html - How to implement a Navbar Dropdown Hover in Bootstrap v4?

Question

I am a bit confused on the new bootstrap version since they changed dropdown menus to divs:

<nav class="navbar navbar-toggleable-md navbar-light bg-faded">
  <button class="navbar-toggler navbar-toggler-right" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown" aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
    <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
  </button>
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
  <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown">
    <ul class="navbar-nav">
      <li class="nav-item active">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item dropdown">
        <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="http://example.com" id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">
          Dropdown link
        </a>
        <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdownMenuLink">
          <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a>
          <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a>
          <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a>
        </div>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</nav>

Do you guys have any idea to get a hover dropdown in the Dropdown link in that snippet without adding additional script code (only css and script from bootstrap)? I already saw the bootstrap css classes and I can't relate with the ones in bootstrap V3 (I accomplish this without adding jquery in V3).

Answer 1

Simple, CSS only solution:

.dropdown:hover>.dropdown-menu {
  display: block;
}

When clicked, it will still get the class show toggled to it (and will remain open when no longer hovered).

---

To get around this properly is to use events and properties reserved to pointer based devices: jQuery's mouseenter, mouseleave and :hover. Should work smoothly, intuitively, while not interfering at all with how the dropdown works on touch based devices. Try it out, let me know if it works for you:

Complete jQuery solution (touch untouched):

Pre v4.1.2 solution (deprecated):

$('body').on('mouseenter mouseleave','.dropdown',function(e){
  var _d=$(e.target).closest('.dropdown');
  if (e.type === 'mouseenter')_d.addClass('show');
  setTimeout(function(){
    _d.toggleClass('show', _d.is(':hover'));
    $('[data-toggle="dropdown"]', _d).attr('aria-expanded',_d.is(':hover'));
  },300);
});

$('body').on('mouseenter mouseleave','.dropdown',function(e){
  var _d=$(e.target).closest('.dropdown');
  if (e.type === 'mouseenter')_d.addClass('show');
  setTimeout(function(){
    _d.toggleClass('show', _d.is(':hover'));
    $('[data-toggle="dropdown"]', _d).attr('aria-expanded',_d.is(':hover'));
  },300);
});

/* this is not needed, just prevents page reload when a dd link is clicked */
$('.dropdown a').on('click tap', e => e.preventDefault())

<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-alpha.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.slim.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tether/1.4.0/js/tether.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-alpha.6/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>

<nav class="navbar navbar-toggleable-md navbar-light bg-faded">
  <button class="navbar-toggler navbar-toggler-right" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown" aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
    <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
  </button>
  <a class="navbar-brand" href>Navbar</a>
  <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown">
    <ul class="navbar-nav">
      <li class="nav-item active">
        <a class="nav-link" href>Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href>Features</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href>Pricing</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item dropdown">
        <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">
          Dropdown link
        </a>
        <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdownMenuLink">
          <a class="dropdown-item" href>Action</a>
          <a class="dropdown-item" href>Another action</a>
          <a class="dropdown-item" href>Something else here</a>
        </div>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</nav>