react-component-patterns.md

React Component Patterns

Related topics:

• Thinking in React: Articles discussing ways to think about React applications and component structure
• React Implementation and Concepts: Includes articles that explain the differences between "components", "elements", and "instances"
• React Component Composition: Articles explaining ways to compose components, including Higher-Order Components, Function-as-Child / "render props", and other functional composition approaches

Component Terms, Concepts, and Types

• React Patterns
  http://reactpatterns.com/
  An excellent list of common patterns for structuring React components, with examples

• React Component Jargon as of August 2016
  https://medium.com/@arcomito/react-component-jargon-as-of-august-2016-28451d8ceb1d
  A very useful glossary of widely-used terms describing React components

• React in Patterns
  https://github.com/krasimir/react-in-patterns
  http://krasimirtsonev.com/blog/article/react-js-presentational-container-components
  List of design patterns/techniques used while developing with React

• Functional Components vs. Stateless Functional Components vs. Stateless Components
  https://tylermcginnis.com/functional-components-vs-stateless-functional-components-vs-stateless-components-630fdfd90c9c
  Clarifies the meaning of the terms, which are often used in overlapping ways.

• How to use Classes and Sleep at Night
  https://medium.com/@dan_abramov/how-to-use-classes-and-sleep-at-night-9af8de78ccb4
  Some pragmatic opinions on when and how to use the ES6 "class" keyword, particularly in relation to React components.

• Embracing Functions in React
  https://medium.com/javascript-inside/embracing-functions-in-react-d7d558d8bd30
  A look at stateless functional components in React, and why they might be useful or should be considered in the first place.

• React Stateless Functional Components: Nine Wins You Might Have Overlooked
  https://medium.com/@housecor/react-stateless-functional-components-nine-wins-you-might-have-overlooked-997b0d933dbc
  Thoughts on reasons why you might want to write more components using the functional syntax.

• How to declare React Components in 2017
  https://medium.com/@npverni/how-to-declare-react-components-in-2017-2a90d9f7984c
  A quick overview of the three ways to declare React components, and which ones should be preferred.

• Building User Interfaces with Pure Functions and Function Composition in React
  https://tylermcginnis.com/building-user-interfaces-with-pure-functions-and-function-composition-in-react-js/
  A look at the idea of composing together UIs with simple components, with comparisons to the idea of combining functions together.

• React Bits: React patterns, techniques, tips, and tricks
  https://github.com/vasanthk/react-bits
  An extensive list of terms, concepts, patterns, and techniques for writing React components, with explanations and examples. A few of the descriptions are overly opinionated and some items are not things the React team would recommend, but overall an excellent resource.

• We Jumped the Gun Moving React Components to ES2015 Class Syntax
  https://medium.com/dailyjs/we-jumped-the-gun-moving-react-components-to-es2015-class-syntax-2b2bb6f35cb3
  A Netflix engineer raises concerns about React deprecating createClass and pushing users to use ES6 classes. I personally think his concerns are overstated, but there's some interesting points, plus good discussion in the comments.

Component Rendering Logic

• Dynamically Rendering React Components
  https://wail.es/dynamically-rendering-react-components/
  Examples of how to dynamically determine which React component to render

• Loading State Trick for Stateless Functional Components in React
  http://kyleshevlin.com/loading-state-trick-for-stateless-functional-components-in-react/
  An example of conditionally rendering a spinner component if a list of items is empty

• How to Dynamically Render React Components
  http://kyleshevlin.com/how-to-dynamically-render-react-components/
  A quick example of how to dynamically decide which component type to render

• All the Conditional Renderings in React
  https://www.robinwieruch.de/conditional-rendering-react/
  Examples of all the possible ways to conditionally render components

• "React render function organization"
  https://gist.github.com/markerikson/47fff93c92286db72b22bab5b02e2da3
  My suggested approach for organizing render function logic for clarity and readability

• Simplify complex React components with generators
  https://nvbn.github.io/2017/03/14/react-generators/
  An interesting alternative to the usual if/else-type logic for conditionally rendering components, by using ES6 generators to yield the right pieces to render.

