React Native carousel with react-native-snap-carousel

Editor’s note: This article was last updated 27 April 2022 to reflect the most up-to-date version of react-native-snap-carousel, 4.0.0-beta.6+. 

One of the best ways to utilize a horizontal space on your UI is with a carousel. A carousel allows users to cycle through a series of content like videos or photos either vertically or horizontally without having to scroll towards the bottom of the page. Particularly on mobile applications, carousels are great for maximizing the available space.

In this tutorial, we’ll create a carousel in a React Native mobile application with a Tinder-style swipe animation. We’ll use the react-native-snap-carousel package, which makes implementing complex carousels easy. To follow along with this tutorial, you’ll need the following:

• Knowledge of JavaScript ES6
• Familiarity with React ≥v16.x
• Knowledge of React Native
• A code editor
• Basic knowledge of your terminal
• npm and/or Yarn
• Node.js ≥v10.x

You can also check out the source code to follow along. Let’s get started!

• Getting started with React Native and Expo
• Creating the carousel with react-native-snap-carousel
• Adding pagination

Getting started with React Native and Expo

First, we’ll bootstrap our application with Expo. If you don’t have the Expo CLI installed already, open your terminal and type the code below to install it:

npm install expo-cli --global

After installing Expo, we can use it to initialize React Native. Navigate to a directory where you want to add your project and type the following command:

expo init ReactNativeCarouselTutorial

In the managed workflow section, choose a blank template:

After the template has installed all the necessary dependencies, navigate to the project directory in your terminal and start your project with the code below:

expo start

The command above launches Metro Bundler in your browser, giving you the option of running the application on your chosen emulator. You should be presented with a screenshot similar to the one below:

Creating the carousel with react-native-snap-carousel

To create a carousel, open your terminal, navigate to the project directory, and run the command below:

npm install --save [email protected]

The command above installs react-native-snap-carousel, which is the package we’ll use to create the carousel. After installation, create a data.js file in your root directory and paste the code below:

const data = [
  {
    title: "Aenean leo",
    body: "Ut tincidunt tincidunt erat. Sed cursus turpis vitae tortor. Quisque malesuada placerat nisl. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem.",
    imgUrl: "https://picsum.photos/id/11/200/300",
  },
  {
    title: "In turpis",
    body: "Aenean ut eros et nisl sagittis vestibulum. Donec posuere vulputate arcu. Proin faucibus arcu quis ante. Curabitur at lacus ac velit ornare lobortis. ",
    imgUrl: "https://picsum.photos/id/10/200/300",
  },
  {
    title: "Lorem Ipsum",
    body: "Phasellus ullamcorper ipsum rutrum nunc. Nullam quis ante. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Aenean tellus metus, bibendum sed, posuere ac, mattis non, nunc.",
    imgUrl: "https://picsum.photos/id/12/200/300",
  },
];

export default data;

The data file is an array that contains mock data that we’ll use to populate our carousel. Next, create a file called CarouselCardItem.js, open it, and insert the following code:

import React from 'react'
import { View, Text, StyleSheet, Dimensions, Image } from "react-native"

export const SLIDER_WIDTH = Dimensions.get('window').width + 80
export const ITEM_WIDTH = Math.round(SLIDER_WIDTH * 0.7)

const CarouselCardItem = ({ item, index }) => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container} key={index}>
      <Image
        source={{ uri: item.imgUrl }}
        style={styles.image}
      />
      <Text style={styles.header}>{item.title}</Text>
      <Text style={styles.body}>{item.body}</Text>
    </View>
  )
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    backgroundColor: 'white',
    borderRadius: 8,
    width: ITEM_WIDTH,
    paddingBottom: 40,
    shadowColor: "#000",
    shadowOffset: {
      width: 0,
      height: 3,
    },
    shadowOpacity: 0.29,
    shadowRadius: 4.65,
    elevation: 7,
  },
  image: {
    width: ITEM_WIDTH,
    height: 300,
  },
  header: {
    color: "#222",
    fontSize: 28,
    fontWeight: "bold",
    paddingLeft: 20,
    paddingTop: 20
  },
  body: {
    color: "#222",
    fontSize: 18,
    paddingLeft: 20,
    paddingLeft: 20,
    paddingRight: 20
  }
})

export default CarouselCardItem

The CarouselCardItem implements the look of the cards in the carousel. It returns a component that will display the item passed as props. Now, let’s create a component that will be responsible for displaying the carousel. Create a file called CarouselCards.js, open it, and enter the following code:

import React from 'react'
import { View } from "react-native"
import Carousel from 'react-native-snap-carousel'
import CarouselCardItem, { SLIDER_WIDTH, ITEM_WIDTH } from './CarouselCardItem'
import data from './data'

const CarouselCards = () => {
  const isCarousel = React.useRef(null)

  return (
    <View>
      <Carousel
        layout="tinder"
        layoutCardOffset={9}
        ref={isCarousel}
        data={data}
        renderItem={CarouselCardItem}
        sliderWidth={SLIDER_WIDTH}
        itemWidth={ITEM_WIDTH}
        inactiveSlideShift={0}
        useScrollView={true}
      />
    </View>
  )
}


export default CarouselCards

We use the Carousel component from the react-native-snap-carousel package to implement the carousel. The props accepted by the component include:

