[reactjs] React fetch data in server before render

I'm new to reactjs, I want to fetch data in server, so that it will send page with data to client.

It is OK when the function getDefaultProps return dummy data like this {data: {books: [{..}, {..}]}}.

However not work with code below. The code execute in this sequence with error message "Cannot read property 'books' of undefined"

  1. getDefaultProps
  2. return
  3. fetch
  4. {data: {books: [{..}, {..}]}}

However, I expect the code should run in this sequence

  1. getDefaultProps
  2. fetch
  3. {data: {books: [{..}, {..}]}}
  4. return

Any Idea?

statics: {
    fetchData: function(callback) {
      var me = this;

      superagent.get('http://localhost:3100/api/books')
        .accept('json')
        .end(function(err, res){
          if (err) throw err;

          var data = {data: {books: res.body} }

          console.log('fetch');                  
          callback(data);  
        });
    }


getDefaultProps: function() {
    console.log('getDefaultProps');
    var me = this;
    me.data = '';

    this.fetchData(function(data){
        console.log('callback');
        console.log(data);
        me.data = data;      
      });

    console.log('return');
    return me.data;            
  },


  render: function() {
    console.log('render book-list');
    return (
      <div>
        <ul>
        {
          this.props.data.books.map(function(book) {
            return <li key={book.name}>{book.name}</li>
          })
        }
        </ul>
      </div>
    );
  }

This question is related to reactjs

The answer is


Responded to a similar question with a potentially simple solution to this if anyone is still after an answer, the catch is it involves the use of redux-sagas:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/38701184/978306

Or just skip straight to the article I wrote on the topic:

https://medium.com/@navgarcha7891/react-server-side-rendering-with-simple-redux-store-hydration-9f77ab66900a


You can use redial package for prefetching data on the server before attempting to render


As a supplement of the answer of Michael Parker, you can make getData accept a callback function to active the setState update the data:

componentWillMount : function () {
    var data = this.getData(()=>this.setState({data : data}));
},

In React, props are used for component parameters not for handling data. There is a separate construct for that called state. Whenever you update state the component basically re-renders itself according to the new values.

var BookList = React.createClass({
  // Fetches the book list from the server
  getBookList: function() {
    superagent.get('http://localhost:3100/api/books')
      .accept('json')
      .end(function(err, res) {
        if (err) throw err;

        this.setBookListState(res);
      });
  },
  // Custom function we'll use to update the component state
  setBookListState: function(books) {
    this.setState({
      books: books.data
    });
  },
  // React exposes this function to allow you to set the default state
  // of your component
  getInitialState: function() {
    return {
      books: []
    };
  },
  // React exposes this function, which you can think of as the
  // constructor of your component. Call for your data here.
  componentDidMount: function() {
    this.getBookList();
  },
  render: function() {
    var books = this.state.books.map(function(book) {
      return (
        <li key={book.key}>{book.name}</li>
      );
    });

    return (
      <div>
        <ul>
          {books}
        </ul>
      </div>
    );
  }
});

A very simple example of this

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { View, Text } from 'react-native';

export default class App extends React.Component  {

    constructor(props) {
      super(props);

      this.state = {
        data : null
      };
    }

    componentWillMount() {
        this.renderMyData();
    }

    renderMyData(){
        fetch('https://your url')
            .then((response) => response.json())
            .then((responseJson) => {
              this.setState({ data : responseJson })
            })
            .catch((error) => {
              console.error(error);
            });
    }

    render(){
        return(
            <View>
                {this.state.data ? <MyComponent data={this.state.data} /> : <MyLoadingComponnents /> }
            </View>
        );
    }
}

What you're looking for is componentWillMount.

From the documentation:

Invoked once, both on the client and server, immediately before the initial rendering occurs. If you call setState within this method, render() will see the updated state and will be executed only once despite the state change.

So you would do something like this:

componentWillMount : function () {
    var data = this.getData();
    this.setState({data : data});
},

This way, render() will only be called once, and you'll have the data you're looking for in the initial render.


I've just stumbled upon this problem too, learning React, and solved it by showing spinner until the data is ready.

    render() {
    if (this.state.data === null) {
        return (
            <div className="MyView">
                <Spinner/>
            </div>
        );
    }
    else {
        return(
            <div className="MyView">
                <ReactJson src={this.state.data}/>
            </div>
        );
    }
}

The best answer I use to receive data from server and display it

 constructor(props){
            super(props);
            this.state = {
                items2 : [{}],
                isLoading: true
            }

        }

componentWillMount (){
 axios({
            method: 'get',
            responseType: 'json',
            url: '....',

        })
            .then(response => {
                self.setState({
                    items2: response ,
                    isLoading: false
                });
                console.log("Asmaa Almadhoun *** : " + self.state.items2);
            })
            .catch(error => {
                console.log("Error *** : " + error);
            });
    })}



    render() {
       return(
       { this.state.isLoading &&
                    <i className="fa fa-spinner fa-spin"></i>

                }
                { !this.state.isLoading &&
            //external component passing Server data to its classes
                     <TestDynamic  items={this.state.items2}/> 
                }
         ) }