React

The third-party React package for Ray, react-ray, uses the package for NodeJS for most core functionality.

react-ray supports React 16+ and provides two hooks:

  • useRay - send data to the Ray app whenever it updates.
  • useRayWithElement - send the contents of an element ref to the Ray app, optionally updating the item in place when its dependencies change.

To send data to Ray whenever it updates, use the useRay hook along with the type option to specify the type of data you are sending.
The boolean replace option can be used to update the Ray item in place when its dependencies change. The default value for replace is false.

Valid types are image, json, html, text, or xml. See the node-ray documentation for more information on these types.

import { useRay } from 'react-ray';
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

    useRay(count, { type: 'text', replace: true });

    return (
        <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
            Click me
        </button>
    );
};

To send the contents of a ref to the Ray app in a sequential manner (each dependency change sends a new item), set the replace option to false:

import { useRayWithElement } from 'react-ray';
import { useRef, useState } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
    const countRef = useRef(null);

    useRayWithElement(countRef, [count], { replace: false });

    return (
        <div>
            <div ref={countRef}>{count}</div>
            <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
                Click me
            </button>
        </div>
    );
};

To update the Ray item in place that was sent with the contents of a ref when its dependencies change, set the replace option to true or omit it:

import { useRayWithElement } from 'react-ray';
import { useRef, useState } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
    const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
    const countRef = useRef(null);

    useRayWithElement(countRef, [count], { replace: true });
    // or
    // useRayWithElement(countRef, [count]);

    return (
        <div>
            <div ref={countRef}>{count}</div>
            <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
                Click me
            </button>
        </div>
    );
};