---
title: "React useState Dropdown — CSS group-hover vs useState for Playwright"
source: daily/2026-05-10.md
updated: 2026-05-10
tags: [react, playwright, testing, css, dropdown, hover]
---

# React useState Dropdown — CSS `group-hover:` vs `useState` for Playwright

## Problem

Playwright's `hover()` on a trigger element does not reliably open a React dropdown that uses `useState` to toggle visibility:

```tsx
// React component
const [open, setOpen] = useState(false)

return (
  <div onMouseEnter={() => setOpen(true)} onMouseLeave={() => setOpen(false)}>
    <button>Menu</button>
    {open && <div className="dropdown">...</div>}  {/* conditional render */}
  </div>
)
```

`page.hover('[data-testid="menu-trigger"]')` causes the dropdown to appear and immediately disappear before the next Playwright action can interact with it. The issue is a React render-cycle lag: `hover()` fires `mouseenter`, React schedules a re-render, but `mouseleave` may fire before the re-render commits (especially in headless Chrome).

## Fix: Pure CSS Hover

Replace `useState` toggle with CSS `group-hover:` (Tailwind) or `:hover` pseudo-class:

```tsx
// No useState needed
return (
  <div className="group relative">
    <button>Menu</button>
    <div className="hidden group-hover:block absolute ...">
      ...dropdown content...
    </div>
  </div>
)
```

CSS hover is handled by the browser's rendering engine synchronously — no React render cycle involved. Playwright `hover()` reliably keeps the element in the hover state for subsequent actions.

## Tradeoff

CSS `group-hover:` doesn't support keyboard navigation (`:focus-within` can supplement this). For production components that need full accessibility, use a headless UI library (Radix UI, Headless UI) which manages hover state internally with proper ARIA.

## When `useState` Is Required

If the dropdown must stay open after a click (not just hover), `useState` is appropriate. In Playwright, use `click()` instead of `hover()` in that case, and add a small `waitFor` after click if needed.
