As many know, this.someFunction = this.someFunction.bind(this) can be used in React class components. However, sometimes it's burdensome to create classes for very simple components. So, how can I bind a function to this without creating a class?
5 Answers
use arrow function arrow function
1 Comment
this makes sense in class component because it refers to component instance. It doesn't make sense in functional component because it is either undefined or a global, depending on the environment and how a function was declared.
As for class components, explicit constructor can be omitted if it's not needed, class fields can be used to assign instance properties, including bound methods:
class Foo extends Component {
foo = this.foo.bind(this);
foo() { ... }
...
}
Which is syntactic sugar for:
class Foo extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.foo = this.foo.bind(this);
}
foo() { ... }
...
}
Bound prototype methods have several benefits over instance arrow methods.
Comments
In React 16.8, you can use hooks for stateful components, essentially allowing you to write everything as a function and eliminating the need to use classes and all the caveats that come with them (this, .bind() etc).
Usage example
Here's an example of using the useState() hook and the useEffect() hook inside a function, along with an arrow function, which is already bound to the component's context:
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
function LimitedTextarea({ rows, cols, value, limit }) {
const [content, setContent] = useState(value);
const setFormattedContent = text => {
text.length > limit ? setContent(text.slice(0, limit)) : setContent(text);
};
useEffect(() => {
setFormattedContent(content);
}, []);
return (
<div>
<textarea
rows={rows}
cols={cols}
onChange={event => setFormattedContent(event.target.value)}
value={content}
/>
<p>
{content.length}/{limit}
</p>
</div>
);
}
Short explanation
- You use
useState()to create a state variablecontentand a method to update that variable,setContent(). - You create an arrow function
setFormattedContentto update thecontentstate variable via thesetContentmethod, which is already bound to context. - You use
useEffect()to callsetFormattedContenton the value of thecontentstate variable. - Finally, you return whatever you would have in your
render()method in a class component.
arrow function. No need to bind this for thatthisinside the component? pure functional components are generally for presentation and should have any values they need passed as props, whats the requirement to accessthis