React Component Children

• Ownership and Children in React
  http://ctheu.com/2015/02/10/ownership-and-children-in-reactjs/
  Discusses the difference between "parent" and "owner" relationships, and what the children prop can look like.

• ReactCasts #3: React's Children API
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ53-G8EbxE
  A screencast demonstrating how the children prop to compose components together

• React.Children and the React Top-Level API
  http://callahan.io/blog/2016/09/16/react-dot-children-and-the-react-top-level-api/
  Overviews and examples of the React.Children APIs, and how they can be used to manipulate component children

• Send Props to Children in React
  http://jaketrent.com/post/send-props-to-children-react/
  Examples of how to pass new props to child components using React.Children

• A deep dive into children in React
  http://mxstbr.blog/2017/02/react-children-deepdive/
  An in-depth look at the power and capabilities of React's children prop, and how children can be reused and modified. Includes several examples and demos.

• The "Forwarded Refs" pattern
  reduxjs/react-redux#270 (comment)
  An example of the "forwarded refs" pattern, where a parent component passes a callback through one or more layers of children, it's used as a ref callback, and the parent receives the nested DOM element reference directly.

• React component composition cheatsheet
  https://github.com/xat/react-component-composition-cheatsheet
  A useful list of ways to combine components together

• Avoiding deeply nested component trees
  https://medium.com/@RubenOostinga/avoiding-deeply-nested-component-trees-973edb632991
  Examples of children to include arbitrary content inside of a component for more flexible handling of presentation and composition.

React Component Lifecycle

• React Docs: Component Specs and Lifecycle
  https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/component-specs.html
  The official React docs page on component lifecycle

• Understanding the React Component Lifecycle
  http://busypeoples.github.io/post/react-component-lifecycle/
  A good look at which lifecycle methods run in which situations, as well as the signatures of each method.

• Dissecting React Lifecycle Methods
  https://medium.com/@fay_jai/dissecting-reactjs-lifecycle-methods-be4fdea11c6d
  Breaks the lifecycle methods down into "mount/unmount" and "update" categories, and describes the purpose and use of each.

• The React Component Lifecycle
  https://www.kirupa.com/react/component_lifecycle.htm
  Another useful description of the order and purpose of the lifecycle methods.

• React In-Depth: The React Life Cycle
  https://developmentarc.gitbooks.io/react-indepth/content/
  A deep dive into the lifecycle methods, and various techniques for using them.

• React Lifecycle Cheatsheet
  https://gist.github.com/bvaughn/923dffb2cd9504ee440791fade8db5f9
  A table listing the lifecycle methods, when they're called, whether each method allows side effects or state updates, and examples uses for each method

• React Lifecycle Methods - how and when to use them
  https://engineering.musefind.com/react-lifecycle-methods-how-and-when-to-use-them-2111a1b692b1
  A helpful description of the major component lifecycle methods, including descriptions of common use cases for each one, and whether you can call setState inside.

Component Communication

• 8 no-Flux strategies for React component communication
  http://andrewhfarmer.com/component-communication/
  Very helpful list of ways to have React components communicate back and forth

• How to communicate between React components
  http://ctheu.com/2015/02/12/how-to-communicate-between-react-components/
  Another good list of component communication strategies

• How React Components Communicate
  http://react.tips/how-reactjs-components-communicate/
  A careful tutorial-based explanation of how to communicate between parent and child components.

• How to handle React context in a reliable way
  https://medium.com/react-ecosystem/how-to-handle-react-context-a7592dfdcbc
  Covers what the context feature is, how to use it, and some concerns to be aware of.

• How to safely use React context
  https://medium.com/@mweststrate/how-to-safely-use-react-context-b7e343eff076
  Guidelines for when and how to actually use React's context feature

• Context All the Things with React
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9AhBMwj1w4
  A talk on what context is, and how to use it safely

• ReactCasts #4-5: Context (Parts 1 and 2)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxq938kqIss
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwYHDXS6uSc A two-part series explaining what React's context feature can be used for, and some potential concerns to be aware of when using it.

