How to use generics in props in React in a functional component?

Question

You can't create a functional component with a type annotation and make it generic. So this will NOT work as T is not defined and you can't define it on the variable level:

const CollapsableDataList : React.FunctionComponent<IProps<T>> = p => { /*...*/ } 

You can however skip the type annotation, and make the function generic and type props explicitly.

import * as React from 'react';
import { render } from 'react-dom';

interface IProps<T> {
    collapsed: boolean;
    listOfData: T[];
    displayData: (data: T, index: number) => React.ReactNode;
}
const CollapsableDataList = <T extends object>(props: IProps<T> & { children?: ReactNode }) => {
    if (!props.collapsed) {
        return <span>total: {props.listOfData.length}</span>
    } else {
        return (
            <>
                {
                    props.listOfData.map(props.displayData)
                }
            </>
        )
    }
}


render(
    <CollapsableDataList
        collapsed={false}
        listOfData={[{a: 1, b: 2}, {a: 3, c: 4}]}
        displayData={(data, index) => (<span key={index}>{data.a + (data.b || 0)}</span>)}
    />,
    document.getElementById('root'),
)

The type React.FC is essentially this:

<P = {}>(props: PropsWithChildren<P>, context?: any) => ReactElement | null

so instead of this (which isn't allowed):

const Example: React.FC<Props<P>> = (props) => {
  // return a React element or null
}

you can use this:

const Example = <P extends unknown>(props: PropsWithChildren<Props<P>>): ReactElement | null => {
  // return a React element or null
}

For example:

const Example = <P extends unknown>({ value }: PropsWithChildren<{ value: P }>): ReactElement | null => {
  return <pre>{JSON.stringify(value)}</pre>
}

Or, more strictly, if the component doesn't use the children prop and won't return null:

const Example = <P>({ value }: { value: P }): ReactElement => {
  return <pre>{value}</pre>
}

then use the typed component as <Example<string> value="foo"/>

type Props<T> = {
    active: T;
    list: T[];
    onChange: (tab: T) => void;
};

export const Tabs = <T,>({ active, list, onChange }: Props<T>): JSX.Element => {
    return (
        <>
            {list.map((tab) => (
                <Button onClick={() => onChange(tab)} active={tab === active}>
                    {tab} 
                </Button>
            ))}
        </>
    );
};

Before addressing the functional component, I assume the original code example is missing the generic in JSX component as I don't see it passed to the IProps interface. I. e.:

interface Ab {
  a: number;
  b: number;
}

...

// note passing the type <Ab> which will eventually make it to your IProps<T> interface and cascade the type for listOfData
return (
<CollapsableDataList<Ab>
  collapsed={false}
  listOfData={[{a: 1, b: 2}, {a: 3, c: 4}]}
  ...
/>
)

Ok now with a little effort you actually can have a functional component with generic props.

You are stuck using 'modern' syntax though as it employs an assignment and arrow function which is of no use for your generic case:

// using this syntax there is no way to pass generic props
const CollapsableDataList: React.FC<IProps> = ({ collapsed, listOfData }) => {
  // logic etc.
  return (
  // JSX output
  );
}

Let's rewrite the variable assignment as a good old function:

// we are now able to to write our function component with generics
function CollapsableDataList<T>({ collapsed, listOfData }: IProps<T> & { children?: React.ReactNode }): React.ReactElement {
  // logic etc.
  return (
  // JSX output
  );
}

The children workaround is not necessarily needed if the component does not use the children prop but I've added it to highlight the fact that it has to be retyped manually as React.FC did that for us before.