Bootstrap 5 Wont Collapse the Navbar When Nav Link Clicked on React

You want to implement a collapsible navbar in a React application using Bootstrap 5, and you’re encountering an issue where the navbar doesn’t collapse when a navigation link is clicked. This issue can occur due to various reasons, and I’ll provide some steps to help you troubleshoot and potentially fix the problem.

1. Check Bootstrap Installation

Ensure that you have Bootstrap 5 properly installed and included in your project. You should have Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript files included in your HTML or imported in your JavaScript file.

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<!-- Example: Include Bootstrap CSS in your HTML -->
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

<!-- Include Bootstrap JavaScript in your HTML -->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>

2. Verify Navbar Structure

Check if your Navbar structure is correctly set up with the appropriate classes. In Bootstrap 5, the navbar should have specific classes like navbar, navbar-expand-lg, and navbar-light to make it collapsible.

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<nav className="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light">
  {/* Navbar content here */}
</nav>

3. Ensure React Router Setup

Make sure that React Router is correctly set up in your application. Ensure that the useLocation hook and routing components are used correctly.

4. Check Event Handlers

In your provided code, you have defined handleNavCollapse and handleToggleNavCollapse functions. Ensure that these functions are working as expected. You can add console.log statements inside them to see if they are being called when the button and links are clicked.

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const handleNavCollapse = () => {
  console.log('Nav link clicked');
  setNavCollapsed(true);
}

const handleToggleNavCollapse = () => {
  console.log('Toggle button clicked');
  setNavCollapsed(!navCollapsed);
}

5. Confirm navCollapsed State

Check the state variable navCollapsed to see if it is properly changing its value when the toggle button is clicked. Ensure that this state variable is being used to conditionally render the collapsed or expanded navbar.

6. Debug in Browser Developer Tools

Use your browser’s developer tools (e.g., Chrome DevTools) to inspect the elements and console for any errors or unexpected behavior. This can help you identify any issues with CSS classes, event handlers, or JavaScript errors.

7. Isolate the Issue

If the problem persists, try to isolate the issue by creating a minimal example. Create a new React component with a simplified Navbar and routing setup to see if the problem still occurs. This can help identify if the issue is specific to this component or a more general problem in your application.

By following these steps and debugging your code, you should be able to identify and resolve the issue with your Bootstrap 5 collapsible navbar in your React application.