React TutorialLesson 43Free preview

React Forward Ref

This lesson is part of React · All levels

Summary

ForwardRef allows the component to forward the ref received by the user to the DOM element in it. This is useful when packaging components such as custom inputs need to expose ref so that the parent can call the focus. ForwardRef is also often combined with useImperativeHandle to display a custom API.

Key points

ForwardRef packs the function component to accept the ref as the second argument
Ref is passed to the DOM element through the ref attribute
Suitable for input, textarea, and scroll container
UseImperativeHandle limits the method that can be called from outside

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