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:

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())

  
    
  
  Navbar
  

    

      

        Home (current)
      
      

        Features
      
      

        Pricing
      
      

        
          Dropdown link
        
        

          Action
          Another action
          Something else here
        
      
    
  

---

v4.1.2 shiplist introduced this change to how dropdowns work, making the solution above no longer work.
Here's the up to date solution for having the dropdown open on hover in v4.1.2 and above:

function toggleDropdown (e) {
  const _d = $(e.target).closest('.dropdown'),
    _m = $('.dropdown-menu', _d);
  setTimeout(function(){
    const shouldOpen = e.type !== 'click' && _d.is(':hover');
    _m.toggleClass('show', shouldOpen);
    _d.toggleClass('show', shouldOpen);
    $('[data-toggle="dropdown"]', _d).attr('aria-expanded', shouldOpen);
  }, e.type === 'mouseleave' ? 300 : 0);
}

$('body')
  .on('mouseenter mouseleave','.dropdown',toggleDropdown)
  .on('click', '.dropdown-menu a', toggleDropdown);

function toggleDropdown (e) {
  const _d = $(e.target).closest('.dropdown'),
      _m = $('.dropdown-menu', _d);
  setTimeout(function(){
    const shouldOpen = e.type !== 'click' && _d.is(':hover');
    _m.toggleClass('show', shouldOpen);
    _d.toggleClass('show', shouldOpen);
    $('[data-toggle="dropdown"]', _d).attr('aria-expanded', shouldOpen);
  }, e.type === 'mouseleave' ? 300 : 0);
}

$('body')
  .on('mouseenter mouseleave','.dropdown',toggleDropdown)
  .on('click', '.dropdown-menu a', toggleDropdown);

/* not needed, prevents page reload for SO example on menu link clicked */
$('.dropdown a').on('click tap', e => e.preventDefault())

  Navbar
  
    
  

  

    

      

        Home (current)
      
      

        Link
      
      

        
          Dropdown
        
        

          Action
          Another action
          

          Something else here
        
      
      

        Disabled
      
    
    

      
      Search
    
  

---

Important note: If using the jQuery solution, it is important to remove the CSS one (or the dropdown won't close when .dropdown-toggle is clicked or when an menu option is clicked).