title: Reactjs component.setProps() alternative, how to send variable to detached element
body: <p>I am using things like: </p>
  
  <pre><code>var MUSIC = React.renderComponent( Music({ }), document.getElementById("music-div"))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>to later in the script, in an independent element (so not parent of <code>MUSIC</code>) do:</p>
  
  <pre><code>MUSIC.setProps({ url: 'http://...' })
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>to send a song to de music player, which is detached from the rest, so it does not accidentally gets refreshed by react, because it was programmatically generated (wavesurferjs)</p>
  
  <p>Fine, however, the recent few updates (.11.x) have apparently deprecated that. I do understand where they are coming from, it fits the whole React logic.</p>
  
  <p>However, how will we now ever programmatically modify state/props from outside? Even when I want to talk directly to the parent, which should be allowed.</p>
  
  <p>The changelog tells me in this case the <code>MUSIC</code> variable would have become a <code>descriptor</code>, however, in consoles out the exact same object as far as I can tell. And the documentation says nothing about this <code>descriptor</code> and even less about alternative possibilities.</p>
  
  <p>(<a href="http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2014/07/17/react-v0.11.html#descriptors" rel="nofollow">http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2014/07/17/react-v0.11.html#descriptors</a>)</p>
  
  <p>So, if I have two <code>divs</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;div id="main-div"&gt; &lt;button&gt;&lt;/button&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  &lt;div id="music-div"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And want to keep them separate, how would I go about giving two parallel parents each-other props?
  I don't want to put both in one react div, which would not even solve my problem, because, how would the <code>button</code> in <code>main-div</code> give the props to music-div?</p>
  
  <p>Or would their conceived alternative be to just create a new instance on that <code>id</code> and <em>hope</em> it diffs to 0?</p>
  
  <p><em>The update states</em>: </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>"You could store that reference and then call functions on it (eg
    component.setProps(...)). This no longer works."</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>However, that still does work, with (0.11.1) so I don't understand what they are talking about?</p>