props data is not working in componentDidMount using react-native - reactjs

Question

I have been struggling for the last 24 hrs about this one.
The problem is that, I am passing props in my parent class and calling the props data in my child component. When I check in render method the data shows correctly, but when calling it in componentDidMount it shows null.
Here is the sample of my code
class parent extends React.Component{
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.state = {
isOpen: false,
day:'monday',
data:[],
data1:[]
}
}
back () {
this.props.navigator.pop();
}
Mon(){
var record=[];
this.state.data.map((data) => {
if(data.frequency[0].day == 'Monday'){
record.push(data);
}
});
this.setState({data1:record});
}
componentWillMount() {
this.fetchData();
}
fetchData() {
//here i am getting the data from service and set the data to the state
}
render(){
return(
<View style={styles.Maincontainer}>
<View style={styles.navbar}>
<View style={styles.navbarContainer}>
<View style={styles.navbarIcon}>
<TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={() => this.back()}>
<Image
style={styles.menu2}
source={require('image!nav_arrow')} />
<Text style={styles.navbuttonText}>Back</Text>
</TouchableOpacity>
</View>
<View style={styles.navbarText}>
<Text style={styles.title}>Title</Text>
</View>
<View style={styles.navbarButton}>
</View>
</View>
</View>
<View style={styles.subMainContainer}>
<View style={styles.weekHeader}>
<View style={styles.weekRow}>
<Text style={styles.text} onPress={this.Mon.bind(this)}>Mon</Text>
</View>
</View>
<View style={styles.listBody}>
{this.state.data1.length == 0 ?(
<List data={this.state.data} />
) : (
<List data={this.state.data1}/>
)}
</View>
</View>
</View>
);
}
}
In my child component, I want to display the data in a ListView which is taken from the parent component
class List extends React.Component{
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.state = {
dataSource: new ListView.DataSource({
rowHasChanged: (row1, row2) => row1 !== row2
}),
isLoading: true
};
}
componentDidMount(){ //**here props data shows empty**
alert("didMount:"+JSON.stringify(this.props.data));
var data=this.props.data
this.setState({
dataSource: this.state.dataSource.cloneWithRows(data),
isLoading: false
});
}
render() { //**In this alert it shows correct data**
alert("data:"+JSON.stringify(this.props.data));
if (this.state.isLoading) {
return this.renderLoadingView();
}
return(
<ListView
dataSource={this.state.dataSource}
renderRow={this.renderSchedule.bind(this)}
automaticallyAdjustContentInsets={false}/>
);
}
renderLoadingView(){
return(
<View style={styles.loading}>
<ActivityIndicatorIOS
size='large'/>
<Text>
Loading Schedule...
</Text>
</View>
);
}
renderSchedule(data){
return(
<View style={styles.ListContainer}>
<View style={styles.subContainer}>
<Text style={styles.classText}>Class Name: {data.name}</Text>
{data.frequency[0].day == null ? (
<Text style={styles.Day}>Day: {data.frequency[0].date}</Text>
):
<Text style={styles.Day}>Day: {data.frequency[0].day}</Text>
}
</View>
<View style={styles.subContainer1}>
<Text style={styles.startTime}>Start: {data.frequency[0].from}</Text>
<Text style={styles.endTime}>End: {data.frequency[0].to}</Text>
</View>
</View>
)
}
}
Here what i want is that initially i need to display the total data,when click on the text parent class the data need to be changed.I want to show the data in ListView.I already explain above about my problem,So can any one give me suggestions that how to solve my problem, Any help much appreciated

Answer 1

My guess would be that the alert in componentDidMount() is empty because it only called once, at a time when data is still empty, while render() is called on each change of state or props.
I would expect the flow of alerts to look something like this:
Alert called from child's render: "data: (empty)"
Alert called from child's didMount: "didMount:(empty)"
User clicks something in parent, state change, re-render triggered
Alert called from child's render: "data: FOO-content"
React does NOT call componentDidMount() on the second pass. If you want your datasource to be populated on EACH update of the child, you will need to add a componentDidUpdate() method to your child, with copy of the code you have inside componentDidMount().
As a general note: I would advise you to read React's explanation of component lifecycle and methods. I have a feeling that the preparation you are doing inside componentDidMount() is probably better placed elsewhere:
creating a DataSource and initial fill with data from props: in getInitialState()
updating Datasource with data from new props: in componentWillReceiveProps()

Answer 2

I found in React generally that if I want to prepare the initial state of my component based on this.props then I should do it in componentDidUpdate instead of componentDidMount. Components aren't mounted with populated props from the parent component, only updated with them.
I noticed this when doing normal React and doing console.log(this.props) in the render method of my child component. It would log initally as empty, then log again populated with the props. If I called a this.setState in componentDidMount then the population of this.props occurs in the third render. This is because calling this.setState in componentDidMount triggered a pre-update render.
I hope this makes sense and applies to your situation - I arrived at your question looking for a solution to similar behaviour.