📓 Showing Ticket Detail

In the lesson called Planning Our Application: Part 3, we updated the plan for our Help Queue application to include a TicketDetail component. A user should be able to click on a ticket and then go to that ticket's detail page.

Before starting, this might be a good time to take a deep breath. We aren't going to be adding too many new lines of code to our application in this lesson. However, we have to do a lot of little things in many different places. This will be a long lesson, so pay close attention.

Here are the things we need to do to add ticket detail functionality to our site:

• Create a placeholder TicketDetail component (it will be updated to take props later in this lesson).
• Update TicketControl to include a selectedTicket state slice.
• Create a method in TicketControl that will handle when a ticket is clicked.
• Create a new conditional in TicketControl to handle the TicketDetail component.
• Use props to pass down our method for handling a ticket click first to our TicketList component and then to the Ticket component, where the method will be attached to a ticket.
• Once the selectedTicket state is properly being updated, update the TicketDetail component to accept TicketDetail props.
• Add PropTypes for props as needed.

This is a lot of stuff — but we are being exhaustive in outlining each step we need to take to update our code. Take your time with this lesson — and also when you are adding functionality across multiple components in your own React applications.

Create a Placeholder TicketDetail Component

Let's start with a placeholder TicketDetail component:

TicketDetail.js

import React from "react";

function TicketDetail(props){
  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      <h1>Ticket Detail</h1>
      <hr/>
    </React.Fragment>
  );
}

export default TicketDetail;

There's nothing new or unusual here — just a component rendering a single hard-coded element. We will update this component to use props after we successfully get the TicketControl component to update a selected ticket.

Update the TicketControl Component

Now let's make some changes to our TicketControl component. We will do the following:

• Add a state slice for selectedTicket. It will have a default state of null.
• Add a method called handleChangingSelectedTicket for handling a click event on a ticket. When a user clicks on the ticket, it will activate this method, which will change the value of selectedTicket to an actual ticket object.
• Add a conditional for rendering the TicketDetail component when selectedTicket is not null. This will ensure the user actually sees the TicketDetail component.

Update TicketControl State

We will start by updating our state:

TicketControl.js

...
    this.state = {
      formVisibleOnPage: false,
      mainTicketList: [],
      selectedTicket: null // new code
    };
...

Our selectedTicket starts as null because no ticket has been selected yet.

Write Method to Handle Click Event on Ticket

Next, let's write a method that will take the id property of a ticket, find the correct ticket, and then set selectedTicket equal to that ticket. Since we know what this method should do, we can write it in isolation without worrying how it will interact with other components. We'll add this method to TicketControl after the constructor and before the render() method (which is where all our custom methods should go in a class component).

TicketControl.js

...
  handleChangingSelectedTicket = (id) => {
    const selectedTicket = this.state.mainTicketList.filter(ticket => ticket.id === id)[0];
    this.setState({selectedTicket: selectedTicket});
  }
...

We will use filter() (which is perfect for functional programming) to filter our mainTicketList down to tickets where ticket.id equals the id passed into our method. Because we are using UUIDs now, we know that only one ticket will ever have a matching id.

Because filter() returns an array, we need to specify that we want the first (and only element) in that array. We use bracket notation to do that.

Finally, we use the setState method to mutate the state of the selectedTicket state slice.

Our method isn't connected to our user interface yet — but its functionality will be in place by the end of the lesson.

Update TicketControl's render() Method

Now we need to make some updates to our render() method. We've included comments detailing the three changes we are making. The first two changes are related to adding a conditional to our conditional rendering. The third involves passing our new method as a prop.

TicketControl.js

...
import TicketDetail from './TicketDetail';

...

  render(){
    let currentlyVisibleState = null;
    let buttonText = null; 
    
    if (this.state.selectedTicket != null) {
      currentlyVisibleState = <TicketDetail ticket = {this.state.selectedTicket} />
      buttonText = "Return to Ticket List";
      // While our TicketDetail component only takes placeholder data, we will eventually be passing the value of selectedTicket as a prop.
    }
    else if (this.state.formVisibleOnPage) {
      // This conditional needs to be updated to "else if."
      currentlyVisibleState = <NewTicketForm onNewTicketCreation={this.handleAddingNewTicketToList}  />;
      buttonText = "Return to Ticket List";
    } else {
      currentlyVisibleState = <TicketList ticketList={this.state.mainTicketList} onTicketSelection={this.handleChangingSelectedTicket} />;
      // Because a user will actually be clicking on the ticket in the Ticket component, we will need to pass our new handleChangingSelectedTicket method as a prop.
      buttonText = "Add Ticket";
    }

    ...
  }

First, we add a conditional that will render the TicketDetail component if selectedTicket != null. If this.state.selectedTicket isn't null, it will be set to the value of the selectedTicket.

