Gain insights into building strongly typed polymorphic React components using TypeScript. Learn about naive implementations, advanced use cases, and creating reusable utilities for design systems.

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chakra-ui-polymorphic-example

material-ui-polymorphic-example

basic-polymorphic-example

basic-polymorphic-ts-example

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TypeScript has become the de facto way to build modern web applications. With the rise of design systems and reusable components, building strongly typed polymorphic components is a desirable skill for the modern web engineer. 

This course provides a bottom-up approach to building strongly typed polymorphic components. You will start with a naive implementation of a polymorphic component and explore its drawbacks. You will then use TypeScript to provide a production-ready component interface. Finally, you’ll support advanced use cases with component refs and build a reusable utility you can use on multiple components. 

By the end of the course, you’ll be ready to build components fit for a design system and go beyond basic reusable needs.

Using TypeScript for Building Polymorphic React Components

export const PolymorphicText = <C extends React.ElementType>({
  as,
  children,
}: {
  as?: C;
  children: React.ReactNode;
}) => {
  const Component = as || "span";

  return <Component>{children}</Component>;
};

Build a complete polymorphic component that receives only valid HTML element strings.

Introduction

Strongly Typed Polymorphic Components

Build a Reusable Polymorphic Type Utility

Polymorphic Component with Ref Support

Exercise and Conclusion

Receiving Valid HTML Element Strings