React: How to update the DOM with API results - node.js

Question

My goal is to take the response from the Google API perspective and display the value into a div within the DOM.
Following a tutorial : https://medium.com/swlh/combat-toxicity-online-with-the-perspective-api-and-react-f090f1727374
Form is completed and works. I can see my response in the console. I can even store the response into an object, array, or simply extract the values.
The issue is I am struggling to write the values to the DOM even though I have it saved..
In my class is where I handle all the API work
class App extends React.Component {
handleSubmit = comment => {
axios
.post(PERSPECTIVE_API_URL, {
comment: {
text: comment
},
languages: ["en"],
requestedAttributes: {
TOXICITY: {},
INSULT: {},
FLIRTATION: {},
THREAT: {}
}
})
.then(res => {
myResponse= res.data; //redundant
apiResponse.push(myResponse);//pushed api response into an object array
console.log(res.data); //json response
console.log(apiResponse);
PrintRes(); //save the values for the API for later use
})
.catch(() => {
// The perspective request failed, put some defensive logic here!
});
};
render() {
const {flirty,insulting,threatening,toxic}=this.props
console.log(flirty); //returns undefined, makes sense upon initialization but does not update after PrintRes()
return (
<div className="App">
<h1>Please leave a comment </h1>
<CommentForm onSubmit={this.handleSubmit} />
</div>
);
}
}
When I receive a response from the API I use my own function to store the data, for use later, the intention being to write the results into a div for my page
export const PrintRes=() =>{
// apiResponse.forEach(parseToxins);
// myResponse=JSON.stringify(myResponse);
for (var i = 0; i < apiResponse.length; i++) {
a=apiResponse[i].attributeScores.FLIRTATION.summaryScore.value;
b=apiResponse[i].attributeScores.INSULT.summaryScore.value;
c=apiResponse[i].attributeScores.THREAT.summaryScore.value;
d=apiResponse[i].attributeScores.TOXICITY.summaryScore.value;
}
console.log("hell0");//did this function run
// render(){ cant enclose the return in the render() because I get an error on the { , not sure why
return(
<section>
<div>
<p>
Your comment is:
Flirty: {flirty}
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>
Your comment is:
insulting: {insulting}
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>
Your comment is:
threatening: {threatening}
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>
Your comment is:
toxic: {toxic}
</p>
</div>
</section>
);
}
Variables and imports at the top
import React from "react";
//needed to make a POST request to the API
import axios from "axios";
import CommentForm from "../components/CommentForm";
var myResponse;
var apiResponse= [];
let a,b,c,d;
let moods = {
flirty: a,
insulting:b,
threatening:c,
toxic:d
}

Answer 1

If I understand correctly You need to create a state where you store data from api.
States in react works like realtime stores to refresh DOM when something change. this is an example to use it
class App extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
apiData: undefined
};
}
fetchData() {
this.setState({
apiData: "Set result"
});
}
render() {
const { apiData } = this.state;
return (
<div>
<button onClick={this.fetchData.bind(this)}>FetchData</button>
<h3>Result</h3>
<p>{apiData || "Nothing yet"}</p>
</div>
);
}
}
you can check it here: https://codesandbox.io/s/suspicious-cloud-l1m4x
For more info about states in react look at this:
https://es.reactjs.org/docs/react-component.html#setstate