Can't access element reference in react

Question

I'm trying to implement a modal using React where I want to position the modal relative to the element that triggered it (not the parent element). In this setup I can access a reference to the triggering element as you can see here

console.log(
          "console button triggering modal offset" + event.target.offsetTop
        );

But I can't access the reference to the schema, this code generates an error

useEffect(() => {
    console.log("loggin ref width   " + modalRef.current.offsetWidth);
  }, [modalRef]);

I got this error message

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'offsetWidth')
    at UserParamModal2.js:44:1
    at commitHookEffectListMount (react-dom.development.js:23150:1)
    at commitPassiveMountOnFiber (react-dom.development.js:24926:1)
    at commitPassiveMountEffects_complete (react-dom.development.js:24891:1)
    at commitPassiveMountEffects_begin (react-dom.development.js:24878:1)
    at commitPassiveMountEffects (react-dom.development.js:24866:1)
    at flushPassiveEffectsImpl (react-dom.development.js:27039:1)
    at flushPassiveEffects (react-dom.development.js:26984:1)

When I remove the CSSTransition component, everything is fine, Here is the complete code. I would appreciate any help.

import {
  React,
  forwardRef,
  useEffect,
  useImperativeHandle,
  useRef,
  useState,
} from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";

import "./UserParamModal2.css";
import { CSSTransition } from "react-transition-group";

const UserParamModalOverlay = forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  const content = (
    <div className={`userparammodal ${props.className}`} ref={ref}>
      {props.children}
    </div>
  );
  return ReactDOM.createPortal(
    content,
    document.getElementById("modal-user-param")
  );
});

const UserParamModal2 = forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  const [visible, setVisible] = useState(false);
  const modalRef = useRef();

  useImperativeHandle(ref, () => {
    return {
      toggle(event) {
        console.log(
          "console button triggering modal offset" + event.target.offsetTop
        );
        setVisible((prev) => {
          return !prev;
        });
      },
    };
  });

  useEffect(() => {
    console.log("loggin ref width   " + modalRef.current.offsetWidth);
  }, [modalRef]);

  return (
    <CSSTransition
      in={visible}
      mountOnEnter
      unmountOnExit
      timeout={200}
      classNames="userparammodal"
    >
      <UserParamModalOverlay {...props} ref={modalRef}></UserParamModalOverlay>
    </CSSTransition>
  );
});

export default UserParamModal2;

Answer 1

You are getting the error because modalRef.current is undefined the first time you run useEffect. Just add a null check or if(modalRef.current) condition to avoid this error.

If useEffect is not running, you may also need to update dependencies.

useEffect(() => {
    console.log("loggin ref width   " + modalRef.current?.offsetWidth);
  }, [modalRef.current]);