How do I fix a "too much recursion" error in ReactJS?

Question

I'm trying to create a NavBar for my web application. When I go to open index.html nothing loads up. When I check the web console in firefox it gives me this error:

too much recursion if I click into it it gives me this;

require<[357]</</ReactCompositeComponentMixin.getName() vendors.js:29036
getDeclarationErrorAddendum() vendors.js:33167
checkPropTypes() vendors.js:33322
validatePropTypes() vendors.js:33342
require<[385]</</ReactElementValidator.createElement() vendors.js:33376
render()
require<[357]</</ReactCompositeComponentMixin._renderValidatedComponentWithoutOwnerOrContext() vendors.js:28968
require<[357]</</ReactCompositeComponentMixin._renderValidatedComponent() vendors.js:28988
require<[404]</</ReactPerf.measure/wrapper() vendors.js:35387
require<[357]</</ReactCompositeComponentMixin.performInitialMount() vendors.js:28573
require<[357]</</ReactCompositeComponentMixin.mountComponent() vendors.js:28526
require<[404]</</ReactPerf.measure/wrapper() vendors.js:35387
require<[409]</</ReactReconciler.mountComponent() vendors.js:36055
require<[398]</</ReactMultiChild.Mixin.mountChildren() vendors.js:34750

There is more lines to this error, but I hope the first few lines will help in identifying the problem, if more are needed please let me know. I have also tried this on Chrome and it gives me Error: Maximum call stack size exceeded.

For anyone wondering what vendor.js and bundle.js are, they are the result of gulp building my javascript files together.

I think the problem is occurring because of an infinite loop somewhere, but I haven't used any so I think that the problem stems from my Nav.js file which is where I create the Navbar

Nav.js:

import React from 'react';
import { Navbar, NavItem, MenuItem, NavDropdown } from 'react-bootstrap';

export default class Nav extends React.Component {

constructor() {
    super();
    this.state = {};
}

render() {
    const navbarInstance = (
            <Navbar inverse defaultExpanded={true}>
                <Navbar.Header>
                    <Navbar.Brand>
                        <a href="#">Songshare</a>
                    </Navbar.Brand>
                    <Navbar.Toggle />
                </Navbar.Header>
                <Navbar.Collapse>
                    <Nav>
                        <NavItem eventKey={1} href="#">Link</NavItem>
                        <NavItem eventKey={2} href="#">Link</NavItem>
                        <NavDropdown eventKey={3} title="Dropdown" id="basic-nav-dropdown">
                            <MenuItem eventKey={3.1}>Action</MenuItem>
                            <MenuItem eventKey={3.2}>Another action</MenuItem>
                            <MenuItem eventKey={3.3}>Something else here</MenuItem>
                            <MenuItem divider />
                            <MenuItem eventKey={3.3}>Separated link</MenuItem>
                        </NavDropdown>
                    </Nav>
                    <Nav pullRight>
                        <NavItem eventKey={1} href="#">Link Right</NavItem>
                        <NavItem eventKey={2} href="#">Link Right</NavItem>
                    </Nav>
                </Navbar.Collapse>
            </Navbar>
     );

     return (
        <div>
            {navbarInstance};
        </div>
     );
   }
 }

I then import that class in my MainLayout.js like so;

import React from "react";

import Nav from "./layout/Nav";

export default class MainLayout extends React.Component {
render() {
    return (
        <div>
            <Nav />
        </div>
    );
  }
}

Finally I then import MainLayout.js in my app.js

import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";

import MainLayout from "./pages/components/MainLayout";


const app = document.getElementById('app');

ReactDOM.render(<MainLayout />, app);

Since I saw that the error said something about checkPropTypes(), I tried adding this line to the end and I am still getting the same error. I got that idea from here

Nav.propTypes = { defaultExpanded: React.PropTypes.bool };

Answer 1

The problem here was that my component is called Nav. Later on I then have an element <Nav> which causes the confusion in React. I also forgot to import the <Nav> element at the top like this;import {Nav} from 'react-bootstrap'.