Making react children NOT to refresh when parents state changes - javascript

So here is my problem. I have an root component that contains navigation and Switch with every component in my page. Navigation is sliding in and out from the left and the way I'm doing this, I'm changing the state in root component, passing prop to and deciding whether or not, should I add class to my nav. The problem is that every component in my app is re-rendering on opening/closing nav. Here is my root component:
class App extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
navOpen: false
}
}
toggleNav = () => {
this.setState({
navOpen: !this.state.navOpen
})
}
closeNav = (e) => {
if (this.state.navOpen) {
this.setState({navOpen: false})
}
}
render() {
return (
<main>
<Header/>
<Hamburger navOpen={this.state.navOpen} toggleNav={this.toggleNav}/>
<Navigation navOpen={this.state.navOpen} toggleNav={this.toggleNav}/>
<section className="container-fluid content" onClick={this.closeNav}>
<Switch>
<Route path="/add-recipe/:groupId?" component={NewRecipe}/>
<Route path="/recipes/:page?/:sortType?/:size?" component={RecipeList}/>
<Route path="/recipe/:id" component={Recipe}/>
<Route path="/sign/" component={SignForm}/>
<Route path="/user/:id" component={User}/>
</Switch>
</section>
</main>
);
}
componentDidMount() {
this.props.userActions.getUser(this.props.url);
}
}
function mapStateToProps(state) {
return {url: state.url.url, user: state.user.loggedUser}
}
function mapDispatchToProps(dispatch) {
return {
userActions: bindActionCreators(userActions, dispatch)
}
}
export default withRouter(connect(mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps)(App));
Navigation is the only component ( besides hamburger) that cares about his parents state so I have no idea why everything is re-rendering. Does anyone have some ideas?
EDIT:
I've added sCU to my nested components like that:
shouldComponentUpdate(nextProps, nextState) {
// console.log(this.props)
// console.log("next")
// console.log(nextProps)
if (this.props == nextProps) {
return false
}
return true
}
But it didn't change anything. When I open the navigation props for routes remain the same but they still rerender. I tried to move "navOpen" state to navigation and open it from root component via "ref" but every time I call its method I get "Cannot read property 'toggleNav' of null"

You can prevent re-rendering by implementing shouldComponentUpdate on the affected component. Beware though, that rendering does not mean that the DOM is being changed. Rendering in react means that react creates a new copy of its internal node tree and compares it to the DOM to see if and where it needs to update it. So don't worry about re-renders unless your component is expensive to create (i.e. it performs a request to a backend or is heavily animated)

Related

React-router Pass Data

I am using React for my project. I am also using react-router-dom library. However, I am confusing about passing data by react-router-dom.
Here is code for Parent Component:
class Parent extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
Path: {
pathname: "/child/id/1",
state: {
languageChosen: "English"
}
}
};
this.onChangeLanguage = this.onChangeLanguage.bind(this);
}
onChangeLanguage() {
const { Path } = this.state
Path.state.languageChosen = 'Spanish'
this.setState({Path})
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<NavLink to={this.state.Path}>ToChild</NavLink>
<Route
path={`/child/id/:id`}
render={props => (
<Child {...props} onChangeLanguage={this.onChangeLanguage} />
)}
/>
</div>
);
}
}
It has a state called Path. The Parent Component pass function onChangeLanguage to its Child component.
Here is Child Component:
class Child extends Component {
onChange = () => {
this.props.onChangeLanguage;
};
render() {
const { languageChosen } = this.props.location.state;
return (
<div>
{languageChosen === "English" ? "English" : "Spanish"}
<button onClick={this.onChange}>Change Language</button>
</div>
);
}
}
If I click the Change Lanuguage button in Child Component, the function was called and the state in Parent Component change. The prop LanguageChosen also update in Child component.
However, if I refresh the page, the prop LanguageChosen in Child doesn't update if I press the button. It only works If I don't refresh the page.
How should I fix that. Thanks!
The reason that you get this problem is here
const { languageChosen } = this.props.location.state
languageChose is set from this.props.location,location is set when url change to "/child/id/:id",after refreshing the page,state in Parent element change, but it won't change the location.state.And,I think you can use props in component to solve the problem.
1. set a languageChosen property in route
component={props => (
<Child {...props} onChangeLanguage={this.onChangeLanguage} languageChosen={this.state.Path.state.languageChosen}/>
)}
2. change this in the Child component
const { languageChosen } = this.props.languageChosen;
This code confuses me a bit but, remember when you refresh a page all the javascript gets reloaded, so you hard coded languageChosen to English in your Parent so every time you refresh the page it resets to English. You can either store the value in localStorage and check for its existence on refresh, or add it to your route path child/id/:id/:language
Then if you are using React Router v4, in your child component use this.props.match.params.language and it will render the given language.

