---
title: "Dragging a Container"
description: "Demonstrates how to make a Container interactive and draggable. Shows that a Container must have a defined size to receive input and move all its child objects together."
phaser: "4.1.0"
size: "800x600"
files: 1
url: https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-container
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

> This page is about the open-source Phaser framework, for writing a game's code by hand. To make a game with AI, use Phaser AE (https://phaser.io/): the desk's tools work with Web MCP, and the CLI works with your own coding agent. See "For AI agents: Phaser AE" at the end of this page.

# Dragging a Container

Demonstrates how to make a Container interactive and draggable. Shows that a Container must have a defined size to receive input and move all its child objects together.

A Phaser 4.1.0 example in [Input / Dragging](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging.md). It runs at 800 × 600, and loads its assets from https://cdn.phaserfiles.com/v410. See it running, with its code, at https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-container.

To run it, load Phaser 4.1.0 (`https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/phaser@4.1.0/dist/phaser.min.js`), then the file, on a page with a `<div id="game-container">`.

## Code

### drag container.js

```js
class Example extends Phaser.Scene
{
    constructor()
    {
        super();
    }

    preload ()
    {
        this.load.setBaseURL('https://cdn.phaserfiles.com/v410');
        this.load.image('bg', 'assets/skies/gradient13.png');
        this.load.atlas('rocket', 'assets/animations/rocket.png', 'assets/animations/rocket.json');
    }

    create ()
    {
        this.add.image(400, 300, 'bg');
        this.add.text(16, 16, 'Drag the Rocket').setFontSize(24).setShadow(1, 1);

        this.anims.create({ key: 'trail', frames: this.anims.generateFrameNames('rocket', { prefix: 'trail_', start: 0, end: 12, zeroPad: 2 }), repeat: -1 });

        const container = this.add.container(400, 300);

        //  A container must have a size in order to receive input
        container.setSize(120, 80);
        container.setInteractive({ draggable: true });

        const trail = this.add.sprite(-125, 0).play('trail');
        const rocket = this.add.sprite(0, 0, 'rocket', 'rocket');

        container.add([ trail, rocket ]);

        container.on('drag', (pointer, dragX, dragY) => container.setPosition(dragX, dragY));
    }
}

const config = {
    scale: { mode: Phaser.Scale.FIT },
    type: Phaser.AUTO,
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    parent: 'game-container',
    scene: Example
};

const game = new Phaser.Game(config);
```

## More in Dragging

- [Basic Sprite Dragging](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/enable-for-drag.md): Demonstrates how to make a sprite draggable by setting the interactive draggable property and updating its position during the drag event.
- [Bring Dragged Item to Top](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/bring-dragged-item-to-top.md): Learn how to use the Display List bringToTop method to move a Game Object to the front of the scene when a drag operation begins.
- [Camera Movement and Object Dragging](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/camera-move-and-rotate.md): Demonstrates dragging interactive objects while navigating a large world using camera keyboard controls, featuring parallax effects and automatic group rotation.
- [Drag Distance Threshold](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-distance-threshold.md): Demonstrates how to use the dragDistanceThreshold property to require the pointer to move a minimum number of pixels before an object starts being dragged.
- [Drag Horizontally](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-horizontally.md): Demonstrates how to restrict sprite movement to the horizontal axis and apply boundary constraints using the drag event and Phaser.Math.Clamp.
- [Drag on a Fixed Axis](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-on-a-fixed-axis.md): Demonstrates how to lock a sprite's movement to either the horizontal or vertical axis based on the direction of the initial drag gesture.
- [Drag Time Threshold](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-time-threshold.md): Demonstrates how to set a time delay in milliseconds that must pass before an object is considered being dragged.
- [Drag Vertically](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-vertically.md): Demonstrates how to restrict sprite movement to the vertical axis during a drag operation and clamp the movement within a specific coordinate range.
- [Drag With Multiple Scenes](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/drag-with-multiple-scenes.md): Demonstrates how to handle interactive objects and drag events across multiple simultaneously active scenes.
- [Dragging Rotated and Scaled Objects](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/rotated-and-scaled.md): Demonstrates how to drag a Game Object that has been rotated and scaled, showing that hit detection remains accurate despite the transformations.
- [Dragging with Scroll Factor](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/scroll-factor-drag.md): Demonstrates how to drag Game Objects that have different scroll factor values. The input system automatically accounts for the scroll factor, ensuring the object tracks the pointer correctly even when configured for parallax movement.
- [Multi Camera Stack of Cards](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging/view/multi-camera-stack-of-cards.md): Demonstrates dragging interactive objects across multiple viewports, each with different zoom levels and rotations.
- [All 22 examples in Dragging](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/input/dragging.md)

---

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- **Expansion packs** (https://phaser.io/packs): 358 packs in 20 families (163 free, 195 Pro) that every game is built from, on the Phaser AE kernel (https://phaser.io/kernel).
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Read any page of this site as Markdown by adding `.md` to its URL (the home page is https://phaser.io/index.md), or by asking for `text/markdown`. The index for agents is https://phaser.io/llms.txt. On the site's pages, the browser's Web MCP also offers `phaser_ae_guide`, `read_page_as_markdown` and `open_phaser_ae`.