Hey there! Have you ever found yourself scratching your head, wondering how to smoothly pass attributes from one component to another nestled inside Sitecore Placeholders? I recently delved into this topic, exploring the documentation provided by Sitecore (check it out here).

Despite diving into the docs, I couldn’t find a straightforward way to achieve this task. But fear not! I stumbled upon a hidden gem within the placeholder — the modifyComponentProps function.

 /**
     * Modify final props of component (before render) provided by rendering data.
     * Can be used in case when you need to insert additional data into the component.
     * @param {ComponentProps} componentProps component props to be modified
     * @returns {ComponentProps} modified or initial props
     */
 modifyComponentProps?: (componentProps: ComponentProps) => ComponentProps;

Excitedly, I decided to give it a whirl. However, to my dismay, it seemed like nothing happened, at least not with JSS v21.6.0.

After some pondering, I speculated that the ComponentPropsFactory might be overriding modifyComponentProps. But lo and behold, I found the information tucked away in ComponentPropsContext. And thus, a solution was born — a function to help you effortlessly achieve your goal.

All you need to do is install the following library:

npm i @constellation4sitecore/foundation-enhancers

Let me walk you through an example. Say you want to send properties to a child component inserted into a Placeholder.

const MyComponent = ({ fields, params, rendering }: MyComponentProps) => {
    // Invoke the magic
  useModifyChildrenProps(rendering, {
    myProp1: fields.myProp1,
    myProp2: 'hello world!',
  });

  return (
    <Placeholder
      name={`my-chindren-modules-${params.DynamicPlaceholderId}`}
      rendering={rendering}
    />
  );
};

And in your Children Component, you can effortlessly retrieve all the passed data.

type ChildComponentProps = {
    fields: Fields,
    // Add prop types here
    myProp1: Field<string>
    myProp2: string
}
const ChildComponent = ({ myProp1, myProp2 }: ChildComponentProps) => (
  <>
    <Text field={myProp1} />
    <span>{myProp2}</span>
  </>
);

This nifty solution has made passing data to all children a breeze. I hope you find this information as helpful as I did!

Common use cases:

• You have a Tab component and need to send the active ID to children.
• You need to re-render some props on specific breakpoints in the children component (e.g., mobile, desktop), and the parent component holds the information.

If you’re curious to dive deeper into this functionality and perhaps even contribute, you’re in luck! The function we discussed is part of an open-source project called Constellation 4 Sitecore. You can find the source code and contribute your ideas and improvements on Check it on Github!. We welcome collaboration from developers of all levels of expertise. Let’s join forces and make this tool even more powerful together! 🚀

Special thanks to Josue Jaramillo for invaluable assistance in troubleshooting the issue!