ReactJS to Manage a Scalar Value

In this sample we will write a simplistic web page utilizing ReactJS to manage a server scalar value setting.

We will test with the GET report/reportMode and POST report/reportMode/{value} APIs.
We will use ReactJS to create the UI.

Prerequisites

This sample is a continuation of REST API Test.
This sample re-uses the folder structure created in REST API Test.
The uncompressed, development version of react.js and react-dom.js has been put into “ui_react_examples/vendor” folder. (They are in the starter kit available at https://facebook.github.io/react/downloads.html)

Boilerplate code

In “ui_react_examples” folder, create a blank text file and name it “ReactJS to manage a scalar value.html”.
Edit the file with a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++ and paste the following boilerplate HTML code:

<!doctype html>
						<html>
						<head>
						<title>React Test</title>
						<script src="vendor/jquery-1.12.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
						<script src="vendor/react.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
						<script src="vendor/react-dom.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
						<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/babel-core/5.8.24/browser.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
						</head>
						<body>
						<section id="app"></section>
						<script type="text/babel">
						var ScalarValueComponent = React.createClass({
						getInitialState: function() {
						return {
						data: null
						};
						},
						componentDidMount: function() {
						this.fetchData();
						},
						render: function() {
						return (
						<div id="outerdiv">
						<input type="text" value={this.state.data} onChange={this.reflectChangedData} />&nbsp;
						<button onClick={this.pushData}>Save</button>
						</div>
						)
						},
						reflectChangedData: function(event) {
						this.setState({
						data: event.target.value
						});
						},
						fetchData: function() {
						// TODO
						},
						pushData: function() {
						// TODO
						}
						});
						ReactDOM.render(<ScalarValueComponent />, document.getElementById('app'));
						</script>
						</body>
						</html>
					

For production web site, we will replace the local libraries with hosted, minified and compressed library links.

ReactJS basics

A ReactJS component maintains its data in this.state, initialize the data in getInitialState method, load the data from server in componentDidMount method, and creates its UI elements in the render method. The render method is called each time there is a change in this.state.

Above that we added 3 custom methods:

fetchData to get data from the server
reflectChangedData to update the state data according to user input
pushData to post data to the server

Just by implementing these 6 methods then we will have a working ReactJS component. In this specific case, we only need to implement fetchData and pushData, the other boilerplate methods are already working without any change needed.

Note on the mixing of JavaScript and XML tags: we are using the JSX syntax to facilitate reading. This JSX will be translated to JavaScript by the included Babel library.

Implement fetchData

From the API documentation GET report/reportMode, the //TODO in fetchData would be replaced by this ajax call:

$.ajax({url:"http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/report/reportMode",type:"GET",contentType:"application/json",success:function(response){this.setState({data:response});}.bind(this),error:function(response){console.log(JSON.stringify(response));}})

Now open the page in web browser and we can see the value 0 or 1 for the reportMode setting.

Note: We need to add .bind(this) for the call this.setState to correctly call the setState method of the ReactJS component.

Implement pushData

From the API documentation POST report/reportMode/{value}, the //TODO in pushData would be replaced by this ajax call:

$.ajax({url:"http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/report/reportMode/"+this.state.data,type:"POST",contentType:"application/json",success:function(response){if(response==false){this.fetchData();console.log('The response was "false"');}}.bind(this),error:function(response){console.log(JSON.stringify(response));}})

Now we can enter the desired value 0 or 1 and click Save to update the server setting. Any other value would receive a false response and an notice line in JavaScript Console.

Note: We need to add .bind(this) for the call this.fetchData to correctly call the fetchData method of the ReactJS component.

Summary

In this sample, we went through these activities:

included the ReactJS and JQuery libraries.
created a boilerplate ReactJS component.
loaded initial data using ReactJS’s componentDidMount event.
created UI components using ReactJS.
added event handlers to get data, post data and update the state data according to user input.

<!doctype html>
							<html>
							<head>
							<script src="vendor/jquery-1.12.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
							<script src="vendor/react.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
							<script src="vendor/react-dom.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
							<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/babel-core/5.8.24/browser.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
							</head>
							<body>
							<section id="app"></section>
							<script type="text/babel">
							var ScalarValueComponent = React.createClass({
							getInitialState: function() {
							return {
							data: null
							};
							},
							componentDidMount: function() {
							this.fetchData();
							},
							render: function() {
							return (
							<div id="outerdiv">
							<input type="text" value={this.state.data} onChange={this.reflectChangedData} />&nbsp;
							<button onClick={this.pushData}>Save</button>
							</div>
							)
							},
							fetchData: function() {
							$.ajax({
							url: "http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/report/reportMode",
							type: "GET",
							contentType: "application/json",
							success: function(response) {
							this.setState({
							data: response
							});
							}.bind(this),
							error: function(response) {
							console.log(JSON.stringify(response));
							}
							})
							},
							reflectChangedData: function(event) {
							this.setState({
							data: event.target.value
							});
							},
							pushData: function() {
							$.ajax({
							url: "http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/report/reportMode/" + this.state.data,
							type: "POST",
							contentType: "application/json",
							success: function(response) {
							if (response == false) {
							this.fetchData();
							console.log('The response was "false"');
							}
							}.bind(this),
							error: function(response) {
							console.log(JSON.stringify(response));
							}
							})
							}
							});
							ReactDOM.render(<ScalarValueComponent />, document.getElementById('app'));
							</script>
							</body>
							</html>
						