• React Context and Component Coupling
  https://medium.com/differential/react-context-and-component-coupling-86e535e2d599
  Discussion on the pros and cons of using context to pass data between components, and some examples of how to do so

• Higher Order With Context
  https://dev.to/kayis/higher-order-with-context
  https://dev.to/kayis/higher-order-components-and-context-example Examples of using Higher Order Components to pass data to nested components using context

• Context in React Applications
  http://javascriptplayground.com/blog/2017/02/context-in-reactjs-applications/
  An overview of what context is, how it works, and when you should use it for passing data

• Callback functions in React
  https://medium.com/@thejasonfile/callback-functions-in-react-e822ebede766
  Some basic explanations of how a React app uses callback functions to communicate from children to parents

• How to use React's Provider pattern
  https://www.robinwieruch.de/react-provider-pattern-context/
  Walks through the concepts and implementation of a "Provider" component that makes data available to deeply nested children, similar to the ones that come with Redux and MobX

• Passing Data Between React Components
  https://medium.com/@ruthmpardee/passing-data-between-react-components-103ad82ebd17
  Some short examples of how to pass data between parents, children, and siblings.

Component Categories

• Presentational and Container Components
  https://medium.com/@dan_abramov/smart-and-dumb-components-7ca2f9a7c7d0
  Dan Abramov's foundational article on classifying components based on intent and behavior. A must-read for anyone using React.

• "People are reading way too much into 'presentational' vs 'container'"
  https://twitter.com/dan_abramov/status/802569801906475008
  Dan Abramov follows up his article by emphasizing that "presentational" and "container" was just a pattern he had noticed, rather than an approach that must be followed

• Leveling Up with React: Container Components
  https://css-tricks.com/learning-react-container-components/
  Describes the container component pattern and how to use it to split up responsibilities between fetching and displaying data.

• Smart and Dumb Components in React
  http://jaketrent.com/post/smart-dumb-components-react/
  Another look at ways to conceptually categorize components based on responsibilities, and some ways you can organize your code based on those concepts.

• Ramblings About React and Redux Architecture
  https://medium.com/@kurtiskemple/ramblings-about-react-and-redux-architecture-c27dfff79ddf
  Thoughts on structuring components as "Providers", "Behavior", and "Presentational"

• The Anatomy of a React Redux App
  https://medium.com/@rajaraodv/the-anatomy-of-a-react-redux-app-759282368c5a
  Breaks down the component structure of a typical React/Redux app, and classifies the different types of components that usually show up

• React and Flux in Production Best Practices
  https://medium.com/@delveeng/react-and-flux-in-production-best-practices-c87766c57cb6
  Delve's practice of describing components as "containers", "smart", and "dumb"

• Content vs Container
  https://hackernoon.com/content-vs-container-e0a1ada681c1
  General advice for determining component responsibilities in terms of content, layout, and logic

• The React + Redux Container Pattern
  http://www.thegreatcodeadventure.com/the-react-plus-redux-container-pattern/
  Explanation and examples of "container" and "presentational" components and their responsibilities. Uses Redux for the examples, but the principles apply to "just" React as well.

• Refactoring React - Extracting Layout Components
  http://erikaybar.name/refactoring-react-extracting-layout-components/
  Demonstrates creating reusable components that manage some aspects of styling and layout, such as a button with multiple sizes and colors.

• Share Code between React and React Apps
  https://hackernoon.com/code-reuse-using-higher-order-hoc-and-stateless-functional-components-in-react-and-react-native-6eeb503c665
  An exploration of how to refactor code to extract functional components and higher-order components for improved code reuse, including reusing the same components in both React and React Native apps.

• Reusable state for React UI components
  https://medium.com/@efreyreg/reusable-state-for-react-ui-components-e38c5af40be4
  An example of taking a component that has both state, logic, and presentation, and extracting the logic and presentation into separate components. Also demonstrates using a Redux-like approach to update logic without actually using Redux.

• Extracting Logic from React Components
  https://javascriptplayground.com/blog/2017/07/react-extracting-logic/
  Demonstrates taking a component that includes some logic for formatting a value, and refactoring it to extract out the formatting logic into separate functions.

• Refactoring React
  https://8thlight.com/blog/josh-mccormick/2017/08/21/refactoring-react.html
  Demonstrates extracting state and logic out of a component to separate responsibility and improve ease of testing.

