Can someone please explain Higher-order components in React. I have read and re-read the documentation but cannot seem to get a better understanding. According to the documentation, HOCs help remove duplication by creating a primary function that returns a react component, by passing arguments to that function.
I have a few questions on that.
If HOCs create a new enhanced component, can it be possible not to pass in any component as argument at all?
In an example such as this, which is the higher order component, the Button or the EnhancedButton.
I tried creating one HOC like this:
// createSetup.js
import React from 'react';
export default function createSetup(options) {
return class extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {};
this.testFunction = this.testFunction.bind(this);
}
testFunction() {
console.log("This is a test function");
}
render() {
return <p>{options.name}</p>
}
}
}
// main.js
import React from 'react';
import {render} from 'react-dom';
import createSetup from './createSetup';
render((<div>{() => createSetup({name: 'name'})}</div>),
document.getElementById('root'););
Running this does not show the HOC, only the div
Can anyone help out with a better example than the ones given?
A HOC is a function that takes a Component as one of its parameters and enhances that component in some way.
If HOCs create a new enhanced component, can it be possible not to pass in any component as argument at all?
Nope, then it wouldn't be a HOC, because one of the conditions is that they take a component as one of the arguments and they return a new Component that has some added functionality.
In an example such as this, which is the higher order component, the Button or the EnhancedButton.
EnhanceButton is the HOC and FinalButton is the enhanced component.
I tried creating one HOC like this: ... Running this does not show the HOC, only the div
That's because your createSetup function is not a HOC... It's a function that returns a component, yes, but it does not take a component as an argument in order to enhance it.
Let's see an example of a basic HOC:
const renderWhen = (condition, Component) =>
props => condition(props)
? <Component {...props} />
: null
);
And you could use it like this:
const EnhancedLink = renderWhen(({invisible}) => !invisible, 'a');
Now your EnhancedLink will be like a a component but if you pass the property invisible set to true it won't render... So we have enhanced the default behaviour of the a component and you could do that with any other component.
In many cases HOC functions are curried and the Component arg goes last... Like this:
const renderWhen = condition => Component =>
props => condition(props)
? <Component {...props} />
: null
);
Like the connect function of react-redux... That makes composition easier. Have a look at recompose.
In short, If you assume functions are analogues to Components, Closure is analogous to HOC.
Try your createSetup.js with:
const createSetup = options => <p>{options.name}</p>;
and your main.js
const comp = createSetup({ name: 'name' });
render((<div>{comp}</div>),
document.getElementById('root'));
A higher-order component (HOC) is an advanced technique in React for reusing component logic. Concretely, a higher-order component is a function that takes a component and returns a new component.
A HOC is a pure function with zero side-effects.
Example: CONDITIONALLY RENDER COMPONENTS
Suppose we have a component that needs to be rendered only when a user is authenticated — it is a protected component. We can create a HOC named WithAuth() to wrap that protected component, and then do a check in the HOC that will render only that particular component if the user has been authenticated.
A basic withAuth() HOC, according to the example above, can be written as follows:
// withAuth.js
import React from "react";
export function withAuth(Component) {
return class AuthenticatedComponent extends React.Component {
isAuthenticated() {
return this.props.isAuthenticated;
}
/**
* Render
*/
render() {
const loginErrorMessage = (
<div>
Please login in order to view this part of the application.
</div>
);
return (
<div>
{ this.isAuthenticated === true ? <Component {...this.props} /> : loginErrorMessage }
</div>
);
}
};
}
export default withAuth;
The code above is a HOC named withAuth. It basically takes a component and returns a new component, named AuthenticatedComponent, that checks whether the user is authenticated. If the user is not authenticated, it returns the loginErrorMessage component; if the user is authenticated, it returns the wrapped component.
Note: this.props.isAuthenticated has to be set from your application’s
logic. (Or else use react-redux to retrieve it from the global state.)
To make use of our HOC in a protected component, we’d use it like so:
// MyProtectedComponent.js
import React from "react";
import {withAuth} from "./withAuth.js";
export class MyProectedComponent extends React.Component {
/**
* Render
*/
render() {
return (
<div>
This is only viewable by authenticated users.
</div>
);
}
}
// Now wrap MyPrivateComponent with the requireAuthentication function
export default withAuth(MyPrivateComponent);
Here, we create a component that is viewable only by users who are authenticated. We wrap that component in our withAuth HOC to protect the component from users who are not authenticated.
Source
// HIGHER ORDER COMPOENTS IN REACT
// Higher order components are JavaScript functions used for adding
// additional functionalities to the existing component.