Rerendering React props.children

I have this kind of a setup:
// inside Parent.js
class Parent extends React.Component {
render() {
return { this.props.children }
}
}
// inside Child.js
class Child extends React.Component {
render() {
let message;
const greet = this.context.store.parentState.greet;
if(greet) message = 'Hello, world!';
return (
<div>
{ message }
</div>
)
}
}
Child.contextTypes = {
store: PropTypes.object.isRequired
}
// inside App.js
<Parent>
<Route path='/a-path' component={ Child } />
</Parent>
When Parent receives new state through setState, its render method is called but the render method in Child is not called!
The reason I want to achieve that is because some logic in Child is dependent on the state of Parent.
If I pass the state of Parent via context like how the store is passed and then access it in Child via this.context.parentState, this seems to be working and causing a call on Child's render method, I guess it's because we're receiving new context.
Why is this? context is great but is there a good way around this particular issue without needing context?
If you are rendering components as children, which aren't components to Route, you can make use of React.cloneElement with React.Children.map like
// inside Parent.js
class Parent extends React.Component {
render() {
return React.Children.map(this.props.children, (child) =>
React.cloneElement(child, {parentState: this.state.parentState})
);
}
}
However if elements rendered as Children to Parent are Routes then either you need to make use of context or write a wrapper around Route so that any extra props that the Route receives are passed on to the component
const RouteWrapper = ({exact, path, component: Component, anyOtherRouterProp, ...rest}) =>
<Route exact={exact} path={path} {...otherRouterProps} render={(props) => <Component {...props} {...rest} />} />
Where in the above case anyOtherRouterProp are the props that are applicable to the Route and needs to be destructured separately. After this you can make use of React.Children.map and React.cloneElement to pass on the props to children.
Although this is one such way, I would still recommend you to make use of context, specially with the introduction of new context API which makes it extremely easy to implement
You can do like this....
// inside Parent.js
class Parent extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<Child children={this.props.children} />
)
}
}
// inside Child.js
class Child extends React.Component {
render() {
let message;
const greet = this.context.store.parentState.greet;
if(greet) message = 'Hello, world!';
return (
<div>
{ message }
{ this.props.children }
</div>
)
}
}
Child.contextTypes = {
store: PropTypes.object.isRequired
}
// inside App.js
<Parent>
<Route path='/a-path' component={ Child } />
</Parent>

React router pass callback with current route to child component

I am using react with react router. Some of my components have sub-routes defined so I want to pass them a callback that enables to returning to a specific route/component. I want to avoid passing a string to a specific route (because of the dependency when routing changes happen in the code). So i prefer passing a callback and populating it with the value of match.url.
But this does not work: Instead of passing the value, match.url always refers to the current route.
Parent component (simplified):
export class ParentComponent extends React.Component {
render() {
const { history, match, contentId } = this.props;
return (
<div>
<div>
<div>Block 1</div>
<div>Block 2</div>
<div>Block 3</div>
</div>
{contentId && <MyChildComponent content={contentId} goBack={() => history.push(match.url)} />}
</div>
);
}
}
My child component (simplified):
export class MyChildComponent extends React.PureComponent {
render() {
return (
(
<React.Fragment>
<div role="dialog" onClick={this.props.goBack} />
</React.Fragment>),
);
}
}
My router:
const Routes = () => (
<Router history={createBrowserHistory()}>
<div>
<Route path="/result/:contentId?" component={ParentComponent} />
</div>
</Router>
);
So when I go to /result I see - as expected - all but the child component. When navigating to /result/someId I see the child component but the goBack only refers to the current page instead of the previous one.
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.goBack = this.goBack.bind(this);
}
goBack(){
this.props.history.goBack(); // You're not calling it from history
}
.....
<button onClick={this.goBack}>Go Back</button>
I think that you are using push to navigate to another route. So when you do history.push('/result/someId') you are adding another entry to history stack so goBack will navigate to the previous entry in the stack which is /result. It works as if you were a regular website and clicked a link - you could still go back even if what had changed was some dynamic parameter.
If you don't want to add up to history stack use - history.replace('/result/someId')
See navigating with history.
I figured out my core-problem was that I needed at least one part of the child routes in the parent component. This lead to changing path props also in the parent component when child-routes were changing.
My solution: Store the current location in the constructor of the parent component and pass this as prop to child components to refer back. It works but has the drawback that one can not directly access child component routes because they will not refer back to the right parent path. For my use case this is fine but improvements are welcome.
Parent component
export class ParentComponent extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.location = this.props.location.pathname;
}
render() {
return (
{contentId && <MyChildComponent content={contentId} goBack={() =>
history.push(this.location)} />}
)
}

