Popovers

Documentation and examples for adding BootstrapVue popovers to any element on your site, using Bootstrap v4 CSS for styling and animations. Popovers can be triggered by hovering, focusing, or clicking an element, and can contain both content and a title heading. Popovers are tooltips on steroids.

Overview

Use the v-b-popover directive on any element or component where you would like a popover to appear.

<div class="text-center my-3">
  <b-button v-b-popover.hover="'I am popover content!'" title="Popover Title">Hover Me</b-button>
</div>

<!-- b-popover.vue -->

Things to know when using the popover directive:

  • Popovers rely on the 3rd party library Popper.js for positioning.
  • Popovers require BootstrapVue's custom SCSS/CSS in order to function correctly, and for variants.
  • If both title and content is not provided (or are an empty string), the popover will not show.
  • Specify container: 'body' (default) to avoid rendering problems in more complex components (like input groups, button groups, etc).
  • Triggering popovers on hidden elements will not work.
  • Popovers for disabled elements must be triggered on a wrapper element.
  • When triggered from hyperlinks that span multiple lines, popovers will be centered. Use white-space: nowrap; on your <a>s, <b-link>s or <router-link>s b to avoid this behavior.
  • Elements that trigger popovers should be in the document tab sequence. Add tabindex="0" if required.

Positioning

Twelve options are available for positioning: top, topleft, topright, right, righttop, rightbottom, bottom, bottomleft, bottomright, left, lefttop, and leftbottom aligned. Positioning is relative to the trigger element.

Popover top

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover topleft

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover topright

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover right

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover righttop

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover rightbottom

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover bottom

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover bottomleft

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover bottomright

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover left

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover lefttop

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Popover leftbottom

Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Live example

<div>
  <b-container fluid>
    <b-row class="text-center">
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.top="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Top</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.right="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Right</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.left="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Left</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.bottom="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Bottom</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.topright="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Top right</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.topleft="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Top left</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.bottomright="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Bottom right</b-button>
      </b-col>
       <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.bottomleft="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Bottom left</b-button>
      </b-col>
     <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.lefttop="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Left top</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.leftbottom="'Popover!'" variant="primary">Left bottom</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.righttop="'Popover!'" variant="primary">right top</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.rightbottom="'Popover!'" variant="primary">right bottom</b-button>
      </b-col>
    </b-row>
  </b-container>
</div>

<!-- b-popover-positioning.vue -->

Triggers

Popovers can be triggered (opened/closed) via any combination of click, hover and focus. The default trigger is click. Or a trigger of manual can be specified, where the popover can only be opened or closed programmatically.

If a popover has more than one trigger, then all triggers must be cleared before the popover will close. I.e. if a popover has the trigger focus click, and it was opened by focus, and the user then clicks the trigger element, they must click it again and move focus to close the popover.

<div>
  <b-container fluid>
    <h5>Triggers</h5>
    <b-row class="text-center">
      <b-col md="6" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover="'Popover!'" variant="outline-success">Click (default)</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="6" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover="'Popover!'" variant="outline-success">Hover</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="6" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.focus="'Popover!'" variant="outline-success">Focus</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="6" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.focus="'Popover!'" variant="outline-success">Hover + Focus</b-button>
      </b-col>
    </b-row>
  </b-container>
</div>

<!-- b-popover-triggers.vue -->

Making popovers work for keyboard and assistive technology users

You should only add popovers to HTML elements that are traditionally keyboard-focusable and interactive (such as links, buttons, or form controls). Although arbitrary HTML elements (such as <span>s) can be made focusable by adding the tabindex="0" attribute, this will add potentially annoying and confusing tab stops on non-interactive elements for keyboard users. In addition, most assistive technologies currently do not announce the popover in this situation.

Additionally, do not rely solely on hover as the trigger for your popover, as this will make your popovers impossible to trigger for keyboard-only users.

Caveats with focus trigger on <button> elements

For proper cross-browser and cross-platform behavior when using only the focus trigger, you must use an element that renders the <a> tag, not the <button> tag, and you also must include a tabindex="0" attribute.

