React.isValidElement

By  on  

Knowing what input type you've received is hugely important in JavaScript, which is a big reason for Flow and TypeScript's rise. One such case where it's useful to know what an object represents is if the input is a string or a React element.

To detect if an object is a React element, you can use React.isValidElement(obj):

// Add a wrapping DIV if the content isn't a React element

// PropTypes.oneOfType([PropTypes.string, PropTypes.element])
render() {
  const { content } = this.props

  React.isValidElement(content)) ?
    content :
    
{content}
}

I really like that React.isValidElement allows us to create flexible elements that accept React elements or strings; hugely useful in generic components like modals, alerts, and everywhere else!

Recent Features

  • By
    Camera and Video Control with HTML5

    Client-side APIs on mobile and desktop devices are quickly providing the same APIs.  Of course our mobile devices got access to some of these APIs first, but those APIs are slowly making their way to the desktop.  One of those APIs is the getUserMedia API...

  • By
    Regular Expressions for the Rest of Us

    Sooner or later you'll run across a regular expression. With their cryptic syntax, confusing documentation and massive learning curve, most developers settle for copying and pasting them from StackOverflow and hoping they work. But what if you could decode regular expressions and harness their power? In...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Introducing MooTools Dotter

    It's best practice to provide an indicator of some sort when performing an AJAX request or processing that takes place in the background. Since the dawn of AJAX, we've been using colorful spinners and imagery as indicators. While I enjoy those images, I am...

  • By
    Using jQuery and MooTools Together

    There's yet another reason to master more than one JavaScript library: you can use some of them together! Since MooTools is prototype-based and jQuery is not, jQuery and MooTools may be used together on the same page. The XHTML and JavaScript jQuery is namespaced so the...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!