string refs example in React

refs in React provides a way to access DOM node / React element directly. refs have a performance impact, hence refs should be avoided if the same functionality can be achieved using other means like state or event handlers. refs can be used for simple features like setting focus, getting text value from input controls etc.

In this example we shall see on how refs can be used to get the value entered in a text-box control. to pass props in a parent component and pass it to the child/nested component. The ref "myRef" is used to get the value from the text-box and set it to the state.

What's new in React 16.3

React 16.3 introduces the following new features

1. Context API
2. createRef API
3. ref Forwarding
4. new Component Lifecycle Changes
5. StrictMode

Let us now look into these features in detail.

What is ReactDOM.findDOMNode

In React refs can be used to access DOM elements and other child components in the page. We use ReactDOM.findDOMNode to get the instance of other react components in the page. Once we get the instance we can access the components.

In this example we have 2 components HelloRefComponent is the parent component and HelloChildComponent is the child component. We create a ref (ref="refComponent") to the child component and use it in the parent component to set the focus on the child component. We use ReactDOM.findDOMNode to get the instance of the child component and set the focus.

ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.refComponent)

React ref for components example

Refs in React is a shortcut way to access a specific DOM node or a React component.
There are two types of refs in react, string refs and callback refs.
In string refs we set the ref attribute to a name (string) and later access the element/component using the referenced name.

Refs can be used to get a handle to HTML elements like textbox, dropdown etc, or get handles to other react components in the page.

In this example let us see how to use a string ref to set focus to another component in the screen. In this example we have 2 components HelloRefComponent is the parent component and HelloChildComponent is the child component. We create a ref (ref="refComponent") to the child component and use it in the parent component to set the focus on the child component. We use ReactDOM.findDOMNode to get the instance of the child component and set the focus.

React ref example

Refs in React is a shortcut way to access a specific DOM node or a React component.
There are two types of refs in react, string refs and callback refs.
In string refs we set the ref attribute to a name (string) and later access the element/component using the referenced name.

In this example let us see how to use a string ref to access the content in a textbox and display it in the screen. In this example we create a ref with name refName for the text control (ref="refName"). In the onChange() event of the control we get the content of the textbox using the ref and display it in the screen.

React refs

Refs in React is a shortcut way to access a specific DOM node or a React component.
 
There are two types of refs in react, string refs and callback refs.
 
In string refs we set the ref attribute to a name (string) and later access the element/component using the referenced name.