How to update ReactJS component based on URL / path with React-Router

Question

How can I update a ReactJS component based on URL / path when using React-Router?

The code below works, but is this the correct way to do this? Seems like a lot of code to make a simple update. I was hoping there would be a stateful API call in the router to automatically take care of this scenario.

var MyHomeView = React.createClass({
   componentDidMount: function() {
        this.props.updateHeader(); 
   },

   render: function() {
      return (
         <div>
            <h2>Home</h2>
         </div>
      );
  } 
}); 


var MyAboutView = React.createClass({
   componentDidMount: function() {
        this.props.updateHeader(); 
   },

  render: function() {
    return (
      <div className="my-page-text">
        <h2>About</h2>
      </div>
    );
  }
});


var MyHeader = React.createClass({
  mixins: [ CurrentPath ],

  getInitialState: function() {
    return {
       myPath: "about",
       classes: "ion-ios7-information"
    };
  },   

   updateHeader: function() {    
      // Classnames refer to www.ionicons.com
     if (this.getCurrentPath() === "/") {
        this.setState( {myPath: "about" } );
        this.setState( {classes: "ion-ios7-information" } );
     } else {
        this.setState( {myPath: "/" } );
        this.setState( {classes: "ion-ios7-rewind" } );
     }      
   }, 

  render: function() {
    return (
       <Link to={this.state.myPath}>
          <i className={this.state.classes} />
       </Link>
    );
  }
});


var App = React.createClass({
   updateHeader: function() {
      this.refs.header.updateHeader();
   },

   render: function() {
      return (
         <div>
            <MyHeader ref="header" />

         <this.props.activeRouteHandler updateHeader={this.updateHeader} />
         </div>
      );
  } 
}); 


React.renderComponent((
  <Routes> 
    <Route path="/" handler={App}>
      <DefaultRoute handler={MyHomeView} />
      <Route name="about" handler={MyAboutView} />
    </Route>
  </Routes>
), document.body);

Answer 1

This has been updated if you are working with the react-router > v11.0.

You can read the details here

TLDR:

 // v0.11.x
 var Something = React.createClass({
   mixins: [ Router.State ],
   render: function () {
      var path = this.getPath();
   }
 });

For the full State API: https://github.com/rackt/react-router/blob/master/doc/04%20Mixins/State.md

Answer 2

In react-router 2.0.0 you can use the hashHistory or browserHistory:

browserHistory.listen(function(ev) {
  console.log('listen', ev.pathname);
});

<Router history={browserHistory}>{routes}</Router>