[DEPRECATED] This component is unnecessary, use an <input type="text"/> or something like react-textarea-autosize with rows="1" instead

react-plain-editable

A PlainEditable React component which uses contentEditable to edit plain text.

Note: contentEditable seems like an inconsistent mess across browsers and this has only been tested in the latest stable Firefox (35), Chrome (40) and Internet Explorer (11) with a <div> container with an unaltered CSS display style.

Pull requests and compatilbility issue reports to help improve this component are welcome!

Live Demo

You can also see PlainEditable in action in ideas-md, a float-to-the-top ideas log app.

Install

npm

PlainEditable can be used on the server, or bundled for the client using an npm-compatible packaging system such as Browserify or webpack.

npm install react-plain-editable --save

Browser bundle

The browser bundle exposes a global PlainEditable variable and expects to find a global React variable to work with.

You can find it in the /dist directory.

Usage

Provide PlainEditable with at least an onBlur or an onChange callback function to get input data back at the desired time, and provide any initial value as a value prop.

var Editor = React.createClass({
  _onBlur(e, value) {
    this.props.onChange(value)
  },

  render() {
    <PlainEditable onBlur={this._onBlur} value={this.props.value}/>
  }
})

For Internet Explorer (and any other browser which generates <p> elements in a contentEditable), you must set up a CSS rule to make <p> elements have the same visual effect as a <br>:

.PlainEditable p {
  margin: 0;
}

API

PlainEditable component

PlainEditable is implemented as an "uncontrolled" component which uses contentEditable to edit a given value - i.e. changes to the initial value prop passed to it will not be reflected.

It expects to be given a plain text value and will provide edited input back as plain text via its onBlur and onChange callbacks.

Leading & trailing whitespance is trimmed in the returned text by default. This can be disabled by using the noTrim prop.

Multi-line editing is enabled by default. You can restrict editing to a single line by using the singleLine prop.

The component attempts to work around the most obvious contentEditable quirks, but bugs are likely due to the nature of how contentEditable has been implemented across various browsers.

Props

Note: any props passed in addition to those documented below will be passed to the component created in PlainEditable's render() method - if you need to give your contentEditable an id, data-, or any other additional props, just pass them as you normally would.

value: String

Initial value to be displayed in the contentEditable.

PlainEditable is currently implemented as an "uncontrolled" component - i.e. changes to the initial value prop given to it will not be reflected in the contentEditable.

onBlur: Function(event: SyntheticEvent, value: String)

onChange: Function(event: SyntheticEvent, value: String)

These callback props are used to receive edited values from the contentEditable via the value argument when the appropriate event fires.

If onChange is given, the input event is used to trigger the callback on every change.

Since Internet Explorer doesn't currently support input on contentEditables, the keydown and keyup events are used to trigger the onChange callback for it instead.

autoFocus: Boolean

If true when the component mounts, the contentEditable will be given focus.

className: String

An additional CSS class to append to the default PlainEditable CSS class.

component: String|ReactCompositeComponent (default: 'div')

The HTML tag name or React component to be created for use as a contentEditable in PlainEditable's render() method.

noTrim: Boolean

Pass this prop to disable trimming of leading and trailing whitespace in text passed to the onBlur and onChange callbacks.

<PlainEditable onBlur={this._onBlur} noTrim/>

onFocus: Function(event: SyntheticEvent, selecting: Boolean)

This callback prop is accepted because this event is already used with the contentEditable to implement selection of placeholder content.

The selecting argument will be true if the contentEditable's contents will be selected after giving the browser a chance to complete other operations.

onKeyDown: Function(event: SyntheticEvent)

onKeyUp: Function(event: SyntheticEvent)

These callback props are accepted because these events are already used with the contentEditable to make onChange work in IE.

If you're using IE and you prevent the evant's default action using event.preventDefault(), onChange will not be triggered.

placeholder: String

If provided, the contents of the contentEditable will be selected if they match this prop when it gains focus.

This can be used to make it more convenient for users to edit an initial value you provide as a placeholder.

singleLine: Boolean

Pass this prop to disable entry of linebreaks into the contentEditable by pressing the Enter key, which will force a blur().

Linebreaks can still be pasted in, but will be replaced with spaces in text passed to the onBlur and onChange callbacks.

<PlainEditable onBlur={this._onBlur} singleLine/>

spellcheck: String (default: 'false')

Coinfig for the contentEditable's spellcheck prop, which is disabled by default.

Methods

focus()

Gives focus to the contentEditable DOM node.

MIT Licensed