React Component, with a nested component access this.props - reactjs

I am stuck with a small challenge, and that is the how to have a sub-component access things like this.props (specifically looking for this.props.history). My code is essentially;
// app.js, setup a router...
return (
<Router>
<Route path="/componenta" component={ComponentA}/>
</Router>
);
// Component A has access to this.props
class ComponentA extends Component {
componentDidMount() {
console.log('The props are ', this.props);
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>Hello from Component A</h1>
<ComponentB/>
</div>
);
}
}
// ComponentB does not have access to this.props,
// and I know it is because it is a sub-component here.
class ComponentB extends Component {
componentDidMount() {
console.log('The props are ', this.props);
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>Hello from Component B</h1>
</div>
);
}
}
I feel like it is something simple I am missing, any suggestions?
Thanks.

React router automatically passes ComponentA props that belong to react router. That's why you see them in ComponentA. It will provide match, location, and history (docs).
You can think of Route as being something like this:
class Route extends React.Component {
render() {
if (props.path == *actual_url*) {
return React.createElement(props.component, {history, match, location});
// Which in your case results in
// <ComponentA history={history} location={location} match={match} />
} else {
return null;
}
}
}
Note: This is a very simplified illustration. Actual Route class is here and is a little more complicated.
So you have to manage those props from there. To access them in children components, you will need to pass the props you want explicitly like this:
<ComponentB
history={this.props.history}
location={this.props.location} // If needed
match={this.props.match} // If needed
/>
Or if you know you want to pass all props to the nested component, you could use this shorthand:
<ComponentB {...this.props} /> // will result in same props as above example
Personally I prefer to be explicit and use the first example, as just doing {...this.props} tends to lead to components receiving way more props than they need. But that much is up to you.

Change your line where you use ComponentB to include history if you want to use it inside ComponentB:
<ComponentB history={this.props.history} />

You're failing to pass props from ComponentA to ComponentB.
return (
<div>
<h1>Hello from Component A</h1>
<ComponentB passedProps={this.props} />
</div>
);

welcome to SO, i see that you are not passing any prop to the ComponentB so you have to do something like this;
<ComponentB history={this.props.history}/>
And then you will be able to use the history on your ComponentB

Related

ReactJS, React-Router: Calling parent function

I am working on a React App, trying to call a parent method from a child component, some code of the parent component below:
class NavigationBar extends Component {
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.state={isLoggedIn: false};
}
updateLoginState(){
alert("Login from NavigationBar");
}
GetBar() {
//const isLoggedIn = this.props.isLoggedIn;
if (false){ //isLoggedIn
return this.UserNavBar();
}
return this.StrangerNavBar();
}
StrangerNavBar(){
return (
<div>
<HashRouter>
<div>
{/* ... */}
<div className="content">
<Route exact path="/LoginCC" loginUpdate={this.updateLoginState} component={LoginCC} />
</div>
</div>
</HashRouter>
</div>
);
}
render() {
return (
this.GetBar()
);
}
}
export default NavigationBar;
This component is supposed to redirect the user to different content pages based on whether or not he is logged in, using a Router. If a button is clicked in LoginCC.js the method updateLoginState should be invoked which just displays a message for now. The child content page LoginCC.js looks as follows:
class LoginCC extends Component {
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.state = {isLoggedIn: false};
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<HashRouter>
{/* ... */}
<Button variant="primary" size="lg" block onClick={this.props.loginUpdate}>
Log in
</Button>
{/* ... */}
</HashRouter>
</div>
);
}
}
export default LoginCC;
I passed the method reference as a prop to LoginCC when rendering this component using the Router, so a message should pop up if I press the button, but nothing happens.
Am I passing the prop incorrectly or something else I've missed? I'm new to React so any help is appreciated.
Route doesn't pass any custom props to components. You should use other method to pass functions.
One of solutions is:
<Route exact path="/LoginCC" render={
props => <LoginCC {...props} loginUpdate={this.updateLoginState}/>
} />
Note that updateLoginState will not get this when called. You should either bind it or declare it as an arrow function to get the correct this.
Also check the Context documentation.

React Context API + withRouter - can we use them together?

