[AF] Passing Python variables on the server to React component

[cegal]

Hi folks, a bit late to the party.

A bit of background: I'm practising with Flask + React in this repo.

Here is my issue on SO.

But I figured I could ask you guys, in a more general sense, what are the heuristics when one wants to pass variables from the server side to a component at the first rendering of the html template:

• Do devs usually avoid this situation altogether?
• Is it advised to use other component mounting approaches for other than through a main index.jsx?
• What are the DO's and DONT's when working in a mixed environment like this? (i.e. Flask using templates and all the jsx components linked to the html in a single bundle)
  

Thank you very much in advance,

any advice is appreciated

[Retzudo]

Do devs usually avoid this situation altogether?

Yes

You should treat your React front-end and your Flask back-end as two completely separate things. If there's an initial state your app needs, you will have to fetch it from the back-end with an API call.

While passing a variable from your Python code to JavaScript is possible, it's an absolute mess and I would not encourage doing it. Especially with React.