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Basic Svelte Actions The use directive

Actions are essentially element-level lifecycle functions. They’re useful for things like:

  • interfacing with third-party libraries
  • lazy-loaded images
  • tooltips
  • adding custom event handlers

In this app, you can scribble on the <canvas>, and change colours and brush size via the menu. But if you open the menu and cycle through the options with the Tab key, you’ll soon find that the focus isn’t trapped inside the modal.

We can fix that with an action. Import trapFocus from actions.svelte.js...

App
<script>
	import Canvas from './Canvas.svelte';
	import { trapFocus } from './actions.svelte.js';

	const colors = ['red', 'orange', 'yellow', 'green', 'blue', 'indigo', 'violet', 'white', 'black'];

	let selected = $state(colors[0]);
	let size = $state(10);
	let showMenu = $state(true);
</script>
<script lang="ts">
	import Canvas from './Canvas.svelte';
	import { trapFocus } from './actions.svelte.js';

	const colors = ['red', 'orange', 'yellow', 'green', 'blue', 'indigo', 'violet', 'white', 'black'];

	let selected = $state(colors[0]);
	let size = $state(10);
	let showMenu = $state(true);
</script>

...then add it to the menu with the use: directive:

App
<div class="menu" use:trapFocus>

Let’s take a look at the trapFocus function in actions.svelte.js. An action function is called with a node — the <div class="menu"> in our case — when the node is mounted to the DOM. Inside the action, we have an effect.

First, we need to add an event listener that intercepts Tab key presses:

actions.svelte
$effect(() => {
	focusable()[0]?.focus();
	node.addEventListener('keydown', handleKeydown);
});

Second, we need to do some cleanup when the node is unmounted — removing the event listener, and restoring focus to where it was before the element mounted:

actions.svelte
$effect(() => {
	focusable()[0]?.focus();
	node.addEventListener('keydown', handleKeydown);

	return () => {
		node.removeEventListener('keydown', handleKeydown);
		previous?.focus();
	};
});

Now, when you open the menu, you can cycle through the options with the Tab key.

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<script>
	import Canvas from './Canvas.svelte';
 
	const colors = ['red', 'orange', 'yellow', 'green', 'blue', 'indigo', 'violet', 'white', 'black'];
 
	let selected = $state(colors[0]);
	let size = $state(10);
	let showMenu = $state(true);
</script>
 
<div class="container">
	<Canvas color={selected} size={size} />
 
	{#if showMenu}
		<div
			role="presentation"
			class="modal-background"
			onclick={(event) => {
				if (event.target === event.currentTarget) {
					showMenu = false;
				}
			}}
			onkeydown={(e) => {
				if (e.key === 'Escape') {
					showMenu = false;
				}
			}}
		>
			<div class="menu">
				<div class="colors">
					{#each colors as color}
						<button
							class="color"
							aria-label={color}
							aria-current={selected === color}
							style="--color: {color}"
							onclick={() => {
								selected = color;
							}}
						></button>
					{/each}
				</div>
 
				<label>
					small
					<input type="range" bind:value={size} min="1" max="50" />
					large
				</label>
			</div>
		</div>
	{/if}
 
	<div class="controls">
		<button class="show-menu" onclick={() => showMenu = !showMenu}>
			{showMenu ? 'close' : 'menu'}
		</button>
	</div>
</div>
 
<style>
	.container {
		position: fixed;
		left: 0;
		top: 0;
		width: 100%;
		height: 100%;
	}
 
	.controls {
		position: absolute;
		left: 0;
		top: 0;
		padding: 1em;
	}
 
	.show-menu {
		width: 5em;
	}
 
	.modal-background {
		position: fixed;
		display: flex;
		justify-content: center;
		align-items: center;
		left: 0;
		top: 0;
		width: 100%;
		height: 100%;
		backdrop-filter: blur(20px);
	}
 
	.menu {
		position: relative;
		background: var(--bg-2);
		width: calc(100% - 2em);
		max-width: 28em;
		padding: 1em 1em 0.5em 1em;
		border-radius: 1em;
		box-sizing: border-box;
		user-select: none;
	}
 
	.colors {
		display: grid;
		align-items: center;
		grid-template-columns: repeat(9, 1fr);
		grid-gap: 0.5em;
	}
 
	.color {
		aspect-ratio: 1;
		border-radius: 50%;
		background: var(--color, #fff);
		transform: none;
		filter: drop-shadow(2px 2px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2));
		transition: all 0.1s;
	}
 
	.color[aria-current="true"] {
		transform: translate(1px, 1px);
		filter: none;
		box-shadow: inset 3px 3px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
	}
 
	.menu label {
		display: flex;
		width: 100%;
		margin: 1em 0 0 0;
	}
 
	.menu input {
		flex: 1;
	}
</style>