react-textarea-list

Drop-in replacement for the textarea component which automatically arranges user input into either unordered or ordered lists.

Install

npm install react-textarea-list

Demo

This package exposes two different list components - an unordered list and an ordered list. Both these components work like vanilla <textarea /> elements and can be styled with CSS the same way.

Feel free to run the following commands to load the example on your local machine.

git clone https://github.com/jrobsontull/react-textarea-list.git
cd react-textarea-list
npm install
npm run start:example

Usage

For an unordered list, import the TextareaUL component. You can customise the bullet character and use this component as a normal <textarea /> element as this component exposes the usual properties.

import { TextareaUL } from 'react-textarea-list';

const ExamplePage = () => {
  return (
    <div className="content">
      <TextareaUL
        bulletChar="- "
        placeholder="This is an unordered list..."
        onChange={(value) => console.log('The current value is: ' + value)}
      />
    </div>
  );
};

export default ExamplePage;

For a numbered list, import the TextareaOL component.

import { TextareaOL } from 'react-textarea-list';

const ExamplePage = () => {
  return (
    <div className="content">
      <TextareaOL
        placeholder="This is an ordered list..."
        onChange={(value) => console.log('The current value is: ' + value)}
      />
    </div>
  );
};

export default ExamplePage;

Props

The ordered and unordered textarea components expose slightly different props.

TextareaUL

Prop Name	Type	Required	Default Value	Description
onChange	(values: string[]) => void	false	n/a	Called on every onChange event of the textarea. Works similarly to vanilla textarea onChange event.
listOutput	boolean	false	true	When set to true, the onChange event returns a list of elements denoting each line. When false, the vanilla text with new line characters is returned.
bulletChar	string	false	-	Character used as bullet points. Does not have to be a single character.
defaultValue	string	false	n/a	Use to set the default value of the textarea.

TextareaOL

Prop Name	Type	Required	Default Value	Description
onChange	(values: string[]) => void	false	n/a	Called on every onChange event of the textarea. Works similarly to vanilla textarea onChange event.
listOutput	boolean	false	true	When set to true, the onChange event returns a list of elements denoting each line. When false, the vanilla text with new line characters is returned.

Apart from these, the component accepts all props that are accepted by <textarea/>, like style, onChange, value, etc.

FAQ

How do I assign a ref to the component?

import { createRef, useEffect } from 'react';
import { TextareaUL } from 'react-textarea-list';

const ExamplePage = () => {
  const myRef = createRef();

  useEffect(() => {
    console.log(myRef.current);
  }, []);

  return (
    <div className="content">
      <TextareaUL ref={myRef} />
    </div>
  );
};

export default ExamplePage;

How do I focus the component?

import { createRef, useEffect } from 'react';
import { TextareaUL } from 'react-textarea-list';

const ExamplePage = () => {
  const myRef = createRef();

  useEffect(() => {
    myRef.current.focus();
  }, []);

  return (
    <div className="content">
      <TextareaUL ref={myRef} />
    </div>
  );
};

export default ExamplePage;

How do I autofocus the component?

<TextareaUL autofocus />