Element is, quite simply, an abstraction layer atop React.
You may find yourself asking, "Why an abstraction layer?". For a few reasons:
- In many applications, especially those extended by a rich plugin ecosystem as is the case with WordPress, it's wise to create interfaces to underlying third-party code. The thinking is that if ever a need arises to change or even replace the underlying implementation, it can be done without catastrophic rippling effects to dependent code, so long as the interface stays the same.
- It provides a mechanism to shield implementers by omitting features with uncertain futures (
createClass,PropTypes). - It helps avoid incompatibilities between versions by ensuring that every plugin operates on a single centralized version of the code.
On the wp.element global object, you will find the following, ordered roughly by the likelihood you'll encounter it in your code:
Install the module
npm install @wordpress/element --saveThis package assumes that your code will run in an ES2015+ environment. If you're using an environment that has limited or no support for ES2015+ such as lower versions of IE then using core-js or @babel/polyfill will add support for these methods. Learn more about it in Babel docs.
Let's render a customized greeting into an empty element:
<div id="greeting"></div>
<script>
function Greeting( props ) {
return wp.element.createElement( 'span', null,
'Hello ' + props.toWhom + '!'
);
}
wp.element.render(
wp.element.createElement( Greeting, { toWhom: 'World' } ),
document.getElementById( 'greeting' )
);
</script>Refer to the official React Quick Start guide for a more thorough walkthrough, in most cases substituting React and ReactDOM with wp.element in code examples.
At the risk of igniting debate surrounding any single "best" front-end framework, the choice to use any tool should be motivated specifically to serve the requirements of the system. In modeling the concept of a block, we observe the following technical requirements:
- An understanding of a block in terms of its underlying values (in the random image example, a category)
- A means to describe the UI of a block given these values
At its most basic, React provides a simple input / output mechanism. Given a set of inputs ("props"), a developer describes the output to be shown on the page. This is most elegantly observed in its function components. React serves the role of reconciling the desired output with the current state of the page.
The offerings of any framework necessarily become more complex as these requirements increase; many front-end frameworks prescribe ideas around page routing, retrieving and updating data, and managing layout. React is not immune to this, but the introduced complexity is rarely caused by React itself, but instead managing an arrangement of supporting tools. By moving these concerns out of sight to the internals of the system (WordPress core code), we can minimize the responsibilities of plugin authors to a small, clear set of touch points.
While not at all a requirement to use React, JSX is a recommended syntax extension to compose elements more expressively. Through a build process, JSX is converted back to the createElement syntax you see earlier in this document.
If you've configured Babel for your project, you can opt in to JSX syntax by specifying the pragma option of the transform-react-jsx plugin in your .babelrc configuration.
{
"plugins": [
[ "transform-react-jsx", {
"pragma": "createElement"
} ]
]
}This assumes that you will import the createElement function in any file where you use JSX. Alternatively, consider using the @wordpress/babel-plugin-import-jsx-pragma Babel plugin to automate the import of this function.
# Children
Object that provides utilities for dealing with React children.
# cloneElement
Creates a copy of an element with extended props.
Parameters
- element
WPElement: Element - props
?Object: Props to apply to cloned element
Returns
WPElement: Cloned element.
# Component
A base class to create WordPress Components (Refs, state and lifecycle hooks)
# concatChildren
Concatenate two or more React children objects.
Parameters
- childrenArguments
...?Object: Array of children arguments (array of arrays/strings/objects) to concatenate.
Returns
Array: The concatenated value.
# createContext
Creates a context object containing two components: a provider and consumer.
Parameters
- defaultValue
Object: A default data stored in the context.
Returns
Object: Context object.
# createElement
Returns a new element of given type. Type can be either a string tag name or another function which itself returns an element.
Parameters
- type
?(string|Function): Tag name or element creator - props
Object: Element properties, either attribute set to apply to DOM node or values to pass through to element creator - children
...WPElement: Descendant elements
Returns
WPElement: Element.
# createPortal
Creates a portal into which a component can be rendered.
Related
Parameters
- component
Component: Component - target
Element: DOM node into which element should be rendered
# createRef
Returns an object tracking a reference to a rendered element via its
current property as either a DOMElement or Element, dependent upon the
type of element rendered with the ref attribute.
Returns
Object: Ref object.
# findDOMNode
Finds the dom node of a React component
Parameters
- component
Component: component's instance - target
Element: DOM node into which element should be rendered
# forwardRef
Component enhancer used to enable passing a ref to its wrapped component.
Pass a function argument which receives props and ref as its arguments,
returning an element using the forwarded ref. The return value is a new
component which forwards its ref.
Parameters
- forwarder
Function: Function passedpropsandref, expected to return an element.
Returns
WPComponent: Enhanced component.
# Fragment
A component which renders its children without any wrapping element.
# isEmptyElement
Checks if the provided WP element is empty.
Parameters
- element
*: WP element to check.
Returns
boolean: True when an element is considered empty.
# isValidElement
Checks if an object is a valid WPElement
Parameters
- objectToCheck
Object: The object to be checked.
Returns
boolean: true if objectToTest is a valid WPElement and false otherwise.
# lazy
Related
# memo
Related
# Platform
Component used to detect the current Platform being used. Use Platform.OS === 'web' to detect if running on web enviroment. This is the same concept as the React-Native implementation found here: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/platform-specific-code#platform-module Here is an example of how to use the select method const placeholderLabel = Platform.select( { native: **( 'Add media' ), web: **( 'Drag images, upload new ones or select files from your library.' ), } );
# RawHTML
Component used as equivalent of Fragment with unescaped HTML, in cases where
it is desirable to render dangerous HTML without needing a wrapper element.
To preserve additional props, a div wrapper will be created if any props
aside from children are passed.
Parameters
- props
Object: - props.children
string: HTML to render. - props.props
Object: Any additonal props to be set on the containing div.
Returns
WPElement: Dangerously-rendering element.
# render
Renders a given element into the target DOM node.
Parameters
- element
WPElement: Element to render - target
Element: DOM node into which element should be rendered
# renderToString
Serializes a React element to string.
Parameters
- element
WPElement: Element to serialize. - context
?Object: Context object. - legacyContext
?Object: Legacy context object.
Returns
string: Serialized element.
# StrictMode
Component that activates additional checks and warnings for its descendants.
# Suspense
Related
# switchChildrenNodeName
Switches the nodeName of all the elements in the children object.
Parameters
- children
?Object: Children object. - nodeName
string: Node name.
Returns
?Object: The updated children object.
# unmountComponentAtNode
Removes any mounted element from the target DOM node.
Parameters
- target
Element: DOM node in which element is to be removed
# useCallback
Related
# useContext
Related
# useDebugValue
Related
# useEffect
Related
# useImperativeHandle
Related
# useLayoutEffect
Related
# useMemo
Related
# useReducer
Related
# useRef
Related
# useState
Related
