Bootstrap 4 Tutorial

Bootstrap 4 JS Scrollspy

Last modified on: October 27, 2024

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<h2 class="relative p-1 rounded-sm flex items-center justify-center bg-token-main-surface-primary text-token-text-primary h-8 w-8">Bootstrap 4 JavaScript Scrollspy</h2>
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<p>The Bootstrap 4 Scrollspy component tracks scrolling within a page and updates navigation links in real time, indicating the section the user is currently viewing. Scrollspy is often used with a navigation menu that highlights active links based on the scroll position, which is ideal for long, single-page layouts.</p>
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<h3>1. Basic Scrollspy Setup</h3>
<p>To implement Scrollspy, add the <code>data-spy="scroll"</code> attribute to the scrolling element (e.g., <code>body</code> or a <code>div</code> container) and set the target to the navigation element using <code>data-target="#navbar-example"</code>.</p>
<p><strong>Example HTML Structure:</strong></p>
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<div class="flex items-center text-token-text-secondary px-4 py-2 text-xs font-sans justify-between rounded-t-md h-9 bg-token-sidebar-surface-primary dark:bg-token-main-surface-secondary">html</div>
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<pre class="language-markup"><code>&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
&lt;html lang="en"&gt;
&lt;head&gt;
    &lt;meta charset="UTF-8"&gt;
    &lt;meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"&gt;
    &lt;title&gt;Bootstrap Scrollspy Example&lt;/title&gt;
    &lt;!-- Bootstrap CSS CDN --&gt;
    &lt;link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/css/bootstrap.min.css"&gt;
&lt;/head&gt;
&lt;body data-spy="scroll" data-target="#navbar-example" data-offset="70"&gt;

&lt;!-- Navbar --&gt;
    &lt;nav id="navbar-example" class="navbar navbar-light bg-light fixed-top"&gt;
        &lt;a class="navbar-brand" href="#"&gt;Scrollspy&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;ul class="nav nav-pills"&gt;
            &lt;li class="nav-item"&gt;
                &lt;a class="nav-link" href="#section1"&gt;Section 1&lt;/a&gt;
            &lt;/li&gt;
            &lt;li class="nav-item"&gt;
                &lt;a class="nav-link" href="#section2"&gt;Section 2&lt;/a&gt;
            &lt;/li&gt;
            &lt;li class="nav-item"&gt;
                &lt;a class="nav-link" href="#section3"&gt;Section 3&lt;/a&gt;
            &lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;/ul&gt;
    &lt;/nav&gt;

&lt;!-- Content Sections --&gt;
    &lt;div class="container mt-5 pt-5"&gt;
        &lt;div id="section1" class="pt-5"&gt;
            &lt;h4&gt;Section 1&lt;/h4&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Content for section 1.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/div&gt;
        &lt;div id="section2" class="pt-5"&gt;
            &lt;h4&gt;Section 2&lt;/h4&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Content for section 2.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/div&gt;
        &lt;div id="section3" class="pt-5"&gt;
            &lt;h4&gt;Section 3&lt;/h4&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Content for section 3.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;

&lt;!-- Bootstrap JS and dependencies --&gt;
    &lt;script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.5.1.slim.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
    &lt;script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@popperjs/core@2.9.2/dist/umd/popper.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
    &lt;script src="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/js/bootstrap.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
&lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</code></pre>
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<ul>
<li><strong>Explanation</strong>:
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<li><code>data-spy="scroll"</code>: Activates the Scrollspy feature on the page.</li>
<li><code>data-target="#navbar-example"</code>: Links the Scrollspy to the navigation bar with <code>id="navbar-example"</code>.</li>
<li><code>data-offset="70"</code>: Adjusts the offset for the active link to account for any fixed navbar height (e.g., 70px).</li>
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<h3>2. Using Scrollspy with Dynamic Content</h3>
<p>To initialize Scrollspy on dynamically added elements, use JavaScript to trigger it manually:</p>
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<div class="flex items-center text-token-text-secondary px-4 py-2 text-xs font-sans justify-between rounded-t-md h-9 bg-token-sidebar-surface-primary dark:bg-token-main-surface-secondary">javascript</div>
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<pre class="language-markup"><code>$('body').scrollspy({ target: '#navbar-example', offset: 70 });
</code></pre>
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<h3>3. Customizing Active Link Styles</h3>
<p>Bootstrap automatically applies the <code>.active</code> class to the corresponding navigation link. You can style <code>.active</code> in your CSS to enhance the appearance of the highlighted link:</p>
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<pre class="language-markup"><code>.nav-pills .nav-link.active {
    background-color: #007bff; /* Blue background for active link */
    color: #fff; /* White text for active link */
}
</code></pre>
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<h3>4. Example with Smooth Scrolling</h3>
<p>You can add smooth scrolling to links for a better user experience:</p>
<div class="contain-inline-size rounded-md border-[0.5px] border-token-border-medium relative bg-token-sidebar-surface-primary dark:bg-gray-950">
<div class="flex items-center text-token-text-secondary px-4 py-2 text-xs font-sans justify-between rounded-t-md h-9 bg-token-sidebar-surface-primary dark:bg-token-main-surface-secondary">javascript</div>
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<pre class="language-markup"><code>$('a.nav-link').on('click', function(event) {
    if (this.hash !== "") {
        event.preventDefault();
        var hash = this.hash;

$('html, body').animate({
            scrollTop: $(hash).offset().top - 70
        }, 800);
    }
});
</code></pre>
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<ul>
<li><strong>Explanation</strong>:
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<li>This script animates scrolling to the target section with an 800ms duration while accounting for the offset.</li>
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<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
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