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A React library for managing focus in TV apps.

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lrud

Travis build status npm version

A React library for managing focus in LRUD applications.

Motivation

The native focus system that ships with browsers is one-dimensional: users may only move forward and back. Some applications (typically those that use remote controls or video game controllers) require a two dimensional focus system.

Because of this, it is up to the application to manage its own focus state. That's where this library comes in: it makes working with two dimensional focus seamless.

Installation

Install using npm:

npm install @please/lrud

or yarn:

yarn add @please/lrud

This library has the following peer dependencies:

Table of Contents

Guides

Getting Started

Render the FocusRoot high up in your application's component tree.

import { FocusRoot } from '@please/lrud';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <FocusRoot>
      <AppContents />
    </FocusRoot>
  );
}

You may then use FocusNode components to create a focusable elements on the page.

import { FocusNode } from '@please/lrud';

export default function Profile() {
  return <FocusNode className="profile">Profile</FocusNode>;
}

This library automatically moves the focus between the FocusNodes as the user inputs LRUD commands on their keyboard or remote control.

This behavior can be configured through the props of the FocusNode component. To learn more about those props, refer to the API documentation below.

FAQ

What is LRUD?

LRUD is an acronym that stands for left-right-up-down, and it refers to the directional buttons typically found on remotes. In LRUD systems, input devices usually also have some kind of "submit" button, and, less commonly, a back button.

API Reference

This section of the documentation describes the library's named exports.

<FocusRoot />

Serves as the root node of a new focus hierarchy. There should only ever be one FocusRoot in each application.

All props are optional.

Prop Type Default value Description
orientation string 'horizontal' Whether the children of the root node are arranged horizontally or vertically.
wrapping boolean false Set to true for the navigation to wrap when the user reaches the start or end of the root's children.
import { FocusRoot } from '@please/lrud';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <FocusRoot orientation="vertical">
      <AppContents />
    </FocusRoot>
  );
}

<FocusNode />

A Component that represents a focusable node in your application.

All props are optional. Example usage appears beneath the props table.

Prop Type Default value Description
propsFromNode function A function you can supply to compute additional props to apply to the element. The function is passed one argument, the focus node.
className string A class name to apply to this element.
focusedClass string "isFocused" A class name that is applied when this element is focused.
focusedLeafClass string "isFocusedLeaf" A class name that is applied this element is exactly focused.
activeClass string "isActive" A class name that is applied this element is active.
disabledClass string "focusDisabled" A class name that is applied this element is disabled.
elementType string|elementType 'div' The React element type to render. For instance, "img" or motion.div.
focusId string {unique_id} A unique identifier for this node. Specify this yourself for debugging purposes, or when you will need to manually set focus to the node.
orientation string 'horizontal' Whether the children of this node are arranged horizontally or vertically. Pass "vertical" for vertical lists.
wrapping boolean false Set to true for the navigation to wrap when the user reaches the start or end of the children list. For grids this sets wrapping in both directions.
wrapGridColumns boolean false Set to true for horizontal navigation in grids to wrap.
wrapGridRows boolean false Set to true for vertical navigation in grids to wrap.
disabled boolean false This node will not receive focus when true.
isGrid boolean false Pass true to make this a grid.
isTrap boolean false Pass true to make this a focus trap.
restoreTrapFocusHierarchy boolean true Pass false and, if this node is a trap, it will not restore their previous focus hierarchy when becoming focused again.
onMountAssignFocusTo string A focus ID of a nested child to default focus to when this node mounts.
defaultFocusColumn number 0 The column index that should receive focus when focus is assigned to this focus node. Applies to grids only.
defaultFocusRow number 0 The row index that should receive focus when focus is assigned to this focus node. Applies to grids only.
isExiting boolean Pass true to signal that this node is animating out. Useful for certain kinds of exit transitions.
onFocused function A function that is called when the node receives focus. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onBlurred function A function that is called when the node loses focus. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onKey function A function that is called when the user presses any TV remote key while this element has focus. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onArrow function A function that is called when the user presses a directional button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onLeft function A function that is called when the user presses the left button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onUp function A function that is called when the user presses the up button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onDown function A function that is called when the user presses the down button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onRight function A function that is called when the user presses the right button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onSelected function A function that is called when the user pressed the select button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onBack function A function that is called when the user presses the back button. Passed one argument, an LRUDEvent.
onMove function A function that is called when the focused child index of this node changes. Only called for nodes with children that are not grids. Passed one argument, a MoveEvent.
onGridMove function A function that is called when the focused child index of this node changes. Only called for grids. Passed one argument, a GridMoveEvent.
children React Node(s) Children of the Focus Node.
...rest any All other props are applied to the underlying DOM node.
import { FocusNode } from '@please/lrud';

export default function Profile() {
  return (
    <FocusNode
      elementType="button"
      className="profileBtn"
      onSelected={({ node }) => {
        console.log('The user just selected this profile', node);
      }}>
      Profile
    </FocusNode>
  );
}

useFocusNode( focusId )

