Pure render() 'this' Binding Patterns in React

Another React caveat that I have come across, is to keep the render() method pure.

Let's take a look, specifically relating to patterns on binding the this context for class methods.

I. Quick Overview on Pure render()

The motivation behind keeping the render() method pure is to avoid issues when using shouldComponentUpdate(), and React.PureComponent, which work by performing shallow comparison checks.

The guidelines of a pure render() is:

  • The contents of the render() method should not create new arrays, objects, or functions.

    • A new array, object, or function instance within render() will cause the shallow comparison to always fail. The Component will always re-render.
  • That state is not mutated within setState().

    • A mutated state will not create a new state object, causing the shallow comparison to always succeed. The Component will not re-render.

Side Comment: Necessity of pure render() patterns?:

Pure render() patterns seem to only have benefits if you are utilizing the shouldComponentUpdate() method, or React.PureComponent.

Pure render() patterns are considered a "nice to have", but they are not mandatory in writing functioning (and for the most part, performant) React apps.

React will actually handle the performance of most, small, React apps perfectly fine.

Following a pure render() pattern may provide an easier transition, when shouldComponentUpdate() or React.PureComponent is actually needed.

In either case, it's good to understand what a pure/non-pure pattern implies in how the code functions. Let's dig in more...

II. this Binding in React render()

Most of the discussion, around maintaining pure render() methods, is regarding the this context binding within a render() method.

Assume the base case:

  • Form Component with an ES6 class.
  • State Object, with the property name, and value of Joe
  • handleClick() method that console.log(this.state.name).
  • render() method that just displays the button.

How should we attach handleClick() to the button, with a correctly bound this to the context of the Form Component instance?

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  }

  handleClick() {
    // Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read  property 'state' of null
    console.log(this.state.name);  }

  render() {
    return (
      // How to bind 'this.handleClick' to Form Component instance?
      <button onClick={this.handleClick()}>Click Me</button>    );
  }
}

Problem: Binding this

The problem originates from ES6 classes not automatically binding the, this, context for methods on the class.

Without explicit this binding, when <button> Click Me </button> is clicked, the this context within the attached event handler, handleClick(), no longer points to the Form Component instance and we get the error:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'state' of null

Aside: When to pass props into super()?

I noticed there were code samples on various blog articles that differ in passing and omitting props into the super() method.

As a standard, the React team recommends:

"Class components should always call the base constructor with props".

For the curious minds: Apparently, passing props into super() allows access to this.props in the constructor().

Interestingly, if you omit passing props into super(), it does not affect access to this.props outside of the constructor() (ex. render(), componentDidMount(), etc. will still have access to this.props).

// Not recommended, omitting props.
constructor() {
  super();
  ...
}


// Recommended: Always call the base constructor with props.
constructor(props) {
  super(props);
  ...
}

III. Non-Pure render() Patterns - Binding this

Note: Most articles and tutorials I've seen commonly use these two non-pure patterns because of the succinct syntax. Using a non-pure pattern is absolutely fine for those situations. Again, most small React apps will perform perfectly fine using these non-pure render() patterns.

To reiterate, a pure render() should not create new functions within render().

The following two non-pure patterns, using .bind and arrow functions, return a new function every time the Component re-renders. This will cause problems when trying to utilize shouldComponentUpdate() and React.PurecComponent.

1. Calling bind() in render() - Non Pure render() Pattern

A common solution to resolve this binding context is to use bind(). This Javascript native method creates a new function that has its this keyword set to the provided context.

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  }

  handleClick() {
    // 'this' context in handleClick() bound to Form Component instance
    console.log(this.state.name);  }

  render() {
    return (
      // Binding 'this'
      <button onClick={this.handleClick.bind(this)}>Click Me</button>    );
  }
}

2. Arrow Functions - Non Pure render() Pattern

Another common solution to resolve this binding context, is to use arrow functions.

However, we are still returning a new instance of handleClick() from the arrow function every time the Component is re-rendered.

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  }

  handleClick() {
    // 'this' context in handleClick() bound to Form Component instance
    console.log(this.state.name);  }

  render() {
    return (
      // Binding 'this.handleClick'
      <button onClick={() => this.handleClick()}>Click Me</button>    );
  }
}

Note: Using arrow functions in render() is popular because it serves as a "useful" and convenient way to pass in arguments to an event handler. We'll touch on this more below.

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  }

  handleClick(name) {
    console.log(name);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      // Binding 'this', and passing in an argument
      <button onClick={() => this.handleClick(this.state.name)}>        Click Me
      </button>
    );
  }
}

IV. Pure render() Patterns - Binding this

The following pure render() patterns do not create new function instances within render(), allowing the shallow comparison check to work correctly.

