React force componentDidMount - reactjs

Question

I have the following:
import React from 'react';
import axios from 'axios';
class FirstName extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
submitted: false
};
}
getName () {
var name = this.refs.firstName.value;
this.setState(function() {
this.props.action(name);
});
}
handleSubmit (e) {
e.preventDefault();
this.setState({ submitted: true }, function() {
this.props.actionID(2);
this.props.activeNav('color');
});
}
render () {
return (
<div>
<h2>tell us your first name</h2>
<form>
<input
type="text"
ref="firstName"
onChange={this.getName.bind(this)}
/>
<div className="buttons-wrapper">
<button href="#">back</button>
<button onClick={this.handleSubmit.bind(this)}>continue</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
);
}
};
class PickColor extends React.Component {
backToPrevious (e) {
e.preventDefault();
this.props.actionID(1);
this.props.activeNav('name');
}
goToNext (e) {
e.preventDefault();
this.props.actionID(3);
this.props.activeNav('design');
this.props.displayIconsHolder(true);
}
getColorValue(event) {
this.props.color(event.target.getAttribute("data-color"));
}
render () {
var colors = ['red', 'purple', 'yellow', 'green', 'blue'],
colorsLink = [];
colors.forEach(el => {
colorsLink.push(<li
data-color={el}
key={el}
onClick={this.getColorValue.bind(this)}
ref={el}>
{el}
</li>
);
});
return (
<section>
<ul>
{colorsLink}
</ul>
<button onClick={this.backToPrevious.bind(this)}>back</button>
<button onClick={this.goToNext.bind(this)}>continue</button>
</section>
);
}
}
class ConfirmSingleIcon extends React.Component {
goBack () {
this.props.goBack();
}
confirmCaptionandIcon (event) {
var optionID = event.target.getAttribute("data-option-id"),
name = event.target.getAttribute("data-option-name");
this.props.setOptionID(optionID);
this.props.setIcon(1, name, optionID, false);
}
goNext () {
this.props.goNext();
}
render () {
console.log(this.props.currentState);
var options = [],
that = this;
this.props.iconOptionsList.forEach(function(el){
options.push(<li onClick={that.confirmCaptionandIcon.bind(that)} key={el.option} data-option-name={el.option} data-option-id={el.id}>{el.option}</li>);
});
return (
<div>
<h2>Choose your caption</h2>
<h3>
{this.props.selectedIcon}
</h3>
<ul>
{options}
</ul>
<button onClick={this.goBack.bind(this)} >back</button>
<button onClick={this.goNext.bind(this)} >confirm</button>
</div>
);
}
}
class ConfirmCaption extends React.Component {
handleClick () {
var currentState = this.props.currentState;
this.props.setIcon(currentState.icon_ID, currentState.selectedIcon, currentState.option_ID, true);
this.props.setIconVisiblity(true);
this.props.setIconListVisiblity(false);
}
render () {
console.log(this.props.currentState);
return (
<div>
<p onClick={this.handleClick.bind(this)}>confirm icon and caption</p>
</div>
);
}
}
class ChooseIcon extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
icons: [],
iconList: true,
confirmIcon: false,
confirmCaption: false,
selectedIconOptions: '',
icon_ID: '',
option_ID: '',
selectedIcon: ''
};
this.setOptionID = this.setOptionID.bind(this);
this.setIconVisiblity = this.setIconVisiblity.bind(this);
this.setIconListVisiblity = this.setIconListVisiblity.bind(this);
}
setOptionID (id) {
this.setState({ option_ID: id })
}
setIconVisiblity (onOff) {
this.setState({ confirmIcon: onOff })
}
setIconListVisiblity (onOff) {
this.setState({ iconList: onOff })
}
componentDidMount() {
var url = `http://local.tshirt.net/get-options`;
axios.get(url)
.then(res => {
this.setState({ icons:res.data.icons });
});
}
handleClick (event) {
var iconId = event.target.getAttribute("data-icon-id"),
that = this;
this.state.icons.forEach(function(el){
if(el.id == iconId){
that.setState(
{
confirmIcon: true,
iconList: false,
selectedIcon: el.name,
icon_ID: iconId,
selectedIconOptions: el.option
}
);
}
});
}
goBack () {
this.setState(
{
confirmIcon: false,
iconList: true
}
);
}
goNext () {
this.setState(
{
confirmIcon: false,
iconList: false,
confirmCaption: true
}
);
}
render () {
var icons = [];
this.state.icons.forEach(el => {
icons.push(<li data-icon-id={el.id} onClick={this.handleClick.bind(this)} key={el.name}>{el.name}</li>);
});
return (
<div>
{this.state.iconList ? <IconList icons={icons} /> : ''}
{this.state.confirmIcon ? <ConfirmSingleIcon goBack={this.goBack.bind(this)}
goNext={this.goNext.bind(this)}
setIcon={this.props.setIcon}
selectedIcon={this.state.selectedIcon}
iconOptionsList ={this.state.selectedIconOptions}
setOptionID={this.setOptionID}
currentState={this.state} /> : ''}
{this.state.confirmCaption ? <ConfirmCaption currentState={this.state}
setIcon={this.props.setIcon}
setIconVisiblity={this.setIconVisiblity}
setIconListVisiblity={this.setIconListVisiblity} /> : ''}
</div>
);
}
}
class IconList extends React.Component {
render () {
return (
<div>
<h2>Pick your icon</h2>
<ul>
{this.props.icons}
</ul>
</div>
);
}
}
class Forms extends React.Component {
render () {
var form;
switch(this.props.formID) {
case 1:
form = <FirstName action={this.props.action} actionID={this.props.switchComponent} activeNav={this.props.activeNav} />
break;
case 2:
form = <PickColor displayIconsHolder={this.props.seticonsHolder} color={this.props.colorVal} actionID={this.props.switchComponent} activeNav={this.props.activeNav} />
break;
case 3:
form = <ChooseIcon setIcon={this.props.setOptionA} />
break;
}
return (
<section>
{form}
</section>
);
}
}
export default Forms;
"ChooseIcon" is a component that will get used 3 times therefore everytime I get to it I need to bring its state back as if it was the first time.
Ideally I would need to make this ajax call everytime:
componentDidMount() {
var url = `http://local.tshirt.net/get-options`;
axios.get(url)
.then(res => {
this.setState({ icons:res.data.icons });
});
}
is there a way to manually call componentDidMount perhaps from a parent component?