• layout: Defines the way the items are rendered. The options include default, stack, and Tinder
• layoutCardOffset: Used to increase or decrease the default card offset in both the stack and Tinder layouts
• ref: Creates a reference to an instance of the carousel
• data: An array of items to loop on
• renderItem: Takes an item from the data and renders it into the list
• sliderWidth: Width in pixels of the carousel
• itemWidth: Width in pixels of the carousel item
• useScrollView: Uses a ScrollView component instead of a Flatlist component for performance reasons
• onSnapToItem: Snaps to a carousel item programmatically

Adding pagination

We can add pagination so users can skip to a certain item in the carousel without having to swipe continuously. First, we have to import the component. To do so, go to the line where we imported the carousel component:

import Carousel from 'react-native-snap-carousel'

Refactor it to look like the code below:

import Carousel, { Pagination } from 'react-native-snap-carousel'

Next, create a state to store the current pagination index:

const [index, setIndex] = React.useState(0)

After that, paste the following code below the carousel component:

<Pagination
  dotsLength={data.length}
  activeDotIndex={index}
  carouselRef={isCarousel}
  dotStyle={{
    width: 10,
    height: 10,
    borderRadius: 5,
    marginHorizontal: 0,
    backgroundColor: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.92)'
  }}
  inactiveDotOpacity={0.4}
  inactiveDotScale={0.6}
  tappableDots={true}
/>

The code above renders the pagination component, which, by default, is a list of dots. The pagination component accepts the following props:

• dotsLength: The number of dots to display
• activeDotIndex: Index of the current active dot
• carouselRef: A reference to the Carousel component, which the pagination is linked to
• dotStyle: Dots style to be merged with the default
• inactiveDotOpacity: The value of opacity applied to inactive dots
• inactiveDotScale: Value of the scale transform applied to inactive dots
• tappableDots: Makes default dots tappable. When a dot is tapped, the carousel will slide to the corresponding item

Add this onSnapToItem={(index) *=>** setIndex(index)} to the Carousel component. This callback is fired when navigating to an item:

<Carousel
  layout="tinder"
  layoutCardOffset={9}
  ref={isCarousel}
  data={data}
  renderItem={CarouselCardItem}
  sliderWidth={SLIDER_WIDTH}
  itemWidth={ITEM_WIDTH}
  onSnapToItem={(index) => setIndex(index)}
  useScrollView={true}
/>

The modified CarouselCards component should resemble the code below:

import React from 'react'
import { View } from "react-native"
import Carousel, { Pagination } from 'react-native-snap-carousel'
import CarouselCardItem, { SLIDER_WIDTH, ITEM_WIDTH } from './CarouselCardItem'
import data from './data'

const CarouselCards = () => {
  const [index, setIndex] = React.useState(0)
  const isCarousel = React.useRef(null)

  return (
    <View>
      <Carousel
        layout="tinder"
        layoutCardOffset={9}
        ref={isCarousel}
        data={data}
        renderItem={CarouselCardItem}
        sliderWidth={SLIDER_WIDTH}
        itemWidth={ITEM_WIDTH}
        onSnapToItem={(index) => setIndex(index)}
        useScrollView={true}
      />
      <Pagination
        dotsLength={data.length}
        activeDotIndex={index}
        carouselRef={isCarousel}
        dotStyle={{
          width: 10,
          height: 10,
          borderRadius: 5,
          marginHorizontal: 0,
          backgroundColor: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.92)'
        }}
        inactiveDotOpacity={0.4}
        inactiveDotScale={0.6}
        tappableDots={true}
      />
    </View>
  )
}

export default CarouselCards

Go to your App.js file and refactor the code to look like the following:

import React from 'react'
import { SafeAreaView, StyleSheet } from 'react-native'
import CarouselCards from './CarouselCards'

export default function App() {
  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={styles.container}>
      <CarouselCards />
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
    padding: 50
  },
});

After saving, you should be presented with a screenshot similar to the one below:

Congratulations! You’ve finished your carousel.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to implement a carousel in React Native using react-native-snap-carousel, which provides many options for creating carousels. We also added a pagination component for users to quickly move to a certain page without having to swipe continuously. You can also check out a Snack showcase of this tutorial.