How to scroll to a component from another component in React?

Question

I have a form that, on submission displays the results of the form, but more importantly, scrolls to a component that shows the results. I am stuck trying to pass in refs and forward refs. All of the demos I've seen have been of components in the same file. My setup is as follows:

The App.js holds two components– Form.js which submits the form and Results.js which displays the results of the form submission. The Results.js component is further down the page so I want to scroll to that component once the user clicks enter on the form.

Here is a codesandbox that demonstrates my setup.

Here is the same code on here:

// App.js
import "./styles.css";
import Form from "./Form";
import Results from "./Results";

export default function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <Form />
      <Results />
    </>
  );
}

// Form.js
import { forwardRef, useState } from "react";

const Form = forwardRef(({ onScroll }, ref) => {
  const [name, setName] = useState("");

  const onSubmit = (e) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    onScroll();
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={onSubmit} className="tall">
      <input value={name} onChange={(e) => setName(e.target.value)} />
      <button type="submit">Submit</button>
    </form>
  );
});

export default Form;

// Results.js

import { useRef } from "react";
export default function Results() {
  const resultsRef = useRef();

  function handleScrollToResults() {
    resultsRef.current.scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth" });
  }

  return (
    <div onScroll={handleScrollToResults}>
      <h1>Results</h1>
    </div>
  );
}

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 26 '22 at 17:05

Few things to be corrected.

Results component should forward the ref, not to the Form component.

import { forwardRef } from "react";

const Results = forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  return (
    <div ref={ref}>
      <h1>Results</h1>
    </div>
  );
});

export default Results;

Form component should receive the ref to Results as a prop (resultRef).

import { useState } from "react";

const Form = ({ resultRef }) => {
  const [name, setName] = useState("");

  const onSubmit = (e) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    resultRef.current.scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth" });
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={onSubmit} className="tall">
      <input value={name} onChange={(e) => setName(e.target.value)} />
      <button type="submit">Submit</button>
    </form>
  );
};

export default Form;

Root component should create the ref using useRef and use it as below. Notice that Form is using the resultRef while Results is instantiating it.

import "./styles.css";
import Form from "./Form";
import Results from "./Results";
import { useRef } from "react";

export default function App() {
  const resultRef = useRef(null);

  return (
    <>
      <Form resultRef={resultRef} />
      <Results ref={resultRef} />
    </>
  );
}

hi! This was really helpful. Can we do this without using hooks. Like in class components. — risingStark, Jan 02 '23 at 12:57
@risingStark, did you check this [question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51526461/how-to-use-react-forwardref-in-a-class-based-component) ? — Amila Senadheera, Jan 02 '23 at 14:50

How to scroll to a component from another component in React?

1 Answers1