Component Communication in React

Behind the scenes many components might be communicating with each other to update the UI and take user input?

Yes, that’s correct. In a typical React application, components are often communicating with each other and cooperating to create a cohesive user interface and user experience.

Here are a few ways this can happen:

  1. Props: This is the primary way that data is passed from parent components to child components in React. If a parent component has some data or behavior (like a click handler function) that a child component needs to function properly, the parent can pass that data or behavior to the child as a prop.

  2. State: State is a way for components to maintain, manipulate, and track data that can change over time. When state changes, the component will re-render to reflect those changes in the UI. State can be managed locally within a component or can be lifted up to a parent component if multiple child components need to access or manipulate the same state.

  3. Context: If you need to pass data deep down the component tree, passing props from parent to child to grandchild and so on can become cumbersome. This is where React’s Context API comes in. It allows you to share values between all components in a component tree without having to explicitly pass props at every level.

  4. Redux / Zustand / MobX / etc.: These are state management libraries that can be used with React. They provide more control and more powerful tools for managing state, especially in larger applications. State can be stored globally and accessed from any component in the app, which is useful when different components need to share and manipulate the same data.

  5. Event handlers and callbacks: Components can communicate up the tree to parent components via callbacks. This is often used for user interactions. For example, a button component could be created with an onClick prop. The parent component passes a function to the button, and the button calls that function when it’s clicked.

  6. Refs: Refs provide a way to access and interact with DOM nodes or React elements created in the render method.

This inter-component communication forms the backbone of a React application and allows for complex, interactive UIs to be built up from small, simple, reusable components.