on') {
        let item = list.getItem(target.key);
        return item.accept && item.accept.some((type) => types.has(type))
          ? allowedOperations[0]
          : 'cancel';
      }

      // If dropping a directory between items, support a copy operation.
      return types.has(DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE) ? 'copy' : 'cancel';
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Low-level api droppable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item textValue={item.name} hasChildItems>
          <Folder />
          <Text>{item.name}</Text>
          <Text slot="description">{`contains ${item.contains} item(s)`}</Text>
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}
import type {
  DirectoryDropItem,
  FileDropItem
} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';

function DroppableListLowLevelAPI() {
  let list = useListData({
    initialItems: [
      {
        id: 1,
        name: 'Images',
        contains: 0,
        accept: ['image/png', 'image/jpeg']
      },
      {
        id: 2,
        name: 'Videos',
        contains: 0,
        accept: ['video/mp4']
      },
      {
        id: 3,
        name: 'Documents',
        contains: 0,
        accept: ['text/plain', 'application/pdf']
      }
    ]
  });

  let { dragAndDropHooks } = useDragAndDrop({
    onDrop: async (e) => {
      let items = await Promise.all(
        e.items
          .filter((item) => {
            // Check if dropped item is accepted.
            if (
              item.kind === 'file' &&
              e.target.type === 'item' &&
              e.target.dropPosition === 'on'
            ) {
              let folder = list.getItem(e.target.key);
              return folder.accept.includes(item.type);
            }

            return item.kind === 'directory';
          })
          .map(
            async (
              item: FileDropItem | DirectoryDropItem
            ) => {
              // Collect child count from dropped directories.
              let contains = 0;
              let accept;
              if (item.kind === 'directory') {
                for await (let _ of item.getEntries()) {
                  contains++;
                  accept = [];
                }
              }

              return {
                id: Math.random(),
                name: item.name,
                contains,
                accept
              };
            }
          )
      );

      // Update item count if dropping on an item, otherwise insert the new items in the list.
      if (e.target.type === 'item') {
        if (e.target.dropPosition === 'on') {
          let item = list.getItem(e.target.key);
          list.update(e.target.key, {
            ...item,
            contains: item.contains + items.length
          });
        } else if (e.target.dropPosition === 'before') {
          list.insertBefore(e.target.key, ...items);
        } else if (e.target.dropPosition === 'after') {
          list.insertAfter(e.target.key, ...items);
        }
      } else {
        // If dropping on the root, append the directory to the bottom of the list
        list.append(...items);
      }
    },
    getDropOperation: (
      target,
      types,
      allowedOperations
    ) => {
      // When dropping on an item, check whether the item accepts the drag types and cancel if not.
      if (
        target.type === 'item' &&
        target.dropPosition === 'on'
      ) {
        let item = list.getItem(target.key);
        return item.accept &&
            item.accept.some((type) => types.has(type))
          ? allowedOperations[0]
          : 'cancel';
      }

      // If dropping a directory between items, support a copy operation.
      return types.has(DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE)
        ? 'copy'
        : 'cancel';
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Low-level api droppable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item textValue={item.name} hasChildItems>
          <Folder />
          <Text>{item.name}</Text>
          <Text slot="description">
            {`contains ${item.contains} item(s)`}
          </Text>
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}
import type {
  DirectoryDropItem,
  FileDropItem
} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';
import {DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE} from '@adobe/react-spectrum';

function DroppableListLowLevelAPI() {
  let list = useListData(
    {
      initialItems: [
        {
          id: 1,
          name: 'Images',
          contains: 0,
          accept: [
            'image/png',
            'image/jpeg'
          ]
        },
        {
          id: 2,
          name: 'Videos',
          contains: 0,
          accept: [
            'video/mp4'
          ]
        },
        {
          id: 3,
          name:
            'Documents',
          contains: 0,
          accept: [
            'text/plain',
            'application/pdf'
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  );

  let {
    dragAndDropHooks
  } = useDragAndDrop({
    onDrop: async (
      e
    ) => {
      let items =
        await Promise
          .all(
            e.items
              .filter(
                (
                  item
                ) => {
                  // Check if dropped item is accepted.
                  if (
                    item
                        .kind ===
                      'file' &&
                    e.target
                        .type ===
                      'item' &&
                    e.target
                        .dropPosition ===
                      'on'
                  ) {
                    let folder =
                      list
                        .getItem(
                          e.target
                            .key
                        );
                    return folder
                      .accept
                      .includes(
                        item
                          .type
                      );
                  }

                  return item
                    .kind ===
                    'directory';
                }
              )
              .map(
                async (
                  item:
                    | FileDropItem
                    | DirectoryDropItem
                ) => {
                  // Collect child count from dropped directories.
                  let contains =
                    0;
                  let accept;
                  if (
                    item
                      .kind ===
                      'directory'
                  ) {
                    for await (
                      let _
                        of item
                          .getEntries()
                    ) {
                      contains++;
                      accept =
                        [];
                    }
                  }

                  return {
                    id:
                      Math
                        .random(),
                    name:
                      item
                        .name,
                    contains,
                    accept
                  };
                }
              )
          );