Answer 1

React handles component lifecycle through key attribute. For example:
<ChooseIcon key={this.props.formID} setIcon={this.props.setOptionA} />
So every time your key (it can be anything you like, but unique) is changed component will unmount and mount again, with this you can easily control componentDidMount callback.

Answer 2

If you are using the ChooseIcon component 3 times inside the same parent component, I would suggest you to do the ajax in componentDidMount of the parent component like this (exaclty how you have in your example, in terms of code)
componentDidMount() {
var url = `http://local.tshirt.net/get-options`;
axios.get(url)
.then(res => {
this.setState({ icons:res.data.icons });
});
}
and then pass this data down to the ChooseIcon component
render() {
return (
//do your stuff
<ChooseIcon icons={this.state.icons}/>
)
}
after this you will only need to set the received props in your ChooseIconcomponent, for that you only need to change one line in it's constructor:
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
icons: props.icons, // Changed here!
iconList: true,
confirmIcon: false,
confirmCaption: false,
selectedIconOptions: '',
icon_ID: '',
option_ID: '',
selectedIcon: ''
};
this.setOptionID = this.setOptionID.bind(this);
this.setIconVisiblity = this.setIconVisiblity.bind(this);
this.setIconListVisiblity = this.setIconListVisiblity.bind(this);
}

Answer 3

The parent component can use a ref to call the function directly.
However, trying to force this function feels like a smell. Perhaps lifting the state higher up the component tree would solve this problem. This way, the parent component will tell ChooseIcon what to show, and there will not be a need to call componentDidMount again. Also, I assume the Ajax call can also occur once.