How can I render repeating React elements?

Question

I've written some code to render repeating elements in ReactJS, but I hate how ugly it is.

render: function(){
  var titles = this.props.titles.map(function(title) {
    return <th>{title}</th>;
  });
  var rows = this.props.rows.map(function(row) {
    var cells = [];
    for (var i in row) {
      cells.push(<td>{row[i]}</td>);
    }
    return <tr>{cells}</tr>;
  });
  return (
    <table className="MyClassName">
      <thead>
        <tr>{titles}</tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>{rows}</tbody>
    </table>
  );
} 

Is there a better way to achieve this?

(I would like to embed for loops within the template code, or some similar approach.)

Answer 1

You can put expressions inside braces. Notice in the compiled JavaScript why a for loop would never be possible inside JSX syntax; JSX amounts to function calls and sugared function arguments. Only expressions are allowed.

(Also: Remember to add key attributes to components rendered inside loops.)

JSX + ES2015:

render() {
  return (
    <table className="MyClassName">
      <thead>
        <tr>
          {this.props.titles.map(title =>
            <th key={title}>{title}</th>
          )}
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        {this.props.rows.map((row, i) =>
          <tr key={i}>
            {row.map((col, j) =>
              <td key={j}>{col}</td>
            )}
          </tr>
        )}
      </tbody>
    </table>
  );
} 

JavaScript:

render: function() {
  return (
    React.DOM.table({className: "MyClassName"}, 
      React.DOM.thead(null, 
        React.DOM.tr(null, 
          this.props.titles.map(function(title) {
            return React.DOM.th({key: title}, title);
          })
        )
      ), 
      React.DOM.tbody(null, 
        this.props.rows.map(function(row, i) {
          return (
            React.DOM.tr({key: i}, 
              row.map(function(col, j) {
                return React.DOM.td({key: j}, col);
              })
            )
          );
        })
      )
    )
  );
} 

Answer 2

Since Array(3) will create an un-iterable array, it must be populated to allow the usage of the map Array method. A way to "convert" is to destruct it inside Array-brackets, which "forces" the Array to be filled with undefined values, same as Array(N).fill(undefined)

<table>
    { [...Array(3)].map((_, index) => <tr key={index}/>) }
</table>

Another way would be via Array fill():

<table>
    { Array(3).fill(<tr/>) }
</table>

⚠️ Problem with above example is the lack of key prop, which is a must.
(Using an iterator's index as key is not recommended)

---

Nested Nodes:

const tableSize = [3,4]
const Table = (
    <table>
        <tbody>
        { [...Array(tableSize[0])].map((tr, trIdx) => 
            <tr key={trIdx}> 
              { [...Array(tableSize[1])].map((a, tdIdx, arr) => 
                  <td key={trIdx + tdIdx}>
                  {arr.length * trIdx + tdIdx + 1}
                  </td>
               )}
            </tr>
        )}
        </tbody>
    </table>
);

ReactDOM.render(Table, document.querySelector('main'))

td{ border:1px solid silver; padding:1em; }

<script crossorigin src="https://unpkg.com/react@16/umd/react.development.js"></script>
<script crossorigin src="https://unpkg.com/react-dom@16/umd/react-dom.development.js"></script>
<main></main>

Answer 3

To expand on Ross Allen's answer, here is a slightly cleaner variant using ES6 arrow syntax.

{this.props.titles.map(title =>
  <th key={title}>{title}</th>
)}

It has the advantage that the JSX part is isolated (no return or ;), making it easier to put a loop around it.

Answer 4

This is, imo, the most elegant way to do it (with ES6). Instantiate you empty array with 7 indexes and map in one line:

Array.apply(null, Array(7)).map((i)=>
<Somecomponent/>
)

kudos to https://php.quicoto.com/create-loop-inside-react-jsx/

Answer 5

In the spirit of functional programming, let's make our components a bit easier to work with by using abstractions.

// converts components into mappable functions
var mappable = function(component){
  return function(x, i){
    return component({key: i}, x);
  }
}

// maps on 2-dimensional arrays
var map2d = function(m1, m2, xss){
  return xss.map(function(xs, i, arr){
    return m1(xs.map(m2), i, arr);
  });
}

var td = mappable(React.DOM.td);
var tr = mappable(React.DOM.tr);
var th = mappable(React.DOM.th);

Now we can define our render like this:

render: function(){
  return (
    <table>
      <thead>{this.props.titles.map(th)}</thead>
      <tbody>{map2d(tr, td, this.props.rows)}</tbody>
    </table>
  );
}

jsbin

---

An alternative to our map2d would be a curried map function, but people tend to shy away from currying.