useButton

Provides the behavior and accessibility implementation for a button component. Handles mouse, keyboard, and touch interactions, focus behavior, and ARIA props for both native button elements and custom element types.

install	`yarn add react-aria`
version	3.35.0
usage	`import {useButton} from 'react-aria'`

View ARIA pattern

W3C

API#

useButton(
  (props: AriaButtonOptions<ElementType>,
  , ref: RefObject<any>
)): ButtonAria<HTMLAttributes<any>>

Features#

On the surface, building a custom styled button seems simple. However, there are many cross browser inconsistencies in interactions and accessibility features to consider. useButton handles all of these interactions for you, so you can focus on the styling.

Native HTML <button> support
<a> and custom element type support via ARIA
Mouse and touch event handling, and press state management
Keyboard focus management and cross browser normalization
Keyboard event support for Space and Enter keys

Read our blog post about the complexities of building buttons that work well across devices and interaction methods.

Anatomy#

Buttons consist of a clickable area usually containing a textual label or an icon that users can click to perform an action. In addition, keyboard users may activate buttons using the Space or Enter keys.

If a visual label is not provided (e.g. an icon only button), then an aria-label or aria-labelledby prop must be passed to identify the button to assistive technology.

Example#

By default, useButton assumes that you are using it with a native <button> element.

import {useButton} from 'react-aria';
import {useRef} from 'react';

function Button(props) {
  let ref = useRef<HTMLButtonElement | null>(null);
  let { buttonProps } = useButton(props, ref);
  let { children } = props;

  return (
    <button {...buttonProps} ref={ref}>
      {children}
    </button>
  );
}

<Button onPress={() => alert('Button pressed!')}>Test</Button>

import {useButton} from 'react-aria';
import {useRef} from 'react';

function Button(props) {
  let ref = useRef<HTMLButtonElement | null>(null);
  let { buttonProps } = useButton(props, ref);
  let { children } = props;

  return (
    <button {...buttonProps} ref={ref}>
      {children}
    </button>
  );
}

<Button onPress={() => alert('Button pressed!')}>
  Test
</Button>

import {useButton} from 'react-aria';
import {useRef} from 'react';

function Button(props) {
  let ref = useRef<
    | HTMLButtonElement
    | null
  >(null);
  let { buttonProps } =
    useButton(
      props,
      ref
    );
  let { children } =
    props;

  return (
    <button
      {...buttonProps}
      ref={ref}
    >
      {children}
    </button>
  );
}

<Button
  onPress={() =>
    alert(
      'Button pressed!'
    )}
>
  Test
</Button>

Custom element type#

Sometimes you might need to use an element other than a native <button>. useButton supports this via the elementType prop. When used with an element other than a native button, useButton automatically applies the necessary ARIA roles and attributes to ensure that the element is exposed to assistive technology as a button.

In addition, this example shows usage of the isPressed value returned by useButton to properly style the button's active state. You could use the CSS :active pseudo class for this, but isPressed properly handles when the user drags their pointer off of the button, along with keyboard support and better touch screen support.

function Button(props) {
  let { children } = props;
  let ref = useRef<HTMLButtonElement | null>(null);
  let { buttonProps, isPressed } = useButton({
    ...props,
    elementType: 'span'
  }, ref);

  return (
    <span
      {...buttonProps}
      style={{
        background: isPressed ? 'darkgreen' : 'green',
        color: 'white',
        padding: 10,
        cursor: 'pointer',
        userSelect: 'none',
        WebkitUserSelect: 'none'
      }}
      ref={ref}
    >
      {children}
    </span>
  );
}

<Button onPress={() => alert('Button pressed!')}>Test</Button>

function Button(props) {
  let { children } = props;
  let ref = useRef<HTMLButtonElement | null>(null);
  let { buttonProps, isPressed } = useButton({
    ...props,
    elementType: 'span'
  }, ref);

  return (
    <span
      {...buttonProps}
      style={{
        background: isPressed ? 'darkgreen' : 'green',
        color: 'white',
        padding: 10,
        cursor: 'pointer',
        userSelect: 'none',
        WebkitUserSelect: 'none'
      }}
      ref={ref}
    >
      {children}
    </span>
  );
}

<Button onPress={() => alert('Button pressed!')}>
  Test
</Button>

function Button(props) {
  let { children } =
    props;
  let ref = useRef<
    | HTMLButtonElement
    | null
  >(null);
  let {
    buttonProps,
    isPressed
  } = useButton({
    ...props,
    elementType: 'span'
  }, ref);

  return (
    <span
      {...buttonProps}
      style={{
        background:
          isPressed
            ? 'darkgreen'
            : 'green',
        color: 'white',
        padding: 10,
        cursor:
          'pointer',
        userSelect:
          'none',
        WebkitUserSelect:
          'none'
      }}
      ref={ref}
    >
      {children}
    </span>
  );
}

<Button
  onPress={() =>
    alert(
      'Button pressed!'
    )}
>
  Test
</Button>

Usage#

The following examples show how to use the Button component created in the above example.

Events#

useButton supports user interactions via mouse, keyboard, and touch. You can handle all of these via the onPress prop. This is similar to the standard onClick event, but normalized to support all interaction methods equally. In addition, the onPressStart, onPressEnd, and onPressChange events are fired as the user interacts with the button.