A Hook that returns the focus node with ID focusId. If the node does not exist, then null will be returned instead.

import { useFocusNode } from '@please/lrud';

export default function MyComponent() {
  const navFocusNode = useFocusNode('nav');

  console.log('Is the nav focused?', navFocusNode?.isFocused);
}

useActiveNode()

A Hook that returns the active focus node, or null if no node is active.

import { useActiveNode } from '@please/lrud';

export default function MyComponent() {
  const activeNode = useActiveNode();

  console.log('The active node:', activeNode);
}

useSetFocus()

A Hook that returns the setFocus function, which allows you to imperatively set the focus.

This can be used to:

  • override the default navigation behavior of the library
  • focus modals or traps
  • exit traps
import { useSetFocus } from '@please/lrud';

export default function MyComponent() {
  const setFocus = useSetFocus();

  useEffect(() => {
    setFocus('nav');
  }, []);
}

useNodeEvents( focusId, events )

A Hook that allows you to tap into a focus nodes' focus lifecycle events. Use this hook when you need to respond to the focus lifecycle for a node that is not in your current component.

import { useNodeEvents } from '@please/lrud';

export default function MyComponent() {
  useNodeEvents('nav', {
    focus(navNode) {
      console.log('The nav node is focused', navNode);
    }

    blur(navNode) {
      console.log('The nav node is no longer focused', navNode);
    }
  });
}

Each callback receives a single argument, the focus node.

The available event keys are:

Event key Called when
focus the focus node receives focus.
blur the focus node loses focus.
active the focus node becomes active.
inactive the focus node is no longer active.
disabled the focus node is set as disabled.
enabled the focus node is enabled.

useFocusHierarchy()

A Hook that returns an array representing the focus hierarchy, which are the nodes that are currently focused. Each entry in the array is a focus node.

import { useFocusHierarchy } from '@please/lrud';

export default function MyComponent() {
  const focusHierarchy = useFocusHierarchy();

  console.log(focusHierarchy);
  // => [
  //   { focusId: 'root', ... },
  //   { focusId: 'homePage', ... },
  //   { focusId: 'mainNav', ... },
  // ]
}

useFocusStoreDangerously()

⚠️ Heads up! The FocusStore is an internal API. We strongly discourage you from accessing properties or calling methods on the FocusStore directly!

A Hook that returns the FocusStore. Typically, you should not need to use this hook.

One use-case for this hook is attaching the focusStore to the window when developing, which can be useful for debugging purposes.

import { useFocusStoreDangerously } from '@please/lrud';

export default function MyComponent() {
  const focusStore = useFocusStoreDangerously();

  useEffect(() => {
    if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
      window.focusStore = focusStore;
    }
  }, []);
}

Interfaces

These are the objects you will encounter when using this library.

FocusNode

A focus node. Each <FocusNode/> React component creates one of these.

Property Type Description
focusId string A unique identifier for this node.
children Array<string> An array of focus IDs representing the children of this node.
focusedChildIndex number|null The index of the focused child of this node, if there is one.
prevFocusedChildIndex number|null The index of the previously-focused child of this node, if there was one.
isFocused boolean true when this node is focused.
isFocusedLeaf boolean Whether or not this node is the leaf of the focus hierarchy.
active boolean true this node is active.
disabled boolean true when this node is disabled.
isExiting boolean Set to true to indicate that the node will be animating out. Useful for certain exit animations.
wrapping boolean true when the navigation at the end of the node will wrap around to the other side.
wrapGridRows boolean true when grid rows will wrap.
wrapGridColumns boolean true when grid columns will wrap.
isRoot boolean true this is the root node.
trap boolean true when this node is a focus trap.
restoreTrapFocusHierarchy boolean Set to true and a focus trap will restore its previous hierarchy upon becoming re-focused.
parentId string | null The focus ID of the parent node. null for the root node.
orientation string A string representing the orientation of the node (either "horizontal" or "vertical")
navigationStyle string One of 'first-child' or 'grid'
nodeNavigationItem string How this node is used in the navigation algorithm. Possible values are 'default', 'grid-container', 'grid-row', 'grid-item'
defaultFocusColumn number The column index that should receive focus when focus is assigned to this focus node. Applies to grids only.
defaultFocusRow number The row index that should receive focus when focus is assigned to this focus node. Applies to grids only.
_gridColumnIndex number | null The focused column index of a grid.
_gridRowIndex number | null The focused row index of a grid.
_focusTrapPreviousHierarchy Array<string> The previous focus hierarchy of a trap.

