Support seq as component

[robinheghan]

Support seq as component

[holmsand]

Good point; I would like to allow any return value from component functions, but I'm not sure about the best way to implement that.

React requires that the render method returns a single component, which is what for example [:div "foo"] converts into. That means that a component function returning something that is not a single component (like a seq, that is converted into a javascript array, a string or a number) would have to be wrapped in some other component to keep React happy.

Wrapping string return values in a [:span ...] would probably be the right thing to do, but what about a seq? Should it be wrapped in a :div or a :span? Should a seq of length one be replaced with its first element, if that happens to be a component? Should a seq that happens to start with a keyword, as in your example, be converted into a vector, and thus into a single component (and, in that case, should this be allowed elsewhere as well)?

I'm also a little bit reluctant to create a solution that might become incompatible with React's way of solving the same "problem", if/when React allows other return values.

But there might be an incredibly elegant solution, that I just haven't though of…

[robinheghan]

Oh, i don't want to be able to return any value. The way it is now is logical and makes perfect sense. However, as several clojure functions return seqs, treating seqs and vecs equally would be a good thing. If a seq or vec starts with a keyword, treat it as a component, otherwise throw an error.

I guess, if you wanted to potentially support any return value, you could create a protocol, wrap-component or something, and then people could extend it as needed.

(defprotocol wrap-component
    (wrap [self]))

(extend-protocol wrap-component
    String
    (wrap [self] [:span self])
    Seq
    (wrap [self] (vec self]))

What do you think?