Undo redo in React Diagram component

27 Oct 202424 minutes to read

Diagram tracks the history of actions that are performed after initializing the diagram and provides support to reverse and restore those changes.

Undo and redo

Diagram provides built-in support to track the changes that are made through interaction and through public APIs. The changes can be reverted or restored either through shortcut keys or through commands.

NOTE

If you want to use Undo-Redo in diagram, you need to inject UndoRedo in the diagram.

Undo/redo through shortcut keys

Undo/redo commands can be executed through shortcut keys. Shortcut key for undo is Ctrl+z and shortcut key for redo is Ctrl+y.

Undo/redo through public APIs

The client-side methods undo and redo help you to revert/restore the changes. The following code example illustrates how to undo/redo the changes through script.

// initialize Diagram component
let diagramInstance: DiagramComponent;
function App() {
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)}
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
    />
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
// Reverts the last action performed
diagramInstance.undo();
// Restores the last undone action
diagramInstance.redo();

Undo/Redo for diagram can be enabled/disabled with the constraints property of diagram.

When a change in the diagram is reverted or restored (undo/redo), the historyChange event gets triggered.

Group multiple changes

History list allows to revert or restore multiple changes through a single undo/redo command. For example, revert/restore the fill color change of multiple elements at a time.

The diagram method startGroupAction allows you to log multiple actions at a time in the history manager stack. It is easier to undo or revert the changes made in the diagram in a single undo/redo process instead of reverting every actions one by one.The diagram method endGroupAction allows you to end the group actions that are stored in the stack history. The following code illustrates how to undo/redo multiple fillColor change of a node at a time.

import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import { DiagramComponent, UndoRedo, Inject } from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let diagramInstance;
let nodes = [{
        id: 'node',
        width: 100,
        height: 100,
        offsetX: 300,
        offsetY: 50,
        annotations: [{
            id: 'label1',
            content: 'Rectangle'
        }],
    }];
function App() {
    return (<DiagramComponent id="container" ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)} width={'100%'} height={'600px'} nodes={nodes} created={() => {
            //Start to group the changes
            diagramInstance.startGroupAction();
            //Makes the changes
            let color = ['black', 'red', 'green', 'yellow'];
            for (var i = 0; i < color.length; i++) {
                // Updates the fillColor for all the child elements.
                diagramInstance.nodes[0].style.fill = color[i];
                diagramInstance.dataBind();
            }
            //Ends grouping the changes
            diagramInstance.endGroupAction();
        }}>
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]}/>
    </DiagramComponent>);
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import {
    NodeModel,
    DiagramComponent,
    UndoRedo,
    Inject
} from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let diagramInstance: DiagramComponent;
let nodes: NodeModel[] = [{
  id: 'node',
  width: 100,
  height: 100,
  offsetX: 300,
  offsetY: 50,
  annotations: [{
      id: 'label1',
      content: 'Rectangle'
  }],
}];
function App() {
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)}
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
      nodes={nodes}
      created={() => {
        //Start to group the changes
        diagramInstance.startGroupAction();
        //Makes the changes
        let color = ['black', 'red', 'green', 'yellow'];
        for (var i = 0; i < color.length; i++) {
          // Updates the fillColor for all the child elements.
          diagramInstance.nodes[0].style.fill = color[i];
          diagramInstance.dataBind();
        }
        //Ends grouping the changes
        diagramInstance.endGroupAction();
      }}
    >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]} />
    </DiagramComponent>
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);

Stack Limit

The stackLimit property of history manager is used to limits the number of actions to be stored on the history manager.

import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import { DiagramComponent, UndoRedo, Inject } from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let nodes = [{
        id: 'Start',
        width: 140,
        height: 50,
        offsetX: 300,
        offsetY: 50,
        annotations: [{
            id: 'label1',
            content: 'Start'
        }],
    }];
function App() {
    return (<DiagramComponent id="container" width={'100%'} height={'600px'} nodes={nodes} historyManager={{ stackLimit: 3 }} >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]}/>
    </DiagramComponent>);
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import {
    DiagramComponent,
    NodeModel,
    UndoRedo,
    Inject
} from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let nodes: NodeModel[] = [{
    id: 'Start',
    width: 140,
    height: 50,
    offsetX: 300,
    offsetY: 50,
    annotations: [{
      id: 'label1',
      content: 'Start'
    }],
}];
function App() {
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
      nodes={nodes}
      historyManager={{ stackLimit: 3 }}
    >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]} />
    </DiagramComponent>
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);

Restrict Undo/Redo

Undo, Redo process can be avoided for particular element by using canLog property in the history manager. The following example illustrates how to prevent history entry using canLog function.

import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import { DiagramComponent, UndoRedo, Inject } from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let diagramInstance;
let nodes = [{
        id: 'Start',
        width: 140,
        height: 50,
        offsetX: 300,
        offsetY: 50,
        annotations: [{
            id: 'label1',
            content: 'Node'
        }],
    }];
function App() {
    return (<DiagramComponent id="container" ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)} width={'100%'} height={'600px'} nodes={nodes} 
        created={() => {
            // canLog decide whether the entry add or not in history List
            diagramInstance.historyManager.canLog = function (entry) {
                entry.cancel = false;
                return entry;
            };
        }}
        >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]}/>
    </DiagramComponent>);
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import {
    DiagramComponent,
    NodeModel,
    UndoRedo,
    Inject,
    HistoryEntry
} from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let diagramInstance: DiagramComponent;
let nodes: NodeModel[] = [{
    id: 'Start',
    width: 140,
    height: 50,
    offsetX: 300,
    offsetY: 50,
    annotations: [{
      id: 'label1',
      content: 'Node'
    }],
}];
function App() {
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)}
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
      nodes={nodes}
      created={() => {
        // canLog decide whether the entry add or not in history List
        diagramInstance.historyManager.canLog = function (entry: HistoryEntry) {
          entry.cancel = true;
          return entry;
        };
      }}
    >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]} />
    </DiagramComponent>
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);

undo/redo stack

The undoStack property is used to get the collection of undo actions which should be performed in the diagram. The redoStack property is used to get the collection of redo actions which should be performed in the diagram. The undoStack/redoStack is the read-only property.

