reactjs / reactjs/react.dev

Update Forwarding Refs documentation to include use of keys

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JavaScript
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Description

It's common practice in React to add keys to elements that are being iterated.
After looking carefully at the docs for forwardRef, and running into an issue with a key not being set, it appears that forwardRef returns an iterator, and requires a unique key is set on each element.
It would be great to have the docs for forwardRef reflect this requirement, and note anything unique e.g. common patterns to use when iterating to produce childComponents, which utilize forwardRef.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Review the forwardRef documentation at the linked page, focusing on the note for component library maintainers and the reported behavior when iterating child components. Confirm the key requirement before updating the page with the relevant guidance and common iteration patterns; done means the documentation clearly explains how keys apply to these elements.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, react
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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