I am trying to learn reactjs and building small app that takes in names and then shows the names..
I have an input form, and I am able to get data from input form after clicking submit into my state object called names.
however I am stuck on passing the state from the parent to another component that is inside of my ShowNames component:
So, in App, I am doing this render:
render : function() {
return (
<div>
<InputName addToState={this.addToState}/>
<ShowName renderName={this.renderName}/>
</div>
)
}
});
Then ShowName component has following:
var ShowName = React.createClass({
render : function() {
return (
<ListOfNames renderName={this.props.renderName}/>
)
}
});
So I made
var ListOfNames = React.createClass({
render : function() {
return (
<ul renderName={this.props.renderName}>
{Object.keys(this.state.names).map(this.renderName)}
</ul>
)
}
});
But the issue is it says Cannot read property 'names' of null. Can someone help?
You need to initialise the state otherwise the state will be null.
React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return { names: [] };
},
// all the rest here
}
EDIT
after seeing the code I noticed a couple of errors, the updated code is now here: http://jsbin.com/sewoxu/edit?js,output
So what the main error was that the render function of ShowName was using the state to get the names, but the names where passed via property:
<ShowName renderName={this.renderName} names={this.state.names}/>
so in this case to access the names attribute you need to do:
this.props.names
Also in the example I have moved the renderName function inside the ShowName component.
Hope this helps :)
All:
If I define a component have a property called "value",
var Child = React.createClass({
componentWillReceiveProps: function(){
console.log("componentWillReceiveProps",this.props.value);
},
shouldComponentUpdate : function(){
console.log("shouldComponentUpdate", this.props.value);
return true;
},
componentWillUpdate : function(){
console.log("componentWillUpdate", this.props.value);
},
componentDidUpdate: function(){
console.log("componentDidUpdate", this.props.value);
},
render: function(){
return (
<div>The value generated by Parent: {this.props.value}</div>
);
}
});
If I want to give the newly set props.value to state.value( or maybe prepare a value for transition/interpolation ), but all stages before render only have previous value. Could anyone show me how to get new value before render?
Thanks
Important Note: componentWillReceiveProps is deprecated: https://reactjs.org/docs/react-component.html#unsafe_componentwillreceiveprops
componentWillReceiveProps is called when a component receives new props.
From here you can update the component's state using setState without triggering a render.
You can access the new props from the first argument passed to
componentWillReceiveProps
You can access the old props this.props
From your example:
componentWillReceiveProps: function(nextProps){
console.log("componentWillReceiveProps", nextProps.value, this.props.value);
},
JSBin demo
For anybody finding this old question via Google, it's out of date. You shouldn't be using this function anymore and, moreover, there are other solutions that don't involve updating the state! Take a look at this react.js blog article, You Probably Don't Need Derived State.
It's not totally clear what OP wanted to do but there are various appropriate solutions in that article. In my case, I wanted to reset a popup window, when a different element was clicked. You can do this with the key attribute. It works like magic. :)
I've been playing a bit with ReactJS and am really enjoying the framework.
I'm also trying to follow the rule of creating components that are stateless where possible.
I have a Settings component that includes a child SettingsForm and a SettingsWidget.
Settings holds all the states, and only pass it as props to the form and widget.
This works (and scales) well because when the state in Settings is updated, it propagates to all child components.
var Settings = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
settings: {}
}
})
What I am not 100% sure on is the best practice when accessing input values on SettingsForm to pass it on to the parent component.
I know I can use refs and also two-way binding to accomplish this, but neither feel very "ReactJS-like".
Is there a better of way accomplishing this that I am unaware of? For the sake of completeness, I've included the relevant code in my SettingsForm component below
var SettingsForm = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return {
changed: false
}
},
handleChange: function(event) {
this.setState({changed: true})
this.props.handleChange(
this.refs.emailInputFieldRef.getDOMNode().value,
this.refs.firstNameInputFieldRef.getDOMNode().value
)
},
handleSubmit: function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
// Access and pass on input values to parent callback so state is updated
this.props.handleUpdate(
this.refs.emailInputFieldRef.getDOMNode().value,
this.refs.firstNameInputFieldRef.getDOMNode().value
)
this.setState(this.getInitialState());
},
...
}
For now there is a Mixin you can use to link the input values to the state, called LinkedStateMixin that is exactly what you are looking for...
var WithLink = React.createClass({
mixins: [React.addons.LinkedStateMixin],
getInitialState: function() {
return {message: 'Hello!'};
},
render: function() {
return <input type="text" valueLink={this.linkState('message')} />;
}
});
Then all you have to do is modify your handler functions on the parent component to take your inputs as variables, and pass that function down to the child component as a prop. When you want to handle the form, call that function in the props and send the state (bound with from the Mixin) as the variables.
