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Updating a React list without re-rendering said list

I'm trying to figure out how to render out a set of divs, without re-rendering the entire list as a new set is added.
So I've got a stateful component. Inside said stateful component, I've got a function that A, gets a list of post id's, and B, makes a request to each of those post id's and pushes the results to an array. Like so:
getArticles = () => {
axios.get(`${api}/topstories.json`)
.then(items => {
let articles = items.data;
let init = articles.slice(0,50);
init.forEach(item => {
axios.get(`${post}/${item}.json`)
.then(article => {
this.setState({ articles: [...this.state.articles, article.data]});
});
})
});
}
Then, I've got a second function that takes this information and outputs it to a list of posts. Like so:
mapArticles = () => {
let articles = this.state.articles.map((item, i) => {
let time = moment.unix(item.time).fromNow();
return(
<section className="article" key={i}>
<Link className="article--link" to={`/posts/${item.id}`}/>
<div className="article--score">
<FontAwesomeIcon icon="angle-up"/>
<p>{item.score}</p>
<FontAwesomeIcon icon="angle-down"/>
</div>
<div className="article--content">
<div className="article--title">
<h1>{item.title}</h1>
</div>
<div className="article--meta">
{item.by} posted {time}. {item.descendants ? `${item.descendants} comments.` : null}
</div>
</div>
<div className="article--external">
<a href={item.link} target="_blank">
<FontAwesomeIcon icon="external-link-alt"/>
</a>
</div>
</section>
)
});
return articles;
}
I then use {this.mapArticles()} inside the render function to return the appropriate information.
However, whenever the app loads in a new piece of data, it re-renders the entire list, causing a ton of jank. I.e., when the first request finishes, it renders the first div. When the second request finishes, it re-renders the first div and renders the second. When the third request finishes, it re-renders the first and second, and renders the third.
Is there a way to have React recognize that the div with that key already exists, and should be ignored when the state changes and the function runs again?

A technique that I use to only render the part that are new is to keep a cache map of already drawn obj, so in the render method I only render the new incoming elements.
Here is an example:
Take a look at https://codesandbox.io/s/wq2vq09pr7
In this code you can see that the List has an cache array and the render method
only draw new arrays
class RealTimeList extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.cache = [];
}
renderRow(message, key) {
return <div key={key}>Mesage:{key}</div>;
}
renderMessages = () => {
//let newMessages=this,props.newMessage
let newElement = this.renderRow(this.props.message, this.cache.length);
this.cache.push(newElement);
return [...this.cache];
};
render() {
return (
<div>
<div> Smart List</div>
<div className="listcontainer">{this.renderMessages()}</div>
</div>
);
}
}
class App extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = { message: "hi" };
}
start = () => {
if (this.interval) return;
this.interval = setInterval(this.generateMessage, 200);
};
stop = () => {
clearTimeout(this.interval);
this.interval = null;
};
generateMessage = () => {
var d = new Date();
var n = d.getMilliseconds();
this.setState({ title: n });
};
render() {
return (
<div className="App">
<h1>Hello CodeSandbox</h1>
<h2>Start editing to see some magic happen!</h2>
<button onClick={this.start}> Start</button>
<button onClick={this.stop}> Stop</button>
<RealTimeList message={this.state.message} />
</div>
);
}
}

If items arrive at the same time, wait till all items are fetched, then render:
getArticles = () => {
axios.get(`${api}/topstories.json`)
.then(items => {
let articles = items.data;
let init = articles.slice(0, 50);
Promise.all(init.map(item => axios.get(`${post}/${item}.json`)).then(articles => {
this.setState({
articles
});
})
});
}
If you really want to render immediately after an item is fetched, you can introduce a utility component that renders when promise resolves.
class RenderOnResolve extends React.Component {
state = null
componentDidMount() {
this.props.promise.then(data => this.setState(data))
}
render() {
return this.state && this.props.render(this.state);
}
}
// usage:
<RenderOnResolve promise={promise} render={this.articleRenderer}/>

