A basic React component

var ComponentName = React.createClass({
  render: function() {
    return <div>My Component</div>
  }
});

React methods

• render - This function should return the HTML structure of the component given the props and state of a component.

  render: function() {
    return <div>Hi, { this.props.name }</div>
  }
  

• getInitialState - Returns 'defaults' for state. Just return a simple object here, if you need to make server calls, use componentWillMount

  getInitialState: function() {
    return {
      bool: true,
      array: [1,2,3]
    }
  }
  

• getDefaultProps - Initialize props to default values if props aren't provided.

React Lifecycle events

• componentWillMount - Called before the component renders itself. Not many good uses.

• componentDidMount - Called when a component has been added to the DOM. Do your initial AJAX calls here.

• componentWillReceiveProps - Called when the props of a component are about to change. If you need to set state based on prop changes, do it here. Also good if prop change requires navigating to different areas.

• shouldComponentUpdate - Return false from here to prevent re-rendering. You should only return false if no props have changed. Usually implemented to solve performance problems.

• componentWillUpdate - You have access to the new props and new state here. You can't modify either though.

• componentDidUpdate - Called after rendering is complete. Put side-effects (attaching 3rd party libraries, etc) here.

• componentWillUnmount - Called when a component is about to be removed. Clean-up code goes here.