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How do I use React Navigation to send parameters to another screen without moving there?

I know that you can do navigation.navigate("address", {/* params go here */ to send parameters over to another screen. But then you have to navigate there. Is there a way of sending params over without navigating?
I have a application with multiple screens. And I want to update a useState from another component by updating its params so that a button appears. But I dont want to navigate there, I just want to update it so when the user does go there the button will be there.
Like this:
const currentComponent = (navigation) {
return (
<Button onPress={navigation.updateParams("otherComponent", {shouldShowValue: true})} />
)
}
const otherComponent = (route, navigation) {
const {shouldShowValue} = route.params
const [shouldShow, setShouldShow] = useState(shouldShowValue);
return (
{shouldShow ? <Button> Yayy this button appears now <Button /> : null}
)
}
}
'''
this is just pseudo code and not at all
like the code I have written,
but its just meant as an example to get a
understanding of what I mean.
(updateParams) isnt a function that exists,
but I want something similiar like it.
Is there a way of updating the params in a
component from another component without having
to navigate there? Like with
navigate.navigate("address" {params go here})
but without the navigation part?

You can consider using useContext() hook to execute your functionality.
Using navigation library to pass param without navigating to that page is somehow misusing the navigation function.
With useContext, you can share the state(s) among components. If you want to change the value upon clicking action, you can also pass the useState hook into useContext. Alternatively, you can consider to use redux library to share state.
import { useState, createContext, useContext } from 'react';
const shareContext = createContext(null);
export default function demoUseContext() {
const [isClicked, setClicked] = useState(false);
return (
<shareContext.Provider value={{isClicked, setClicked}}>
<ComponentA />
<ComponentB />
</shareContext.Provider>
)
}
function ComponentA() {
const sharedParam = useContext(shareContext);
return (
<button onClick={() => sharedParam.setClicked(!sharedParam.isClicked)}>
click to change value
</button>
);
}
function ComponentB() {
const sharedParam = useContext(shareContext);
return (
sharedParam.isClicked && <div>it is clicked</div>
)
}
As the example above, the code pass the useState hook from parent component into context, where A is consuming the useState from context to setup isClicked via setClicked, B is consuming the value isClicked from context.
You can also manage to setup context with value not only in a hook, but a param / object / function as a callback.
For more details, please refer to https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-reference.html#usecontext
There're multiple hooks including useContext fyi

Passing parameters to routes
There are two pieces to this:
Pass params to a route by putting them in an object as a second parameter to the navigation.navigate function: navigation.navigate('RouteName', { /* params go here */ })
Read the params in your screen component: route.params.
We recommend that the params you pass are JSON-serializable. That way, you'll be able to use state persistence and your screen components will have the right contract for implementing deep linking.

setting state with useState affects all useState hooks

I am trying to build an ecommerce website, and I hit a problem I cannot seem to resolve. I am very new to react and JS so have some patience please :)
I declared 4 useStates in my app.js:
const [elementeDinState, setElementeDinState] = useState([]);
const [currentCategorie, setCurrentCategorie] = useState("Acasa");
const [subCategorie, setSubcategorie] = useState([]);
const [cartContents, setCartContents] = useState([]);
const fetchData = useCallback(async () => {
const data = await getCategories();
setElementeDinState(data);
}, []);
useEffect(() => {
fetchData().catch(console.error);
}, [fetchData]);
const changeHeader = (dataFromMenuItem) => {
setCurrentCategorie(dataFromMenuItem);
};
const changeCopiiContent = (data1FromThere) => {
setSubcategorie(data1FromThere);
};
const changeCart = (dataFromCart) => {
setCartContents(dataFromCart);
};
I am passing the functions to change those states to different child components as props. my problem is, when I add items to cart it triggers a re render of my component (products listing component) that should not be affected by cartContents and that resets the state of said component to the initial value that changes the items being shown. does useState hook create a single global state comprised of all those states?

If these useState are defined in the app.js and then passed down, when a child will use them chasing the state will happen in the app.js so all the children of <App /> will be re-rendered.
I guess that your app.js looks similar:
function App() {
const [elementeDinState, setElementeDinState] = useState([]);
// ...and the other hooks and methods
return (
<cartContents setElementDinState={setElementeDinState} />
<ProductList />
)
}
In this case the state is in the component so when <CartContents /> changes it, it will trigger a re-render of the and all its children <ProductList /> included.
To avoid this problem think better when each piece of state needs to be and put the state as near as possibile to that component. For example, if the state of the cart does not influence the Product list. Move the useState in the <Cart /> component.

