---
title: Don't Call PropTypes Warning
layout: single
permalink: warnings/dont-call-proptypes.html
---
All doc updates forv15.5 (#9359)
* `react-addons-test-utils` -> `react-dom/test-utils`
Updating all references and docs on the `React.addons.TestUtils` and the
shallow renderer to refer to the correct targets.
Instead of:
```
const React = require('react');
// ...
React.addons.Testutils
// or
const ReactTestUtils = require('react-addons-test-utils');
```
we now show:
```
const ReactTestUtils = require('react-dom/test-utils');
```
And for shallow renderer, instead of:
```
const shallowRenderer = TestUtils.createRenderer();
```
we now show:
```
const shallowRenderer = require('react-test-renderer/shallow');
```
* Update the 'prev' and 'next' attributes of 'add-ons' docs
These flags are used to set arrow links to easily navigate through the
documents. They were wrong or missing in some of the 'add-ons' pages and
this bothered me when manually testing the updates from the previous
commit.
* Update syntax for instantiating shallow renderer
Missed this when updating the docs for the changes to shallow-renderer
in React 15.5.
* Fix pointers in addons docs
Thanks @bvaughn for catching this
* Make example of shallow renderer more consistent
We should show using the same variable names between code samples.
* Make names in example even more consistent
We should use the same variable name for the same thing across examples.
`renderer` -> `shallowRenderer`.
* Update docs to deprecate React<CSS>TransitionGroup
- removes link to the docs about `ReactCSSTransitionGroup` and
`ReactTransitionGroup` from the main navigation
- updates 'prev' and 'next' pointers to skip this page
- adds deprecation warning to the top of the page
- remove references to these modules from the packages README
- updates 'add-ons' main page to list this as a deprecated add-on
* Update `React.createClass` to `createReactClass` in the docs
The `React.createClass` method is being deprecated in favor of
`createReactClass`.
* Remove 'React.createClass' from top level API docs
It no longer makes sense to have a section for the 'createClass' method
in this page, since it won't be available as a top level method on
'React'.
I initially was going to pull the section about 'createClass' into a
separate page to add under 'addons' but it was short and duplicative of
the 'react-without-es6' docs. So I just linked to those.
* Remove *most* `React.PropTypes` from the docs
I am doing the docs for `context` in a separate commit because that case
was a bit less clear-cut.
We will no longer support `React.PropTypes` as a built-in feature of
React, and instead should direct folks to use the `PropTypes` project
that stands alone.
Rather than retaining the `React.PropTypes` examples and just revamping
them to show the use of the stand-alone `PropTypes` library with React,
it makes more sense to direct people to that project and reduce the
perceived API area and complexity of React core. The proper place to
document `PropTypes` is in the README or docs of that project, not in
React docs.
* Update `context` docs to not use `React.PropTypes`
We use `React.PropTypes` to define the `contextType` for the `context`
feature of React. It's unclear how this will work once `React.PropTypes`
is replaced by the external `PropTypes` library. Some options;
a) Deprecate `context`, either in v16 or shortly after. Seems reasonable
based on the intense warnings against using context that we have in the
docs -
https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/context.html#why-not-to-use-context
**Except** that probably some widely used libraries depend on it, like
`React-Router`.
b) Expect users will use external `PropTypes` library when defining
`contextTypes` and just don't do our `checkReactTypeSpec` against them
any more in v16.
c) Stop masking context and pass the whole context
unmasked everywhere. Worst option, do not recommend.
I went with `b` and assume that, for now, we will get users to use the
external `PropTypes` when defining context. I will update this PR if we
want a different approach.
* Remove 'addons' items from left nav, and deprecate 'addons' doc page
The plan:
[X] Remove links to 'addons' items from main navigation
[X] Add deprecation notices where appropriate, and update syntax to show
using the separate modules.
[ ] Update other references to 'React.addons' in docs. Coming in next
commit.
--- blocked but coming in future PRs
[ ] Link to a blog post describing the new locations of add-ons in the
deprecation notice on the '/docs/addons.html' page. Blocked until we
actually publish that blog post.
[ ] Move the docs for each add-on to the actual github repo where it now
lives.
