Basic & Dynamic Usage

Learn how to use <Editor /> in your React application as a controlled component with value and onChange, with custom toolbar presets, menubar options, disabled/read-only modes, and programmatic methods.

---

Controlled value + onChange

Omitting the init prop activates the default full-featured editor configuration.

import { useState } from 'react';
import { Editor } from '@erag/text-editor-react';
import '@erag/text-editor-react/style.css';

export default function App() {
    const [content, setContent] = useState(
        '<p>Welcome to <strong>@erag/text-editor-react</strong>!</p>',
    );

    return (
        <div className="editor-wrapper">
            <Editor value={content} onChange={setContent} />
        </div>
    );
}

onChange receives the new HTML string, so you can pass any handler and combine it with other props and callbacks:

<Editor
    value={content}
    disabled={isDisabled}
    onChange={(html) => setContent(html)}
    onClick={handleClick}
/>

For uncontrolled usage, pass defaultValue instead of value and read the HTML later through a ref, onCommit, or the name hidden input:

<Editor defaultValue="<p>Initial content</p>" name="body" />

---

Toolbar Presets

Minimal Toolbar

For comment sections, chat boxes, or simple input forms, you can configure a minimal toolbar and hide the menubar and statusbar:

import { useState } from 'react';
import { Editor, type EditorInit } from '@erag/text-editor-react';

const minimalConfig: EditorInit = {
    height: 220,
    menubar: false,
    statusbar: false,
    toolbar: 'bold italic underline | bullist numlist | link removeformat',
};

export default function CommentBox() {
    const [content, setContent] = useState('');

    return <Editor value={content} onChange={setContent} init={minimalConfig} />;
}

Full Custom Toolbar

You can separate groups using | or pass specific control names:

const fullConfig: EditorInit = {
    height: 450,
    minHeight: 250,
    maxHeight: 800,
    placeholder: 'Type your story here...',
    menubar: true,
    toolbar:
        'undo redo | blocks fontfamily fontsize lineheight | bold italic underline strikethrough superscript subscript casechange | ' +
        'forecolor backcolor | alignment | ' +
        'bullist numlist checklist outdent indent | link image media table | hr removeformat | ' +
        'code preview fullscreen',
    statusbar: true,
    resize: true,
};

---

Menubar Configuration

Customized menubar entries can be array-defined or hidden entirely:

{/* Explicit menubar options */}
<Editor
    value={content}
    onChange={setContent}
    init={{ menubar: ['file', 'edit', 'insert', 'format'] }}
/>

{/* Hide menubar completely */}
<Editor value={content} onChange={setContent} init={{ menubar: false }} />

---

Disabled & Read-only Modes

@erag/text-editor-react supports both disabled and readOnly modes:

• disabled: Disables all interactions, toolbar buttons, and user editing canvas.
• readOnly: Allows viewing, text selection, source code inspection, and preview while preventing content mutation.

In read-only mode these actions keep working: Fullscreen, Print, Word count, Copy, Select all (selects only the editor content), Preview, Source code (view only), Shortcuts, and About. All other toolbar buttons and menu items are shown as disabled. The toolbar More button stays usable so hidden read-only actions can still be reached.

<>
    {/* Disabled mode */}
    <Editor value={content} onChange={setContent} disabled />

    {/* Read-only mode */}
    <Editor value={content} onChange={setContent} readOnly />
</>

---

Dynamic Configuration

The editor detects init changes structurally, so you can derive the configuration from component state with an inline object or useMemo:

import { useMemo, useState } from 'react';
import { Editor, type EditorInit } from '@erag/text-editor-react';

export default function DynamicEditor() {
    const [isCompact, setIsCompact] = useState(false);
    const [content, setContent] = useState('');

    const dynamicInit = useMemo<EditorInit>(
        () => ({
            height: isCompact ? 260 : 500,
            menubar: !isCompact,
            toolbar: isCompact ? 'bold italic link' : true,
        }),
        [isCompact],
    );

    return (
        <>
            <button type="button" onClick={() => setIsCompact((value) => !value)}>
                Toggle Mode
            </button>
            <Editor value={content} onChange={setContent} init={dynamicInit} />
        </>
    );
}

---

Programmatic Control (EditorInstance)

Access the editor instance methods via a React ref:

import { useRef, useState } from 'react';
import { Editor, type EditorInstance } from '@erag/text-editor-react';

export default function SignatureEditor() {
    const editorRef = useRef<EditorInstance>(null);
    const [content, setContent] = useState('');

    function insertSignature() {
        editorRef.current?.focus();
        editorRef.current?.insertHtml(
            '<p>Best regards,<br><strong>Er Amit Gupta</strong></p>',
        );
    }

    function clearEditor() {
        editorRef.current?.clear();
    }

    function printHtml() {
        console.log(editorRef.current?.getHtml());
    }

    return (
        <>
            <div className="actions">
                <button type="button" onClick={insertSignature}>
                    Insert Signature
                </button>
                <button type="button" onClick={clearEditor}>
                    Clear
                </button>
                <button type="button" onClick={printHtml}>
                    Log HTML
                </button>
            </div>

            <Editor ref={editorRef} value={content} onChange={setContent} />
        </>
    );
}

Available Instance Methods

Method	Parameters	Description
focus()	none	Focuses the editable canvas.
blur()	none	Blurs focus from the editor.
getHtml()	none	Returns sanitized HTML string.
setHtml(html: string)	html	Sets editor HTML content.
getText()	none	Returns plain text content without HTML tags.
clear()	none	Replaces the content with an empty string.
insertHtml(html: string)	html	Inserts HTML fragment at current selection cursor.
insertText(text: string)	text	Inserts raw text fragment.
selectAll()	none	Selects all text inside editor.
undo()	none	Triggers programmatic undo step.
redo()	none	Triggers programmatic redo step.
openSourceCode()	none	Opens the HTML source code modal dialog.
openPreview()	none	Opens the sanitized preview modal dialog.
getRootElement()	none	Returns the editable content root inside .erag-editor.