Using react-router with typescript

Question

I'm attempting to port a small react app over to typescript.

I'm encountering issues with react-router. I have the latest definitions from definitely type but the following code gives me errors:

var routes:Router.Route = (
<Route name="root" path="/" handler={MyApp}>
  <Route path="dashboard" handler={MyDash} />
  <DefaultRoute handler={SomeSection} />
  <NotFoundRoute handler={NotFoundPage} />
</Route>
);

Router.run(routes, function (Handler:React.Component<any, any>) {
  React.render(<Handler/>, document.body);
});

These are the compilation errors I get:

js/app.tsx(31,3): error TS2605: JSX element type 'Component<RouteProp, any>' is not a constructor function for JSX elements.
  Property 'render' is missing in type 'Component<RouteProp, any>'.
js/app.tsx(32,5): error TS2605: JSX element type 'Component<RouteProp, any>' is not a constructor function for JSX elements.
js/app.tsx(47,5): error TS2605: JSX element type 'Component<DefaultRouteProp, any>' is not a constructor function for JSX elements.
  Property 'render' is missing in type 'Component<DefaultRouteProp, any>'.
js/app.tsx(49,5): error TS2605: JSX element type 'Component<NotFoundRouteProp, any>' is not a constructor function for JSX elements.
  Property 'render' is missing in type 'Component<NotFoundRouteProp, any>'.
js/app.tsx(53,20): error TS2345: Argument of type '(Handler: Component<any, any>) => void' is not assignable to parameter of type '(Handler: RouteClass, state: RouterState) => void'.
  Types of parameters 'Handler' and 'Handler' are incompatible.
    Type 'Component<any, any>' is not assignable to type 'RouteClass'.
js/app.tsx(54,17): error TS2604: JSX element type 'Handler' does not have any construct or call signatures.

What is the correct way to initialize a set of react-router routes using typescript?

(I should clarify that I'm using a nightly typescript build which has support for JSX via the --jsx react flag

Solution

The root problem was some definitions in react-router not having an explicit render() method. This has been fixed (indirectly) by https://github.com/borisyankov/DefinitelyTyped/pull/5197

Note that this code is incorrect:

Router.run(routes, function (Handler:React.Component<any, any>) {
  React.render(<Handler/>, document.body);
});

It should be:

Router.run(routes, function (Handler: new() => React.Component<any, any>) {
  React.render(<Handler/>, document.body);
});

Because Handler is a constructor for a React component, not an instance of it.

Comments

[Nathan]

I had the same issue and it may be a problem with TypeScript's TSX support: Typescript/3928. I asked a similar question there, and they re-opened the issue.

[theycallmemorty]

Thanks for answering, but I'm not in love with the idea of changing the .d.ts files. There must be a way to make them work as is otherwise people wouldn't have published them to definitielyTyped.

[Carlos Barbosa]

Works fine after applying your changes.

[Michael Fulton]

Well, not free, since he had to spend time on the answer after all ;)