setState from an API response using superagent and React

Question

I get an error when trying to change the state of a component.

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'setState' of undefined

constructor(props){
    super(props);

    this.state={
        r:'',
        message:''
    };
    this.setStateMessage = this.setStateMessage.bind(this);
}
setStateMessage (e){
    e.preventDefault();
    var test = this.state.message;

    request
      .post('http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/db')
      .send({message: this.state.message})
      .accept('application/json')
      .withCredentials()
      .end(function(err, res){
        if(err)
            throw err;
        this.setState({ r: res.body.message });
      });
}

render() {
    return (
        <div>
            <div className='response'>
                {this.state.r}
            </div>
            //form with input
        </div>
    )}

Answer 1

This is because you are calling this.setState from within a function so this is actually a reference to the function you are in. You need to either store a reference to the correct this or use an arrow which does not have its own context and inherits from the parent context. So:

setStateMessage (e){
  e.preventDefault();
  var test = this.state.message;
  var self = this;

  request
    .post('http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/db')
    .send({message: this.state.message})
    .accept('application/json')
    .withCredentials()
    .end(function(err, res){
      if(err) throw err;
      self.setState({ r: res.body.message });
  });
}

Or:

setStateMessage (e){
  e.preventDefault();
  var test = this.state.message;

  request
    .post('http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/db')
    .send({message: this.state.message})
    .accept('application/json')
    .withCredentials()
    .end((err, res) => {
      if(err) throw err;
      this.setState({ r: res.body.message });
  });
}