Drawer navigation

Common pattern in navigation is to use drawer from left (sometimes right) side for navigating between screens.

Before continuing, first install and configure @react-navigation/drawer and its dependencies following the installation instructions.

Minimal example of drawer-based navigation

To use this drawer navigator, import it from @react-navigation/drawer: (swipe right to open)

Static

import * as React from 'react';
import { View } from 'react-native';
import { createDrawerNavigator } from '@react-navigation/drawer';
import {
  createStaticNavigation,
  useNavigation,
} from '@react-navigation/native';
import { Button } from '@react-navigation/elements';

function HomeScreen() {
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center' }}>
      <Button onPress={() => navigation.navigate('Notifications')}>
        Go to notifications
      </Button>
    </View>
  );
}

function NotificationsScreen() {
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center' }}>
      <Button onPress={() => navigation.goBack()}>Go back home</Button>
    </View>
  );
}

const Drawer = createDrawerNavigator({
  screens: {
    Home: HomeScreen,
    Notifications: NotificationsScreen,
  },
});

const Navigation = createStaticNavigation(Drawer);

export default function App() {
  return <Navigation />;
}

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Dynamic

import * as React from 'react';
import { View } from 'react-native';
import { createDrawerNavigator } from '@react-navigation/drawer';
import { NavigationContainer, useNavigation } from '@react-navigation/native';
import { Button } from '@react-navigation/elements';

function HomeScreen() {
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center' }}>
      <Button onPress={() => navigation.navigate('Notifications')}>
        Go to notifications
      </Button>
    </View>
  );
}

function NotificationsScreen() {
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center' }}>
      <Button onPress={() => navigation.goBack()}>Go back home</Button>
    </View>
  );
}

const Drawer = createDrawerNavigator();

export default function App() {
  return (
    <NavigationContainer>
      <Drawer.Navigator initialRouteName="Home">
        <Drawer.Screen name="Home" component={HomeScreen} />
        <Drawer.Screen name="Notifications" component={NotificationsScreen} />
      </Drawer.Navigator>
    </NavigationContainer>
  );
}

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Opening and closing drawer

To open and close drawer, use the following helpers:

Static

<Button onPress={() => navigation.openDrawer()}>Open drawer</Button>

/* content */

<DrawerItem
  label="Close drawer"
  onPress={() => props.navigation.closeDrawer()}
/>

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Dynamic

<Button onPress={() => navigation.openDrawer()}>Open drawer</Button>

/* content */

<DrawerItem
  label="Close drawer"
  onPress={() => props.navigation.closeDrawer()}
/>

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If you would like to toggle the drawer you call the following:

Static

<Button onPress={() => navigation.toggleDrawer()}>Toggle drawer</Button>

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Dynamic

<Button onPress={() => navigation.toggleDrawer()}>Toggle drawer</Button>

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Each of these functions, behind the scenes, are simply dispatching actions:

Static

<Button onPress={() => navigation.dispatch(DrawerActions.openDrawer())}>
  Open drawer
</Button>

/* content */

<DrawerItem
  label="Close drawer"
  onPress={() => props.navigation.dispatch(DrawerActions.closeDrawer())}
/>
<DrawerItem
  label="Toggle drawer"
  onPress={() => props.navigation.dispatch(DrawerActions.toggleDrawer())}
/>

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Dynamic

<Button onPress={() => navigation.dispatch(DrawerActions.openDrawer())}>
  Open drawer
</Button>

/* content */

<DrawerItem
  label="Close drawer"
  onPress={() => props.navigation.dispatch(DrawerActions.closeDrawer())}
/>
<DrawerItem
  label="Toggle drawer"
  onPress={() => props.navigation.dispatch(DrawerActions.toggleDrawer())}
/>

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If you would like to determine if drawer is open or closed, you can do the following:

import { useDrawerStatus } from '@react-navigation/drawer';

// ...

const isDrawerOpen = useDrawerStatus() === 'open';