cloneReferencedElement for React

This is a version of React.cloneElement that preserves the original element's callback ref even if you specify a new callback ref for the clone.

This library is written for components that use callback refs.

Installation

Install this module from npm:

npm install --save react-clone-referenced-element

This library is written in ES2018. Your JavaScript runtime must support trailing commas in function calls and object spread properties. All modern browsers since 2018 support these features.

You will also need to transform or define a global variable named __DEV__.

Usage

The signature of cloneReferencedElement is the same as that of React.cloneElement. However, when using callback refs, it will preserve the ref on the original component if there is one.

const original =
  <Component ref={component => {
    console.log('Running the original ref handler');
  }} />;
const clone = cloneReferencedElement(original, {
  ref(component) {
    console.log('Running the clone ref handler');
  },
});

When the component is mounted, the console will display:

Running the clone ref handler
Running the original ref handler