The following will generate an <a> that looks like a button:

<b-button
  href="#"
  tabindex="0"
  v-b-popover.focus="'Popover content'"
  title="Popover title"
>
  Link button with popover directive
</b-button>

Dismiss on next click (self dismissing)

Use the focus trigger by itself to dismiss popovers on the next click that the user makes. focus also makes the popover activate on both focus and click (as a click makes the element receive focus, assuming it is in the tab sequence of the page).

You can, however, specify your trigger as click blur, which will make only a click activate the popover, and either a click on the element - or losing focus to another element or part of the document - will close the popover.

This blur trigger must be used in combination with the click trigger.

The following example shows the click blur use case. Popovers will only open on click of the button, and will close either on click of the button, or a click anywhere else (or a focus change via pressing the Tab key). Some call this behavior self dismissing.

<div>
  <b-container fluid>
    <b-row class="text-center">
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.click.blur="'Content'" title="Popover" variant="primary">Click</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.click.blur="'Content'" title="Popover" variant="primary">Click</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.click.blur="'Content'" title="Popover" variant="primary">Click</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.click.blur="'Content'" title="Popover" variant="primary">Click</b-button>
      </b-col>
    </b-row>
  </b-container>
</div>

<!-- b-popover-dismiss-next-click.vue -->

Heading and content

There are several options for provisioning the title and content of a popover.

By default, popover will use the title attribute of the element as the popover heading, and the content is passed as a string to the v-b-popover directive. The title and content can also be passed as an object to v-b-popover in the form of

const options = {
  title: 'This is the title',
  content: 'This is the content'
}

If your content has basic HTML markup, then you will also need to set the html property to true, or use the directive modifier html

// Object format with HTML:
const options = {
  title: 'This is the <strong>title</strong>',
  content: 'This is the <em>content<em>',
  html: true
}

Title and content can also be function references, which are called each time the popover is opened. To make a value returned by the function reactive while open, set the title or content to a new function reference whenever the content changes.

<template>
  <b-container fluid>
    <b-row class="text-center">
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover="'Content!'" title="Title from title attribute" variant="success">
          Title + Content
        </b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button
          v-b-popover.hover="{title:'Popover', content:'This is the content of popover'}"
          variant="success"
        >
          Config Object
        </b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover="popoverData" variant="success">Config from data</b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col md="3" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover.html="popoverMethod" title="Popover with HTML" variant="success">
          Method
        </b-button>
      </b-col>
    </b-row>
    <b-row class="text-center">
      <b-col cols="12" class="py-3">
        <b-button v-b-popover.hover="popoverConfig" variant="success">Config Object</b-button>
      </b-col>
    </b-row>
  </b-container>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    data() {
      return {
        date: new Date(),
        counter: 0,
        timer: null
      }
    },
    computed: {
      popoverConfig() {
        // Both title and content specified as a function in this example
        // and will be called the each time the popover is opened
        return {
          html: true,
          title: () => {
            // Note this is called only when the popover is opened
            return 'Hello <b>Popover:</b> ' + ++this.counter
          },
          content: () => {
            // Note this is called only when the popover is opened
            return 'The date is:<br><em>' + new Date() + '</em>'
          }
        }
      },
      popoverData() {
        return {
          title: 'Popover Title',
          content: 'The date is ' + this.date
        }
      }
    },
    mounted() {
      this.timer = setInterval(() => {
        this.date = new Date()
      }, 1000)
    },
    beforeDestroy() {
      clearInterval(this.timer)
    },
    methods: {
      popoverMethod() {
        // Returns the content as a string
        // Will be called each time the popover is opened
        return '<strong>' + new Date() + '</strong>'
      }
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-popover-content.vue -->

Variants and custom class

BootstrapVue's popovers support contextual color variants via our custom CSS, either by using directive modifiers or config options:

