Is there a way to call the methods that a React component defines internally?
I understand generally we want to be passing values around declaratively with props/data etc. However I am using some component libraries that have internal useful methods.
eg
var field = <AutoComplete/>;
field.setValue("ready"); // doesn't work
eg this method https://github.com/callemall/material-ui/blob/master/src/auto-complete.jsx#L244-L248
in material-ui AutoComplete component.
You can not do this with virtual dom, since virtual dom is just a description of components to be created(actual component instance will be created or updated only when rendering).
But you can access component instances inside your react component after rendering using refs:
var Test = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function(){
return {value:0};
},
setValue: function(value){
this.setState({value:value});
},
render: function() {
return <div>Value {this.state.value}</div>;
}
});
var App = React.createClass({
render: function() {
return <div>
<Test ref="test"/>
<button onClick={()=>this.refs.test.setValue(1)}>1</button>
<button onClick={()=>this.refs.test.setValue(2)}>2</button>
<button onClick={()=>this.refs.test.setValue(3)}>3</button>
</div>;
}
});
var mountNode = document.getElementById('app');
ReactDOM.render(<App name="John" />, mountNode);
jsbin with code above: http://jsbin.com/kitehujaje/1/edit?js,output
