Can-React
@bigab/can-react
![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/BigAB/can-react.png?branch=master)
Connect observable view-models to React presentational components to create auto rendering container components.
Install
ES6
import { connect } from '@bigab/can-react';
CommonJS
var connect = require("@bigab/can-react").connect;
Usage
save-button.js
import { connect } from '@bigab/can-react';
import Button from './button.jsx';
import DefineMap from 'can-define/map/';
import Item from '../models/items';
let items = Items.getList({ selected: true });
export const ViewModel = DefineMap.extend({
text: {
get() {
return `Save ${items.length} items`;
}
},
onClick() {
items.saveAllItems();
}
});
export default connect( ViewModel, Button );
API
connect( {ViewModel|mapToProps}, Component )
Connect a view-model class or mapToPros function to React presentational components
connect()
takes 2 arguments. The first is either a mapToProps function, a function that will return an object that the component instance will receive as props
, or a ViewModel constructor function, which is an extended can-define/map. The second argument is a Presentational Component constructor function (a.k.a. a class or just component in React). The connect()
function returns a Container Component which can then be imported and used in any react component or render function as usual.
ViewModel {constructor function}
A DefineMap constructor function.
Every instance of the returned component will generate an instance of the viewModel and provide props to the connected component based on the serialized Map instance.
The ViewModel
instance will be initialized with the props
passed into the Container Component. Whenever the container component will receive new props
, the props
object is passed to the viewModels .set()
method, which may in turn cause an observable change event, which will re-run the serialization process and provide the connected component new props, which may cause a new render.
Methods on the view model, and copied onto the serialized props object and bound to the viewModel, so that they may be used as callbacks for the connected component, while still being called with the correct context.
Example:
import { connect } from '@bigab/can-react';
import DefineMap from 'can-define/map/map';
import TodoComponent from 'components/todo.jsx';
import Todo from 'models/todo';
const ViewModel = DefineMap.extend({
showOnlyCompleted: 'boolean',
todos: {
value: Todo.getList( { completed: this.showOnlyCompleted } ),
serialize: true
}
addTodo(formValues) {
new Todo(formValues).save()
}
});
export default connect( ViewModel, TodoComponent );
mapToProps {function}
A function that receives props as an argument and returns props
to be sent to the connected component. This mapTpProps
function will be converted into a compute and any changes made to observable derived values within this function will re-run this function to calculate the new props and pass them into the connected component.
The mapToProps function has one parameter, ownProps
, which are the props that would have normally been passed into this component instance, as defined by the owner template (JSX).
The return value of the mapToProps function will be an object, mapping the values to be used as props to the Presentational Components instance, and will be merged into the props the component would already be receiving from it’s owner in the template it is used in (MapToProps values will overwrite the props passed in through the template). Since React components should not really be expecting observables, it may be appropriate (though not required) to serialize any observables in the mapToProps function (using attr
, serialize
, .map
and .reduce
) when computing the value. Expecting observables in your react code will reduce re-usability).
Since the Container Component doesn't produce DOM artifacts of it’s own, you won’t end up with any wrapper divs or anything to worry about, but in react-device-tools you will see the component with the name connected( MyComponent )
in the tree. The Container Component holds the “newly computed props” value as its state
. That state will update whenever the component “receives new props” or the compute emits a “change” event, which will then pass props down into the connected component instance, possibly causing some parts to re-render.
Any user actions that should affect the state should be handled with callbacks on props (like onClick
or onSelectNewCountry
), and should be implemented in the MapToProps function as methods on the return value. The callback methods can be used to directly act on the observables.
Example:
import Todo from 'models/todo';
connect( ownProps => {
return {
todos: Todo.getList( { completed: ownProps.showOnlyCompleted } ),
addTodo(formValues) {
new Todo(formValues).save()
}
};
}, MyComponent ) ;
Component {react component}
Any react component, usually a presentational component
Contributing
Contributing
Running the tests
Tests can run in the browser by opening a webserver and visiting the src/test/test.html
page.
Automated tests that run the tests from the command line in Firefox can be run with
npm test
Why Can-React?
Can-React follows the pattern popularized by react-redux, and provide users with a connect()
function for extending React Presentational Components into Container Components, by providing connect
with either a mapToProps
function or more commonly a ViewModel
constructor function, which is an extended DefineMap class, along with a presentational component, just like react-redux does.
The ViewModel
is an observable, and when any observable change happens to one of it's properties, or if new props get set on the Container Component, it will be serialized and sent into the connected component as props, forcing an update/render.
The mapToProps
function will get converted to a compute, so when any observable read inside the compute emits a change (or if new props get set on the Container Component), it will update the wrapped/connected presentational component instance with new derived props.
By following the patterns established by react-redux, but avoiding the complexity of pure-functional programing, reducer composition, immutability, and the single store paradigm, we hope to offer a familiar, powerful, but far simpler solution to creating great backing data stores for your react app.
License
MIT