<template>
  <b-container fluid>
    <b-row class="text-center">
      <b-col>
        <b-button
          v-b-popover.hover.v-danger="{ content: 'Popover content' }"
          title="Danger variant"
        >
          Danger Modifier
        </b-button>
      </b-col>
      <b-col>
        <b-button
          v-b-popover.hover="{ variant: 'info',  content: 'Popover content' }"
          title="Info variant"
        >
          Info Config
        </b-button>
      </b-col>
    </b-row>
  </b-container>
</template>

<!-- b-popover-variants.vue -->

Bootstrap default theme variants are: danger, warning, success, primary, secondary, info, light, and dark. You can change or add additional variants via Bootstrap SCSS variables

A custom class can be applied to the popover outer wrapper

by using the customClass option property:

<b-button
  v-b-popover.hover="{ customClass: 'my-popover-class', content: 'Popover content' }"
  title="Popover"
>
  Button
</b-button>

Directive syntax and usage

<b-button v-b-popover:[container].[mod].[mod].[...].[mod]="<value>">Button</b-button>

Where [container] can be (optional):

  • An element ID (minus the #) to place the popover markup in, when visible
  • If not provided, popovers are appended to the <body> when visible

Where [mod] can be (all optional):

  • Positioning: top, bottom, left, right, auto; or the offset alignment positions topleft, topright, bottomleft, bottomright, lefttop, leftbottom, righttop, or rightbottom (last one found wins, defaults to right).
  • Event trigger: click, hover, focus, blur (if none specified, defaults to click. The blur trigger is a close handler only, and if specified by itself, will be converted to focus). Use manual if you only want to control the visibility manually.
  • nofade to turn off animation.
  • html to enable rendering raw HTML. by default HTML is escaped and converted to text.
  • A delay value in the format of d### (where ### is in ms, defaults to 50), applied to both hide and show.
  • A show delay value in the format of ds### (where ### is in ms, defaults to 50), applied to show trigger only.
  • A hide delay value in the format of dh### (where ### is in ms, defaults to 50), applied to hide trigger only.
  • An offset value in pixels in the format of o### (where ### is the number of pixels, defaults to 0. Negative values are allowed). Note if an offset is supplied, then the alignment positions will fallback to one of top, bottom, left, or right.
  • A boundary setting of window or viewport. The element to constrain the visual placement of the popover. If not specified, the boundary defaults to the trigger element's scroll parent (in most cases this will suffice).
  • A contextual variant in the form of v-XXX (where XXX is the color variant name).

Where <value> can be (optional):

  • A string containing the content of the popover
  • A function reference to generate the content of the popover (receives one argument which is a reference to the DOM element triggering the popover)
  • An object containing more complex configuration of popover, See below for available options.

Options configuration object properties:

Property Type Default Description
animation Boolean true Apply a CSS fade transition to the popover.
container String ID or HTMLElement or false false Appends the popover to a specific element. Example: container: '#body'. This option is particularly useful in that it allows you to position the popover in the flow of the document near the triggering element - which will prevent the popover from floating away from the triggering element during a window resize. When set to false the popover will be appended to body, or if the trigger element is inside a modal it will append to the modal's container.
delay Number or Object 50 Delay showing and hiding the popover (ms). If a number is supplied, delay is applied to both hide/show. Object structure is: delay: { "show": 500, "hide": 100 }
html Boolean false Allow HTML in the popover. If true, HTML tags in the popover's title and content will be rendered in the tooltip. If false, the title and content will be inserted as plain text. Use text if you're worried about XSS attacks.
placement String or Function 'top' How to position the popover - auto, top, bottom, left, right, topleft, topright, bottomleft, bottomright, lefttop, leftbottom, righttop, or rightbottom. When auto is specified, it will dynamically reorient the tooltip.
title String or Function '' Default title value if title attribute isn't present. If a function is given, it must return a string.
content String or Function '' Default content value. If a function is given, it must return a string.
trigger String 'hover focus' How tooltip is triggered: click, hover, focus. You may pass multiple triggers; separate them with a space. Specify 'manual' if you are only going to show and hide the tooltip programmatically.
offset Number or String 0 Offset of the popover relative to its target. For more information refer to Popper.js's offset docs.
fallbackPlacement String or Array 'flip' Allow to specify which position Popper will use on fallback. Can be flip, clockwise, counterclockwise or an array of placements. For more information refer to Popper.js's behavior docs.
boundary String ID or HTMLElement 'scrollParent' The container that the popover will be constrained visually. The default should suffice in most cases, but you may need to change this if your target element is in a small container with overflow scroll. Supported values: 'scrollParent' (default), 'viewport', 'window', or a reference to an HTML element.
boundaryPadding Number 5 Amount of pixel used to define a minimum distance between the boundaries and the popover. This makes sure the popover always has a little padding between the edges of its container.
variant String null Contextual color variant for the popover.
customClass String null A custom classname to apply to the popover outer wrapper element.
id String null An ID to use on the popover root element. If none is provided, one will automatically be generated. If you do provide an ID, it must be guaranteed to be unique on the rendered page.
disabled Boolean false Set to true to disable the popover