React Docs - React Link
I have:
A component App with a child component Filter.
The child needs to mutate state in the parent, which it is doing via an <input onChange={handler}>.
The handler is a prop that is set on the child by the parent.
All good so far.
However, whenever the a key is pressed on the input, it loses focus. I presume it's being destroyed and re-rendered.
If I hoist the Filter component up a level into the App and drive it off the state in that, then everything works as you'd expect, but obviously I'd like to be able to nest the components and share the state at the top level.
I guess calling setState at this higher level is causing the whole thing to get re-rendered, but I thought the diffing algorithm would be clever enough to avoid replacing the node in the Filter sub-component and thus avoid blurring the focus on the <input>.
What am I doing wrong / how can I fix this? Is there a better way to structure this?
Working JSBin here: http://jsbin.com/fexoyoqi/10/edit?html,js,output
var App = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return {
items: ["Tom", "Dick", "Harry"],
filterText: ''
};
},
setFilterText: function (event) {
this.setState({filterText: event.target.value});
},
render: function () {
var filter = React.createClass({
render: function () {
return <input value={this.props.filterText} onChange={this.props.onChange}/>;
}
});
var rows = this.state.items
.filter(function (item) {
return this.state.filterText == ''
? true
: item.toLowerCase().indexOf(
this.state.filterText.toLowerCase()) > -1;
}.bind(this))
.map(function(item) {
return <li>{item}</li>
});
return (
<div>
Filter: <filter filterText={this.state.filterText}
onChange={this.setFilterText}/>
<ul>
{rows}
</ul>
</div>
);
}
});
React.renderComponent(<App />, document.body);
You're creating a new component class inside the render function.
Part of react's diffing algorithm looks at the components, and if it sees you rendered a different type component in one spot it says "the structure is probably significantly different, so I won't waste time diffing the children". It throws out the node, and renders the new result to the DOM.
Move var filter = React.createClass... somewhere it's only executed once, and it'll work fine.
This may be treading that line between answerable and opinionated, but I'm going back and forth as to how to structure a ReactJS component as complexity grows and could use some direction.
Coming from AngularJS, I want to pass my model into the component as a property and have the component modify the model directly. Or should I be splitting the model up into various state properties and compiling it back together when sending back upstream? What is the ReactJS way?
Take the example of a blog post editor. Trying to modify the model directly ends up looking like:
var PostEditor = React.createClass({
updateText: function(e) {
var text = e.target.value;
this.props.post.text = text;
this.forceUpdate();
},
render: function() {
return (
<input value={this.props.post.text} onChange={this.updateText}/>
<button onClick={this.props.post.save}/>Save</button>
);
}
});
Which seems wrong.
Is it more the React way to make our text model property state, and compile it back into the model before saving like:
var PostEditor = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return {
text: ""
};
},
componentWillMount: function() {
this.setState({
text: this.props.post.text
});
},
updateText: function(e) {
this.setState({
text: e.target.value
});
},
savePost: function() {
this.props.post.text = this.state.text;
this.props.post.save();
},
render: function() {
return (
<input value={this.state.text} onChange={this.updateText}/>
<button onClick={this.savePost}/>Save</button>
);
}
});
This doesn't require a call to this.forceUpdate(), but as the model grows, (a post may have an author, subject, tags, comments, ratings, etc...) the component starts getting really complicated.
Is the first method with ReactLink the way to go?
Updating 2016:
React is changed, and explanation "props vs state" became very simple. If a component needs to change data - put it in a state, otherwise in props. Because props are read-only now.
What's the exact difference between props and state?
You can find good explanation here (full version)
Your second approach is more like it. React doesn't care about models so much as it cares about values and how they flow through your app. Ideally, your post model would be stored in a single component at the root. You then create child components that each consume parts of the model.
You can pass callbacks down to the children that need to modify your data, and call them from the child component.
Modifying this.props or this.state directly is not a good idea, because React will not be able to pick up on the changes. That's because React does a shallow comparison of your post prop to determine if it has changed.
I made this jsfiddle to show how data could flow from an outer to an inner component.
The handleClick method shows 3 ways to (im)properly update state:
var Outer = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return {data: {value: 'at first, it works'}};
},
handleClick: function () {
// 1. This doesn't work, render is not triggered.