• How do you separate React components?
  https://reactarmory.com/answers/how-should-i-separate-components
  Describes four categories of React components ("view", "control", "controllers", and "containers"), and gives suggestions on when and how to factor out new components.

Wrapping Non-React Code

• React and third-party libraries
  http://krasimirtsonev.com/blog/article/react-third-party-library-integration
  Demonstrates how to build a React component that wraps up non-React code like a jQuery UI plugin

• Declaratively Rendering Earth in 3D, Part 2: Controlling Cesium with React
  http://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2017/03/declarative-earth-part-2-cesium-react/
  A detailed description of how to create React components that wrap up a 3D globe library, including use of lifecycle methods for controlling imperative non-React APIs.

• When to use Ref on a DOM Node in React
  https://www.robinwieruch.de/react-ref-attribute-dom-node/
  An explanation of the ref property, how to use it to access real DOM nodes, and when you should use it.

• Using React and jQuery Together
  http://tech.oyster.com/using-react-and-jquery-together/
  Examples of how to use jQuery inside a React component, and React inside jQuery-controlled elements

• Using React and PixiJS
  http://www.rinconstrategies.io/using-react-and-pixijs.html
  Demonstrates how to use React's component lifecycle methods to control the imperative PixiJS API

• Mapping declarative React components to imperative external APIs
  http://reactkungfu.com/2016/02/mapping-declarative-react-components-to-imperative-external-api/
  A quick example of using componentWillReceiveProps to pass updates to an imperative API

• How to Write a Google Maps React Component
  https://www.fullstackreact.com/articles/how-to-write-a-google-maps-react-component/
  Demonstrates how to wrap a third-party component that has an imperative API, lazy-loading the dependencies, and more.

• Building SVG Maps with React
  https://blog.komand.com/building-svg-maps-with-react
  Demonstrates building a component that zooms and pans SVG graphics based on user input.

• How to Sprinkle ReactJS into an Existing Web Application
  https://scotch.io/tutorials/how-to-sprinkle-reactjs-into-an-existing-web-application
  Looks at how to incrementally add some React-based functionality into an existing app, including interaction with jQuery.

• How to Use jQuery Libraries in the React Ecosystem
  https://medium.com/@superKalo/how-to-use-jquery-libraries-in-the-react-ecosystem-7dfeb1aafde0
  Some excellent examples of using React components to wrap up jQuery plugins: creating the plugin instance, updating the plugin from React props, and destroying the plugin on unmount.

• Introducing React into an Existing Application
  https://medium.com/nthrive-analytics/introducing-react-into-an-existing-application-17490841796e
  Some examples of how to progressively add React components into an existing jQuery-based application and keep them in sync with the rest of the app.

• How to use D3.js in React
  http://cmichel.io/how-to-use-d3js-in-react/
  An overview of three ways to integrate D3 into a React app: using React to render, using D3 to render, and a hybrid approach.

• Renderless Components, or How Logic Doesn't Always Need a UI
  http://kyleshevlin.com/renderless-components/
  Shows how you can create components that return null from render, and use React's lifecycle methods to drive imperative logic rather than rendering UI.

• Getting Started with React and Leaflet
  https://www.azavea.com/blog/2016/12/05/getting-started-with-react-and-leaflet/
  Examples of how to create React components that interact with the Leaflet maps library.

• How (and why) to use D3 with React
  https://hackernoon.com/how-and-why-to-use-d3-with-react-d239eb1ea274
  A good overview of some of the libraries and approaches you can make use of to use D3 in a React app

• Integrating React with an Existing jQuery Web Application
  http://www.primaryobjects.com/2017/05/08/integrating-react-with-an-existing-jquery-web-application/
  Covers 3 methods for methods for integrating React and jQuery: referencing jQuery from within React, using a helper class passed to React, and using a pub-sub model passed to React.

• Building D3 Components with React
  https://hackernoon.com/building-d3-components-with-react-7510e4743288
  A detailed walk through custom integration of D3 and React without use of an additional library.

• PixiJS Application in a React Component
  https://www.protectator.ch/post/pixijs-v4-in-a-react-component
  A quick example of loading PixiJS and wrapping it in a React component, showing the basics for integration.

