I'm making a very basic React app from teamtreehouse, and I'm constantly encountering

"TypeError: Cannot read property 'onPlayerScoreChange' of undefined"

even though I'm binding my functions correctly (I think)

'onPlayerScoreChange' Is a method in the Grandparent component which executes when a user hits a '+' or '-' button to change a player's score.

It would be really helpful if someone could explain what is wrong, because I think I am setting this.onPlayerScoreChange = this.onPlayerScoreChange.bind(this) in the great grandparent's constructor.

Parent component:

class App extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.onPlayerScoreChange = this.onPlayerScoreChange.bind(this)
    this.state = {
        initialPlayers: props.initialPlayers,
    };
}

onPlayerScoreChange(delta, index) {
    this.setState((prevState, props) => {
        return {initialPlayers: this.prevState.initialPlayers[index].score += delta}
    })
}

render() {
    return(
        <div className = "scoreboard">
            <Header title = {this.props.title}/>
            <div className = "players">
                {this.state.initialPlayers.map(function(player, index) {
                    return(
                        <Player 
                        name = {player.name} 
                        score = {player.score} 
                        key = {player.id} 
                        index = {index}
                        onScoreChange = {this.onPlayerScoreChange}
                        />
                    )
                })}
            </div>
        </div>
    )
}}

(Component has default props for title)

Child component:

class Player extends React.Component {
render() {
    return(
        <div className = "player">
            <div className = "player-name">
                {this.props.name}
            </div>
            <div className = "player-score">
                <Counter score = {this.props.score} onChange = {this.props.onScoreChange} index = {this.props.index}/>
            </div>
        </div>
)
}}

Grandchild component:

class Counter extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
    super(props)
    this.handleDecrement = this.handleDecrement.bind(this)
    this.handleIncrement = this.handleIncrement.bind(this)
}

handleDecrement() {
    this.props.onChange(-1, this.props.index)
}

handleIncrement() {
    this.props.onChange(1, this.props.index)
}

render() {
    return(
        <div className = "counter">
            <button className = "counter-action decrement" onClick = {this.handleDecrement}> - </button>
            <div className = "counter-score"> {this.props.score} </div>
            <button className = "counter-action increment" onClick = {this.handleIncrement}> + </button>
        </div>
)}}

Thank you!

I'm making a very basic React app from teamtreehouse.com, and I'm constantly encountering

"TypeError: Cannot read property 'onPlayerScoreChange' of undefined"

even though I'm binding my functions correctly (I think)

'onPlayerScoreChange' Is a method in the Grandparent component which executes when a user hits a '+' or '-' button to change a player's score.

It would be really helpful if someone could explain what is wrong, because I think I am setting this.onPlayerScoreChange = this.onPlayerScoreChange.bind(this) in the great grandparent's constructor.

Parent component:

class App extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.onPlayerScoreChange = this.onPlayerScoreChange.bind(this)
    this.state = {
        initialPlayers: props.initialPlayers,
    };
}

onPlayerScoreChange(delta, index) {
    this.setState((prevState, props) => {
        return {initialPlayers: this.prevState.initialPlayers[index].score += delta}
    })
}

render() {
    return(
        <div className = "scoreboard">
            <Header title = {this.props.title}/>
            <div className = "players">
                {this.state.initialPlayers.map(function(player, index) {
                    return(
                        <Player 
                        name = {player.name} 
                        score = {player.score} 
                        key = {player.id} 
                        index = {index}
                        onScoreChange = {this.onPlayerScoreChange}
                        />
                    )
                })}
            </div>
        </div>
    )
}}

(Component has default props for title)

Child component:

class Player extends React.Component {
render() {
    return(
        <div className = "player">
            <div className = "player-name">
                {this.props.name}
            </div>
            <div className = "player-score">
                <Counter score = {this.props.score} onChange = {this.props.onScoreChange} index = {this.props.index}/>
            </div>
        </div>
)
}}

Grandchild component:

class Counter extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
    super(props)
    this.handleDecrement = this.handleDecrement.bind(this)
    this.handleIncrement = this.handleIncrement.bind(this)
}

handleDecrement() {
    this.props.onChange(-1, this.props.index)
}

handleIncrement() {
    this.props.onChange(1, this.props.index)
}

render() {
    return(
        <div className = "counter">
            <button className = "counter-action decrement" onClick = {this.handleDecrement}> - </button>
            <div className = "counter-score"> {this.props.score} </div>
            <button className = "counter-action increment" onClick = {this.handleIncrement}> + </button>
        </div>
)}}

Thank you!

• javascript
• reactjs

• 1 forgot to bind in map, use this: {this.state.initialPlayers.map((player, index) => { – Mayank Shukla Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:14
• Thank you! makes a lot of sense now – VWang Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:29
• Possible duplicate of "this" is undefined inside map function Reactjs – Dyo Commented Feb 12, 2018 at 13:51

4 Answers 4

You have not done binding for the map function where you are using onScoreChange = {this.onPlayerScoreChange},

you can either use bind or arrow functions for binding

P.S. Binding is needed because the context of the map function is different from the React Component context and hence this inside this function won't be Referring to the React Components this and thus you can't access that properties of the React Component class.

With Arrow function:

 {this.state.initialPlayers.map((player, index)=> {
                return(
                    <Player 
                    name = {player.name} 
                    score = {player.score} 
                    key = {player.id} 
                    index = {index}
                    onScoreChange = {this.onPlayerScoreChange}
                    />
                )
            })}

With bind

   {this.state.initialPlayers.map(function(player, index) {
                return(
                    <Player 
                    name = {player.name} 
                    score = {player.score} 
                    key = {player.id} 
                    index = {index}
                    onScoreChange = {this.onPlayerScoreChange}
                    />
                )
            }.bind(this))}

Can also be done by passing second argument as this to map function as onClick event uses local this of map function which is undefined here and this currently refers to the global object.

{this.state.initialPlayers.map(function(player, index) {
                    return(
                        <Player 
                        name = {player.name} 
                        score = {player.score} 
                        key = {player.id} 
                        index = {index}
                        onScoreChange = {this.onPlayerScoreChange}
                        />
                    )
                }),this}

sometimes it is quite easy and it all depends on how you declare your loop

example you will get this error if you try to do something like this var.map(function(example, index) {}

but if you call the new function within the map with this

this.sate.articles.map(list => 
{<a onClick={() => this.myNewfunction()}>{list.title}</a>)}

the second loop will get you out of the undefined error

and dont forget to bind your new function

//This should be declared befor map function

const thObj = this;

this.sate.articles.map(list => {<a onClick={() => thObj.myNewfunction()}>{list.title})}