React global component

Question

I am coming from a vue.js background and I have just recently started looking into react.

I have a component: PageContent.jsx and I wish to use it without constantly having to import it to be able to use it inside the render function (JSX).

In vue it is possible to globalise a component using:

Vue.component(componentName, componentObject)

Is there anything similar in react?

Answer 1

Hmm, there isn't any kind of "global" component in React. Each component has to be imported or passed as a prop. You have a few options if you want to avoid adding an import to each file though:

1) Create a Higher Order Component that renders the PageContent and the wrapped component.

import PageContent from './PageContent';

const withPageContent = WrappedComponent => {
  return class extends React.Component {
    render () {
      return (
        <PageContent>
          <WrappedComponent />
        </PageContent>
      )
    }
  }
};

export default withPageContent;

// Usage

import withPageContent from './withPageContent';

class MyComponent extends React.Component {
  render () {
    return (
      <div>
        I'm wrapped in PageContent!
      </div>
    )
  }
}

export default withPageContent(MyComponent);

2) Pass PageContent as a prop to a component:

import PageContent from './PageContent';

export default class App extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <React.Fragment>
        <Child1 content={PageContent} />
        <Child2 content={PageContent} />
      </React.Fragment>
    )
  }
}

// Usage

export default class Child1 extends React.Component {
  render () {
    const PageContent = this.props.content;
    return (
      <PageContent>
        I'm wrapped in PageContent!
      </PageContent>
    )
  }
}

export default class Child2 extends React.Component {
  render () {
    const PageContent = this.props.content;
    return (
      <PageContent>
        I'm wrapped in PageContent!
      </PageContent>
    )
  }
}