Extensible Modals in React

I've recently come across a really effective pattern for implementing modals in React applications. This leverages some great tips on How to use React Context Effectively by Kent Dodds which mean we can use the Context API to store data about the state of our modals and share those across the whole of our application. We can also leverage React Hooks and Portals to make implementing modals as easy as possible.

If you just want to see the code you can find the CodeSandbox here.

A Login Form Modal

Let's create a simple application with a login form which we want to display as a modal.

The login form looks as follows:

const LoginForm = ( ) => ( < Form > < Form . Group > < Form . Label > Email address < / Form . Label > < Form . Control type = "email" placeholder = "Enter email" / > < / Form . Group > < Form . Group > < Form . Label > Password < / Form . Label > < Form . Control type = "password" placeholder = "Password" / > < / Form . Group > < Button > Login < / Button > < / Form > ) export default LoginForm

We want to show the login modal when the login button is clicked. The login button lives within the application root.

const Root = ( ) => { return ( < div style = { { height : "100vh" , minWidth : "100vw" , backgroundColor : "#F0F0F0" , display : "flex" , alignItems : "center" , justifyContent : "center" , zIndex : 40 , } } > < Button style = { { marginRight : "10px" } } > Log In < / Button > < / div > ) } const App = ( ) => < Root / > export default App

Step One: Create a new Modal Root

Modals will have their own entrypoint in the html file. Since modals sit on top of the rest of the application its helpful separate where modals render from the rest of our application. We add a new div with an id of modal-root below the main root div in the index.html file.

... < body > < div id = " root " > </ div > < div id = " modal-root " > </ div > </ body > ...

Step Two: Create a Reusable Modal and the Modal Login Form

Create a generic modal component to act as the base for all modals in the application. This receives children as a prop, a boolean showModal which determines whether the modal should be displayed as-well-as a callback toggleModal which toggles the value of showModal . Finally we use React Portals to create a portal in the modal-root div when showModal is true .

const BaseModal = ( { children , showModal , toggleModal } ) => showModal && ReactDom . createPortal ( < > < div style = { { position : "fixed" , top : "50%" , left : "50%" , transform : "translate(-50%, -50%)" , zIndex : 30 , } } > < Alert variant = "light" > < strong style = { { cursor : "pointer" , float : "right" } } onClick = { ( ) => toggleModal ( ) } > X < / strong > { children } < / Alert > < / div > < div onClick = { ( ) => toggleModal ( ) } style = { { position : "fixed" , width : "100vw" , height : "100vh" , backgroundColor : "rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)" , top : 0 , left : 0 , zIndex : 20 , } } > < / div > < / > , document . getElementById ( "modal-root" ) ) export default BaseModal

What's great about this is that we can use the toggleModal callback to let us control how we hide the modal again once its visible. In this case we have a "X" button which closes the modal but we also let the user close the modal by clicking anywhere on the background around the modal.

To create the Login modal use the BaseModal we have just created, passing in the showModal state and toggleModal callback as props.

import BaseModal from "./BaseModal" import LoginForm from "./LoginForm" const LoginModal = ( { showModal , toggleModal } ) => ( < BaseModal showModal = { showModal } toggleModal = { toggleModal } > < LoginForm / > < / BaseModal > ) export default LoginModal

Step Three: Create a Context to Store Modal State

Now we get to the interesting bit - create the modal state for the application with a dedicated ModalContext .

import React , { useState } from "react" const ModalContext = React . createContext ( ) const useModal = ( ) => { const context = React . useContext ( ModalContext ) if ( ! context ) { throw new Error ( "useModal must be used within a ModalProvider" ) } return context } const ModalProvider = props => { const [ showLoginModal , setShowLoginModal ] = useState ( false ) const toggleLoginModal = ( ) => setShowLoginModal ( ! showLoginModal ) const modals = { loginModal : { showLoginModal , toggleLoginModal } , } return < ModalContext . Provider value = { modals } { ... props } / > } export { ModalProvider , useModal }

What's going on here? Firstly we are creating a Modal context object to store state about the modals in the application. Secondly we create a custom hook useModal which will help us access the modal state anywhere in the application. Lastly we create a modal provider object. This initialises the Modal context with the state (showing or hidden) of all modals within the application, as-well-as define the callback method used to toggle each modal state.

Extending this to add more modals in the future is really simple:

... const [ showNewModal , setShowNewModal ] = useState ( false ) ; const toggleNewModal = ( ) => setShowNewModal ( ! showNewModal ) ; const modals = { ... newModal : { showNewModal , toggleNewModal } } ; ...

Final Step: Bringing it all together

Wrap the root of the application in the ModalProvider we have just created to make the modal state available to the whole of the app. Then instantiate the LoginModal component in the Root component with state accessed through the useModal hook.

import { ModalProvider , useModal } from "./contexts/modals" import LoginModal from "./components/LoginModal" const Root = ( ) => { const { loginModal : { showLoginModal , toggleLoginModal } , } = useModal ( ) return ( < div style = { { height : "100vh" , minWidth : "100vw" , backgroundColor : "#F0F0F0" , display : "flex" , alignItems : "center" , justifyContent : "center" , zIndex : 40 , } } > < Button onClick = { ( ) => toggleLoginModal ( ) } style = { { marginRight : "10px" } } > Log In < / Button > < LoginModal show = { showLoginModal } toggle = { toggleLoginModal } / > < / div > ) } const App = ( ) => ( < ModalProvider > < Root / > < / ModalProvider > ) export default App

And that should be it! When you click the "Login" button you should find that the login form will popup in the centre of the page. Clicking the "X" or anywhere in the background will hide the modal.

React provides everything you need to make implementing modals simple and maintainable. If you have any ideas on suggestions or improvements I would love to hear them! Send me a message on Twitter @andyjones11.

For the full code in the example check out the Codesandbox here.