What is node => {this.node = node } in React

Question

I am new in React I would like to create dropdown with outside click to close

I end up with something like

ref={(node) => {this.node = node;}}

what does it mean can someone explain this line of code ?

Answer 1

This is ref function, a low-level way to assign a ref. It assigns a reference to this.node property after a component or element was mounted.

A recommended way is to use:

this.nodeRef = React.createRef();

...

<Comp ref={this.nodeRef}/>

A ref becomes available as this.nodeRef.current after a component was mounted. The use of this.nodeRef object that can be passed by reference is a way to avoid some common problems that can appear with this.node.