From what I understand, your problem is that you're simply resetting the cartContents state every time you call the changeCart function, correct?
What you probably want, is to add (or remove ?) the item to the cart, like this?
const changeCart = (dataFromCart) => {
setCartContents(oldContents => [...oldContents, dataFromCart]);
};

Here is a description of useState from the oficial site:
useState is a Hook (...). We call it inside a function component to add some local state to it
So it creates just a local state.
About your problem, We need more information, but I believe that some parent component of that widget is trying to render other component instead of your the component that you wanted (let's call it "ProblemComponent") and rendering you ProblemComponent from scratch again, before you can see it.
it's something like that:
function ParentComponent(props: any) {
const isLoading = useState(false);
// Some logic...
if(isLoading) {
return <LoadingComponent/>;
}
return <ProblemComponent/>;
}
If that doesn't work you can also try to use React.memo() to prevent the ProblemComponent to update when it props change.

well, seems like I wanted to change the way react works so I figured out a work around, based on what you guys told me. I declared the state of the productsComponent in the parent component and adding to cart now doesn't force a refresh of the items being shown. thank you!

Why does React render component for the second time after setting the state to the same value?

I have a simple React component and I set the same value each time that I click on the button:
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import './style.css';
let data = { title: 'ABC' };
export default function App() {
const [foo, setFoo] = useState();
console.log('Rendered');
return (
<div>
<button onClick={() => setFoo(data)}>Set Data</button>
<h1>Data: {JSON.stringify(foo)}</h1>
</div>
);
}
But renders are a little bit strange because at the second button click React renders the component but I set the same value.
Why React re-render the component although I set the same value?
Demo Here

The question is about why the component renders although the new state equals the previous state (shallow comparison)
// On second button click
const prevState = data
// State trigger
setFoo(data)
// Same state, it doesn't triggers a render
data === prevState
So, the component didn't trigger render due to state change.
But it happened due to another reason, as mentioned in docs "between the lines" under Hooks API Bailing out of a state update section:
Note that React may still need to render that specific component again before bailing out.
Unlike in class component, for function components, after setting the same state like in our case, sometimes, React will need another render to validate its equality. Its unfortunate edge case.
But it should not consider you as "performance issue" since it does not effect the React.Node tree, it won't continue in the reconciliation process if the state didn't change. It even won't make unnecessary hooks calls.
Another Simplified Example
Same goes here, there is another render for bail out, another log of "A".
Although there is a "bail out" render, notice that the useEffect does not run.
import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
const App = () => {
const [state, setState] = React.useState(0);
useEffect(() => {
console.log("B");
});
console.log("A");
return (
<>
<h1>{state}</h1>
<button onClick={() => setState(42)}>Click</button>
</>
);
};
ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById("root"));
If you wondering on logs order ("Why 'A' logged before 'B'?"), try deep diving another question: React useEffect in depth / use of useEffect?

In functional component, a component isn't re-rendered if it's the same value, i.e. a value that passes === comparison:
const [state, setState] = useState({});
...
setState(state => state); // no re-render
Otherwise a component is re-rendered:
setState(state => ({...state})); // re-render
As commented already, it may be "rerendered" by react, but the DOM will likely not change.
Checkout https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/17474

creating a Boolean flag for onclick method

I am having some OOP issues that are probably pretty simple. I have a class that renders some html. However it has an onClick that calls a function that sets a flag inside the class if the image is clicked. Now here is the issue, when I render this class object and click the button from a separate js file, it stays false. I want it to permanently change the flag to true when clicked. here is the class...
class Settings extends React.Component {
handleClick() {
this.flag = true;
console.log(this.flag)
}
render(){
return(
<img src="./img/leaf.png" alt="" onClick={() => this.handleClick()}/>
);
}
}
and here is the code that calls it from a separate file...
const settingsObj = new Settings();
console.log(settingsObj.flag);
I want the flag to be false until the button is clecked and then it permamently changes to true. But it only goes true until my page rerenders as new data comes in and it resets to false. I have tried constructors and a few other techniques with no success.