ReactJS Wrong Component gets removed from DOM

I have three files: ShopsContainer.js ShopsComponent.js and ShopsItemComponent.js
ShopsContainer maintains an array of shop items in local state that gets passed down into ShopsComponent as props. ShopsComponent then maps through the items array that is being received as props and renders a ShopsItemComponent for each item in the array.
Within my ShopsContainer file, I have a method that removes a shop item from state using the following code:
removeShop = (shopAccount) => {
this.setState(prevState => ({
items: prevState.items.filter(shop => {
return shop.shopAccount !== shopAccount
})
}));
}
When this happens, the correct item is removed from the items array in state, however, whatever the last ShopItem is that is in the DOM at the time of the removeShop call will get removed no matter if it is the correct item that should be removed or not. In other words, when removeShop gets called and the items array in state gets updated correctly, the wrong ShopItemComponent gets removed from the DOM.
What I would like to happen (or what I think should happen) is when removeShop gets called, that shop gets removed from the items array in state and ShopsContainer re-renders causing ShopsComponent to re-render with the updated props being received. And lastly ShopsComponent would map through the newly updated items array in props displaying a `ShopItemComponent for the correct items. Perhaps the problem has to do with the props being updated?
My code is as follows:
ShopsContainer.js
class ShopsContainer extends Component {
constructor() {
this.state = {
items: null
}
this.getAll();
this.removeShop = this.removeShop.bind(this);
}
getAll = () => {
// API request that fetches items and updates state
}
removeShop = (shopAccount) => {
this.setState(prevState => ({
items: prevState.items.filter(shop => {
return shop.shopAccount !== shopAccount
})
}));
}
render() {
return (
<div>
{this.state.items ? <ShopComponent items={this.state.items} removeShop={this.removeShop} /> : <div><h1>Loading...</h1></div>}
</div>
);
}
}
ShopsComponent.js
class ShopsComponent extends Component {
constructor() {
this.handleRemove = this.handleRemove.bind(this);
}
handleRemove = (shopAccount) => {
this.props.removeShop(shopAccount);
}
render() {
return (
<React.Fragment>
<Header />
{this.props.items.map((shopItem, i) => {
return (<ShopItemComponent key={i} item={shopItem} removeShop={this.handleRemove} />);
})}
</React.Fragment>
);
}
}

Your code is working great, but you only has one mistake , your ShopComponent is assign index as a key for each ShopItemComponent and react is tracking those indexes to update the correct component, so you need to set key as a unique value between items, then I realize that shopAccount should be your id for each item.
The solution code is below.
class ShopsComponent extends Component {
handleRemove = (shopAccount) => {
this.props.removeShop(shopAccount);
}
render() {
return (
<React.Fragment>
<Header />
{this.props.items.map((shopItem) => <ShopItemComponent key={shopItem.shopAccount} item={shopItem} removeShop={this.handleRemove} />)}
</React.Fragment>
);
}
}
I hope you can find useful.
Note, when you are using a arrow function into your class, don't bind that method into the constructor, so remove it, because
handleRemove = (shopAccount) => {
this.props.removeShop(shopAccount);
}
is already binded.

ComponentDidUpdate doesn't work

I'm trying to render dynamically a collection of component using componentDidUpdate.
This is my scenario:
var index = 0;
class myComponent extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
componentList: [<ComponentToRender key={index} id={index} />]
};
this.addPeriodHandler = this.addPeriodHandler.bind(this);
}
componentDidUpdate = () => {
var container = document.getElementById("container");
this.state.componentList.length !== 0
? ReactDOM.render(this.state.componentList, container)
: ReactDOM.unmountComponentAtNode(container);
};
addHandler = () => {
var array = this.state.componentList;
index++;
array.push(<ComponentToRender key={index} id={index} />);
this.setState = {
componentList: array
};
};
render() {
return (
<div id="Wrapper">
<button id="addPeriod" onClick={this.addHandler}>
Add Component
</button>
<div id="container" />
</div>
);
}
}
The problem is that componentDidUpdate work only one time, but it should work every time that component's state change.
Thank you in advance.

