Drag-and-drop uploads in React (video tutorial)

Overview

Learn how to implement drag-and-drop uploads to Cloudinary in your React app using the react-dropzone library.

Video tutorial

Tutorial contents

This tutorial presents the following topics. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

Introduction to file upload in React

0:12	The traditional way to select files on websites is using a file picker input element. However, to achieve drag-and-drop functionality, you can use the browser's drag-and-drop API or a library like react-dropzone, which simplifies this process. This tutorial demonstrates how to set up react-dropzone, import its component, and use the useDropzone hook with an onDrop callback function to handle selected files and preview the selected image.

Setting up drag-and-drop with react-dropzone

0:56	Ensure your React application is set up, then install react-dropzone with npm install react-dropzone. Import the useDropzone hook by adding import { useDropzone } from "react-dropzone". Set up the onDrop callback to log selected files, and destructure properties and methods like getRootProps and acceptedFiles to manage drag-and-drop actions.

Spreading react-dropzone props in a <div>

1:22	Spread the props from getRootProps() and getInputProps() onto the <div> to make it handle drag-and-drop events.

Accessing selected files

1:29	Use acceptedFiles to access the array of selected files. Try logging the first selected file with console.log to see it in action.

Setting state for data URL

1:47	In the onDrop function, loop through the selected files (in this example, just one file). Use the FileReader API to read the file and listen for the onload event. Once the file has been read, set the file's dataURL as a state variable to display an image preview.

Implementing visual feedback for drag-and-drop

2:05	Implement visual feedback by checking isDragActive, which becomes true when a file is being dragged over the drop zone. Use this state to show a message or overlay, and if dataURL is not null, display a preview of the selected image along with options to upload or cancel. The buttons displayed on the preview provide a way to either cancel the action or upload the selected image, triggering the uploadImage function.

Setting Up Cloudinary for file uploads

3:07	To upload files to Cloudinary, you can use various methods. This tutorial shows how to use the upload endpoint to perform an unsigned upload for testing purposes, though signed uploads are recommended for production. Get your API key and save your credentials in a .env file. Then, create an unsigned upload preset.

Creating the uploadImage function

3:58	Create an uploadImage function that uploads the file to Cloudinary using the provided API endpoint and upload preset. After uploading, store the returned URL and update the state with the response.

Displaying the uploaded file

4:32	After a successful upload, update the state with the public URL from the Cloudinary response and display the uploaded image in your application.

Testing drag-and-drop functionality

4:37	Test your drag-and-drop functionality with Cloudinary integration. Drag a file into the drop zone, preview it, and then upload it to Cloudinary. Once uploaded, the file’s public URL is displayed, confirming successful integration.

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