Right now, the TicketDetail is just a hard-coded placeholder. However, we will eventually be passing selectedTicket into the TicketDetail component. For that reason, we will pass in a prop called ticket that we will set to the value of selectedTicket. We will attach this prop to TicketDetail soon.

We also update our previous if statement to an else if statement. We won't use two if statements — if the TicketDetail component should be rendered, there's no reason to check if the NewTicketForm should be rendered.

Last, we need to pass our new handleChangingSelectedTicket method down to the TicketList component as a prop so we add the following code to <TicketList />:

onTicketSelection={this.handleChangingSelectedTicket}

We are saving the value of this.handleChangingSelectedTicket in the onTicketSelection prop.

Pass Props Through TicketList Component

We need to make several small changes to our TicketList component:

• We will no longer use the index of our iterator as a key. We will use a ticket's actual id property instead.
• We will add a PropType for our new onTicketSelection prop.
• We will also pass down several props to the Ticket component.

Here are the updates:

TicketList.js

...

function TicketList(props){

  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      <hr/>
      {props.ticketList.map((ticket) =>
        <Ticket
          whenTicketClicked = { props.onTicketSelection }
          names={ticket.names}
          location={ticket.location}
          issue={ticket.issue}
          id={ticket.id}
          key={ticket.id}/>
      )}
    </React.Fragment>
  );
}

TicketList.propTypes = {
  ticketList: PropTypes.array,
  onTicketSelection: PropTypes.func
};

...

First, we no longer need to pass index into our map() function. We've updated the key to be equal to ticket.id.

Note that we also have to pass in an id prop. This is because we can't pass a key to a child component as a prop. However, our Ticket component will still need access to its own id, hence a separate id prop which is also set to ticket.id.

We will also pass props.onTicketSelection down to the Ticket component as a prop. The Ticket component will handle determining whether it has been selected — not the TicketList component. For the sake of clarity, we are naming the prop being passed down to the Ticket component whenTicketClicked. Because onTicketSelection is itself a prop from the TicketControl component, it is one of TicketList's props, which is why we need to prefix onTicketSelection with props.

Finally, we also need to add a PropType: onTicketSelection: PropTypes.func.

Add Method To Ticket Component

Now it's time to pass the handleChangingSelectedTicket method down to our Ticket component. It has been passed down from TicketControl to TicketList as a prop called onTicketSelection. Then TicketList passed it down to Ticket as a prop called whenTicketClicked.

It may already seem a bit convoluted — and we are only passing this method down through a few components. It should be clear why prop drilling through many components should generally be avoided. Fortunately, we are only passing this prop down from a parent to a child to that child's child. That's not a big deal — but our code would get messy if we drilled much further.

Let's take a look at our updated Ticket component. All we are adding is a div with an onClick handler and a few PropTypes. Once again, we've also added a few comments — you should remove these from your own code if you are following along.

Ticket.js

...

function Ticket(props){
  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      <div onClick = {() => props.whenTicketClicked(props.id)}>
        { /* We add a div with an onClick function. Don't forget to close out the div below! */}
        <h3>{props.location} - {props.names}</h3>
        <p><em>{props.issue}</em></p>
        <hr/>
      </div>
    </React.Fragment>
  );
}

Ticket.propTypes = {
  names: PropTypes.string,
  location: PropTypes.string,
  issue: PropTypes.string,
  id: PropTypes.string, // new PropType
  whenTicketClicked: PropTypes.func // new PropType
};

...

We wrap an individual ticket in a div that looks like this:

<div onClick = {() => props.whenTicketClicked(props.id)}>

Because TicketList is iterating through each individual ticket, each ticket will have its own div with an onClick handler attached.