This is not how to use react. With ReactDOM.render() you are creating an entirely new component tree. Usually you only do that once to initially render your app. Everything else will be rendered by the render() functions of your components. If you do it with ReactDOM.render() you are basically throwing away everything react has already rendered every time you update your data and recreate it from scratch when in reality you may only need to add a single node somewhere.
Also what you actually store in the component state should be plain data and not components. Then use this data to render your components in the render() function.
Example for a valid use case:
class MyComponent extends Component{
state = {
periods: []
};
handleAddPeriod = () => {
this.setState(oldState => ({
periods: [
...oldState.periods,
{/*new period data here*/}
],
});
};
render() {
return (
<div id="Wrapper">
<button id="addPeriod" onClick={this.handleAddPeriod}>
Add Component
</button>
<div id="container">
{periods.map((period, index) => (
<ComponentToRender id={index} key={index}>
{/* render period data here */}
</ComponentToRender>
))}
</div>
</div>
);
}
}
}
Also you should not work with global variables like you did with index. If you have data that changes during using your application this is an indicator that is should be component state.

try
addHandler = () =>{
var array = this.state.componentList.slice();
index++;
array.push(<ComponentToRender key={index} id={index}/>);
this.setState=({
componentList: array
});
}
if that works, this is an issue with the state holding an Array reference that isn't changing. When you're calling setState even though you've added to the Array, it still sees the same reference because push doesn't create a new Array. You might be able to get by using the same array if you also implement shouldComponentUpdate and check the array length of the new state in there to see if it's changed.

How do I add a button component in ReactJS?

So I'm rendering components from an array 'values': ["hello", "world] successfully but I would like to add a button component so that every time it gets clicked, another empty field shows up. This is what it currently looks like:
but i would like it so that there is a button and every time I click on it, it renders another empty component to input text. Would it be correct to add a button component directly inside the my array_node.jsx file? Is what I'm doing correct so far? Would I also have to add some sort of newInput: function() in side the var AddButton = React.createClass({})? Thank you!
array_node.jsx:
{...
childChange: function(name, valid, value) {
// update state
this.state.values = this.props.values;
// Using regex to find last digits from 0-9
var pattern = /[0-9]/;
var match = name.match(pattern);
// Parse char into int
var i = parseInt(match);
this.state.values[i] = value;
this.setState(this.state);
// Call parent callback
this.props.callback(
this.props.name,
this.props.node.valid(this.state.values),
this.state.values
);
},
addItem: function(values){
},
render: function() {
var that = this;
return (
<div id = "form">
{this.props.values.map(function(v, i) {
return (
<div>
{(that.props.node.get().constructor.name === "Parent") ?
<ParentComponent
name={that.props.name + i}
key={i}
timer={that.props.timer}
callback={that.childChange}
values={v}
newParent={that.props.node.get()}
/>
:
<NodeComponent
name={that.props.name + i}
key={i}
timer={that.props.timer}
callback={that.childChange}
value={v}
newNode={that.props.node.get()}
/>
}
</div>
)
})}
</div>
)
}
});
return ArrayNodeComponent
var AddButton = React.createClass({
addItem: function() {
},
render: function() {
return(
<div id="create_new_entry">
</div>
)
}
})
formatoc:
var props = {
'name' : 'form',
'timer' : 1500,
'callback' : function(id, validity, value) {console.log(id, validity, value);},
'values': ["hello", "world"],
'node' : new FormatOC.ArrayNode({"__array__":"unique", "__type__":"string","__minimum__":1,"__maximum__":200,"__component__":"Input"},
)
}
React.render(React.createElement(ArrayNodeComponent, props), document.getElementById('react-component'));

You might add a button into your form within the render function.
Then listen to clicks and add a new empty element to your values list.
if you would like to propagate the changes to some parent component, you would have to pass the onClick handler from the parent component and update the values list there too.
import { Component } from 'react';
class ArrayNodeComponent extends Component {
// other code ...
// like your initialisation of your state
// and other functions
addEmptyItem() {
const { values } = this.state;
this.setState({
values: [...values, ""]
});
}
render() {
return (
<form id="test">
{
/* this is your values map routine, shortened */
this.props.values.map(function(v, i) { /*...*/ })
}
<button onClick={() => this.addEmptyItem()}>Add</button>
</form>
);
}
}
Btw in this simple scenario, it would not make sense to create a custom Button component.

How to remove an instance of a React component class instantiated by its parent's state?