• React components as jQuery plugins
  https://swizec.com/blog/using-react-in-the-real-world/swizec/6710
  Demonstrates how to wrap up a React component as a jQuery plugin for integration with non-React apps.

• Using D3 and React Together to Make Visualizations with TypeScript
  https://spin.atomicobject.com/2017/07/20/d3-react-typescript/
  Examples of some possible approaches to using D3 inside of React, including use of refs and components.

• Wrapping Web Components With React
  https://www.sitepen.com/blog/2017/08/08/wrapping-web-components-with-react/
  A detailed walkthrough of how to create React components that wrap up existing web components, including managing props, handling events, and keeping the DOM in sync.

• Migrating complex Javascript applications
  https://javascriptplayground.com/blog/2017/08/migrating-complex-javascript-angular-react/
  Jack Franklin describes the lessons learned when his team migrated from Angular to React, including why they migrated, how they approached the architecture changes, how they prioritized what to change, and more. Includes some examples of the Angular->React change, but also good advice in general.

Modal Dialogs

• How to Render Components Outside the Main React App
  https://blog.komand.com/how-to-render-components-outside-the-main-react-app
  An example of a technique that's also know as the "portal" approach, commonly used for rendering modals on top of the rest of an application.

• Modals in React
  https://medium.com/@david.gilbertson/modals-in-react-f6c3ff9f4701
  A demonstration of building a reusable modal component using the "portals" technique

• Modal Dialogs in React
  https://daveceddia.com/open-modal-in-react/
  An excellent example of how to approach rendering modals in React, by controlling them with props

• Modal window in React from scratch
  https://peteris.rocks/blog/modal-window-in-react-from-scratch/
  Walks through creating a Modal component with styling and display logic

• React Modals
  https://medium.com/@danparkk/react-modals-scalable-customizable-neat-components-f2088d60f3d3
  An extended discussion of what concepts are involved in creating modals in web pages, why this can become complex, and how to implement them in a scalable way using React and Redux.

• Tasks and Portals in React
  https://medium.com/@MoneyhubEnterpr/tasks-and-portals-in-react-1df2438cdebb
  Describes how MoneyHub implemented modal dialogs with wizard-like workflows that tie together multiple screens, using a combination of container components and portals.

• Good React Modals
  https://medium.com/@elsdoerfer/good-react-modals-548cd9c2f7f4
  Covers ways to handle issues with modal content not being rendered while doing animations, and side-loading data for a modal while maintaining a loading indicator.

Other Component Patterns

• The React Controller View Pattern
  http://blog.andrewray.me/the-reactjs-controller-view-pattern/
  Describes using top-level components to hold state and pass it to children as props

• Make Your React Components Pretty
  https://medium.com/walmartlabs/make-your-react-components-pretty-a1ae4ec0f56e
  Techniques for making your components easier to read, including using functional components, using JSX spread for props, and use of destructuring.

• Component Factories in React.js
  https://github.com/szabototo89/create-it/blob/master/docs/article-full.md
  A variation on Dependency Injection for React components

• "What is the ideal way to pass data to a callback prop?
  https://gist.github.com/jazlalli/fdee443405680f96d19211daa15d1d38
  Discussion and examples of various ways to pass data to callbacks between children and parents

• On Privacy with React Context
  https://medium.com/@amireh/on-privacy-with-react-context-aa77ffd08509
  Thoughts on some potential issues with various component/state patterns (globals, Redux, Flux, Ember), and a sketch of a notional approach that might help solve some of those issues.

• Internationalizing React Apps
  https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/01/internationalizing-react-apps/
  An extended investigation of server and client aspects needed for internationalization.

• Creating a cross-domain React component with xcomponent
  https://medium.com/@bluepnume/creating-a-cross-domain-react-component-with-xcomponent-fbcccc4778fd
  A look at how to wrap a React component using the xcomponent library, so that it can be rendered and used across domains.

• Using React v16 to create self-destructing components
  https://medium.com/@gajus/using-react-v16-to-create-self-destructing-components-de8e4eb61d0f
  Demonstrates how a tiny component that simply returns its own children can simplify the process of returning arrays of components in React 16.