// file 1: hoc.js (will write our higher order component logic) -- code start -->
const messageCheckHOC = (OriginalComponent) => {
// OriginalComponent is component passed to HOC
const NewComponent = (props) => {
// business logic of HOC
if (!props.isAllowedToView) {
return <b> Not Allowed To View The MSG </b>;
}
// here we can pass the props to component
return <OriginalComponent {...props} />;
};
// returning new Component with updated Props and UI
return NewComponent;
};
export default messageCheckHOC;
// file 1: hoc.js -- code end -->
// file 2: message.js -- code start -->
// this is the basic component we are wrapping with HOC
// to check the permission isAllowedToView msg if not display fallback UI
import messageCheckHOC from "./hoc";
const MSG = ({ name, msg }) => {
return (
<h3>
{name} - {msg}
</h3>
);
};
export default messageCheckHOC(MSG);
// file 2: message.js -- code end -->
// file 3 : App.js -- code start --->
import MSG from "./message.js";
export default function App() {
return (
<div className="App">
<h3>HOC COMPONENTS </h3>
<MSG name="Mac" msg="Heyy !!! " isAllowedToView={true} />
<MSG name="Robin" msg="Hello ! " isAllowedToView={true} />
<MSG name="Eyann" msg="How are you" isAllowedToView={false} />
</div>
);
}
// file 3 : App.js -- code end --->
Related
Assuming we have two functional components App and Product. From the Product component you can easily call a method defined in the parent component (App) by simply passing the method as props (methodA={methodA}). Can someone please tell me how to call a method defined in the Cart component from the Product component?
//App.js
import React from "react";
import Cart from "./Cart";
import Order from "./Order";
import Product from "./Product";
const App = props => {
const { order } = props;
const methodA = props => {
console.log(methodA);
}
return (
<div className="container">
<Cart>
{order.map((products, i) => {
return (
<Order key={i}>
{products.map((items, i) => (
<Product item={items} key={i} methodA={methodA} />
))}
</Order>
);
})}
</Cart>
</div>
);
};
export default App;
//Product.js
import React from 'react';
const Product = props => {
return <div className="delete" onClick={props.methodA}></div>;
};
export default Product;
That's why Redux is developed for easier state management. You should have Redux store and actions dispatched within this store. Once you have set up your redux store and actions, you can easily dispatch the same action from multiple components.
You have a few options:
Pass the products to the cart and let it render them (the best way in this case)
Use some state management like context or redux (in this case, an context passed by the cart component would be perfect, then the product component consume and use it functions)
While refactoring some code at work, I ran into a circular dependency with nested React components. The feature was basically "Use a switch to dynamically render components nested in other components, including themselves".
I solved the problem by creating a component "registry" with two methods, registerBlock and an HOC BlockRegistry.
src/BlocksNode.js
// src/BlocksNode.js - accepts and renders a block passed from the API
import BlockRegistry, { registerBlock } from './BlockRegister'
import ComponentOne from './ComponentOne'
import ComponentTwo from './ComponentTwo'
// accepts a name and a component
registerBlock('componentOne', ComponentOne)
registerBlock('componentTwo', ComponentTwo)
// reads a block from the API and uses the type passed from props
const BlocksNode = (props) => {
const { type, blocks } = props
return <BlockRegistry type={type} blocks={blocks} />
}
export default BlocksNode
src/BlockRegister.js
const components = {}
export function registerBlock(name, Component) {
components[name] = Component
}
const BlockRegistry = (props) => {
const { type, ...rest } = props
const Component = components[type]
return <Component {...rest} />
}
export default BlockRegistry
src/ComponentOne.js
import BlockRegistry from './BlockRegister'
function ComponentOne(props) {
const { blocks } = props
return (
<div>
{blocks.map((block) => {
const { type, blocks } = block
return <BlockRegistry type={type} blocks={blocks} />
})}
</div>
)
}
export default ComponentOne
ComponentOne.js can pass any number of other blocks, including ComponentTwo.js or itself. I've simplified some of the logic, but the gist is there.
This solution works great. But I don't understand how it's able to function. Logically I'd expect the nested component's scope to not include the top-level, registered components. How is scope being handled so that nested components are working without new, nested calls to registerBlock()?
For instance, how does <BlockRegistry /> in ComponentOne.js find a match for block.type === 'componentTwo'? I'd expect to need to re-register it, ie. by doing registerBlock('componentTwo', ComponentTwo) inside ComponentOne.js. The fact that it works without the call seems strange.