[ ] Redirect the old add-ons doc permalinks to the docs in the separate
github repos for those modules.
[ ] Remove the old add-ons doc markdown files from React core docs.
* Remove references to `React.addons` from docs
Just misc. places where we referenced the 'addons' feature. All gone!
8 years ago
> Note:
>
> `React.PropTypes` has moved into a different package since React v15.5. Please use [the `prop-types` library instead](https://www.npmjs.com/package/prop-types).
>
>We provide [a codemod script ](/blog/2017/04/07/react-v15.5.0.html#migrating-from-react.proptypes ) to automate the conversion.
All doc updates forv15.5 (#9359)
* `react-addons-test-utils` -> `react-dom/test-utils`
Updating all references and docs on the `React.addons.TestUtils` and the
shallow renderer to refer to the correct targets.
Instead of:
```
const React = require('react');
// ...
React.addons.Testutils
// or
const ReactTestUtils = require('react-addons-test-utils');
```
we now show:
```
const ReactTestUtils = require('react-dom/test-utils');
```
And for shallow renderer, instead of:
```
const shallowRenderer = TestUtils.createRenderer();
```
we now show:
```
const shallowRenderer = require('react-test-renderer/shallow');
```
* Update the 'prev' and 'next' attributes of 'add-ons' docs
These flags are used to set arrow links to easily navigate through the
documents. They were wrong or missing in some of the 'add-ons' pages and
this bothered me when manually testing the updates from the previous
commit.
* Update syntax for instantiating shallow renderer
Missed this when updating the docs for the changes to shallow-renderer
in React 15.5.
* Fix pointers in addons docs
Thanks @bvaughn for catching this
* Make example of shallow renderer more consistent
We should show using the same variable names between code samples.
* Make names in example even more consistent
We should use the same variable name for the same thing across examples.
`renderer` -> `shallowRenderer`.
* Update docs to deprecate React<CSS>TransitionGroup
- removes link to the docs about `ReactCSSTransitionGroup` and
`ReactTransitionGroup` from the main navigation
- updates 'prev' and 'next' pointers to skip this page
- adds deprecation warning to the top of the page
- remove references to these modules from the packages README
- updates 'add-ons' main page to list this as a deprecated add-on
* Update `React.createClass` to `createReactClass` in the docs
The `React.createClass` method is being deprecated in favor of
`createReactClass`.
* Remove 'React.createClass' from top level API docs
It no longer makes sense to have a section for the 'createClass' method
in this page, since it won't be available as a top level method on
'React'.
I initially was going to pull the section about 'createClass' into a
separate page to add under 'addons' but it was short and duplicative of
the 'react-without-es6' docs. So I just linked to those.
* Remove *most* `React.PropTypes` from the docs
I am doing the docs for `context` in a separate commit because that case
was a bit less clear-cut.
We will no longer support `React.PropTypes` as a built-in feature of
React, and instead should direct folks to use the `PropTypes` project
that stands alone.
Rather than retaining the `React.PropTypes` examples and just revamping
them to show the use of the stand-alone `PropTypes` library with React,
it makes more sense to direct people to that project and reduce the
perceived API area and complexity of React core. The proper place to
document `PropTypes` is in the README or docs of that project, not in
React docs.
* Update `context` docs to not use `React.PropTypes`
We use `React.PropTypes` to define the `contextType` for the `context`
feature of React. It's unclear how this will work once `React.PropTypes`
is replaced by the external `PropTypes` library. Some options;
a) Deprecate `context`, either in v16 or shortly after. Seems reasonable
based on the intense warnings against using context that we have in the
docs -
https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/context.html#why-not-to-use-context
**Except** that probably some widely used libraries depend on it, like
`React-Router`.
b) Expect users will use external `PropTypes` library when defining
`contextTypes` and just don't do our `checkReactTypeSpec` against them
any more in v16.
c) Stop masking context and pass the whole context
unmasked everywhere. Worst option, do not recommend.
I went with `b` and assume that, for now, we will get users to use the
external `PropTypes` when defining context. I will update this PR if we
want a different approach.