As we discussed in the last lesson, we need to use an arrow function so the expression isn't evaluated immediately. We pass in the ticket's id via props.id.

At this point, we can click on a ticket and the selectedTicket state slice in TicketControl will update, showing our placeholder TicketDetail component. Once again, it may seem like information is being passed up from Ticket all the way to TicketControl, but the opposite is happening. Instead, think of TicketControl expanding its scope all the way down to Ticket with the help of props and callbacks.

Update TicketDetail Component to Render SelectedTicket

Earlier in this lesson, we added the following line of code to TicketControl:

TicketControl.js

currentlyVisibleState = <TicketDetail ticket = {this.state.selectedTicket} />

We specified that the value of this.state.selectedTicket should be passed as a prop called ticket down to our TicketDetail component.

Now we just need to use those props in TicketDetail. Here's our updated TicketDetail component:

TicketDetail.js

import React from "react";
import PropTypes from "prop-types";

function TicketDetail(props){
  const { ticket } = props;
  
  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      <h1>Ticket Detail</h1>
      <h3>{ticket.location} - {ticket.names}</h3>
      <p><em>{ticket.issue}</em></p>
      <hr/>
    </React.Fragment>
  );
}

TicketDetail.propTypes = {
  ticket: PropTypes.object
};

export default TicketDetail;

Note that we use object destructuring (const { ticket } = props;) to derive the ticket object from our props. Otherwise, for a ticket attribute like location, we'd need to say props.ticket.location instead of just ticket.location. It is common — but not necessary — to use object destructuring with props in React.

We also specify that ticket will have a PropType of object.

Finishing Up

We are almost done. However, there's still a problem with our application. When we navigate to ticket detail and click on the Return to Ticket List button, nothing will happen.

Let's take a look at that button in the TicketControl component:

TicketControl.js

...
<button onClick={this.handleClick}>{buttonText}</button>
...

The issue must be in the handleClick method, so let's take a look at that next:

TicketControl.js

...
  handleClick = () => {
    this.setState(prevState => ({
      formVisibleOnPage: !prevState.formVisibleOnPage
    }));
  }
...

Currently, the handleClick method only toggles the visibility of our form. We also need it to set selectedTicket to null so the queue can show. But it's not quite that simple. When we click on a ticket's detail, formVisibleOnPage is set to false. We don't want to toggle it back to true! That's why we see the form for adding a ticket when we click on the button.

Let's update the handleClick method so it can also handle returning to the queue from the ticket detail page. The solution isn't going to be ideal, but it will get the job done:

TicketControl.js

...
  handleClick = () => {
    if (this.state.selectedTicket != null) {
      this.setState({
        formVisibleOnPage: false,
        selectedTicket: null
      });
    } else {
      this.setState(prevState => ({
        formVisibleOnPage: !prevState.formVisibleOnPage,
      }));
    }
  }
...

We know that if this.state.selectedTicket isn't null then we must be on the ticket detail page. In that case, we know that formVisibleOnPage should be set to false and selectedTicket should be set to null. Otherwise, we know that we must be on the add ticket page or the ticket list page — so our else statement can just continue to toggle the formVisibleOnPage state.

Now our button toggles between all of our components.

However, we are at the point when this function is probably trying to do too much. It felt like nice, clean code and a reusable function before — and while we've adapted it for yet another use, it's not quite as clean anymore. We definitely wouldn't want this function to have a ton of conditionals, each for handling a different kind of click! So this is the point where we might want to consider refactoring this function as our application gets larger. Because everything is working, we won't do a refactor here — but it's always good to pay close attention and consider when we might want to refactor code.

If you've been holding your breath (hopefully not), you can breathe out now. All of these steps may seem overly complicated at first. There are a lot of moving parts in a React application, especially once we start passing around a lot of props. Good planning is very important. Ultimately, the content in this lesson will be more likely to click if you code along with it.

Practice is also important, and at least in the short term, try to look at bugs as a potential teacher as opposed to a source of frustration. Bugs will happen, especially at first. It can be challenging to keep track of all the props that need to be passed around — along with all the other little details that come with adding a core piece of functionality. However, React error messages tend to be very informative, so follow your errors up and down the component tree until you see where everything connects.