Each of these handlers receives a PressEvent, which exposes information about the target and the type of event that triggered the interaction. See usePress for more details.

function Example() {
  let [pointerType, setPointerType] = React.useState(null);

  return (
    <>
      <Button
        onPressStart={(e) => setPointerType(e.pointerType)}
        onPressEnd={(e) => setPointerType(null)}
      >
        Press me
      </Button>
      <p>
        {pointerType
          ? `You are pressing the button with a ${pointerType}!`
          : 'Ready to be pressed.'}
      </p>
    </>
  );
}

function Example() {
  let [pointerType, setPointerType] = React.useState(null);

  return (
    <>
      <Button
        onPressStart={(e) => setPointerType(e.pointerType)}
        onPressEnd={(e) => setPointerType(null)}
      >
        Press me
      </Button>
      <p>
        {pointerType
          ? `You are pressing the button with a ${pointerType}!`
          : 'Ready to be pressed.'}
      </p>
    </>
  );
}

function Example() {
  let [
    pointerType,
    setPointerType
  ] = React.useState(
    null
  );

  return (
    <>
      <Button
        onPressStart={(e) =>
          setPointerType(
            e.pointerType
          )}
        onPressEnd={(e) =>
          setPointerType(
            null
          )}
      >
        Press me
      </Button>
      <p>
        {pointerType
          ? `You are pressing the button with a ${pointerType}!`
          : 'Ready to be pressed.'}
      </p>
    </>
  );
}

Disabled#

A Button can be disabled using the isDisabled prop.

<Button isDisabled>Pin</Button>

<Button isDisabled>Pin</Button>

<Button isDisabled>
  Pin
</Button>

Name	Type	Default	Description
`isDisabled`	`boolean`	—	Whether the button is disabled.
`onPress`	`( (e: PressEvent )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when the press is released over the target.
`onPressStart`	`( (e: PressEvent )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when a press interaction starts.
`onPressEnd`	`( (e: PressEvent )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when a press interaction ends, either over the target or when the pointer leaves the target.
`onPressChange`	`( (isPressed: boolean )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when the press state changes.
`onPressUp`	`( (e: PressEvent )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when a press is released over the target, regardless of whether it started on the target or not.
`autoFocus`	`boolean`	—	Whether the element should receive focus on render.
`onFocus`	`( (e: FocusEvent<Target> )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when the element receives focus.
`onBlur`	`( (e: FocusEvent<Target> )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when the element loses focus.
`onFocusChange`	`( (isFocused: boolean )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when the element's focus status changes.
`onKeyDown`	`( (e: KeyboardEvent )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when a key is pressed.
`onKeyUp`	`( (e: KeyboardEvent )) => void`	—	Handler that is called when a key is released.
`href`	`string`	—	A URL to link to if elementType="a".
`target`	`string`	—	The target window for the link.
`rel`	`string`	—	The relationship between the linked resource and the current page. See MDN.
`elementType`	`ElementType \| JSXElementConstructor<any>`	`'button'`	The HTML element or React element used to render the button, e.g. 'div', 'a', or `RouterLink`.
`aria-expanded`	`boolean \| 'true' \| 'false'`	—	Indicates whether the element, or another grouping element it controls, is currently expanded or collapsed.
`aria-haspopup`	`boolean \| 'menu' \| 'listbox' \| 'tree' \| 'grid' \| 'dialog' \| 'true' \| 'false'`	—	Indicates the availability and type of interactive popup element, such as menu or dialog, that can be triggered by an element.
`aria-controls`	`string`	—	Identifies the element (or elements) whose contents or presence are controlled by the current element.
`aria-pressed`	`boolean \| 'true' \| 'false' \| 'mixed'`	—	Indicates the current "pressed" state of toggle buttons.
`type`	`'button' \| 'submit' \| 'reset'`	`'button'`	The behavior of the button when used in an HTML form.
`preventFocusOnPress`	`boolean`	—	Whether to prevent focus from moving to the button when pressing it. Caution, this can make the button inaccessible and should only be used when alternative keyboard interaction is provided, such as ComboBox's MenuTrigger or a NumberField's increment/decrement control.
`excludeFromTabOrder`	`boolean`	—	Whether to exclude the element from the sequential tab order. If true, the element will not be focusable via the keyboard by tabbing. This should be avoided except in rare scenarios where an alternative means of accessing the element or its functionality via the keyboard is available.
`id`	`string`	—	The element's unique identifier. See MDN.
`aria-label`	`string`	—	Defines a string value that labels the current element.
`aria-labelledby`	`string`	—	Identifies the element (or elements) that labels the current element.
`aria-describedby`	`string`	—	Identifies the element (or elements) that describes the object.
`aria-details`	`string`	—	Identifies the element (or elements) that provide a detailed, extended description for the object.

Properties

Name	Type	Description
`type`	`'pressstart' \| 'pressend' \| 'pressup' \| 'press'`	The type of press event being fired.
`pointerType`	`PointerType`	The pointer type that triggered the press event.
`target`	`Element`	The target element of the press event.
`shiftKey`	`boolean`	Whether the shift keyboard modifier was held during the press event.
`ctrlKey`	`boolean`	Whether the ctrl keyboard modifier was held during the press event.
`metaKey`	`boolean`	Whether the meta keyboard modifier was held during the press event.
`altKey`	`boolean`	Whether the alt keyboard modifier was held during the press event.
`x`	`number`	X position relative to the target.
`y`	`number`	Y position relative to the target.

Methods

Method	Description
`continuePropagation(): void`	By default, press events stop propagation to parent elements. In cases where a handler decides not to handle a specific event, it can call `continuePropagation()` to allow a parent to handle it.

'mouse'
  | 'pen'
  | 'touch'
  | 'keyboard'
  | 'virtual'

BaseEvent<ReactKeyboardEvent<any>>

SyntheticEvent & {stopPropagation: () => void,
continuePropagation: () => void
}