The docs for React state that component functions can be accessed by a parent component via refs. See: https://facebook.github.io/react/tips/expose-component-functions.html
I am attempting to use this in my application but run into an "undefined is not a function" error when the child function is called. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with using the ES6 format for React classes because I don't see any other differences between my code and the docs.
I have a Dialog component that looks like the following pseudocode. The Dialog has a "Save" button that calls save(), which needs to call the save() function in the child Content component. The Content component collects information from child form fields and performs the save.
class MyDialog extends React.Component {
save() {
this.refs.content.save(); <-- save() is undefined
}
render() {
return (
<Dialog action={this.save.bind(this)}>
<Content ref="content"/>
</Dialog>);
}
}
class Content extends React.Component {
save() {
// Get values from child fields
// and save the content
}
}
I could instead pass a prop (saveOnNextUpdate) down to Content and then execute save whenever it is true, but I would rather figure out how to get the method detailed in the React doc above to work.
Any ideas on how to get the doc approach to work or access the child component function in a different way?
Creating Refs Refs are created using React. createRef() and attached to React elements via the ref attribute. Accessing Refs When we assign a ref to an element or child component in the render, then we can access the element using the current attribute of the ref. const element = this.
The forwardRef hooks allows React users to pass refs to child components. The ref can be created and referenced with useRef or createRef and then passed in a parent component. Using forwardRef instead of useRef is useful when a ref needs to be accessed in a parent component.
Function components don't have ref attribute because they don't have instances like class components. Therefore you must FORWARD THE REF to any other element within it. You can't use the ref prop as it reserved.
Redux connect accepts an option parametre as the forth parameter. In this option parameter you can set the flag withRef to true. Then you can access functions to refs by using getWrappedInstance(). Like this:
class MyDialog extends React.Component {
save() {
this.refs.content.getWrappedInstance().save();
}
render() {
return (
<Dialog action={this.save.bind(this)}>
<Content ref="content"/>
</Dialog>);
}
}
class Content extends React.Component {
save() { ... }
}
function mapStateToProps(state) { ... }
module.exports = connect(mapStateToProps, null, null, { withRef: true })(Content);
Read more about it here: https://github.com/reactjs/react-redux/blob/master/docs/api.md#connectmapstatetoprops-mapdispatchtoprops-mergeprops-options
Worth reading this article about use of refs and consider if there's better approaches: https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/refs-and-the-dom.html#dont-overuse-refs
An alternative way to do this would be to use some other prop name (other than ref
). I've found that this also works well if you're using a library like styled-components
or emotion
For example in a connected MyComponent
:
<MyComponent
...
innerRef={(node) => { this.myRef = node; }}
/>
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With