Why would you use super constructors with props arguments in React?

Experience Level: Junior
Tags: React

Answer

In React, components can be extended to create new components. When a component is extended, it inherits all the properties of the parent component. However, if the child component needs to have its own properties, it can pass them to the parent component using the super constructor with props arguments. This allows the child component to have its own properties while still inheriting the properties of the parent component.

For example, let's say we have a parent component called "Person" that has a "name" property. We want to create a child component called "Employee" that has its own "salary" property in addition to the "name" property. We can pass the "name" property to the "Employee" component using the super constructor with props arguments. Here is an example code snippet:


class Person extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      name: props.name
    };
  }
}

class Employee extends Person {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      name: props.name,
      salary: props.salary
    };
  }
}

In this example, the "Employee" component extends the "Person" component and passes the "name" property to the super constructor with props arguments. It also adds its own "salary" property to the state object. This allows the "Employee" component to have its own properties while still inheriting the "name" property from the "Person" component.

In summary, using super constructors with props arguments in React allows child components to inherit properties from parent components while still having their own properties. This is useful when creating components that have similar properties but also need to have their own unique properties.

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