Normal OOP design principles don't always apply directly to React components. Components don't usually have instance properties, they mostly just have props and state (there are a few exceptions where you do use an instance property, like Animation objects in react-native, but these are rare).
You're kind of mixing the two things in a way that doesn't quite make sense here. Settings is a React component that renders an image, but it's also an object which you instantiate by calling new Settings(). If there are other components which depend on the value of flag, you might want to separate the accessing and storing of the flag from the render component, passing a value and a callback to the renderer.
const Settings = ({setFlag}) => {
return(
<img src="./img/leaf.png" alt="" onClick={() => setFlag(true)}/>
);
}
You've suggested that you like the Context API as a solution for making the flag value globally available. There are a few ways to set this up, but here's one.
Outside of any component, we create a FlagContext object that has two properties: a boolean value flag and callback function setFlag. We need to give it a default fallback value, which is hopefully never used, so our default callback just logs a warning and does nothing.
const FlagContext = createContext<FlagContextState>({
flag: false,
setFlag: () => console.warn("attempted to use FlagContext outside of a valid provider")
});
This FlagContext object gives up Provider and Consumer components, but it's up to us to give a value to the FlagContext.Provider. So we'll create a custom component that handles that part. Our custom FlagProvider uses a local state to create and pass down the value. I've used a function component, but you could use a class component as well.
const FlagProvider = ({children}) => {
const [flag, setFlag] = useState(false);
return (
<FlagContext.Provider value={{
flag,
setFlag
}}>
{children}
</FlagContext.Provider>
)
}
We want to put the entire App inside of the FlagProvider so that the whole app has the potential to access flag and setFlag, and the whole app gets the same flag value.
When you want to use the value from the context in a component, you use either the useContext hook or the Consumer component. Either way, I like to creating an aliased name and export that rather than exporting the FlagContext object directly.
export const FlagConsumer = FlagContext.Consumer;
export const useFlagContext = () => useContext(FlagContext);
With the Consumer, the child of the consumer is a function that takes the value of the context, which in out case is an object with properties flag and setFlag, and returns some JSX.
This is usually a function you define inline:
const SomePage = () => {
return (
<FlagConsumer>
{({flag, setFlag}) => (<div>Flag Value is {flag.toString()}</div>)}
</FlagConsumer>
)
}
But it can also be a function component. Note that when using a function component as the child, you must pass the component itself ({Settings}) rather than an executed version of it (<Settings />).
const Settings = ({ setFlag }) => {
return <img src="./img/leaf.png" alt="" onClick={() => setFlag(true)} />;
};
const SomePage = () => {
return <FlagConsumer>{Settings}</FlagConsumer>;
};
The preferred method nowadays is with hooks. We call useFlagContext() inside the body of the function component and it returns our context object.
const SomePage = () => {
const {flag, setFlag} = useFlagContext();
return <Settings setFlag={setFlag}/>
};
Both the consumer and the hook only work if they are inside of a flag context provider, so that's why we put it around the whole app!
const App = () => {
return (
<FlagProvider>
<SomePage />
</FlagProvider>
);
};
Complete example on CodeSandbox

For this kind of interactions, I highly recommend you to use Redux
Another think I'm sure you will benefit from, is switching to hooks and function components: less boilerplate and much flexible code.
Back to the goal, using Redux your code would look similar to this:
const Settings = (props) => {
const dispatch = useDispatch();
const flag = useSelector(state => state.yourStoreObj.flag);
handleClick() {
dispatch(yourCustomAction("UPDATE_FLAG", true));
}
return(
<img src="./img/leaf.png" alt="" onClick={() => handleClick()}/>
);
}
Explanation:
First of all, spend 15 mins and get used to React Redux. Here's a good practical article to start with. If you're not familiar with hooks, start learning them as that will change a lot, while you don't need to change a single line of what you've done so far.
We suppose there's a property in the store that is the "flag" property of that specific element. In this way, the property can be read by the component itself with the useSelector() operator, or can be read anywhere in your application with the same methodology from any other component.
In the same way, you can change the value by dispatching a change (see dispatch() function) and in the same way, you can do that from any other components.
So, let's say you want to change that property when a click occurs on a completely different component, this is how the other component may looks like
const OtherCoolComp = (props) => {
const dispatch = useDispatch();
handleClick() {
dispatch(yourCustomAction("UPDATE_FLAG", true));
}
return(
<button onClick={() => handleClick()}>
Click me!
</button>
);
}
So you're dispatching the same action, setting it to the value you prefer, from a component that doesn't know who is displaying that value.

Global variables in arrow function components

I am new to REACT so please correct me if I am wrong. When defining hooks, I can use the property all over my arrow function. Something like:
const CrawlJobs = () => {
const [crawlList, setCrawlList] = useState([]);
};
Everything OK here. As far as I understand the hooks in REACT is used because the render content know when data has changed and can update the DOM. But what if I have some simple properties/variables that is not used in the UI. Should I still define global variables as hooks? I tried defining a variable like this:
const statusId = 0;
However this could not be used globally in my arrow function component and doing below gave an error:
const this.statusId = 0;
So my question is should I always define all properties as hooks, or is there away to just define variables as standard variables in REACT? I dont want to define hooks if it is not needed.

You don't need to make a function to use useState so the correction:
const [crawlList, setCrawlList] = useState([]);
And functional component don't need this

You don't need to define your variables in the state as long as they are not affecting the application UI, component state usually used to notify the UI that there is a state it cares about changed, then the component itself should react to the change based on the state. the following is a silly example, just to demonstrate:
import React, { useState } from 'react';
function Example() {
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
const label = 'You clicked';
return (
<div>
<p>{label} {count} times</p>
<button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
Click me
</button>
</div>
);
}
So its totally fine to have variables without binding them to state.