// Never set state directly because the updated values
// can still be read, which can lead to unexpected behavior.
this.state.data.value = 'but React will never know!';
// 2. This works, because we use setState
var newData = {value: 'it works 2'};
this.setState({data: newData});
// 3. Alternatively you can use React's immutability helpers
// to update more complex models.
// Read more: http://facebook.github.io/react/docs/update.html
var newState = React.addons.update(this.state, {
data: {value: {$set: 'it works'}}
});
this.setState(newState);
},
render: function() {
return <Inner data={this.state.data} handleClick={this.handleClick} />;
}
});
From React doc
props are immutable: they are passed from the parent and are "owned" by the parent. To implement interactions, we introduce mutable state to the component. this.state is private to the component and can be changed by calling this.setState(). When the state is updated, the component re-renders itself.
From TrySpace: when props (or state) are updated (via setProps/setState or parent) the component re-renders as well.
A reading from Thinking in React:
Let's go through each one and figure out which one is state. Simply
ask three questions about each piece of data:
Is it passed in from a parent via props? If so, it probably isn't
state.
Does it change over time? If not, it probably isn't state.
Can you compute it based on any other state or props in your
component? If so, it's not state.
I'm not sure if I'm answering your question, but I've found that, especially in a large/growing application, the Container/Component pattern works incredibly well.
Essentially you have two React components:
a "pure" display component, which deals with styling and DOM interaction;
a container component, which deals with accessing/saving external data, managing state, and rendering the display component.
Example
N.B. This example is a probably too simple to illustrate the benefits of this pattern, as it is quite verbose for such a straightforward case.
/**
* Container Component
*
* - Manages component state
* - Does plumbing of data fetching/saving
*/
var PostEditorContainer = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return {
text: ""
};
},
componentWillMount: function() {
this.setState({
text: getPostText()
});
},
updateText: function(text) {
this.setState({
text: text
});
},
savePost: function() {
savePostText(this.state.text);
},
render: function() {
return (
<PostEditor
text={this.state.text}
onChange={this.updateText.bind(this)}
onSave={this.savePost.bind(this)}
/>
);
}
});
/**
* Pure Display Component
*
* - Calculates styling based on passed properties
* - Often just a render method
* - Uses methods passed in from container to announce changes
*/
var PostEditor = React.createClass({
render: function() {
return (
<div>
<input type="text" value={this.props.text} onChange={this.props.onChange} />
<button type="button" onClick={this.props.onSave} />
</div>
);
}
});
Benefits
By keeping display logic and data/state management separate, you have a re-usable display component which:
can easily be iterated with different sets of props using something like react-component-playground
can be wrapped with a different container for different behavior (or combine with other components to build larger parts of your application
You also have a container component which deals with all external communication. This should make it easier to be flexible about the way you access your data if you make any serious changes later on*.
This pattern also makes writing and implementing unit tests a lot more straightforward.
Having iterated a large React app a few times, I've found that this pattern keeps things relatively painless, especially when you have larger components with calculated styles or complicated DOM interactions.
*Read up on the flux pattern, and take a look at Marty.js, which largely inspired this answer (and I have been using a lot lately) Redux (and react-redux), which implement this pattern extremely well.
Note for those reading this in 2018 or later:
React has evolved quite a bit since this answer was written, especially with the introduction of Hooks. However, the underlying state management logic from this example remains the same, and more importantly, the benefits that you get from keeping your state and presentation logic separate still apply in the same ways.
I think you're using an anti-pattern which Facebook has already explained at this link
Here's thing you're finding:
React.createClass({
getInitialState: function() {
return { value: { foo: 'bar' } };
},
onClick: function() {
var value = this.state.value;
value.foo += 'bar'; // ANTI-PATTERN!
this.setState({ value: value });
},
render: function() {
return (
<div>
<InnerComponent value={this.state.value} />
<a onClick={this.onClick}>Click me</a>
</div>
);
}
});
The first time the inner component gets rendered, it will have { foo: 'bar' } as the value prop. If the user clicks on the anchor, the parent component's state will get updated to { value: { foo: 'barbar' } }, triggering the re-rendering process of the inner component, which will receive { foo: 'barbar' } as the new value for the prop.
The problem is that since the parent and inner components share a reference to the same object, when the object gets mutated on line 2 of the onClick function, the prop the inner component had will change. So, when the re-rendering process starts, and shouldComponentUpdate gets invoked, this.props.value.foo will be equal to nextProps.value.foo, because in fact, this.props.value references the same object as nextProps.value.
Consequently, since we'll miss the change on the prop and short circuit the re-rendering process, the UI won't get updated from 'bar' to 'barbar'