Drag and Drop Events

Implement drag and drop functionality

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JavaScript Drag and Drop Events Program

This program helps you to learn the fundamental structure and syntax of JavaScript programming.

Try This Code
// Method 1: HTML5 Drag and Drop API
const draggable = document.getElementById('draggable');
const dropzone = document.getElementById('dropzone');

// Make element draggable
draggable.draggable = true;

// Drag events on source
draggable.addEventListener('dragstart', function(e) {
    console.log('Drag started');
    e.dataTransfer.setData('text/plain', draggable.id);
    e.dataTransfer.effectAllowed = 'move';
    draggable.style.opacity = '0.5';
});

draggable.addEventListener('dragend', function(e) {
    console.log('Drag ended');
    draggable.style.opacity = '1';
});

// Drop events on target
dropzone.addEventListener('dragover', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault(); // Allow drop
    e.dataTransfer.dropEffect = 'move';
    dropzone.style.backgroundColor = 'lightblue';
});

dropzone.addEventListener('dragleave', function(e) {
    dropzone.style.backgroundColor = '';
});

dropzone.addEventListener('drop', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    console.log('Dropped');
    const data = e.dataTransfer.getData('text/plain');
    const element = document.getElementById(data);
    dropzone.appendChild(element);
    dropzone.style.backgroundColor = '';
});

// Method 2: Custom drag implementation
let isDragging = false;
let currentX, currentY, initialX, initialY;

const customDraggable = document.getElementById('customDraggable');

customDraggable.addEventListener('mousedown', function(e) {
    isDragging = true;
    initialX = e.clientX - customDraggable.offsetLeft;
    initialY = e.clientY - customDraggable.offsetTop;
    customDraggable.style.cursor = 'grabbing';
});

document.addEventListener('mousemove', function(e) {
    if (isDragging) {
        e.preventDefault();
        currentX = e.clientX - initialX;
        currentY = e.clientY - initialY;
        
        customDraggable.style.left = currentX + 'px';
        customDraggable.style.top = currentY + 'px';
    }
});

document.addEventListener('mouseup', function() {
    if (isDragging) {
        isDragging = false;
        customDraggable.style.cursor = 'grab';
    }
});

// Method 3: Drag with touch support
customDraggable.addEventListener('touchstart', function(e) {
    isDragging = true;
    const touch = e.touches[0];
    initialX = touch.clientX - customDraggable.offsetLeft;
    initialY = touch.clientY - customDraggable.offsetTop;
});

document.addEventListener('touchmove', function(e) {
    if (isDragging) {
        e.preventDefault();
        const touch = e.touches[0];
        currentX = touch.clientX - initialX;
        currentY = touch.clientY - initialY;
        
        customDraggable.style.left = currentX + 'px';
        customDraggable.style.top = currentY + 'px';
    }
});

document.addEventListener('touchend', function() {
    isDragging = false;
});

// Method 4: Drag with constraints
function dragWithConstraints(element, minX, minY, maxX, maxY) {
    let isDragging = false;
    let startX, startY, offsetX, offsetY;
    
    element.addEventListener('mousedown', function(e) {
        isDragging = true;
        startX = e.clientX;
        startY = e.clientY;
        offsetX = element.offsetLeft;
        offsetY = element.offsetTop;
    });
    
    document.addEventListener('mousemove', function(e) {
        if (isDragging) {
            let newX = offsetX + (e.clientX - startX);
            let newY = offsetY + (e.clientY - startY);
            
            // Apply constraints
            newX = Math.max(minX, Math.min(maxX, newX));
            newY = Math.max(minY, Math.min(maxY, newY));
            
            element.style.left = newX + 'px';
            element.style.top = newY + 'px';
        }
    });
    
    document.addEventListener('mouseup', function() {
        isDragging = false;
    });
}

// Method 5: Sortable list
const sortableList = document.getElementById('sortableList');

sortableList.addEventListener('dragstart', function(e) {
    if (e.target.tagName === 'LI') {
        e.target.style.opacity = '0.5';
        e.dataTransfer.effectAllowed = 'move';
        e.dataTransfer.setData('text/html', e.target.innerHTML);
    }
});

sortableList.addEventListener('dragover', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    const afterElement = getDragAfterElement(sortableList, e.clientY);
    const dragging = document.querySelector('.dragging');
    
    if (afterElement == null) {
        sortableList.appendChild(dragging);
    } else {
        sortableList.insertBefore(dragging, afterElement);
    }
});

function getDragAfterElement(container, y) {
    const draggableElements = [...container.querySelectorAll('li:not(.dragging)')];
    
    return draggableElements.reduce((closest, child) => {
        const box = child.getBoundingClientRect();
        const offset = y - box.top - box.height / 2;
        
        if (offset < 0 && offset > closest.offset) {
            return { offset: offset, element: child };
        } else {
            return closest;
        }
    }, { offset: Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY }).element;
}
Output
// Output depends on drag and drop interaction

Understanding Drag and Drop Events

Drag and drop enables interactive UI.

HTML5 Drag and Drop API

draggable: Make element draggable
dragstart: Drag begins
dragend: Drag ends
dragover: Over drop target
dragleave: Leave drop target
drop: Item dropped

Data Transfer

setData(): Set drag data
getData(): Get drop data
effectAllowed: Allowed effects
dropEffect: Visual feedback

Custom Implementation

Mouse events
Touch events
Position tracking
Constraints

Use Cases

File uploads
Sortable lists
Drag to reorder
Interactive games

Best Practices

Provide visual feedback
Handle touch events
Add constraints
Test accessibility

Let us now understand every line and the components of the above program.

Note: To write and run JavaScript programs, you need to set up the local environment on your computer. Refer to the complete article Setting up JavaScript Development Environment. If you do not want to set up the local environment on your computer, you can also use online IDE to write and run your JavaScript programs.

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