How to manually trigger click event in ReactJS?

Question

How can I manually trigger a click event in ReactJS? When a user clicks on element1, I want to automatically trigger a click on the input tag.

<div className="div-margins logoContainer">
  <div id="element1" className="content" onClick={this.uploadLogoIcon}>
    <div className="logoBlank" />
  </div>
  <input accept="image/*" type="file" className="hide"/>
</div>

Answer 1

You could use the ref prop to acquire a reference to the underlying HTMLInputElement object through a callback, store the reference as a class property, then use that reference to later trigger a click from your event handlers using the HTMLElement.click method.

In your render method:

<input ref={input => this.inputElement = input} ... />

In your event handler:

this.inputElement.click();

Full example:

class MyComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <div onClick={this.handleClick}>
        <input ref={input => this.inputElement = input} />
      </div>
    );
  }

  handleClick = (e) => {
    this.inputElement.click();
  }
}

Note the ES6 arrow function that provides the correct lexical scope for this in the callback. Also note, that the object you acquire this way is an object akin to what you would acquire using document.getElementById, i.e. the actual DOM-node.

Answer 2

Here is the Hooks solution:

import React, {useRef} from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const myRefname= useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);
    const handleClick = () => {
        myRefname.current.focus();
     }

    return (
        <div onClick={handleClick}>
            <input ref={myRefname}/>
        </div>
    );
}

Answer 3

Got the following to work May 2018 with ES6 React Docs as a reference: https://reactjs.org/docs/refs-and-the-dom.html

import React, { Component } from "react";
class AddImage extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.fileUpload = React.createRef();
    this.showFileUpload = this.showFileUpload.bind(this);
  }
  showFileUpload() {
    this.fileUpload.current.click();
  }
  render() {
    return (
      <div className="AddImage">
        <input
          type="file"
          id="my_file"
          style={{ display: "none" }}
          ref={this.fileUpload}
        />
        <input
          type="image"
          src="http://www.graphicssimplified.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/upload-cloud.png"
          width="30px"
          onClick={this.showFileUpload}
        />
      </div>
    );
  }
}
export default AddImage;

Answer 4

You can use ref callback which will return the node. Call click() on that node to do a programmatic click.

Getting the div node

clickDiv(el) {
  el.click()
}

Setting a ref to the div node

<div 
  id="element1"
  className="content"
  ref={this.clickDiv}
  onClick={this.uploadLogoIcon}
>

Check the fiddle

https://jsfiddle.net/pranesh_ravi/5skk51ap/1/

Hope it helps!

Answer 5

In a functional component this principle also works, it's just a slightly different syntax and way of thinking.

const UploadsWindow = () => {
  // will hold a reference for our real input file
  let inputFile = '';

  // function to trigger our input file click
  const uploadClick = e => {
    e.preventDefault();
    inputFile.click();
    return false;
  };

  return (
    <>
      <input
        type="file"
        name="fileUpload"
        ref={input => {
          // assigns a reference so we can trigger it later
          inputFile = input;
        }}
        multiple
      />

      <a href="#" className="btn" onClick={uploadClick}>
        Add or Drag Attachments Here
      </a>
    </>
  )

}

Answer 6

Riffing on Aaron Hakala's answer with useRef inspired by this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/54316368/3893510

const myRef = useRef(null);

  const clickElement = (ref) => {
    ref.current.dispatchEvent(
      new MouseEvent('click', {
        view: window,
        bubbles: true,
        cancelable: true,
        buttons: 1,
      }),
    );
  };

And your JSX:

<button onClick={() => clickElement(myRef)}>Click<button/>
<input ref={myRef}>

Answer 7

Using React Hooks and the useRef hook.

import React, { useRef } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const myInput = useRef(null);

    const clickElement = () => {
        // To simulate a user focusing an input you should use the
        // built in .focus() method.
        myInput.current?.focus();

        // To simulate a click on a button you can use the .click()
        // method.
        // myInput.current?.click();
    }

    return (
        <div>
            <button onClick={clickElement}>
                Trigger click inside input
            </button>
            <input ref={myInput} />
        </div>
    );
}

Answer 8

this.buttonRef.current.click();

Answer 9

Try this and let me know if it does not work on your end:

<input type="checkbox" name='agree' ref={input => this.inputElement = input}/>
<div onClick={() => this.inputElement.click()}>Click</div>

Clicking on the div should simulate a click on the input element

Answer 10

  let timer;
  let isDoubleClick = false;

  const handleClick = () => {
    if(!isDoubleClick) {
      isDoubleClick = true;
      timer = setTimeout(() => {
        isDoubleClick = false;
        props.onClick();
      }, 200);
    } else {
      clearTimeout(timer);
      props.onDoubleClick();
    }
  }

return <div onClick={handleClick}></div>

Answer 11

for typescript you could use this code to avoid getting type error

import React, { useRef } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const fileRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);

    const handleClick = () => {
      fileRef.current?.focus();
    }

    return (
        <div>
            <button onClick={handleClick}>
                Trigger click inside input
            </button>
            <input ref={fileRef} />
        </div>
    );
}

Answer 12

If it doesn't work in the latest version of reactjs, try using innerRef

class MyComponent extends React.Component {


  render() {
    return (
      <div onClick={this.handleClick}>
        <input innerRef={input => this.inputElement = input} />
      </div>
    );
  }

  handleClick = (e) => {
    this.inputElement.click();
  }
}

Answer 13

  imagePicker(){
        this.refs.fileUploader.click();
        this.setState({
            imagePicker: true
        })
    }

  <div onClick={this.imagePicker.bind(this)} >
  <input type='file'  style={{display: 'none'}}  ref="fileUploader" onChange={this.imageOnChange} /> 
  </div>

This work for me

Answer 14

How about just plain old js ? example:

autoClick = () => {
 if (something === something) {
    var link = document.getElementById('dashboard-link');
    link.click();
  }
};
  ......      
var clickIt = this.autoClick();            
return (
  <div>
     <Link id="dashboard-link" to={'/dashboard'}>Dashboard</Link>
  </div>
);