Meteor + React: Append response to DOM after a Meteor.call? - dom

Question

I am super new to React and quite new to Meteor.
I am doing a Meteor.call to a function ('getTheThing'). That function is fetching some information and returns the information as a response. In my browser I can see that the method is returning the correct information (a string), but how do I get that response into the DOM?
(As you can see, I have tried to place it in the DOM with the use of ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.result).html(response);, but then I get this error in my console: Exception in delivering result of invoking 'getTheThing': TypeError: Cannot read property 'result' of undefined)
App = React.createClass({
findTheThing(event) {
event.preventDefault();
var username = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.textInput).value.trim();
Meteor.call("getTheThing", username, function(error, response){
console.log(response);
ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.result).html(response);
});
ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.textInput).value = "";
},
render(){
return(
<div className="row">
<div className="col-xs-12">
<div className="landing-container">
<form className="username" onSubmit={this.findTheThing} >
<input
type="text"
ref="textInput"
placeholder="what's your username?"
/>
</form>
</div>
<div ref="result">
</div>
</div>
</div>
);
}
});

Answer 1

this is under the different context, thus does not contain the refs there. Also, you cannot set html for the Dom Element. You need to change into Jquery element
var _this = this;
Meteor.call("getTheThing", username, function(error, response){
console.log(response);
$(ReactDOM.findDOMNode(_this.refs.result)).html(response);
});
Though i recommend you to set the response into the state and let the component re-rendered
For a complete React way
App = React.createClass({
getInitialState() {
return { result: "" };
},
shouldComponentUpdate (nextProps: any, nextState: any): boolean {
return (nextState['result'] !== this.state['result']);
},
findTheThing(event) {
event.preventDefault();
var username = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.textInput).value.trim();
Meteor.call("getTheThing", username, function(error, response){
console.log(response);
_this.setState({ result: response });
});
ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs.textInput).value = "";
},
render(){
return(
<div className="row">
<div className="col-xs-12">
<div className="landing-container">
<form className="username" onSubmit={this.findTheThing} >
<input
type="text"
ref="textInput"
placeholder="what's your username?"
/>
</form>
</div>
<div ref="result">{this.state['result']}</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
);
}
});