no-string-refs.md

Prevent using string references (react/no-string-refs)

Currently, two ways are supported by React to refer to components. The first way, providing a string identifier, is now considered legacy in the official documentation. The documentation now prefers a second method -- referring to components by setting a property on the this object in the reference callback.

Rule Details

The following patterns are considered warnings:

var Hello = createReactClass({
 render: function() {
  return <div ref="hello">Hello, world.</div>;
 }
});

var Hello = createReactClass({
  componentDidMount: function() {
    var component = this.refs.hello;
    // ...do something with component
  },
  render: function() {
    return <div ref="hello">Hello, world.</div>;
  }
});

The following patterns are not considered warnings:

var Hello = createReactClass({
  componentDidMount: function() {
    var component = this.hello;
    // ...do something with component
  },
  render() {
    return <div ref={(c) => { this.hello = c; }}>Hello, world.</div>;
  }
});