      // Update item count if dropping on an item, otherwise insert the new items in the list.
      if (
        e.target.type ===
          'item'
      ) {
        if (
          e.target
            .dropPosition ===
            'on'
        ) {
          let item = list
            .getItem(
              e.target
                .key
            );
          list.update(
            e.target.key,
            {
              ...item,
              contains:
                item
                  .contains +
                items
                  .length
            }
          );
        } else if (
          e.target
            .dropPosition ===
            'before'
        ) {
          list
            .insertBefore(
              e.target
                .key,
              ...items
            );
        } else if (
          e.target
            .dropPosition ===
            'after'
        ) {
          list
            .insertAfter(
              e.target
                .key,
              ...items
            );
        }
      } else {
        // If dropping on the root, append the directory to the bottom of the list
        list.append(
          ...items
        );
      }
    },
    getDropOperation: (
      target,
      types,
      allowedOperations
    ) => {
      // When dropping on an item, check whether the item accepts the drag types and cancel if not.
      if (
        target.type ===
          'item' &&
        target
            .dropPosition ===
          'on'
      ) {
        let item = list
          .getItem(
            target.key
          );
        return item
            .accept &&
            item.accept
              .some((
                type
              ) =>
                types
                  .has(
                    type
                  )
              )
          ? allowedOperations[
            0
          ]
          : 'cancel';
      }

      // If dropping a directory between items, support a copy operation.
      return types.has(
          DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE
        )
        ? 'copy'
        : 'cancel';
    }
  });

  return (
    <ListView
      aria-label="Low-level api droppable list view example"
      width="size-3600"
      height="size-3600"
      selectionMode="multiple"
      items={list.items}
      dragAndDropHooks={dragAndDropHooks}
    >
      {(item) => (
        <Item
          textValue={item
            .name}
          hasChildItems
        >
          <Folder />
          <Text>
            {item.name}
          </Text>
          <Text slot="description">
            {`contains ${item.contains} item(s)`}
          </Text>
        </Item>
      )}
    </ListView>
  );
}

API#


As seen in the examples above, enabling drag and drop for a supported React Spectrum component differs slightly from the typical event handler prop pattern that you may be familiar with. Instead of providing each event handler directly to the component, you must first import useDragAndDrop from the @react-spectrum/dnd package and provide this hook with your desired options. useDragAndDrop then provides you with a set of hooks that you can pass to the component via its dragAndDropHooks prop, thus enabling drag and drop operations for the component. This approach allows the drag and drop implementation to be included only when used, keeping bundle sizes small when unused by an application.

Whether the component supports drag operations, drop operations, or both all depends on the options you provide to the useDragAndDrop. If you omit the getItems option, the component will not be draggable. Alternatively, if you don't provide an onDrop handler or any of the high-level drop handlers (onInsert/onItemDrop/onReorder/onRootDrop) to useDragAndDrop then the component will not be droppable.

High-level drop handlers and options#

NameTypeDefaultDescription
acceptedDragTypes'all'Array<stringsymbol>'all'The drag types that the droppable collection accepts. If the collection accepts directories, include DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE in your array of allowed types.
onInsert( (e: DroppableCollectionInsertDropEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when external items are dropped "between" items.
onRootDrop( (e: DroppableCollectionRootDropEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when external items are dropped on the droppable collection's root.
onItemDrop( (e: DroppableCollectionOnItemDropEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when items are dropped "on" an item.
onReorder( (e: DroppableCollectionReorderEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when items are reordered via drag in the source collection.
shouldAcceptItemDrop( (target: ItemDropTarget, , types: DragTypes )) => booleanA function returning whether a given target in the droppable collection is a valid "on" drop target for the current drag types.

As demonstrated in this example, useDragAndDrop accepts a set of high-level drop handlers and options. Providing any of these high-level drop handlers will enable the corresponding drop behavior in your component (e.g. if you provide onReorder, internal insertion drop operations are enabled, provided the component is draggable as well). acceptedDragTypes allows you to control what types of drag items your droppable component should accept and shouldAcceptItemDrop gives you a greater degree of control over whether an item in your component is a valid drop target. Providing these two options will also automatically filter out any invalid drag items from the list of items provided to the drop handlers.

