Usage
Manages roving-tabindex focus and the WAI-ARIA tree keyboard model. ArrowUp/ArrowDown/Home/End roam linearly over the visible treeitems (skipping disabled ones), while ArrowRight/ArrowLeft carry tree semantics (expand/collapse, move to first-child/parent). Enter/Space activate, and printable characters trigger typeahead.
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Best practices
| Guidance | Practices |
|---|---|
| Do | Use for hierarchical tree widgets: wire onToggleExpand to your expansion state and onActiveChange to a single roving tab stop. |
| Do | Attach both treeRef and handleKeyDown to the role="tree" container element. |
| Don't | Use for linear lists (prefer useListFocus) or 2D grids (prefer useGridFocus); those traversals differ from a tree. |
Parameters
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
options | Configuration object for tree focus behavior. | |
options.itemSelector | string (default: '[role="treeitem"]') | Selector for visible treeitems within the tree, in DOM order. |
options.isItemDisabled | (item: HTMLElement) => boolean | Predicate for whether a treeitem is disabled and must be skipped during navigation. Defaults to reading |
options.getLevel | (item: HTMLElement) => number | Reads the 1-based nesting level of a treeitem. Defaults to the |
options.onToggleExpand | (id: string) => void | Called to expand/collapse the treeitem with the given id (ArrowRight on a collapsed parent, ArrowLeft on an expanded parent, Enter/Space on a parent without its own action). |
options.onActivate | (item: HTMLElement, id: string | undefined) => boolean | void | Called when Enter/Space activates a treeitem. Return true when handled; return false/undefined to let the hook fall back to toggling expansion. |
options.onActiveChange | (id: string | undefined) => void | Notified when the hook moves focus to a treeitem. Consumers use this to move a single roving tab stop. |
options.hasRovingTabIndex | boolean (default: false) | When true, the hook owns a single roving tab stop across the visible treeitems (stamps tabindex 0/-1, repairs on mount, moves with navigation). Preserves an existing tabindex="0" seed on mount. Attach the returned |
options.typeahead | boolean (default: true) | Whether typeahead (jump to next item whose text starts with the typed characters) is enabled. |
Returns
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| treeRef | React.RefObject<HTMLElement | null> | Ref to attach to the tree container element (role="tree"). |
| handleKeyDown | (e: React.KeyboardEvent) => void | Key down handler to attach to the tree container. |
| handleFocus | (e: React.FocusEvent) => void | Focus handler to attach to the container's onFocus. Keeps the roving tab stop in sync when hasRovingTabIndex is enabled; a no-op otherwise, so always safe to attach. |
| focusFirst | () => void | Focus the first enabled visible treeitem. |
| focusLast | () => void | Focus the last enabled visible treeitem. |