How to access a DOM element in React ?

React manages the rendering of components and updates the DOM automatically. However, there are situations where you may need to access a specific DOM element directly. We will use the Refs to access a DOM element in React. Refs provide a way to access DOM nodes or React elements created in the render method.

Prerequisites

• React JS
• React createRef
• React JS useRef hook

Approaches for how to access dom elements in React

Steps to create React Application

Step 1: Create a React application using the following command

npx create-react-app foldername

Step 2: After creating your project folder i.e. foldername, move to it using the following command

cd foldername

Project Structure:

Method 1: Using Class Components with React.createRef

The createRef is a function that creates a new instance of the ref for every re-render. It doesnot save its value beteen re-renders. When we assign a ref to an element in the render, then we can access the element using the current attribute of the ref.

Example: We will access the input field in react class component using creatRef funtion.

Javascript

// Filename - App.js

import React from "react";

class App extends React.Component {
    constructor(props) {
        super(props);

        // Create instance
        this.myRef = React.createRef();
    }

    handleClick = () => {
        this.myRef.current.value = "you clicked on button";
    };

    render() {
        return (
            <div
                style={{
                    textAlign: "center",
                    margin: "auto",
                }}
            >
                <h1 style={{ color: "green" }}>
                    GeeksforGeeks
                </h1>
                <h3>Accessing DOM using Class component</h3>

                {/* Assign DOM element to ref*/}
                <input ref={this.myRef} />
                <button onClick={this.handleClick}>
                    click me
                </button>
            </div>
        );
    }
}

export default App;

Step to run the application:

Open the terminal and type the following command.  

npm start

Output: Open the browser and our project is shown in the URL http://localhost:3000/

Method 2: Using Functional Components with useRef Hook

React  useRef is a hook that allows to directly create a reference to the DOM element in the functional component. Once a ref is created we can directly access and modify the content of that DOM element.

Example: We will access the input field in react functional component using useRef hook.

Javascript

// Filename - App.js

import React, { useRef } from "react";

export default function App() {
    const myRef = useRef();

    const handleClick = () => {
        myRef.current.value = "you clicked on button";
    };

    return (
        <div
            style={{ textAlign: "center", margin: "auto" }}
        >
            <h1 style={{ color: "green" }}>
                GeeksforGeeks
            </h1>
            <h3>Accessing DOM using funtional component</h3>
            <input ref={myRef} />
            <button onClick={handleClick}>Click me</button>
        </div>
    );
}

Step to run the application:

Open the terminal and type the following command.  

npm start

Output: Open the browser and our project is shown in the URL http://localhost:3000/