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Creating a modal dialog with Alpine.js

Last modified February 11th 2023 | GitHub Source Code [GitHub] | #alpine

This is the second in our series of tutorials on the minimal JavaScript framework Alpine.js. In this tutorial we’ll be creating a modal dialog component similar to the one created with vanilla JavaScript in this tutorial.

For the purposes of this tutorial you can load the framework via CDN as follows:

<script defer src="https://unpkg.com/alpinejs@3.x.x/dist/cdn.min.js"></script>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

First add the following code to the <body> element in your HTML markup:

<body x-data="{'isModalOpen': false}" x-on:keydown.escape="isModalOpen=false">Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

This stores the modal state (open/closed) using the x-data attribute. We’ve also added a x-on attribute that’ll trigger when the ESC key is pressed setting the isModalOpen state to false.

To display the modal we’ll again use the x-on attribute on a button element. This will detect when the button has been clicked and set the isModalOpen state to true:

<button x-on:click="isModalOpen = true">Open Modal</button>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Next the code for the modal element:

<div
  class="modal"
  role="dialog"
  tabindex="-1"
  x-show="isModalOpen"
  x-on:click.away="isModalOpen = false"
  x-cloak
  x-transition
>
    <div class="model-inner">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h3>Hello World</h3>
        <button aria-label="Close" x-on:click="isModalOpen=false">✖</button>
      </div>
      <p>
        Natus earum velit ab nobis eos. Sed et exercitationem voluptatum omnis
        dolor voluptates. Velit ut ipsam sunt ipsam nostrum. Maiores officia
        accusamus qui sapiente. Dolor qui vel placeat dolor nesciunt quo dolor
        dolores. Quo accusamus hic atque nisi minima.
      </p>
    </div>
</div>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Let’s take a closer look at the Alpine.js code used here:

  • x-show – when isModalOpen equals true this attribute toggles the modal visibility.
  • x-on:click.away – detect clicks outside the modal and set the state to false to hide.
  • x-cloak – prevents flicker of hidden element on page load – requires CSS see below.
  • x-transition – default transition to fade and scale an element on reveal.

To complete the HTML part of this tutorial we’ll add an empty <div> that’ll be used to apply a semi-transparent overlay over the page content that sits underneath the modal. Using the x-show attribute this only become visible when isModalOpen equals true:

<div class="overlay" x-show="isModalOpen" x-cloak></div>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Now for the CSS starting with the modal itself:

.modal {
  display: flex;
  visibility: hidden;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  position: fixed;
  z-index: 10;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
}
.model-inner {
  background-color: white;
  border-radius: 0.5em;
  max-width: 600px;
  padding: 2em;
  margin: auto;
}
.modal-header {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: space-between;
  border-bottom: 2px solid black;
}Code language: CSS (css)

Then for x-cloak to work we must add the following CSS:

[x-cloak] {
  display: none !important;
}Code language: CSS (css)

Finally the CSS for the overlay:

.overlay {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  position: fixed;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  background: black;
  opacity: 0.75;
}Code language: CSS (css)

That’s all for this tutorial. If this was your first time learning about Alpine.js I would recommended reading the official documentation to see the full range of functionality available within the framework.

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