Tutorial

Create a Bootstrap Like Modal with Tailwind and Alpine.js

This post was updated 01 May - 2020

alpinejsbootstrapmodaltailwind

In certain scenarios, it doesnt really make sense to use LiveView. That can be toggling dropdowns, tabs, accordions and opening modals. There is a great minimal library for that called Alpine.js.

So in this mini-tutorial I will build a bootstrap 4-like animated modal using Tailwind markup and sprinkle some Alpine.js on it.

STEP 1 - Installation

Since I want to use the css transitions that comes with Tailwind 1.2.0 I need to make sure I am on the latest version. And since that is not released yet, I can pull in the latest canary version. So I need to update my package.json

"tailwindcss": "^1.2.0-canary.5"

and install that version run

yarn

To install Alpine.js I will use yarn as well.

yarn add alpinejs

And in my app.js add

import 'alpinejs'

STEP 2 - Implementation

I ended up giving the modal 3 states. CLOSED, TRANSITION, OPEN The reason is that I couldnt get the animations working unless I added the extra transition step.

For example, regarding the backdrop. The modal has the initial state CLOSED. When the button is clicked, I run rhe function open(). That updates the state to TRANSITION.

However, It has the initial opacity to 0% with opacity-0. Then I have a setTimeout(() => { this.state = 'OPEN' }, 50) that after 50ms changes states top OPEN and by backdrop changes opacity to opacity-25.

<!-- BACKDROP -->
<div
  :class="{ 'opacity-25': isOpen() }"
  class="z-40 fixed top-0 left-0 bottom-0 right-0 bg-black opacity-0 transition-opacity duration-200 linear"
></div>

And I solved the animation and fade in on the modal with the same technique.

NOTE: If there is a better way to do this without the extra transition step, please let me know.

FULL CODE EXAMPLE

<div x-data="modal()">
  <button x-on:click="open()" type="button" class="inline-block font-normal text-center px-3 py-2 leading-normal text-base rounded cursor-pointer text-white bg-blue-600" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#exampleModalTwo">
    Launch modal
  </button>

  <!-- MODAL CONTAINER WITH BACKDROP -->
  <div x-show="isOpening()">

    <!-- MODAL -->
    <div
      :class="{ 'opacity-0': isOpening(), 'opacity-100': isOpen() }"
      class="fixed z-50 top-0 left-0 w-full h-full outline-none transition-opacity duration-200 linear"
      tabindex="-1"
      role="dialog"
    >

      <!-- MODAL DIALOG -->
      <div
        :class="{ 'mt-4': isOpening(), 'mt-8': isOpen() }"
        class="relative w-auto pointer-events-none max-w-lg mt-8 mx-auto transition-all duration-200 ease-out"
      >

        <!-- MODAL CONTAINER -->
        <div class="relative flex flex-col w-full pointer-events-auto bg-white border border-gray-300 rounded-lg shadow-xl">
          <div class="flex items-start justify-between p-4 border-b border-gray-300 rounded-t">
            <h5 class="mb-0 text-lg leading-normal">Awesome Modal</h5>
            <button
              type="button"
              class="close"
              x-on:click="close()"
            >&times;</button>
          </div>
          <div class="relative flex p-4">
            ...
          </div>
          <div class="flex items-center justify-end p-4 border-t border-gray-300">
            <button
              x-on:click="close()"
              type="button"
              class="inline-block font-normal text-center px-3 py-2 leading-normal text-base rounded cursor-pointer text-white bg-gray-600 mr-2"
            >Close</button>
            <button
              type="button"
              class="inline-block font-normal text-center px-3 py-2 leading-normal text-base rounded cursor-pointer text-white bg-blue-600"
            >Save changes</button>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>

    <!-- BACKDROP -->
    <div
      :class="{ 'opacity-25': isOpen() }"
      class="z-40 fixed top-0 left-0 bottom-0 right-0 bg-black opacity-0 transition-opacity duration-200 linear"
    ></div>
  </div>
</div>

<script>
  function modal() {
    return {
      state: 'CLOSED', // [CLOSED, TRANSITION, OPEN]
      open() {
        this.state = 'TRANSITION'
        setTimeout(() => { this.state = 'OPEN' }, 50)
      },
      close() {
        this.state = 'TRANSITION'
        setTimeout(() => { this.state = 'CLOSED' }, 300)
      },
      isOpen() { return this.state === 'OPEN' },
      isOpening() { return this.state !== 'CLOSED' },
    }
  }
</script>