Use prop types to ensure that components receive the correct props In react

Learn how to use the prop types in react to ensure components always receives the correct props

Published on

7 min read

Feature Image

Introduction

In React, prop types allow you to specify the type of a prop being passed to a component. This helps you catch potential type mismatches that could cause issues in your application, and it can also help document the expected types for the props being passed to a component.

Note : You can always use typescript interface as well instead of prop-types

Installation

To use prop types, install the prop-types package:

npm install prop-types

or -

yarn add prop-types

Usage

You can import the prop-types module and use the PropTypes object to define the types for the props being passed to the component. For example:

import PropTypes from 'prop-types'

function MyComponent(props) {
  // Use the props in the component
  return <div>{props.message}</div>
}

MyComponent.propTypes = {
  message: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
}

In this example, the propTypes object specifies that the message prop should be a string, and the "MyComponent" component expects to be supplied a prop called message. The message prop is necessary and must be provided when the component is used, according to the isRequired property.

Here is an example outlining the various validators offered:

MyComponent.propTypes = {
  // You can declare that a prop is a specific JS type. By default, these
  // are all optional.
  optionalArray: PropTypes.array,
  optionalBool: PropTypes.bool,
  optionalFunc: PropTypes.func,
  optionalNumber: PropTypes.number,
  optionalObject: PropTypes.object,
  optionalString: PropTypes.string,
  optionalSymbol: PropTypes.symbol,

  // Anything that can be rendered: numbers, strings, elements or an array
  // (or fragment) containing these types.
  optionalNode: PropTypes.node,

  // A React element.
  optionalElement: PropTypes.element,

  // A React element type (ie. MyComponent).
  optionalElementType: PropTypes.elementType,

  // You can also declare that a prop is an instance of a class. This uses
  // JS's instanceof operator.
  optionalMessage: PropTypes.instanceOf(Message),

  // You can ensure that your prop is limited to specific values by treating
  // it as an enum.
  optionalEnum: PropTypes.oneOf(['News', 'Photos']),

  // An object that could be one of many types
  optionalUnion: PropTypes.oneOfType([
    PropTypes.string,
    PropTypes.number,
    PropTypes.instanceOf(Message),
  ]),

  // An array of a certain type
  optionalArrayOf: PropTypes.arrayOf(PropTypes.number),

  // An object with property values of a certain type
  optionalObjectOf: PropTypes.objectOf(PropTypes.number),

  // An object taking on a particular shape
  optionalObjectWithShape: PropTypes.shape({
    color: PropTypes.string,
    fontSize: PropTypes.number,
  }),

  // An object with warnings on extra properties
  optionalObjectWithStrictShape: PropTypes.exact({
    name: PropTypes.string,
    quantity: PropTypes.number,
  }),

  // You can chain any of the above with `isRequired` to make sure a warning
  // is shown if the prop isn't provided.
  requiredFunc: PropTypes.func.isRequired,

  // A required value of any data type
  requiredAny: PropTypes.any.isRequired,

  // You can also specify a custom validator. It should return an Error
  // object if the validation fails. Don't `console.warn` or throw, as this
  // won't work inside `oneOfType`.
  customProp: function (props, propName, componentName) {
    if (!/matchme/.test(props[propName])) {
      return new Error(
        'Invalid prop `' +
          propName +
          '` supplied to' +
          ' `' +
          componentName +
          '`. Validation failed.'
      )
    }
  },

  // You can also supply a custom validator to `arrayOf` and `objectOf`.
  // It should return an Error object if the validation fails. The validator
  // will be called for each key in the array or object. The first two
  // arguments of the validator are the array or object itself, and the
  // current item's key.
  customArrayProp: PropTypes.arrayOf(function (
    propValue,
    key,
    componentName,
    location,
    propFullName
  ) {
    if (!/matchme/.test(propValue[key])) {
      return new Error(
        'Invalid prop `' +
          propFullName +
          '` supplied to' +
          ' `' +
          componentName +
          '`. Validation failed.'
      )
    }
  }),
}

That's it!
Hope you find this useful!
Reference : Official docs
Happy coding!