LRUDEvent

An object that is passed to you in the LRUD-related callbacks of a FocusNode component:

  • onKey
  • onArrow
  • onLeft
  • onRight
  • onUp
  • onDown
  • onSelected
  • onBack
Property Type Description
key string A string representing the key that was pressed. One of "left", "right", "up", "down", "select", or "back".
isArrow boolean Whether or not this key is an arrow.
node FocusNode The FocusNode that received this event.
preventDefault function Call this to stop the default behavior of the event. Commonly used to override the navigation behavior
stopPropagation function Call this to stop the propagation of the event.

MoveEvent

An object that is passed to you in the onMove callback of a FocusNode component.

Property Type Description
orientation string The orientation of the move. Either "horizontal" or "vertical".
direction string The direction of the move. Either "forward" or "back".
arrow string The arrow that was pressed. One of "up", "down", "left", or "right".
prevChildIndex number The index of the previously-focused child FocusNode.
nextChildIndex number The index of the child FocusNode that is now focused.
prevChildNode FocusNode | null The previously-focused FocusNode.
nextChildNode FocusNode The child FocusNode that is now focused.

GridMoveEvent

An object that is passed to you in the onGridMove callback of a FocusNode component that is a grid.

Property Type Description
orientation string The orientation of the move. Either "horizontal" or "vertical".
direction string The direction of the move. Either "forward" or "back".
arrow string The arrow that was pressed. One of "up", "down", "left", or "right".
prevRowIndex number The index of the previously-focused row.
nextRowIndex number The index of the newly-focused row.
prevColumnIndex number The index of the previously-focused column.
nextColumnIndex number The index of the newly-focused column.

FocusEvent

An object that is passed to you in the onFocused and onBlurred callbacks of a FocusNode component.

Property Type Description
focusNode FocusNode|undefined The newly-focused leaf FocusNode.
blurNode FocusNode|undefined The previously-focused leaf FocusNode.
currentNode FocusNode The FocusNode that is receiving the event, as it traverses the focus hierarchy. Analogous to event.currentTarget.

FocusStore

⚠️ Heads up! This is an internal API. We strongly discourage you from accessing properties or calling methods on the FocusStore directly!

An object that represents the store that contains all of the state related to what is in focus. Typically, you should not need to interact with this object directly, but it is made available to you for advanced use cases that you may have.

Property Type Description
getState function Returns the current FocusState
createNodes function Creates one or more focus nodes in the tree.
deleteNode function Deletes a focus node from the tree.
setFocus function Imperatively assign focus to a particular focus node.
updateNode function Update an existing node. Used to, for example, set a node as disabled.
handleArrow function Call this to navigate based on an arrow key press.
handleSelect function Call this to cause the focus tree to respond to a "select" key press.

FocusState

⚠️ Heads up! This is an internal API. We strongly discourage you from accessing this object directly in your application.

An object representing the state of the focus in the app.

Property Type Description
focusedNodeId string The ID of the leaf node in the focus hierarchy.
focusHierarchy Array An array of node IDs representing the focus hierarchy.
activeNodeId string | null The ID of the active node, if there is one.
nodes Object A mapping of all of the focus nodes that exist.
_updatingFocusIsLocked boolean A boolean used internally for managing the creation of nested nodes.

Examples

This repository contains example projects showing common patterns when using this library. Each example is located in the ./examples folder.

Instructions for running the examples are found in the README file for each example.

Basic Examples

  • Basic Layout - Demonstrates using the orientation prop for vertical and horizontal lists
  • Wrapping - Includes usage of the wrapping prop
  • Grid - Shows how to build a grid of focus nodes
  • Disabled Focus Nodes - Shows how to disable focus nodes using the disabled prop
  • Focus Trap - Demonstrates how to create focus traps

Advanced Examples

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A React library for managing focus in TV apps.

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