Business
Jobs
  • About Us
  • Solutions
    • Job Postings
      Post your job and receive qualified candidates in 48h.
    • Candidate Assessments
      500+ technical and psychological tests, plus anti-fraud.
    • Headhunting
      Tailor-made executive search from start to finish.
    • Payroll + EOR
      Payroll dispersal and EOR across 15+ LATAM countries.
  • Pricing
  • Jobs

0

272
Views
How to bound the draggable div within the container

I am using react with typescript and I implemented the w3school drag div example in my react app. Now, I am trying to bound this draggable div within the boundary. Currently, my box is moving outside the container. please help how to achieve this without using any third-party library.

Here is my sandbox demo

my code:

import "./styles.css";
import React, { useRef } from "react";

export default function App() {
  const dragRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
  let pos1 = 0,
    pos2 = 0,
    pos3 = 0,
    pos4 = 0;

  const drag = (event: any) => {
    const boundingBox = dragRef.current;

    if (boundingBox) {
      event = event || window.event;
      event.preventDefault();
      pos1 = pos3 - event.clientX;
      pos2 = pos4 - event.clientY;
      pos3 = event.clientX;
      pos4 = event.clientY;
      boundingBox.style.top = boundingBox.offsetTop - pos2 + "px";
      boundingBox.style.left = boundingBox.offsetLeft - pos1 + "px";
    }
  };

  const stop = () => {
    const boundingBox = dragRef.current;
    if (boundingBox) {
      boundingBox.onmouseup = null;
      boundingBox.onmousemove = null;
    }
  };

  const start = (event: any) => {
    const box = dragRef.current;
    if (box) {
      event = event || window.event;
      event.preventDefault();
      pos3 = event.clientX;
      pos4 = event.clientY;
      box.onmouseup = stop;
      box.onmousemove = drag;
    }
  };

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <div
        ref={dragRef}
        className="draggableDiv"
        onMouseDown={start}
        onMouseMove={drag}
        onMouseUp={stop}
      ></div>
    </div>
  );
}

and the external CSS file:

.App {
  font-family: sans-serif;
  height: 350px;
  width: 400px;
  background-color: rgb(132, 190, 241);
  position: relative;
}

.draggableDiv {
  position: absolute;
  height: 40px;
  width: 40px;
  background-color: red;
  cursor: grab;
}
about 4 years ago · Juan Pablo Isaza
1 answers
Answer question

0

You can keep another ref to the draggable area and check if the clientX and clientY are within that range.

  1. Create another ref and attach to draggable area div.
const dragAreaRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
...
...
  return (
    <div className="App" ref={dragAreaRef}>
      ...
    </div>
  );
  1. Update the drag function like below.
  const drag = (event: any) => {
    const boundingBox = dragRef.current;

    const {
      left,
      right,
      top,
      bottom
    } = dragAreaRef.current?.getBoundingClientRect();

    if (boundingBox) {
      event = event || window.event;
      if (
        event.clientX > left &&
        event.clientX < right &&
        event.clientY > top &&
        event.clientY < bottom
      ) {
        event.preventDefault();
        pos1 = pos3 - event.clientX;
        pos2 = pos4 - event.clientY;
        pos3 = event.clientX;
        pos4 = event.clientY;
        boundingBox.style.top = boundingBox.offsetTop - pos2 + "px";
        boundingBox.style.left = boundingBox.offsetLeft - pos1 + "px";
      }
    }
  };

Edit React Typescript (forked)

about 4 years ago · Juan Pablo Isaza Report
Answer question
Find remote jobs

Discover the new way to find a job!

Top jobs
Top job categories
Business
Post vacancy Pricing Sales
Legal
Terms and conditions Privacy policy
© 2026 PeakU Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Andres GPT
Show me some job opportunities
There's an error!