How to pass a wrapped component into React Router without it constantly remounting

We're in the process of upgrading our React App, and after many of hours of pain have realised that passing wrapped components into React Router (V4 and maybe others) causes the component to "remount" every time a new prop is passed in.
Here's the wrapped component...
export default function preload(WrappedComponent, props) {
class Preload extends React.Component {
componentWillMount() {
getDataForComponent(props);
}
render() {
return <WrappedComponent {...props} />;
}
}
return Preload;
}
And here's how we're using it...
const FlagsApp = (props) => {
return (
<Route path="/report/:reportId/flag/:id/edit" component{preload(FlagForm, props)} />
);
};
Anytime we're dispatching an action and then receiving a update, the component remounts, causing lots of problems. According to this thread on github, components will remount if:
you call withRouter(..) during rendering which would create a new component class each time
you pass a new function to Route.component each render, e.g. using anonymous function
{...}} />, which would create a new component as well
If I pass the FlagForm component in directly the problem is fixed, but then I can't take advantage of the preload function.
So, how can I achieve the same outcome, but without the component remounting?
Thanks in advance for any help!
The reason Route is mounting a new component on every update is that it's been assigned a new class each time via preload.
Indeed, each call to preload always returns a distinct anonymous class, even
when called with the same arguments:
console.log( preload(FlagForm,props) != preload(FlagForm,props) ) // true
So, since the issue is that preload being called within the FlagsApp component's render method, start by moving it outside of that scope:
const PreloadedFlagForm = preload(FlagForm, props) //moved out
const FlagsApp = (props) => {
return (
<Route path="/report/:reportId/flag/:id/edit"
component={PreloadedFlagForm} /> //assign component directly
);
};
This way the component for Route won't change between updates.
Now about that lingering props argument for preload: this is actually an anti-pattern. The proper way to pass in props just the standard way you would for any component:
const PreloadedFlagForm = preload(FlagForm) //drop the props arg
const FlagsApp = (props) => {
return (
<Route path="/report/:reportId/flag/:id/edit"
component={<PreloadedFlagForm {...props} />} //spread it in here instead
/>
);
};
And so the code for preload becomes:
export default function preload(WrappedComponent) {
class Preload extends React.Component {
componentWillMount() {
getDataForComponent(this.props);
}
render() {
return <WrappedComponent {...this.props} />;
}
}
return Preload;
}
Hope that helps!
If like me you didn't read the instructions, the answer lies in the render prop of the <Route> component
https://reacttraining.com/react-router/web/api/Route/render-func
render: func
This allows for convenient inline rendering and wrapping without the undesired remounting explained above.
So, instead of passing the wrapper function into the component prop, you must use the render prop. However, you can't pass in a wrapped component like I did above. I still don't completely understand what's going on, but to ensure params are passed down correctly, this was my solution.
My Preload wrapper function is now a React component that renders a Route...
export default class PreloadRoute extends React.Component {
static propTypes = {
preload: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
data: PropTypes.shape().isRequired,
location: PropTypes.shape({
pathname: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
}),
}
componentWillMount() {
this.props.preload(this.props.data);
}
componentWillReceiveProps({ location = {}, preload, data }) {
const { location: prevLocation = {} } = this.props;
if (prevLocation.pathname !== location.pathname) {
preload(data);
}
}
render() {
return (
<Route {...this.props} />
);
}
}
And then I use it like so...
const FlagsApp = (props) => {
return (
<Switch>
<PreloadRoute exact path="/report/:reportId/flag/new" preload={showNewFlagForm} data={props} render={() => <FlagForm />} />
<PreloadRoute exact path="/report/:reportId/flag/:id" preload={showFlag} data={props} render={() => <ViewFlag />} />
<PreloadRoute path="/report/:reportId/flag/:id/edit" preload={showEditFlagForm} data={props} render={() => <FlagForm />} />
</Switch>
);
};
The reason I'm calling this.props.preload both in componentWillMount and componentWillReceiveProps is because I then had the opposite issue of the PreloadRoute component not remounting when navigating, so this solves that.
Hopefully this save lots of people lots of time, as I've literally spent days getting this working just right. That's the cost of being bleeding edge I guess!

