react-radioactive

DRY radio buttons for React

Installation

npm install react-radioactive

The Problem

Unlike other HTML inputs, radio buttons always operate as a group. Consequently, we end up specifying the same attributes over and over again:

<input type="radio" name="language" onChange={ this.onChange } value="ruby"       /> Ruby
<input type="radio" name="language" onChange={ this.onChange } value="python"     /> Python
<input type="radio" name="language" onChange={ this.onChange } value="javascript" /> Javascript

To make matters worse, the only way to indicate the radio group's value is by setting the checked attribute to true on the appropriate radio button. This effectively means that we need to define a custom checked attribute for each individual radio button.

The Solution

react-radioactive solves these problems through the use of factory functions. First, we define the behavior of the group:

var rf = require('react-radioactive').factory;
var r = rf({
  name:          "language",
  onChange:      this.onChange,
  selectedValue: this.state.value
});

Then, in our JSX template, we can invoke the r(...) function to quickly build radio buttons that belong to this group:

<div>
  { r('ruby')       } Ruby
  { r('python')     } Python
  { r('javascript') } Javascript
</div>

Example

Here's a more complete example:

var rf = require('react-radioactive').factory;

var MyComponent = React.createClass({
  render: function() {
    // We use the radioactive factory to define the behaviors
    // of the radio button group:
    var r = rf({
      name:          "language",
      onChange:      this.onChange,
      selectedValue: this.state.value
    });


    // Now, we can easily create radio buttons that belong to
    // this group by invoking the r(...) function:
    return (
      <div >
        What's your favorite language?
        <ul>
          <li>{ r('ruby')       } Ruby        </li>
          <li>{ r('python')     } Python      </li>
          <li>{ r('javascript') } Javascript  </li>
          <li>{ r('java')       } Java        </li>
        </ul>
      </div>
    )
  },

  getInitialState: function() {
    return {
      value: "javascript"
    };
  },

  onChange: function(e) {
    this.setState({
      value: e.currentTarget.value
    });
  }
});

This will produce HTML output such as the following:

<div data-reactid=".0">
  <span data-reactid=".0.0">
    What's your favorite language?
  </span>
  <ul data-reactid=".0.1">
    <li data-reactid=".0.1.0">
      <input name="language" value="ruby" data-reactid=".0.1.0.0" type="radio">
      <span data-reactid=".0.1.0.1">
        Ruby
      </span>
    </li>
    <li data-reactid=".0.1.1">
      <input name="language" value="python" data-reactid=".0.1.1.0" type="radio">
      <span data-reactid=".0.1.1.1">
        Python
      </span>
    </li>
    <li data-reactid=".0.1.2">
      <input name="language" checked="" value="javascript" data-reactid=".0.1.2.0" type="radio">
      <span data-reactid=".0.1.2.1">
        Javascript
      </span>
    </li>
    <li data-reactid=".0.1.3">
      <input name="language" value="java" data-reactid=".0.1.3.0" type="radio">
      <span data-reactid=".0.1.3.1">
        Java
      </span>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div>

Notice that the input for Javascript specifies checked="". This is because its value attribute matches the radio group's selectedValue.

TODO

• Provide factory as a default export.