* Remove 'addons' items from left nav, and deprecate 'addons' doc page
The plan:
[X] Remove links to 'addons' items from main navigation
[X] Add deprecation notices where appropriate, and update syntax to show
using the separate modules.
[ ] Update other references to 'React.addons' in docs. Coming in next
commit.
--- blocked but coming in future PRs
[ ] Link to a blog post describing the new locations of add-ons in the
deprecation notice on the '/docs/addons.html' page. Blocked until we
actually publish that blog post.
[ ] Move the docs for each add-on to the actual github repo where it now
lives.
[ ] Redirect the old add-ons doc permalinks to the docs in the separate
github repos for those modules.
[ ] Remove the old add-ons doc markdown files from React core docs.
* Remove references to `React.addons` from docs
Just misc. places where we referenced the 'addons' feature. All gone!
8 years ago
In a future major release of React, the code that implements PropType validation functions will be stripped in production. Once this happens, any code that calls these functions manually (that isn't stripped in production) will throw an error.
### Declaring PropTypes is still fine {#declaring-proptypes-is-still-fine}
The normal usage of PropTypes is still supported:
```javascript
Button.propTypes = {
highlighted: PropTypes.bool
};
```
Nothing changes here.
### Don’t call PropTypes directly {#dont-call-proptypes-directly}
Using PropTypes in any other way than annotating React components with them is no longer supported:
```javascript
var apiShape = PropTypes.shape({
body: PropTypes.object,
statusCode: PropTypes.number.isRequired
}).isRequired;
// Not supported!
var error = apiShape(json, 'response');
```
If you depend on using PropTypes like this, we encourage you to use or create a fork of PropTypes (such as [these ](https://github.com/aackerman/PropTypes ) [two ](https://github.com/developit/proptypes ) packages).
If you don't fix the warning, this code will crash in production with React 16.
### If you don't call PropTypes directly but still get the warning {#if-you-dont-call-proptypes-directly-but-still-get-the-warning}
Inspect the stack trace produced by the warning. You will find the component definition responsible for the PropTypes direct call. Most likely, the issue is due to third-party PropTypes that wrap React’s PropTypes, for example:
```js
Button.propTypes = {
highlighted: ThirdPartyPropTypes.deprecated(
PropTypes.bool,
'Use `active` prop instead'
)
}
```
In this case, `ThirdPartyPropTypes.deprecated` is a wrapper calling `PropTypes.bool` . This pattern by itself is fine, but triggers a false positive because React thinks you are calling PropTypes directly. The next section explains how to fix this problem for a library implementing something like `ThirdPartyPropTypes` . If it's not a library you wrote, you can file an issue against it.
### Fixing the false positive in third party PropTypes {#fixing-the-false-positive-in-third-party-proptypes}
If you are an author of a third party PropTypes library and you let consumers wrap existing React PropTypes, they might start seeing this warning coming from your library. This happens because React doesn't see a "secret" last argument that [it passes ](https://github.com/facebook/react/pull/7132 ) to detect manual PropTypes calls.
Here is how to fix it. We will use `deprecated` from [react-bootstrap/react-prop-types ](https://github.com/react-bootstrap/react-prop-types/blob/0d1cd3a49a93e513325e3258b28a82ce7d38e690/src/deprecated.js ) as an example. The current implementation only passes down the `props` , `propName` , and `componentName` arguments:
```javascript
export default function deprecated(propType, explanation) {
return function validate(props, propName, componentName) {
if (props[propName] != null) {
const message = `"${propName}" property of "${componentName}" has been deprecated.\n${explanation}` ;
if (!warned[message]) {
warning(false, message);
warned[message] = true;
}
}
return propType(props, propName, componentName);
};
}
```
In order to fix the false positive, make sure you pass **all** arguments down to the wrapped PropType. This is easy to do with the ES6 `...rest` notation:
```javascript
export default function deprecated(propType, explanation) {
return function validate(props, propName, componentName, ...rest) { // Note ...rest here
if (props[propName] != null) {
const message = `"${propName}" property of "${componentName}" has been deprecated.\n${explanation}` ;
if (!warned[message]) {
warning(false, message);
warned[message] = true;
}
}
return propType(props, propName, componentName, ...rest); // and here
};
}
```
This will silence the warning.