pseudo code example of refs usage with 3rd party Popover menu

Parent.js

export class AContainer extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    this.setState({
      targetElt: ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this.refs[targetRefName])
  });
  }

  render() {
    return (
        <div>
          {/* ... snipped more stuff here... */}
          
          <div ref='targetRefName'>the target block</div>

          {/*Menu is a 3rd party component that takes a target dom element for positioning relative to it */} 
          <Menu 
            target = {this.state.targetElt}
            arrowPlacement = 'bottom'
            shown = {this.state.menuShown}
            >
            {/* ... popover menus content here... */}
            
          </Menu>
        </div>
        )
  }
}