I built a large application where a single button on the navbar opens a modal.
I'm keeping track of the modalOpen state using context API.
So, user clicks button on navbar. Modal Opens. Modal has container called QuoteCalculator.
QuoteCalculator looks as follows:
class QuoteCalculator extends React.Component {
static contextType = ModalContext;
// ...
onSubmit = () => {
// ...
this.context.toggleModal();
this.props.history.push('/quote');
// ..
};
render() {
//...
return(<Question {...props} next={this.onSubmit} />;)
}
}
export default withRouter(QuoteCalculator);
Now, everything works as expected. When the user submits, I go to the right route. I just see the following warning on the console
index.js:1446 Warning: withRouter(QuoteCalculator): Function
components do not support contextType.
I'm tempted to ignore the warning, but I don't think its a good idea.
I tried using Redirect alternatively. So something like
QuoteCalculator looks as follows:
class QuoteCalculator extends React.Component {
static contextType = ModalContext;
// ...
onSubmit = () => {
// ...
this.context.toggleModal();
this.setState({done: true});
// ..
};
render() {
let toDisplay;
if(this.state.done) {
toDisplay = <Redirect to="/quote"/>
} else {
toDipslay = <Question {...props} next={this.onSubmit} />;
}
return(<>{toDisplay}</>)
}
}
export default QuoteCalculator;
The problem with this approach is that I kept on getting the error
You tried to redirect to the same route you're currently on
Also, I'd rather not use this approach, just because then I'd have to undo the state done (otherwise when user clicks button again, done is true, and we'll just get redirected) ...
Any idea whats going on with withRouter and history.push?
Here's my app
class App extends Component {
render() {
return (
<Layout>
<Switch>
<Route path="/quote" component={Quote} />
<Route path="/pricing" component={Pricing} />
<Route path="/about" component={About} />
<Route path="/faq" component={FAQ} />
<Route path="/" exact component={Home} />
<Redirect to="/" />
</Switch>
</Layout>
);
}
}
Source of the warning
Unlike most higher order components, withRouter is wrapping the component you pass inside a functional component instead of a class component. But it's still calling hoistStatics, which is taking your contextType static and moving it to the function component returned by withRouter. That should usually be fine, but you've found an instance where it's not. You can check the repo code for more details, but it's short so I'm just going to drop the relevant lines here for you:
function withRouter(Component) {
// this is a functional component
const C = props => {
const { wrappedComponentRef, ...remainingProps } = props;
return (
<Route
children={routeComponentProps => (
<Component
{...remainingProps}
{...routeComponentProps}
ref={wrappedComponentRef}
/>
)}
/>
);
};
// ...
// hoistStatics moves statics from Component to C
return hoistStatics(C, Component);
}
It really shouldn't negatively impact anything. Your context will still work and will just be ignored on the wrapping component returned from withRouter. However, it's not difficult to alter things to remove that problem.
Possible Solutions
Simplest
Since all you need in your modal is history.push, you could just pass that as a prop from the modal's parent component. Given the setup you described, I'm guessing the modal is included in one place in the app, fairly high up in the component tree. If the component that includes your modal is already a Route component, then it has access to history and can just pass push along to the modal. If it's not, then wrap the parent component in withRouter to get access to the router props.
Not bad
You could also make your modal component a simple wrapper around your modal content/functionality, using the ModalContext.Consumer component to pass the needed context down as props instead of using contextType.
const Modal = () => (
<ModalContext.Consumer>
{value => <ModalContent {...value} />}
</ModalContext.Consumer>
)
class ModalContent extends React.Component {
onSubmit = () => {
// ...
this.props.toggleModal()
this.props.history.push('/quote')
// ..
}
// ...
}

React: Is it bad practice to import a child component directly rather than pass in as a dependency?

I may be over thinking this, but I am curious if importing a child component directly is bad practice with regards to coupling and testing.
Below is a simple example:
import Header from './header.jsx';
class Widget extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<div>
<Header></Header>
<div>{this.props.importantContent}</div>
</div>
)
}
}
To me it looks like there is now coupling between Widget and Header. With regards to testing, I don't see an easy way to mock the Header component when testing the Widget component.
How do other larger React apps handle cases like this? Should I pass Header in as a prop? If using react-redux, I can inject header with the Connect method like below to reduce boilerplate. Is that sound?
import { connect } from 'react-redux';
import Header from './header.jsx';
class Widget extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<div>
{this.props.header}
<div>{this.props.importantContent}</div>
</div>
)
}
}
const mapStateToProps = state => {
return {
header: Header
}
}
export default connect(mapStateToProps)(Widget)
I am interested is simple doing what the community is generally doing. I see that one solution is doing shallow rendering to test on the main part of the component and not the child components using something like Enzyme.
Thoughts or other ideas?
Passing elements / components as props is a good idea. Having default props is a good idea too:
const Widget = ({
header = <div>Default Header.. </div>,
content = <div>Default Content.. </div>
}) =>
<div>
{header}
{content}
</div>
Then elsewhere in your app:
<Widget header={<Header title="Foo" />} content="content from props" />
No need to inject using connect
You can also pass a component, not just an element if you want to interact with props / send data back to parent:
const Widget = ({
Header = props => <div>Default Header.. </div>,
Content = props => <div>Default Content.. </div>
}) =>
<div>
<Header />
<Content />
</div>
Elsewhere:
<Widget Header={Header} Content={props => <Content />} />
As long as the component always renders the same thing it can be directly rendered as a child rather than the parent.
If all other portions of the Component remain constant and only the Header can be different across pages then you could actually implement it as an HOC instead of passing it as a props
const MyCompFactory = ({CustomHeader = DefaultHeader}) => {
return class Widget extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<div>
<CustomHeader/>
<div>{this.props.importantContent}</div>
</div>
)
}
}
}
and use it like
const CustomComponent = MyCompFactory({CustomComponent: Header})
as long as testing is concerned in your case, you could just shallow render your component and then Search if the Header component is rendered something like
import Header from 'path/to/header'
const component = shallow(
<Widget {...customProps}/>
)
test('test' , () => {
expect(component.find(Header).exists()).toBe(true)
})

