Using Fragment to insert HTML rendered on the back end via dangerouslySetInnerHTML - node.js

Question

I used to compile and insert JSX components via
<div key={ ID } dangerouslySetInnerHTML={ { __html: HTML } } />
which wrapped my HTML into a <div>:
<div>my html from the HTML object</div>
Now react > 16.2.0 has support for Fragments and I wonder if I can use that somehow to avoid wrapping my HTML in a <div> each time I get data from the back end.
Running
<Fragment key={ ID } dangerouslySetInnerHTML={ { __html: HTML } } />
will throw a warning
Warning: Invalid prop `dangerouslySetInnerHTML` supplied to `React.Fragment`. React.Fragment can only have `key` and `children` props.
in React.Fragment
Is this supported yet at all? Is there another way to solve this?
Update
Created an issue in the react repo for it if you want to upvote it.

Answer 1

Short Answer
Not possible:
key is the only attribute that can be passed to Fragment. In the
future, we may add support for additional attributes, such as event
handlers.
https://reactjs.org/docs/fragments.html
You may want to chime in and suggest this as a future addition.
https://github.com/facebook/react/issues
In the Meantime
You may want to consider using an HTML parsing library like:
https://github.com/remarkablemark/html-react-parser
Check out this example to see how it will accomplish your goal:
http://remarkablemark.org/blog/2016/10/07/dangerously-set-innerhtml-alternative/
In Short
You'll be able to do this:
<>
{require('html-react-parser')(
'<em>foo</em>'
)}
</>

Answer 2

Update December 2020
This issue (also mentioned by OP) was closed on Oct 2, 2019. - However, stemming from the original issue, it seems a RawHTML component has entered the RFC process but has not reached production, and has no set timeline for when a working solution may be available.
That being said, I would now like to allude to a solution I currently use to get around this issue.
In my case, dangerouslySetInnerHTML was utilized to render plain HTML for a user to download; it was not ideal to have additional wrapper tags included in the output.
After reading around the web and StackOverflow, it seemed most solutions mentioned using an external library like html-react-parser.
For this use-case, html-react-parser would not suffice because it converts HTML strings to React element(s). Meaning, it would strip all HTML that wasn't standard JSX.
Solution:
The code below is the no library solution I opted to use:
//HTML that will be set using dangerouslySetInnerHTML
const html = `<div>This is a div</div>`
The wrapper div within the RawHtml component is purposely named "unwanteddiv".
//Component that will return our dangerouslySetInnerHTML
//Note that we are using "unwanteddiv" as a wrapper
const RawHtml = () => {
return (
<unwanteddiv key={[]}
dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{
__html: html,
}}
/>
);
};
For the purpose of this example, we will use renderToStaticMarkup.
const staticHtml = ReactDomServer.renderToStaticMarkup(
<RawHtml/>
);
The ParseStaticHtml function is where the magic happens, here you will see why we named the wrapper div "unwanteddiv".
//The ParseStaticHtml function will check the staticHtml
//If the staticHtml type is 'string'
//We will remove "<unwanteddiv/>" leaving us with only the desired output
const ParseStaticHtml = (html) => {
if (typeof html === 'string') {
return html.replace(/<unwanteddiv>/g, '').replace(/<\/unwanteddiv>/g, '');
} else {
return html;
}
};
Now, if we pass the staticHtml through the ParseStaticHtml function you will see the desired output without the additional wrapper div:
console.log(ParseStaticHtml(staticHtml));
Additionally, I have created a codesandbox example that shows this in action.
Notice, the console log will throw a warning: "The tag <unwanteddiv> is unrecognized in this browser..." - However, this is fine because we intentionally gave it a unique name so we can easily differentiate and target the wrapper with our replace method and essentially remove it before output.
Besides, receiving a mild scolding from a code linter is not as bad as adding more dependencies for something that should be more simply implemented.

Answer 3

i found a workaround
by using react's ref
import React, { FC, useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
interface RawHtmlProps {
html: string
}
const RawHtml: FC<RawHtmlProps> = ({ html }) => {
const ref = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
useEffect(() => {
if (!ref.current) return
// make a js fragment element
const fragment = document.createDocumentFragment()
// move every child from our div to new fragment
while (ref.current.childNodes[0]) {
fragment.appendChild(ref.current.childNodes[0])
}
// and after all replace the div with fragment
ref.current.replaceWith(fragment)
}, [ref])
return <div ref={ref} dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: html }}></div>
}
export { RawHtml }

Answer 4

Here's a solution that works for <td> elements only:
type DangerousHtml = {__html:string}
function isHtml(x: any): x is DangerousHtml {
if(!x) return false;
if(typeof x !== 'object') return false;
const keys = Object.keys(x)
if(keys.length !== 1) return false;
return keys[0] === '__html'
}
const DangerousTD = forwardRef<HTMLTableCellElement,Override<React.ComponentPropsWithoutRef<'td'>,{children: ReactNode|DangerousHtml}>>(({children,...props}, ref) => {
if(isHtml(children)) {
return <td dangerouslySetInnerHTML={children} {...props} ref={ref}/>
}
return <td {...props} ref={ref}>{children}</td>
})
With a bit of work you can make this more generic, but that should give the general idea.
Usage:
<DangerousTD>{{__html: "<span>foo</span>"}}</DangerousTD>