Communicating between React components

I'm new to react so this is something I don't know. In the app that I
'm working with it has a main component where other components are loaded.
Like this,
render() {
return (
<div className="index">
<HeaderComponent />
<MainHeroComponent />
<AboutComponent />
</div>
);
}
And I want when someone clicks a link in HeaderComponent to show the about component. And hide the MainHeroComponent. How can I do such communication between components in React? Is it possibe?
Thanks
Use React-Router and create routes for this scenario instead of direct communication between components. Sample app structure using react-router
const App = React.createClass({
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>App</h1>
<HeaderComponent />
</div>
)
}
})
render((
<Router>
<Route path="/" component={App}>
<Route path="hero" component={MainHeroComponent} />
<Route path="about" component={AboutComponent} />
</Route>
</Router>
), document.body)
For more details on router refer: https://github.com/reactjs/react-router/blob/master/docs/guides/RouteConfiguration.md
Aditya's answer is probably a better solution, but if you really want to it your way, you can use state and callbacks.
class Index extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
showHero: true
};
this.toggleShowHero = this.toggleShowHero.bind(this);
}
toggleShowHero() {
this.setState({
showHero: !this.state.showHero
});
}
render() {
return (
<div className="index">
<HeaderComponent onClick={toggleShowHero}/>
{
this.state.showHero ?
<MainHeroComponent /> :
<AboutComponent />
}
</div>
);
}
There are various ways you can achieve this, including React-routers and Redux, but since you're new to React, it'll be good if you get familiar with the basics first. For a start, you have to change the state of the main component to decide which child component to render.
In the main component code snippet you posted, initialize a state in the constructor as follows:
/* in the main component */
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
showAbout: true
};
}
Then modify the render function as follows, to pass a reference to your main component, down to your header component:
/* in the main component */
<HeaderComponent mainComponent={this}/>
Then, in HeaderComponent, attach a click event handler to the link on which you want to perform the operation.
/* in HeaderComponent */
<a href="#" ....... onClick={this.showAbout.bind(this)}>Show About</a>
In the same component, define the showAbout function as follows:
/* in HeaderComponent */
showAbout () {
let mainComponent = this.props.mainComponent;
mainComponent.setState({
showAbout: true
)};
}
Finally, back in the render function of the main component:
/* in the main component */
render () {
let mainHeroComponent, aboutComponent;
if (this.state.showAbout) {
aboutComponent = (
<AboutComponent/>
);
} else {
mainHeroComponent = (
<MainHeroComponent/>
);
}
return (
<div className="index">
<HeaderComponent mainComponent={this}/>
{mainHeroComponent}
{aboutComponent}
</div>
);
}
And you're done! Basically, a component gets re-rendered every time its state is changed. So each time you click on the link, the main component's state is changed with a new value of showAbout. This will cause the main component to re-render itself, and, based on the value of showAbout, it will decide whether to render MainHeroComponent or AboutComponent.
But you should make sure you have a similar logic to display MainHeroComponent as well, instead of AboutComponent, just to switch the views.

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