Image from React Component (JPG or PNG)

A brief tutorial on how to generate an image (JPG or PNG) from a React component. Use case: Sometimes when you have a React project, you want to give users the ability to download an area of your application as image. For example, when you display charts based on data, a user should be able to export the chart as image. In this React tutorial, I want to show you how it works.

First, you have to declare a certain area in your application that should be downloadable as image by using a React ref:

const App = () => {
  const printRef = React.useRef();

  return (
    <div>
      <div>I will not be in the image.</div>
      <div ref={printRef}>I will be in the image.</div>
    </div>
  );
};

Second, create a button with an event handler where you will implement the logic to download the part of the component as image:

const App = () => {
  const printRef = React.useRef();

  const handleDownloadImage = () => {
    // TODO: logic
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <button type="button" onClick={handleDownloadImage}>
        Download as Image
      </button>

      <div>I will not be in the image.</div>
      <div ref={printRef}>I will be in the image.</div>
    </div>
  );
};

Third, install a library called html2canvas via your command line:

npm install html2canvas

And fourth, use the library to draw the component on a canvas and to transform it into an image:

import html2canvas from 'html2canvas';

const App = () => {
  const printRef = React.useRef();

  const handleDownloadImage = async () => {
    const element = printRef.current;
    const canvas = await html2canvas(element);

    const data = canvas.toDataURL('image/jpg');
    const link = document.createElement('a');

    if (typeof link.download === 'string') {
      link.href = data;
      link.download = 'image.jpg';

      document.body.appendChild(link);
      link.click();
      document.body.removeChild(link);
    } else {
      window.open(data);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <button type="button" onClick={handleDownloadImage}>
        Download as Image
      </button>

      <div>I will not be in the image.</div>
      <div ref={printRef}>I will be in the image.</div>
    </div>
  );
};

That's it. If you want to download the image as JPG and not PNG, just exchange jpg with png wherever it is used. If you want to go a bit further and download a PDF instead of an image, then head over to this tutorial: How to create a PDF from a React component.