Docs / rescript-react / Context

Context

Context provides a way to pass data through the component tree without having to pass props down manually at every level.

Why Context?

In a typical React application, data is passed top-down (parent to child) via props, but this can be cumbersome for certain types of props (e.g. locale preference, UI theme) that are required by many components within an application. Context provides a way to share values like these between components without having to explicitly pass a prop through every level of the tree.

Note: In ReScript, passing down props is way simpler than in TS / JS due to its JSX prop punning feature and strong type inference, so it's often preferrable to keep it simple and just do props passing. Less magic means more transparency!

When to Use Context

Context is designed to share data that can be considered “global” for a tree of React components, such as the current authenticated user, theme, or preferred language. For example, in the code below we manually thread through a “theme” prop in order to style the Button component:

ReScriptJS Output

// src/App.res
type theme = Light | Dark;

module Button = {
  @react.component
  let make = (~theme) => {
    let className = switch theme {
      | Light => "theme-light"
      | Dark => "theme-black"
    };
    <button className> {React.string("Click me")} </button>
  }
}

module ThemedButton = {
  @react.component
  let make = (~theme) => {
    <Button theme />
  }
}

module Toolbar = {
  @react.component
  let make = (~theme) => {
    <div>
      <ThemedButton theme/>
    </div>
  }
}

@react.component
let make = () => {
  // We define the theme in the
  // toplevel App component and
  // pass it down
  <Toolbar theme=Dark/>
}

Using context, we can avoid passing props through intermediate elements:

ReScriptJS Output

// src/App.res

module ThemeContext = {
  type theme = Light | Dark
  let context = React.createContext(Light)

  module Provider = {
    let make = React.Context.provider(context)
  }
}

module Button = {
  @react.component
  let make = (~theme) => {
    let className = switch theme {
    | ThemeContext.Light => "theme-light"
    | Dark => "theme-black"
    }
    <button className> {React.string("Click me")} </button>
  }
}

module ThemedButton = {
  @react.component
  let make = () => {
    let theme = React.useContext(ThemeContext.context)

    <Button theme />
  }
}

module Toolbar = {
  @react.component
  let make = () => {
    <div>
      <ThemedButton />
    </div>
  }
}

@react.component
let make = () => {
  <ThemeContext.Provider value=ThemeContext.Dark>
    <div>
      <Toolbar />
    </div>
  </ThemeContext.Provider>
}