Can developers add React IDs to an app?

Question

I am writing Selenium automation against a React application. I would like to have unique IDs added to page elements I am testing.

I asked the developers but their response was that this was hard to do because of the dynamic nature of the React application.

I don't know React - is this likely true? Is it likely that they are truly prevented from adding a fixed ID? Could the issue be that QA needs to ask for a different attribute other than ID, perhaps? For example, should it be easy for them to add a data attribute such as data-qa-id?

Ananya Pawar · Accepted Answer

Indeed, React ID is used to do DOM manipulation and they should not be touched. However, one can create any other attribute:

render () {
    return (
        {this.props.title}
    );
}
Note: Selenium would not be the most appropriate tool to deal with React apps. For testing the React app itself, something as Enzyme allows you to render components as you wish and checking their behaviour
it('renders three  components', () => {
  const wrapper = shallow();
  expect(wrapper.find(Foo)).to.have.length(3);
});

Can developers add React IDs to an app?

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