onKeyDown event not working on divs in React

Question

I want to use a keyDown event on a div in React. I do:

  componentWillMount() {
      document.addEventListener("keydown", this.onKeyPressed.bind(this));
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
      document.removeEventListener("keydown", this.onKeyPressed.bind(this));
  }      

  onKeyPressed(e) {
    console.log(e.keyCode);
  }

  render() {
    let player = this.props.boards.dungeons[this.props.boards.currentBoard].player;
    return (
      <div 
        className="player"
        style={{ position: "absolute" }}
        onKeyDown={this.onKeyPressed} // not working
      >
        <div className="light-circle">
          <div className="image-wrapper">
            <img src={IMG_URL+player.img} />
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    )
  }

It works fine, but I would like to do it more in React style. I tried

        onKeyDown={this.onKeyPressed}

on the component. But it doesn't react. It works on input elements as I recall.

Codepen: http://codepen.io/lafisrap/pen/OmyBYG

How can I do it?

Answer 1

You should use tabIndex attribute to be able to listen onKeyDown event on a div in React. Setting tabIndex="0" should fire your handler.

Answer 2

You need to write it this way

<div 
    className="player"
    style={{ position: "absolute" }}
    onKeyDown={this.onKeyPressed}
    tabIndex="0"
  >

If onKeyPressed is not bound to this, then try to rewrite it using arrow function or bind it in the component constructor.

Answer 3

You're thinking too much in pure Javascript. Get rid of your listeners on those React lifecycle methods and use event.key instead of event.keyCode (because this is not a JS event object, it is a React SyntheticEvent). Your entire component could be as simple as this (assuming you haven't bound your methods in a constructor).

onKeyPressed(e) {
  console.log(e.key);
}

render() {
  let player = this.props.boards.dungeons[this.props.boards.currentBoard].player;
  return (
    <div 
      className="player"
      style={{ position: "absolute" }}
      onKeyDown={(e) => this.onKeyPressed(e)}
    >
      <div className="light-circle">
        <div className="image-wrapper">
          <img src={IMG_URL+player.img} />
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  )
}