Portals - React
Excerpt
A JavaScript library for building user interfaces
Portals provide a first-class way to render children into a DOM node that exists outside the DOM hierarchy of the parent component.
The first argument (child) is any , such as an element, string, or fragment. The second argument (container) is a DOM element.
Usage
Normally, when you return an element from a component's render method, it's mounted into the DOM as a child of the nearest parent node:
However, sometimes it's useful to insert a child into a different location in the DOM:
A typical use case for portals is when a parent component has an overflow: hidden or z-index style, but you need the child to visually "break out" of its container. For example, dialogs, hovercards, and tooltips.
Note:
When working with portals, remember that becomes very important.
For modal dialogs, ensure that everyone can interact with them by following the .
Event Bubbling Through Portals
Even though a portal can be anywhere in the DOM tree, it behaves like a normal React child in every other way. Features like context work exactly the same regardless of whether the child is a portal, as the portal still exists in the React tree regardless of position in the DOM tree.
This includes event bubbling. An event fired from inside a portal will propagate to ancestors in the containing React tree, even if those elements are not ancestors in the DOM tree. Assuming the following HTML structure:
A Parent component in #app-root would be able to catch an uncaught, bubbling event from the sibling node #modal-root.
Catching an event bubbling up from a portal in a parent component allows the development of more flexible abstractions that are not inherently reliant on portals. For example, if you render a <Modal /> component, the parent can capture its events regardless of whether it's implemented using portals.