Usage

Simplest usage:

v-b-popover="'This is a Popover!'"

or use the element's title attribute for the popover header:

v-b-popover title="This is a popover header"
v-b-popover="'This is popover content'" title="This is popover header"

or provide an object for title and content:

v-b-popover="{title:'Popover header', content:'Popover content'}"

Enable HTML content/title:

v-b-popover.html="'<em>Emphasis</em> in content'" title="<strong>Bolded title</strong>"

Placement examples:

v-b-popover.top

Trigger examples:

v-b-popover => Default of click
v-b-popover.hover => Hover only
v-b-popover.click => Click only
v-b-popover.hover.focus => Both hover and focus

Combo:

v-b-popover.hover.bottom => Show on hover and place at bottom
v-b-popover.bottom.hover => Same as above
v-b-popover.bottom.click.html => Show on click and place at bottom with HTML content

Hiding and showing popovers via $root events

You can close (hide) all open popovers by emitting the bv::hide::popover event on $root:

this.$root.$emit('bv::hide::popover')

To close a specific popover, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the popover (if one was provided in the config object) as the first argument:

this.$root.$emit('bv::hide::popover', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To open a specific popover, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the popover (if one was provided in the config object) as the first argument when emitting the bv::show::popover event:

this.$root.$emit('bv::show::popover', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To open all popovers simultaneously, omit the id argument when emitting the bv::show::popover event.

These events work for both the component and directive versions of popover.

Note the trigger element must exist in the DOM and be in a visible state in order for the popover to instantiate and show.

Disabling and enabling popovers via $root events

You can disable all popovers by emitting the bv::disable::popover event on $root:

this.$root.$emit('bv::disable::popover')

To disable a specific popover, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the popover (if one was provided in the config object) as the first argument:

this.$root.$emit('bv::disable::popover', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To enable a specific popover, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the popover (if one was provided in the config object) as the first argument when emitting the bv::enable::popover event:

this.$root.$emit('bv::enable::popover', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To enable all popovers simultaneously, omit the id argument when emitting the bv::enable::popover event.

These events work for both the component and directive versions of popover.

Note the trigger element must exist in the DOM in order for the popover to be enabled or disabled.

See also

Directive reference

Importing individual directives

You can import individual directives into your project via the following named exports:

DirectiveNamed ExportImport Path
v-b-popoverVBPopoverbootstrap-vue

Example:

import { VBPopover } from 'bootstrap-vue'
// Note: Vue automatically prefixes the directive name with 'v-'
Vue.directive('b-popover', VBPopover)

Importing as a Vue.js plugin

This plugin includes all of the above listed individual directives.

Named ExportImport Path
VBPopoverPluginbootstrap-vue

Example:

import { VBPopoverPlugin } from 'bootstrap-vue'
Vue.use(VBPopoverPlugin)