React. How to pass props inside a component defined on a prop?

If we have the following structure on a React application:
class BasePage extends React.Component {
render() {
return <div>
{this.props.header}
{/*<Header title={this.props.title} />*/}
</div>
}
}
BasePage.defaultProps = {
header: <header>Base Page</header>
}
class Header extends React.Component {
render() {
return <header>
<h1>{this.props.title}</h1>
</header>
}
}
class TestPage extends BasePage {
}
TestPage.defaultProps = {
header: <Header />
}
class Root extends React.Component {
render() {
return <div>
<TestPage
title="Test Page Title"
/>
</div>
}
}
ReactDOM.render(
<Root />,
document.getElementById('root')
)
If we have a common component like <Header /> we can pass a title property easily like <Header title={this.props.title} />.
But how can we pass props inside a component if this component is defined as a prop itself?
For example, how can we do something like:
{this.props.header title={this.props.title}}
So it will render the Test Page Title correctly?
Important note: we could overwrite the render method inside the Test component. But the purpose of this question is to solve this problem without doing this.
Firstly, props are read-only and a component should never be update it's own props, so lines like
componentWillMount() {
this.props.header = <header>Base Page</header>
}
should not be used. defaultProps can do what I think you are trying to do:
class BasePage extends React.Component {
render() {
return <div>
{this.props.header}
{/*<Header title={this.props.title} />*/}
</div>
}
}
BasePage.defaultProps = {
header: <header>Base Page</header>
}
Secondly, inheritance is not often done in React. I'm not saying don't do what your'e doing, but take a read of the docs and see if there is perhaps a simpler way to achieve the same goals.
Finally, setting props on components passed as props. There are a couple different ways to do this.
If you pass the Component rather than the <Component /> you can add props like normal:
ChildComponent = (props) => {
const HeaderComponent = props.header
return <HeaderComponent title="..." />
}
ParentComponent = () => <ChildComponent header={Header} />
You can clone the element to override props:
ChildComponent = (props) => {
const HeaderComponent = React.cloneElement(props.header. { title: "..." })
return <HeaderComponent />
}
ParentComponent = () => <ChildComponent header={<Header />} />
NOTE: I have used functional components instead of class components for brevity, but the concepts are the same.
This seems like a great use case for React.cloneElement.
React.cloneElement(this.props.header, { title: this.props.title });
It returns a clone of the component with the new props included.

reactjs - Is it possible to pass a property to a component as following?

wonder if it is possible to pass a component a property as following
ReactDOM.render(
<ContainerBox anotherComponent={<AnotherComponent />} />, document.body);
And then insider the ContainerBox I want to pass AnotherComponent a property in following way.
class ContainerBox extends React.Component {
clickHandler() {
//does something fun
}
render () {
return (
this.props.anotherComponent(this.clickHandler) //<----- is it possible to pass properties from here?
);
}
}
Is it possible to pass things from ContainerBox to AnotherComponent from that position?
ContainerBox has a clickHandler function which I want to pass to AnotherComponent. It is possible to do so if I move <AnotherComponent /> to inside of render() instead. But then I cannot reuse ContainerBox for other components without first copying the whole ContainerBox.
Does it make sense? Hope you can understand.
UPDATED code example
Yes, that is possible. However, it's more common to do it like this
ReactDOM.render(
<ContainerBox><AnotherComponent /></ContainerBox>, document.body);
And in ContainerBox
class ContainerBox extends React.Component {
render () {
return (
this.props.children
);
}
}
Read more about reacts this.props.children here: https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/multiple-components.html#children
Edit:
I just want to point out that in this example, we are not passing a component, but an element (the result of rendering the component).
It's also possible to pass components, like this:
<Foo buttonComponent={FancyButtonComponent} />
and in Foo:
render() {
Button = this.props.buttonComponent;
return (
<div>
...
<Button />
</div>
);
}

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