How to set component default props on React component

Question

I use the code below to set default props on a React component but it doesn't work. In the render() method, I can see the output "undefined props" was printed on the browser console. How can I define a default value for the component props?

export default class AddAddressComponent extends Component {

render() {
   let {provinceList,cityList} = this.props
    if(cityList === undefined || provinceList === undefined){
      console.log('undefined props')
    }
    ...
}

AddAddressComponent.contextTypes = {
  router: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired
}

AddAddressComponent.defaultProps = {
  cityList: [],
  provinceList: [],
}

AddAddressComponent.propTypes = {
  userInfo: React.PropTypes.object,
  cityList: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
  provinceList: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
}

Answer 1

You forgot to close the Class bracket.

class AddAddressComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {
    let {provinceList,cityList} = this.props
    if(cityList === undefined || provinceList === undefined){
      console.log('undefined props')
    } else {
      console.log('defined props')
    }

    return (
      <div>rendered</div>
    )
  }
}

AddAddressComponent.contextTypes = {
  router: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired
};

AddAddressComponent.defaultProps = {
  cityList: [],
  provinceList: [],
};

AddAddressComponent.propTypes = {
  userInfo: React.PropTypes.object,
  cityList: React.PropTypes.array.isRequired,
  provinceList: React.PropTypes.array.isRequired,
}

ReactDOM.render(
  <AddAddressComponent />,
  document.getElementById('app')
)

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react-dom.min.js"></script>
<div id="app" />

Answer 2

For those using something like babel stage-2 or transform-class-properties:

import React, { PropTypes, Component } from 'react';

export default class ExampleComponent extends Component {
   static contextTypes = {
      // some context types
   };

   static propTypes = {
      prop1: PropTypes.object
   };

   static defaultProps = {
      prop1: { foobar: 'foobar' }
   };

   ...

}

---

Update

As of React v15.5, PropTypes was moved out of the main React Package (link):

import PropTypes from 'prop-types';

Edit

As pointed out by @johndodo, static class properties are actually not a part of the ES7 spec, but rather are currently only supported by babel. Updated to reflect that.

Answer 3

First you need to separate your class from the further extensions ex you cannot extend AddAddressComponent.defaultProps within the class instead move it outside.

I will also recommend you to read about the Constructor and React's lifecycle: see Component Specs and Lifecycle

Here is what you want:

import PropTypes from 'prop-types';

class AddAddressComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {
    let { provinceList, cityList } = this.props;
    if(cityList === undefined || provinceList === undefined){
      console.log('undefined props');
    }
  }
}

AddAddressComponent.contextTypes = {
  router: PropTypes.object.isRequired
};

AddAddressComponent.defaultProps = {
  cityList: [],
  provinceList: [],
};

AddAddressComponent.propTypes = {
  userInfo: PropTypes.object,
  cityList: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
  provinceList: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
}

export default AddAddressComponent;

Answer 4

You can also use Destructuring assignment.

class AddAddressComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {

    const {
      province="insertDefaultValueHere1",
      city="insertDefaultValueHere2"
    } = this.props

    return (
      <div>{province}</div>
      <div>{city}</div>
    )
  }
}

I like this approach as you don't need to write much code.

Answer 5

use a static defaultProps like:

export default class AddAddressComponent extends Component {
    static defaultProps = {
        provinceList: [],
        cityList: []
    }

render() {
   let {provinceList,cityList} = this.props
    if(cityList === undefined || provinceList === undefined){
      console.log('undefined props')
    }
    ...
}

AddAddressComponent.contextTypes = {
  router: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired
}

AddAddressComponent.defaultProps = {
  cityList: [],
  provinceList: [],
}

AddAddressComponent.propTypes = {
  userInfo: React.PropTypes.object,
  cityList: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
  provinceList: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
}

Taken from: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/1772

If you wish to check the types, see how to use PropTypes in treyhakanson's or Ilan Hasanov's answer, or review the many answers in the above link.

Answer 6

You can set the default props using the class name as shown below.

class Greeting extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <h1>Hello, {this.props.name}</h1>
    );
  }
}

// Specifies the default values for props:
Greeting.defaultProps = {
  name: 'Stranger'
};

You can use the React's recommended way from this link for more info

Answer 7

For a function type prop you can use the following code:

AddAddressComponent.defaultProps = {
    callBackHandler: () => {}
};

AddAddressComponent.propTypes = {
    callBackHandler: PropTypes.func,
};

Answer 8

If you're using a functional component, you can define defaults in the destructuring assignment, like so:

export default ({ children, id="menu", side="left", image={menu} }) => {
  ...
};

Answer 9

class Example extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return <h1>{this.props.text}</h1>;
  }
}

Example.defaultProps = { text: 'yo' };