Can't click ModalOverlay to close an open Combobox

[snowystinger]

Discussed in #5337

^{Originally posted by elilabes November 1, 2023}
I have modal that has a number of Comboboxes in them. I'd like to make it so that when you click anywhere not in the Combobox it closes the Combobox. Currently it seems, I have to click inside the modal content area to close the Combobox.

I am not sure if I am missing some documentation or if this is expected (i'd hope not, it is a real pain).

Here is a rough example using React Aria Components' demo. https://codesandbox.io/s/react-typescript-forked-2ly428?file=/src/App.tsx

[snowystinger]

Doesn't matter if it's in the codesandbox iframe or not

[sookmax]

@snowystinger Hi, I happened to look at the code sandbox, and it seems like the root cause of the modal not closing is rather the improper usage of animation named 'fade' in styles.scss. For some reason, the definition of @keyframes fade is commented out, but it actually is referenced in the CSS rule with selector .react-aria-ModalOverlay. Once you bring back the keyframe definition by uncommenting it, the modal will close properly.

See this sandbox: https://codesandbox.io/s/react-typescript-forked-g2vwx7?file=/src/styles.scss

Screenshot

[snowystinger]

Thank you for having a look @sookmax. I'm not sure if your codesandbox wasn't saved, but I still see the issue. If I open the dialog, then open the combobox, then try to click on the underlay instead of the dialog, the combobox won't close. Seeing it on Chrome 118 MacOS 14

I'll double check that the keyframes are defined and uncommented appropriately in our docs

[sookmax]

I'm sorry that the link didn't work as expected for you.. I must have done something wrong to share the sandbox, but weirdly I'm perfectly fine with the link (even when I'm logged out of codesandbox).

But if you keep having the issue with the sandbox I shared, you can go to the original sandbox and uncomment the keyframe 'fade' yourself, or conversely comment out 'fade' animation inside .react-aria-ModalOverlay CSS ruleset in styles.scss.

I'm also attaching a video recording from my end.

modal_closing_issue.mp4

[snowystinger]

Ah, yes, sorry. I do see that you can dismiss the dialog by clicking the backdrop when the keyframes are uncommented.

The original discussion/issue was about being able to close the Combobox, not the dialog.

I have modal that has a number of Comboboxes in them. I'd like to make it so that when you click anywhere not in the Combobox it closes the Combobox.

So we'll still need to look into that because I see the same behavior in the original as in your sandbox.

[sookmax]

Oh wait.. no I'm the one who should be sorry here lol. I misunderstood the issue entirely 🤦‍♂️

I'll try to look into this on Monday and report back here if I manage to find anything useful or insightful!

[sookmax]

@snowystinger Hey, I think I've found something promising.

Long story short.. so I was looking at the following code, and realized onInteractOutside passed to useInteractOutside would be null if the condition isDismissable && isOpen is not met.

react-spectrum/packages/@react-aria/overlays/src/useOverlay.ts

Line 123 in 6c61f5b

useInteractOutside({ref, onInteractOutside: isDismissable && isOpen ? onInteractOutside : null, onInteractOutsideStart});

And isDismissable is passed by usePopover like below:

react-spectrum/packages/@react-aria/overlays/src/usePopover.ts

Lines 76 to 85 in 6c61f5b

	let {overlayProps, underlayProps} = useOverlay(
	{
	isOpen: state.isOpen,
	onClose: state.close,
	shouldCloseOnBlur: true,
	isDismissable: !isNonModal,
	isKeyboardDismissDisabled
	},
	popoverRef
	);

And isNonModal seems to be always true in ComboBox context:

react-spectrum/packages/react-aria-components/src/ComboBox.tsx

Lines 190 to 196 in 6c61f5b

	[PopoverContext, {
	ref: popoverRef,
	triggerRef: inputRef,
	placement: 'bottom start',
	isNonModal: true,
	style: {'--trigger-width': menuWidth} as React.CSSProperties
	}],

So the aforementioned condition isDismissable && isOpen will always be false, and thus onInteractOutside passed to useInteractOutside is always null in this context.

I wondered what would happen if onInteractOutside were passed as-is, so I went ahead and changed isNonModal to false in my local environment to see what happens:

combobox_modal_closing_issue.mov

I hope this helps!

[snowystinger]

Thanks so much for looking into that. My feeling, based on what you've found, is that blur is probably playing a role here. Comboboxes should close on blur. However, if we click something which cannot receive focus, then we do not blur, and therefore we do not close.

I also noticed that we have the same issue in React Spectrum components https://codesandbox.io/s/react-typescript-forked-h7g3rd?file=/src/App.tsx which I find odd, because the other day when I created something similar for storybook, it actually closed both the combobox and the dialog.

One last thing on the blur/focus. When I click inside the dialog, I do see that focus moves to the dialog. This can be seen using a tool such as NerdeFocus.
I can also replicate the behavior without the Dialog by making the background "non-focusable via click" https://codesandbox.io/s/react-typescript-forked-df78wd?file=/src/App.tsx the critical piece being the preventDefault for pointerDown on the background element

I do think your observation about how isNonModal interacts with onInteractOutside is correct, and maybe we need to tease that apart a bit more. I think it's correct to use isNonModal, but maybe we are missing some nuance for useInteractOutside. I'll bring it up with the team but welcome any thoughts you have as well.

[sookmax]

Comboboxes should close on blur.

You're right! My first intuition was to look for handlers that handle 'blur' event, though the 'onBlur' handlers I had found (from all over the place lol) didn't seem to execute if I clicked the ModalOverlay when the combobox was open. Whereas those 'onBlur's (sorry I can't really pinpoint which 'onBlur's I'm talking about off the top of my head.. didn't know so many handlers were merged and changed together lol) would fire perfectly fine if I clicked the Modal div (the container of Dialog section). I'm actually still confused by this since both ModalOverlay and Modal are non-focusable (because both are divs with no tabindex CSS property..? I'm not entirely sure about this also 😂), but only clicking Modal seem to trigger 'onBlur' handlers.. and that's why I started looking elsewhere, and accidentally stumbled upon onInteractOutside above.

However, if we click something which cannot receive focus, then we do not blur, and therefore we do not close.

Sorry I'm probably missing something here, but then again, how come clicking on Modal works, which is a non-focusable parent div of Dialog's section? (especially when Modal div is physically bigger in size than Dialog section, and I deliberately click the part of Modal div that is outside of Dialog section.)

modal_bigger_than_dialog_720.mov

and maybe we need to tease that apart a bit more. I think it's correct to use isNonModal, but maybe we are missing some nuance for useInteractOutside.

I wholeheartedly agree!

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing the fix for this issue. I didn't know internal focus/blur mechanics were this complicated.. I really appreciate you guy's work on building react-aria 😄.

[LFDanLu]

#5684 (comment) is related. We may be able to do something with useInteractOutside as mentioned earlier in the thread but we'll have to be careful that the ComboBox overlay doesn't close itself if focus moves from the overlay to the input (which perhaps can happen with mobile screen readers but shouldn't on desktop if I remember correctly)