(Pardon the verbose question. I'm brand new to React and ES6, and I'm probably overly-convoluting this.)
I am writing an app that contains a button component. This button calls a method onAddChild that creates another component of class ColorModule by adding a value to an array stored in the App's state.
In each newly created ColorModule, I want to include another button that will remove the module. Since this component is created by an array.map method, my thought is that if I can find the index of the array item that corresponds with the component and use that index in array.splice then perhaps that component will be removed (untested theory). That said, I'm not really sure how to find the index where I would use this in my onRemoveModule method.
Two part question: 1) How would I go about finding the index of the array item in my state, and 2) if I'm completely off base or there's a better way to do this altogether, what does that solution look like?
imports...
class App extends Component {
static propTypes = {
children: PropTypes.node,
};
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
// Here's the array in question...
moduleList: [1],
};
this.onAddChild = this.onAddChild.bind(this);
this.onRemoveModule = this.onRemoveModule.bind(this);
this.className = bemClassName.bind(null, this.constructor.name);
}
onAddChild(module) {
const moduleList = this.state.moduleList;
this.setState({ moduleList: moduleList.concat(1) });
}
onRemoveModule( e ) {
e.preventDefault();
...¯\_(ツ)_/¯
}
render() {
const { className } = this;
return (
<div className={className('container')}>
<Header onAddChild={this.onAddChild} /> /* Add module button lives here */
<div className="cf">
{this.state.moduleList.map(
( delta, index ) => {
return (
<ColorModule
className="cf"
onRemove={this.onRemoveModule}
key={index}
moduleId={'colorModule' + index}
/>
); /* Remove module button would live in the module itself */
}
)}
</div>
</div>
);
}
}
export default App;

Well this part is pretty easy, all you need to do is pass the index as prop to the ColorModule component and when calling the onRemove method in it you could pass it back to the onRemoveModule. However react optimizes based on keys and its a really good idea to have a unique id given to each module instance.
class App extends Component {
static propTypes = {
children: PropTypes.node,
};
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
// Here's the array in question...
moduleList: [1],
};
this.onAddChild = this.onAddChild.bind(this);
this.onRemoveModule = this.onRemoveModule.bind(this);
this.className = bemClassName.bind(null, this.constructor.name);
}
onAddChild(module) {
const moduleList = this.state.moduleList;
this.setState({ moduleList: moduleList.concat(uuid()) }); //uuid must return a unique id everytime to be used as component key
}
onRemoveModule( index ) {
// now with this index you can update the moduleList
}
render() {
const { className } = this;
return (
<div className="cf">
{this.state.moduleList.map(
( delta, index ) => {
return (
<ColorModule
className="cf"
index={index}
onRemove={this.onRemoveModule}
key={delta}
moduleId={'colorModule' + delta}
/>
);
}
)}
</div>
);
}
}
Now in ColorModule component
class ColorModule extends React.Component {
onRemoveClick=() => {
this.props.onRemove(this.props.index);
}
}
Check this answer for more details on how to pass data from Child component to Parent

I ended up solving this problem using some of the guidance here from #ShubhamKhatri (didn't know about unique ID generation!), but I took a slightly different approach and handled the solution using state manipulation in App without needing a new method in my ColorModule component. I also never knew about currying in ES6, so that discovery made passing in the index values needed to manipulate my state array possible
If I'm off-base here or being inefficient, I'm definitely still open to feedback on a better way!
class App extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
moduleList: [{ id: UniqId(), removeModule: false }],
};
this.onAddChild = this.onAddChild.bind(this);
this.className = bemClassName.bind(null, this.constructor.name);
}
onAddChild(module) {
const moduleList = this.state.moduleList;
this.setState({
moduleList: moduleList.concat({
id: UniqId(),
removeModule: false,
}),
});
}
onRemoveModule = ( i, arr ) => (e) => {
const moduleList = this.state.moduleList;
e.preventDefault();
moduleList[i].removeModule = true;
this.setState({ moduleList: moduleList });
}
render() {
const { className } = this;
return (
<div className={className('container')}>
<Header onAddChild={this.onAddChild} />
<div className="cf">
{this.state.moduleList.map(
( delta, index ) => {
if ( !this.state.moduleList[index].removeModule ) {
return (
<ColorModule
className="cf"
onRemove={this.onRemoveModule( index, this.state.moduleList )}
index={index}
key={delta.id}
moduleId={'colorModule' + delta}
/>
);
}
}
)}
</div>
</div>
);
}
}