Low-level drop handlers and options#

NameTypeDescription
onDropEnter( (e: DroppableCollectionEnterEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when a valid drag enters a drop target.
onDropExit( (e: DroppableCollectionExitEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when a valid drag exits a drop target.
onDrop( (e: DroppableCollectionDropEvent )) => void

Handler that is called when a valid drag is dropped on a drop target. When defined, this overrides other drop handlers such as onInsert, and onItemDrop.

getDropOperation( target: DropTarget, types: DragTypes, allowedOperations: DropOperation[] ) => DropOperation

A function returning the drop operation to be performed when items matching the given types are dropped on the drop target.

These lower level drop handlers and options can be used to supplement or replace the high-level options mentioned above. getDropOperation allows you to allows you to specify what drop operations is returned based on the dragged items' drag types, the drop target information, and drop operations allowed by the drag source. It can be used in tandem with the higher level acceptedDragTypes and shouldAcceptItemDrop (when onItemDrop is provided) options. Those two options serve as a pre-filter, preemptively canceling any attempted drop operation that doesn't pass their requirements.

onDrop can be used to handle all accepted drops, overriding any provided high-level drop handlers. On the other hand, onDropEnter and onDropExit can be freely used with any of the high-level drop handlers and options.

Props#

The full list of options for useDragAndDrop is available below.

useDragAndDrop( (options: DragAndDropOptions )): DragAndDropHooks
NameTypeDefaultDescription
getItems( (keys: Set<Key> )) => DragItem[]() => []A function that returns the items being dragged. If not specified, we assume that the collection is not draggable.
onDragStart( (e: DraggableCollectionStartEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when a drag operation is started.
onDragMove( (e: DraggableCollectionMoveEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when the drag is moved.
onDragEnd( (e: DraggableCollectionEndEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when the drag operation is ended, either as a result of a drop or a cancellation.
getAllowedDropOperations() => DropOperation[]Function that returns the drop operations that are allowed for the dragged items. If not provided, all drop operations are allowed.
acceptedDragTypes'all'Array<stringsymbol>'all'The drag types that the droppable collection accepts. If the collection accepts directories, include DIRECTORY_DRAG_TYPE in your array of allowed types.
onInsert( (e: DroppableCollectionInsertDropEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when external items are dropped "between" items.
onRootDrop( (e: DroppableCollectionRootDropEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when external items are dropped on the droppable collection's root.
onItemDrop( (e: DroppableCollectionOnItemDropEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when items are dropped "on" an item.
onReorder( (e: DroppableCollectionReorderEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when items are reordered via drag in the source collection.
shouldAcceptItemDrop( (target: ItemDropTarget, , types: DragTypes )) => booleanA function returning whether a given target in the droppable collection is a valid "on" drop target for the current drag types.
onDropEnter( (e: DroppableCollectionEnterEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when a valid drag enters a drop target.
onDropExit( (e: DroppableCollectionExitEvent )) => voidHandler that is called when a valid drag exits a drop target.
onDrop( (e: DroppableCollectionDropEvent )) => void

Handler that is called when a valid drag is dropped on a drop target. When defined, this overrides other drop handlers such as onInsert, and onItemDrop.

getDropOperation( target: DropTarget, types: DragTypes, allowedOperations: DropOperation[] ) => DropOperation

A function returning the drop operation to be performed when items matching the given types are dropped on the drop target.

Of the various drag-specific options above, getAllowedDropOperations may be of particular interest. When the dragged items are dropped on a drop target created using the React Aria drag and drop hooks, the allowed drop operations you return in getAllowedDropOperations are provided to the drop target's getDropOperation, giving the drop target extra information to use when deciding what drop operation to execute. This in turn provides the onDragEnd and onDrop handlers with the executed drop operation, allowing you to decide what to do with the dragged items in your original component and in the dropped component.

For instance, you may have a draggable collection of items that allows "move" and "copy" operations but you need a way to know whether or not you should be removing the dragged items from the list after a drop operation. A drop target that only allows "copy" operations, such as a file upload drop zone, would be able to return "copy" from its getDropOperation and communicate that to your draggable collection's onDragEnd handler, letting the draggable collection know that it shouldn't remove the dragged items from its list. Alternatively, a drop target that allows "move" operations, like in the example above, would return move from its getDropOperation and thus inform your draggable collection to remove the dragged items from its list.

Supported components#


The following list shows which components currently support drag and drop. Common drag and drop implementations are included in each component's documentation so definitely take a look!