let diagramInstance: DiagramComponent;
function App() {
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)}
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
      nodes={nodes}
    >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]} />
    </DiagramComponent>
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
//get the collection of undoStack objects
let undoStack = diagramInstance.historyManager.undoStack;
//get the collection of redoStack objects
let redoStack = diagramInstance.historyManager.redoStack;

Current entry

While performing interactions with a node or connector, the current history entry is added to the currentEntry property of the historyManager.

The following code shows how to get the current entry from the diagram history:

import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import { DiagramComponent, UndoRedo, Inject } from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let diagramInstance;
let nodes = [{
        id: 'Start',
        width: 100,
        height: 100,
        offsetX: 300,
        offsetY: 100,
        annotations: [{
            id: 'label1',
            content: 'Perform interaction with node to get current entry'
        }],
    }];
function App() {
    const historyChange = () => {
        //To get current entry
        console.log(diagramInstance.historyManager.currentEntry);
    };
    return (<DiagramComponent id="container" ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)} width={'100%'} height={'600px'} nodes={nodes} historyChange={historyChange}>
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]}/>
    </DiagramComponent>);
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import {
    DiagramComponent,
    NodeModel,
    UndoRedo,
    Inject
} from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let diagramInstance: DiagramComponent;
let nodes: NodeModel[] = [{
    id: 'Start',
    width: 100,
    height: 100,
    offsetX: 300,
    offsetY: 100,
    annotations: [{
      id: 'label1',
      content: 'Perform interaction with node to get current entry'
    }],
}];
function App() {
  const historyChange = () => {
    //To get current entry
    console.log(diagramInstance.historyManager.currentEntry);
  };
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      ref={(diagram) => (diagramInstance = diagram)}
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
      nodes={nodes}
      historyChange={historyChange}
    >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]} />
    </DiagramComponent>
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);

Clear history

The clearHistory method of diagram is used to remove all the recorded actions from the undo and redo history.

//Clears all the histories
diagramInstance.clearHistory();

Get history stack

The getHistoryStack method of the diagram retrieves the undoStack or redoStack from the historyManager. This method takes a single parameter, isUndoStack. Pass true to get the undoStack or false to get the redoStack.

// Fetch undoStack from history manager
diagramInstance.getHistoryStack(true)

// Fetch redoStack from history manager
diagramInstance.getHistoryStack(false)

History change event

The historyChange event triggers, whenever the interaction of the node and connector is take place. When interacting, the entries get added to the history manager to trigger this event. The following example shows how to get this event in diagram.

import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import { DiagramComponent, UndoRedo, Inject } from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let nodes = [{
    id: 'node1',
    width: 140,
    height: 50,
    offsetX: 300,
    offsetY: 50,
    annotations: [
      {
        content: 'Node1',
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    id: 'node2',
    width: 140,
    height: 50,
    offsetX: 300,
    offsetY: 140,
    annotations: [
      {
        content: 'Node2',
      },
    ],
}];
let connector = [
    {
      id: 'connector1',
      sourceID: 'node1',
      targetID: 'node2',
      type: 'Orthogonal',
    },
  ];
function App() {
    const historyChange = (args) => {
        //Triggers while interacting with diagram and performing undo-redo
        console.log(args);
    };
    return (<DiagramComponent id="container" width={'100%'} height={'600px'} nodes={nodes} connectors={connector} historyChange={historyChange}>
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]}/>
    </DiagramComponent>);
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);
import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import {
    DiagramComponent,
    NodeModel,
    ConnectorModel,
    UndoRedo,
    Inject,
    IHistoryChangeArgs
} from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-diagrams";
let nodes: NodeModel[] = [{
  id: 'node1',
  width: 140,
  height: 50,
  offsetX: 300,
  offsetY: 50,
  annotations: [
    {
      content: 'Node1',
    },
  ],
},
{
  id: 'node2',
  width: 140,
  height: 50,
  offsetX: 300,
  offsetY: 140,
  annotations: [
    {
      content: 'Node2',
    },
  ],
}];
let connector: ConnectorModel[] = [
  {
    id: 'connector1',
    sourceID: 'node1',
    targetID: 'node2',
    type: 'Orthogonal',
  },
];
function App() {
  const historyChange = (args: IHistoryChangeArgs) => {
    //Triggers while interacting with diagram and performing undo-redo
    console.log(args);
  };
  return (
    <DiagramComponent
      id="container"
      width={'100%'}
      height={'600px'}
      nodes={nodes}
      connectors={connector}
      historyChange={historyChange}
    >
      <Inject services={[UndoRedo]} />
    </DiagramComponent>
  );
}
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('diagram'));
root.render(<App />);

While interacting with diagram, this event can be used to do the customization.