Replace forwarded ref instances of useProvidedRefOrCreate with useMergedRefs

[iansan5653]

Closes https://github.com/github/primer/issues/6788

Per-component changes covered by new feature flag: https://devportal.githubapp.com/feature-flags/primer_react_merged_forwarded_refs/overview

---

In #7638 I created a useMergedRefs hook and migrated all instances of useRefObjectAsForwardedRef to it.

A similar pattern is using useProvidedRefOrCreate for this. It's typically used with a type cast and a ts-expect-error comment (❗):

const ref = useProvidedRefOrCreate(forwardedRef as RefObject<HTMLElement | null>)

// @ts-expect-error
return <div ref={ref} />

This is obviously problematic. The type errors are trying to point out the problem with this pattern: it will break if consumers pass ref callbacks. Ref callbacks are likely to become more and more common as React 19 has introduced ref callback cleanup functions, making ref callbacks a viable alternative to effects.

A much better pattern is to be consistent and use the same approach as in #7638:

const ref = useRef<HTMLElement>(null)
const combinedRef = useCombinedRefs(ref, forwardedRef)

return <div ref={combinedRef} />

Note, however, that I did not deprecate useProvidedRefOrCreate or remove all calls to it. There are still some valid use cases where refs can be passed in to refer to elements rendered outside the component. We most often see this in anchor refs. There are also some utility hooks that can create a ref internally or use a passed ref. These two cases are still valid; the case I'm targeting here is specifically around forwarded refs.

• Stacks on Update useMergedRefs to be React 19 compatible and public + deprecate useRefObjectAsForwardedRef and useProvidedRefOrCreate #7672

Changelog

New

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Rollout strategy

• Patch release
• Minor release
• Major release; if selected, include a written rollout or migration plan
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Testing & Reviewing

Merge checklist

• Added/updated tests
• Added/updated documentation
• Added/updated previews (Storybook)
• Changes are SSR compatible
• Tested in Chrome
• Tested in Firefox
• Tested in Safari
• Tested in Edge
• (GitHub staff only) Integration tests pass at github/github-ui (Learn more about how to run integration tests)

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[github-actions]

⚠️ Action required

👋 Hi, this pull request contains changes to the source code that github/github-ui depends on. If you are GitHub staff, test these changes with github/github-ui using the integration workflow. Or, apply the integration-tests: skipped manually label to skip these checks.

[primer]

🤖 Lint issues have been automatically fixed and committed to this PR.

[primer]

🤖 Lint issues have been automatically fixed and committed to this PR.

[github-actions]

Uh oh! @primer-integration[bot], at least one image you shared is missing helpful alt text. Check #7644 (comment) to fix the following violations:

• Images should have alternate text (alt text) at line 6

Alt text is an invisible description that helps screen readers describe images to blind or low-vision users. If you are using markdown to display images, add your alt text inside the brackets of the markdown image.

Learn more about alt text at Basic writing and formatting syntax: images on GitHub Docs.

🤖 Beep boop! This comment was added automatically by github/accessibility-alt-text-bot.

[github-actions]

Uh oh! @primer-integration[bot], at least one image you shared is missing helpful alt text. Check #7644 (comment) to fix the following violations:

• Images should have alternate text (alt text) at line 6

Alt text is an invisible description that helps screen readers describe images to blind or low-vision users. If you are using markdown to display images, add your alt text inside the brackets of the markdown image.

Learn more about alt text at Basic writing and formatting syntax: images on GitHub Docs.

🤖 Beep boop! This comment was added automatically by github/accessibility-alt-text-bot.

[github-actions]

Uh oh! @primer-integration[bot], at least one image you shared is missing helpful alt text. Check #7644 (comment) to fix the following violations:

• Images should have alternate text (alt text) at line 6

Alt text is an invisible description that helps screen readers describe images to blind or low-vision users. If you are using markdown to display images, add your alt text inside the brackets of the markdown image.

Learn more about alt text at Basic writing and formatting syntax: images on GitHub Docs.

🤖 Beep boop! This comment was added automatically by github/accessibility-alt-text-bot.

[github-actions]

Uh oh! @primer-integration[bot], at least one image you shared is missing helpful alt text. Check #7644 (comment) to fix the following violations:

• Images should have alternate text (alt text) at line 6

Alt text is an invisible description that helps screen readers describe images to blind or low-vision users. If you are using markdown to display images, add your alt text inside the brackets of the markdown image.

Learn more about alt text at Basic writing and formatting syntax: images on GitHub Docs.

🤖 Beep boop! This comment was added automatically by github/accessibility-alt-text-bot.

[github-actions]

Uh oh! @primer-integration[bot], at least one image you shared is missing helpful alt text. Check #7644 (comment) to fix the following violations:

• Images should have alternate text (alt text) at line 6

Alt text is an invisible description that helps screen readers describe images to blind or low-vision users. If you are using markdown to display images, add your alt text inside the brackets of the markdown image.

Learn more about alt text at Basic writing and formatting syntax: images on GitHub Docs.

🤖 Beep boop! This comment was added automatically by github/accessibility-alt-text-bot.

[github-actions]

Uh oh! @primer-integration[bot], at least one image you shared is missing helpful alt text. Check #7644 (comment) to fix the following violations:

• Images should have alternate text (alt text) at line 6

Alt text is an invisible description that helps screen readers describe images to blind or low-vision users. If you are using markdown to display images, add your alt text inside the brackets of the markdown image.

Learn more about alt text at Basic writing and formatting syntax: images on GitHub Docs.

🤖 Beep boop! This comment was added automatically by github/accessibility-alt-text-bot.

[primer]

🤖 Lint issues have been automatically fixed and committed to this PR.

[primer]

🤖 Lint issues have been automatically fixed and committed to this PR.

[iansan5653]

The integration CI appears to be failing because of a tooltip (which was previously broken by bad refs) getting in the way of an Escape keypress event when dragging and dropping. Fixed downstream by explicitly disabling the tooltip in that scenario in https://github.com/github/github-ui/pull/26124

[primer-integration]

Integration test results from github/github-ui PR:

  CI Failed
  VRT Running
  Projects Waiting

CI check runs linting, type checking, and unit tests. Check the workflow logs for specific failures.

Need help? If you believe this failure is unrelated to your changes, please reach out to the Primer team for assistance.