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 Slides

Responding to Events

  • Event handling in React is similar to handling DOM events
  • Handler functions can be passed as Props
  • Event names are camelCased i.e. onClick, onSubmit, onHover
<!-- HTML Event Handler -->
<button onclick="handleData()">
  Submit Data
</button>
/* React Event Handler */
<button onClick={handleData}>
  Submit Data
</button>

Preventing Default Behavior

  • Calling event.preventDefault() must be done in the handler
function Link () {
  function handleClick(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    doSomethingWithTarget(event);
  }

  return (
    <a href="#" onClick={handleClick}>
      Click Me React
    </a>
  );
}

React Events are SyntheticEvents

  • Events are not real DOM events
  • They are captured by React and replaced with SyntheticEvent
  • SyntheticEvents behave the same accross all Browsers, unlike DOM Events
Propery Return Type
bubbles boolean
cancelable boolean
currentTarget DOMEventTarget
defaultPrevented boolean
eventPhase number
isTrusted boolean
nativeEvent DOMEvent
preventDefault() void
isDefaultPrevented() boolean
stopPropagation() void
isPropagationStopped() boolean
target DOMEventTarget
timeStamp number
type string

Events are Nullified after Handling

  • After the event handler function is called the event is set to Null
  • This is because SyntheticEvents are reused for other Events
  • Do not handle events using Async functions, unless calling event.persist() first

Usual Behavior

function onClick(event) {
  console.log(event); // => nullified object.
  console.log(event.type); // => "click"
  const eventType = event.type; // => "click"

  setTimeout(function() {
    console.log(event.type); // => null
    console.log(eventType); // => "click"
  }, 0);

  // Won't work.
  // this.state.clickEvent will only contain null values.
  this.setState({clickEvent: event});

  // You can still export event properties.
  this.setState({eventType: event.type});
}

More on SyntheticEvents

Binding Event Handlers

  • JavaScript classes do not by default bind the this in ES6 Classes
  • Binding is a normal JavaScript behavior and is very confusing
  • Either use bind in the constructor, or use an ES6 Arrow Function
class Toggle extends React.Component {
  constructor (props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = { isToggleOn: true };

    // Binding is necessary to make `this` work in the callback
    this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);
  }

  handleClick() {
    this.setState(prevState => ({
      isToggleOn: !prevState.isToggleOn
    }));
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <button onClick={this.handleClick}>
        {this.state.isToggleOn ? true : false}
      </button>
    );
  }
}

ReactDOM.render(
  <Toggle />,
  document.getElementById('root')
);

More about Binding Functions

Binding Event Handlers - Arrow Functions

  • Class constructor with this.function = this.function.bind(this) are verbose
  • Rewrite the Class property as an arrow function as below
  • Only availble when transformed via Babel using create-react-app or other
class LoggingButton extends React.Component {
  // This syntax ensures `this` is bound within handleClick.
  // Warning: this is *experimental* syntax.
  constructor (props) {
    super(props)
    this.state = { isToggleOn: true }
  }

  handleClick = () => {
    this.setState(prevState => ({
      isToggleOn: !prevState.isToggleOn
    }));
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <button onClick={this.handleClick}>
        {this.state.isToggleOn ? true : false}
      </button>
    );
  }
}

Arrow Functions as Class Properties