Why does withLayout need to call it's child's getInitialProps method?

[orpheus]

For instance, /pages/customer/my-books has a getInitialProps and it is wrapped with withLayout HOC. withLayout calls the getInitialprops of my-books js, but if you comment it out in the HOC, my-books won't run getInitialProps itself. How is it determined when getInitialProps will run. The docs aren't very clear. I was under the impression that each component calls it's own getInitialProps right before it's about to get rendered.

[orpheus]

found this, hopefully it may help others: vercel/next.js#159 (comment)

[orpheus]

not sure whether to keep this open or closed so people can see it or not... I'll let admins decide

[tima101]

@orpheus Thanks for your question and answer.

I think we should add this explanation to the book.
Note to self: vercel/next.js#159 (comment)

I will close this issue after we add an explanation to book's text.

[tima101]

@orpheus Thanks for researching and posting explanation.

Here is another link:
vercel/next.js#1074 (comment)

You have to define getInitialProps on the top level component, and pass down props to descendant components.

Your original link:
vercel/next.js#159 (comment)

Few things to remember about getInitialProps:

• you can't use getInitialProps in non-page components, only in page components
• you have to define getInitialProps in HOC (higher-order component) and pass down data to wrapped page component