React: “this” is undefined inside a component function

Question

class PlayerControls extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props)

    this.state = {
      loopActive: false,
      shuffleActive: false,
    }         


        

Answer 1

If you are using babel, you bind 'this' using ES7 bind operator https://babeljs.io/docs/en/babel-plugin-transform-function-bind#auto-self-binding

export default class SignupPage extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
  }

  handleSubmit(e) {
    e.preventDefault(); 

    const data = { 
      email: this.refs.email.value,
    } 
  }

  render() {

    const {errors} = this.props;

    return (
      <div className="view-container registrations new">
        <main>
          <form id="sign_up_form" onSubmit={::this.handleSubmit}>
            <div className="field">
              <input ref="email" id="user_email" type="email" placeholder="Email"  />
            </div>
            <div className="field">
              <input ref="password" id="user_password" type="new-password" placeholder="Password"  />
            </div>
            <button type="submit">Sign up</button>
          </form>
        </main>
      </div>
    )
  }

}

Answer 2

in my case this was the solution = () => {}

methodName = (params) => {
//your code here with this.something
}

Answer 3

You should notice that this depends on how function is invoked ie: when a function is called as a method of an object, its this is set to the object the method is called on.

this is accessible in JSX context as your component object, so you can call your desired method inline as this method.

If you just pass reference to function/method, it seems that react will invoke it as independent function.

onClick={this.onToggleLoop} // Here you just passing reference, React will invoke it as independent function and this will be undefined

onClick={()=>this.onToggleLoop()} // Here you invoking your desired function as method of this, and this in that function will be set to object from that function is called ie: your component object

Answer 4

You can rewrite how your onToggleLoop method is called from your render() method.

render() {
    var shuffleClassName = this.state.toggleActive ? "player-control-icon active" : "player-control-icon"

return (
  <div className="player-controls">
    <FontAwesome
      className="player-control-icon"
      name='refresh'
      onClick={(event) => this.onToggleLoop(event)}
      spin={this.state.loopActive}
    />       
  </div>
    );
  }

The React documentation shows this pattern in making calls to functions from expressions in attributes.