React.js: how to decouple jsx out of JavaScript

javascript, reactjs

Solution

Here is a pattern for separating the template jsx that uses CommonJS modules in NodeJS, Browserify or Webpack. In NodeJS, I found the node-jsx module helpful to avoid the need to compile the JSX.

// index.js
require('node-jsx').install({extension: '.jsx'});
var React = require('react'),
    Component = require('./your-component');


// your-component.jsx
var YourComponent,
    React = require('react'),
    template = require('./templates/your-component.jsx');

module.exports = YourComponent = React.createClass({
  render: function() {
    return template.call(this);
  }
});


// templates/your-component.jsx
/** @jsx React.DOM */
var React = require('react');

module.exports = function() {

  return (
    <div>
      Your template content.
    </div>
  );

};

Update 2015-1-30: incorporated suggestion in Damon Smith's answer to set `this` in the template function to the React component.

Update 12/2016: the current best practice is to use the .js extension and use a build tool like Babel to output the final javascript from your source. Take a look at create-react-app if you're just getting started. Also, the latest React best practices do recommend a separation between components that manage state (typically called "container components") and components that are presentational. These presentational components can now be written as functions, so they are not far off from the template function used in the previous example. Here is how I would recommend decoupling most of the presentational JSX code now. These examples still use the ES5 `React.createClass()` syntax.

// index.js
var React = require('react'),
    ReactDOM = require('react-dom'),
    YourComponent = require('./your-component');

ReactDOM.render(
  React.createElement(YourComponent, {}, null),
  document.getElementById('root')
);

// your-component.js
var React = require('react'),
    YourComponentTemplate = require('./templates/your-component');

var YourComponentContainer = React.createClass({
  getInitialState: function() {
    return {
      color: 'green'
    };
  },

  toggleColor: function() {
    this.setState({
      color: this.state.color === 'green' ? 'blue' : 'green'
    });
  },

  render: function() {
    var componentProps = {
      color: this.state.color,
      onClick: this.toggleColor
    };
    return <YourComponentTemplate {...componentProps} />;
  }
});

module.exports = YourComponentContainer;

// templates/your-component.js
var React = require('react');

module.exports = function YourComponentTemplate(props) {
  return (
    <div style={{color: props.color}} onClick={props.onClick}>
      Your template content.
    </div>
  );
};

Problem

Original source

Related problems

• Using reactjs with requirejs