I have a Table component that I want ref to be attached to.
Use: Table.js
class Table extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
rows: 1,
dataLength: props.dataLength,
}
this.tableRef = React.createRef();
}
componentDidUpdate() {
//using ref
this.tableRef.current ..... //logic using ref
this.state.rows ..... //some logic
}
render() {
<TableContainer ref={this.tableRef} />
<CustomPagination />
}
}
This works fine, but now my requirement has changed, and I want to reuse the Table component with pagination applied to all the Tables in my App. I have decided to make a HOC withCustomPagination.
Use: withCustomPagination.js HOC
import CustomPagination from 'path/to/file';
const withCustomPagination = tableRef => Component => {
return class WithCustomPagination extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
rows: 1,
dataLength: props.dataLength,
}
}
componentDidUpdate() {
tableRef.current.state ..... //logic using ref, Error for this line
this.state.rows ..... //some logic
}
render() {
return (
<Component {...state} />
<CustomPagination />
)
}
}
}
export default withCustomPagination;
New Table.js:
import withCustomPagination from '/path/to/file';
const ref = React.createRef();
const Table = props => (
<TableContainer ref={ref} />
);
const WrappedTable = withCustomPagination(ref)(Table);
HOC withCustomPagination returns a class WithCustomPagination that has a componentDidUpdate lifecycle method that uses Table ref in the logic. So I try to pass ref created in Table.js as argument to withCustomPagination, i.e curried with ref and Table stateless component.
This use of ref is wrong and I get error: TypeError: Cannot read property 'state' of null.
I tried using Forwarding Refs, but was unable to implement it.
How do I pass the Table ref to withCustomPagination and be able to use it in HOC?
In this case you can use useImperativeHandle
It means you have to forward ref and specify which function or object or,...
you want to share with ref inside your functional component.
Here is my Hoc example :
import React from 'react';
import { View } from 'react-native';
export function CommonHoc(WrappedComponent) {
const component = class extends React.Component {
componentDidMount() {
this.refs.myComponent.showAlert();
}
render() {
return (
<>
<WrappedComponent
ref='myComponent'
{...this.state}
{...this.props}
/>
</>
);
}
};
return component;
}
and it's my stateless component
const HomeController=(props,ref)=> {
useImperativeHandle(ref, () => ({
showAlert() {
alert("called");
},
}));
return (
<Text>home</Text>
);
};
export default CommonHoc(forwardRef(HomeController));
Either restructure your code to not use a HOC for this or try using React.forwardRef:
Refs Aren’t Passed Through
While the convention for higher-order components is to pass through
all props to the wrapped component, this does not work for refs.
That’s because ref is not really a prop — like key, it’s handled
specially by React. If you add a ref to an element whose component is
the result of a HOC, the ref refers to an instance of the outermost
container component, not the wrapped component.
The solution for this problem is to use the React.forwardRef API
(introduced with React 16.3). Learn more about it in the forwarding
refs section.
via Higher-Order Components: Refs Aren’t Passed Through
In the forwarding refs section there are code examples you could use to pass refs down, but trying to yank them up will fail in your case with:
Warning: Stateless function components cannot be given refs. Attempts to access this ref will fail.
In a project we took a different approach. There's an EnhancedTable component that handles all of the pagination logic and in itself has the dumb table component and the pagination component. It works pretty well but this means you would have to drill props (or use a store lib like Redux or Mobx) and add new ones that will handle pagination options. This will result in some refactoring of Table uses and you'll have to be more explicit but I would take it as a boon rather than a hindrance.
I was able to solve a simmilar issue that brought me to this thread without using forwardRef or useImperativeHandle.
By creating the ref at a higher level, and passign it down into the component and sub components that I needed to act on with the ref.
/** Parent Component has access to ref and functions that act on ref **/
import { useRef } from 'react';
const formRef = useRef(); // ref will have dom elements need accessing
const onClickFunction=()=>{ //sample function acts on ref
var inputs = formRef.current.querySelectorAll('input')
/* Act on ref here via onClick function, etc has access to dom elements
in child component and childs child components */
};
return(
<ComponentGetsAttachedRef formRef={formRef} />
//^ref sent down to component and its children
<ComponentNeedingRef onClickFunction={onClickFunction}/>
//^function with access to ref sent down to component
)
/** Child component needs to act on ref**/
export const ComponentNeedingRef = ({ onClickFunction}) =>{
return(
<button onClick={onClickFunction}>
)
}
/* Child component recieves ref and passes it down */
export const ComponentGetsAttachedRef = ({ formRef}) =>{
//ref comes in as prop gets attached to props or utilized internally
return (
<ChildsChildComponent formRef={formRef}/> //sub component passed ref down
)
}
Considering the following three places of defining a functional component in React -
Inside a class (outside the render method)
Inside a class (inside the render method)
Outside the class
In the sample code below, funcComponent1, funcComponent2 and funcComponent3 are defined in the three different locations. How do I consider when to define a functional component in any of these 3 places?
