react-obj

Represent DOM elements as objects in React, alternative to jsx.

Github repo

npm module

Motivation

The great part of React, compared to other UI frameworks, is that it extends javascript instead of attempting to extend HTML. react-obj takes this approach a step further by allowing components to be created with plain javascript objects allowing for a powerful and familiar development experience. Thus not needing XML, nor another file type.

Overview

One templating language

  //jsx
  <div>
    {props.text}
  <div>
 
  //react-obj
  transform({
    comp: 'div'
    children: `${props.children}`
  })

Programmatically compose components inline (map, conditionals, etc)

  const numbers = ['one', 'two', 'three']
 
  //jsx
  <div>
    { numbers.map(number =>
        <div key={number}>Counting to {number}</div>
    )}
  </div>
 
  //react-obj
  transform({
    comp: 'div',
    children: numbers.map(number => ({
      comp: 'div',
      key: number,
      children: `Counting to ${number}`
    })),
  })

Better use of es6 operators (spread, object literals)

  //jsx
  const Component = (props) => {
    const { text, value } = props
 
    return (
      <div>
        <div {...props}>
          Spread
        </div>
        <div text={text} value={value}>
          Object literals
        </div>
      </div>
    )
  }
 
  //react-obj
  const Alternative = (props) => {
    const { text, value } = props
 
    return transform({
      comp: 'div'
      children: [
        {
          comp: 'div',
          ...props,
          children: 'Spread',
        }
        {
          comp: 'div',
          text,
          value,
          children: 'Object literals'
        }
      ]
    })
  }
 

Further Considerations

• Javascript everywhere, no XML
• Better linting
• One file type
• Simple wrapper around React.createElement
• Works with existing components written in jsx
• Can use with Stateless Components, React createClass, and extending React.Component

Usage

Installing

npm install react-obj

Initializing

component must be initialized before using tranform

import { init } from 'react-obj'
import React from 'react'
 
init(React)

Documentation

Every object is required to have a comp property which represents the component that you want to render. The comp property can either be a string for standard elements(div, span, etc) or a react component. The other important property is children. The children property can either be a string you want rendered into the parent component, or it can be an array of further components to render. Every other property will be passed down as props.

comp: either a string('div', 'span') or a React Component

children: a string or an array of further compliant objects

Usage

import transform from 'react-obj'
//No need to import react if making a stateless component since react-obj will use internally
 
const StatelessComponent = ({ text }) => transform({
  comp: 'div',
  className: 'my-stateless-componet',
  children: text,
})
 
export default StatelessComponent

import transform from 'react-obj'
import React from 'react'
import StatelessComponent from './StatelessComponent'
 
//can be used similarly with React.createClass
class ExtendClassComponent extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props)
  }
  render() {
    return transform({
      comp: StatelessComponent,
      text: 'Written by extending React.component',
    })
  }
}

Future

• allow users to set the key in the object that represents the component
• Object validator
• possibly add better method of hooking into react (class, mixin), thus not needing to call transform directly