Creating a Custom Component with React and TypeScript: Fixing MUI Issues

Learn how to create a custom component in React using TypeScript and Material-UI, addressing common issues related to interfaces and the map function.
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Creating a Custom Component with React and TypeScript

Creating custom components in React can sometimes be challenging, especially when dealing with TypeScript and Material-UI (MUI). A common issue that developers encounter is the improper declaration of interfaces, which leads to errors that can stump even seasoned programmers. One particular challenge involves using the map function on a property that hasn't been correctly defined.

In this guide, we'll take a look at a scenario involving a custom component called MenuItemKebab that is structured to display a list of items with icons and titles. Specifically, we'll address the TypeScript error: Property 'map' does not exist on type '{ icon?: Element | undefined; title?: string | undefined; }'.

Understanding the Problem

When creating a custom component that is meant to render multiple menu items, you might define an interface like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

While this structure works for a single menu item, it won’t work for an array—hence the error when attempting to use the map function. Since the goal is to handle a variable number of menu items, we need to ensure that our menuItemElements props are defined as an array.

Fixing the Interface Issue

To resolve the issue, we need to adjust our Props interface to indicate that menuItemElements is an array of objects. Here’s how to properly define it:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This change signifies that menuItemElements will now hold an array, allowing us to use the map function on it without encountering TypeScript errors.

Updating the Component

With this updated interface, our MenuItemKebab component can function as intended. Here’s the revised version of the component:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In this code snippet, we can see how menuItemElements is now correctly mapped to render each menu item with its respective icon and title.

Rendering the Component

To utilize the MenuItemKebab component, you can prepare your array of menu items like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In this example, menuItems is correctly structured and passed to the MenuItemKebab component, which will render each item's icon and title as expected.

Conclusion

Creating custom components in React with TypeScript and Material-UI can be straightforward if you correctly define your interfaces. By ensuring that your props reflect the intended data structure—such as declaring arrays when necessary—you can avoid common pitfalls like the map error we tackled here.

Embrace these principles, and you'll find your React development experience to be much smoother and more productive!