1. Calling bind() in the Constructor - Pure render() Pattern

This solution still utilizes bind(), however, we assign the context bound function in the constructor of the Component.

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };

    // Binding 'this'
    this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);  }

  handleClick() {
    // 'this' context in handleClick() bound to Form Component instance
    console.log(this.state.name);  }

  render() {
    return <button onClick={this.handleClick}>Click Me</button>;
  }
}

2. Arrow Function Class Method- Pure render() Pattern

This solution takes advantage of a stage-2 experimental feature, Arrow Function Class Methods, allowing arrow functions to be used as class methods to preserve the this context of your method.

Note: Class properties are currently stage-2 and require an additional Babel plugin. I've included my .babelrc, webpack.config.js, and package.json at the end of the article for reference.

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  }

  // Arrow Function Method
  handleClick = () => {
    // 'this' context in handleClick() bound to Form Component instance
    console.log(this.state.name);  };

  render() {
    return <button onClick={this.handleClick}>Click Me</button>;
  }
}

3. Autobinding with React.createClass - Pure render() Pattern

ES6 Class syntax is the current standard for writing React (the React docs have also switched over to use ES6 Class syntax). However, when using the traditional syntax of React.createClass, the this context of methods in the Component are actually automatically bound.

var Form = React.createClass({
  getInitialState() {
    return {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  },

  handleClick() {
    // 'this' context in handleClick() bound to Form Component instance
    console.log(this.state.name);  },

  render() {
    return <button onClick={this.handleClick} />;
  }
});

V. Passing Arguments to Methods in render()

This is an interesting problem - how do you keep the render() method pure, while passing arguments to event handlers?

1. Non Pure render(): Passing Arguments with Arrow Functions

There's nothing special here. An easy way to pass arguments to a method within render(), is to use arrow functions.

However, this is a non-pure pattern.

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "Joe"
    };
  }

  handleClick(name) {
    console.log(name);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      // Binding 'this', and passing in an argument
      <button onClick={() => this.handleClick(this.state.name)}>        Click Me
      </button>
    );
  }
}

2. Pure render(): Passing Arguments using Child Components

The concept of this pattern is to create a separate Component, <Button /> with its own event handler, wrapperHandler().

wrapperHandler() can call the parent's event handler, handleClick(), and pass in any arguments:

// Create a child Component

const Button = props => {
  const wrapperHandler = () => {
    // Pass in arguments to the original event handler 'props.handleClick'
    props.handleClick(props.name);  };

  return <button onClick={wrapperHandler}>Click Me</button>;
};

With this pattern, we can ensure that the render() method remains pure, and we avoid creating new function instances on each render.

In the parent Component, we render an instance of the <Button /> Component we just created, and pass in the original event handler and any arguments, as props.

Note that the method, handleClick(), still needs to have its this context correctly bound. In this example, I chose to do the binding in the constructor().

class Form extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      name: "joe"
    };

    this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this); // Binding 'this'  }

  handleClick(name) {
    console.log(name);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <Button
        // Pass 'this.handleClick' as a prop called, 'handleClick'
        handleClick={this.handleClick}        // Pass the argument as a prop called, 'name'
        name={this.state.name}      />
    );
  }
}

The above example is pretty simple. Here's another example in React CodeSandbox that further illustrates this pattern.

Appendix: Using Babel Stage-2 Presets

webpack.config.js
// Specify webpack to use the 'babel-loader' module, for .js file types.

var path = require("path");
var HtmlWebpackPlugin = require("html-webpack-plugin");

module.exports = {
  entry: "./app/index.js",
  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, "dist"),
    filename: "index.bundle.js"
  },
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.js$/,
        use: "babel-loader"
      },
      {
        exclude: /(node_modules)/,
        test: /\.css$/,
        use: ["style-loader", "css-loader"]
      }
    ]
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: "app/index.html"
    })
  ]
};
.babelrc
// Include "stage-2", under "presets".


{
  "presets": ["env", "react", "stage-2"]
}
package.json
// Add "babel-preset-stage-2" as a Dev Dependency.

"devDependencies": {
  "babel-core": "^6.25.0",
  "babel-loader": "^7.1.1",
  "babel-preset-env": "^1.6.0",
  "babel-preset-react": "^6.24.1",
  "babel-preset-stage-2": "^6.24.1",
  "css-loader": "^0.28.4",
  "html-webpack-plugin": "^2.29.0",
  "prop-types": "^15.5.10",
  "style-loader": "^0.18.2",
  "webpack": "^3.3.0",
  "webpack-dev-server": "^2.5.1"
},
"dependencies": {
  "react": "^15.6.1",
  "react-dom": "^15.6.1"
}