import React, { Component } from 'react';
const FuncComponent1 = (props) => {
return (
<p>{props.name}</p>
)
}
class TestComponent extends Component {
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.state = {
name: "JavaScript"
}
}
FuncComponent2 = (text) => {
return (
<p>{text}, {this.state.name}</p>
)
}
render(){
const FuncComponent3 = (props) => {
return (
<p>{props.text}, {this.state.name}</p>
)
}
return (
<div>
<FuncComponent1 name={'Abrar'} text={'Hello World'}/>
<FuncComponent3 text={"HEllo World"}/>
</div>
)
}
}
export default TestComponent;
You must avoid using functional component inside of render since they will be recreated on every render.
As far as using functions that return JSX inside Class component but outside render` is considered, you can do that when you want to make use of the state or props of the class in order to render JSX content but that which is very specific to the particular class
A functional component outside of React component is most advantageous when the same component can be used at multiple places and hence it makes sense to pass props to it and render it.
Is there a way to define a function to hook before each component in my app is mounted?
The idea is that if a component is blacklisted it doesn't mount at all.
The solution must leave the components unmodified for backward compatibility and should run in production (so rewire and other testing tools are probably off the table but open to suggestions :) )
Example
//something like this...
ReactDOM.beforeEachComponentMount( (component, action) => {
if(isBlacklisted(component)){
action.cancelMountComponent();
}
}
Could you write a simple Babel plugin that transforms blacklisted components to a noop functional component () => {} at compile time?
You could wrap the required components inside a higher order component that checks whether the component is blacklisted or not.
for example :
class YourComponent extends Component {
constructor(props){
super(props);
}
render(){
return(
// your component goes here ..
);
}
}
export default WithPermission(YourComponent);
check if the component needs to be rendered or not inside the HOC WithPermission.
function withPermission(YourComponent) {
class WithPermission extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
}
// you can check the props inside ComponentDidMount and set a flag if
// the component satisfies the criteria for rendering.
render() {
const {blacklistedComponents,...rest} = this.props;
if(!blackListedComponents){
return <YourComponent {...rest} />
}
else{
return null;
}
}
}
}
There is no such functionality out of box.
You may shim React rendering cycle, I mean shim React.createElement method and validate component before it is added to VDOM
All JSX is processed through React.createElement
e.g. at the start of app add
let React = require('react');
let originalCreateElement = React.createElement;
React.createElement = function() {
let componentConstructorOrStringTagName = arguments[0];
if (isBlacklisted(componentConstructorOrStringTagName)) {
return null;
}
return originalCreateElement.apply(this, arguments);
}
The best idea I can think of is to "shim" react and Component
if you are using webpack you can use this:
https://webpack.js.org/guides/shimming/
in the bottom line that means instead of importing react you will import your own class of react.
In your new class you could extend React Component and place a check on the render function or something similar.
You could implement a custom ESLint rule and catch this as soon as a dev tries to use a blacklisted components. The id-blacklist rule is similar to what you want, but at the identifier level. The source code looks simple. Maybe you can adapt it to disallow more then just identifiers.
Consider the following solution:
Let there be a file where you declare which components are blacklisted:
let blacklist = [{
name: 'secretComponent',
invoke: (props)=> {
return <SecretComponent ...props />
},
isBlacklisted: true
},{
name: 'home',
invoke: (props)=> {
return <HomeComponent ...props />
},
isBlacklisted: false
},{
name: 'login',
invoke: (props)=> {
return <LoginComponent ...props />
},
isBlacklisted: false
}];
Define a Higher Order Component like below:
function renderIfNotBlacklisted(name) {
let component = blacklist.map(x=> x.name == name); //blacklist from above
if (!component.isBlacklisted){
return component.invoke();
} //else can be handled as you will
//You can keep a default component to render or send empty values
}
Call this component in the render function wherever you want this feature to work. This way you have a centralized location to managed blacklisted components (blacklist.json can be in the root of react project or fetched from API on first run)