How can i avoid an infinite loop in my useEffect? - javascript

I'm working in a functional component called TaskComponent, where i have this useEffect:
useEffect(() => {
const getFilterTasks = () => {
onSnapshot(q, (QuerySnapshot) => {
QuerySnapshot.forEach((doc) => {
filteredTasks.push(doc.data())
console.log(filteredTasks);
})
setTasks(filteredTasks);
})
}
getFilterTasks();
}, [])
In my component i have a Flatlist where tasks-state is my data for the Flatlist, so i want to render my component everytime tasks changes and it changes everytime i navigate from my TaskComponent to CategoryComponent and back to TaskComponent again, because the filtered tasks is different based on which category i select. The concept is illustrated in the following three picture:
And obviously adding ''tasks'' to my dependecy array doesn't work because of the infinite loop it will create because i'm calling setTasks in the useEffect as well.
So i'm not sure have i can solve this, is there a tricky way to solve this, do I have to rerender my component or something completely different?

EDIT: The question is solved now, i just added the item.id in the dependency array.
This is how i have done with the refresh/setRefresh state:
useEffect(() => {
const getFilterTasks = async() => {
const q = query(collection(db, 'allTasks'), where('userID', '==', userID), where('categoryID', '==', item.id))
const querySnapshot = await getDocs(q);
querySnapshot.forEach((doc) => {
filteredTasks.push(doc.data())
})
setTasks(filteredTasks)
}
getFilterTasks();
setRefresh(false)
console.log(refresh)
}, [refresh])
const handleRefresh = () => {
setRefresh(true);
}
I have added the: const [refresh, setRefresh] = useState(false);
And then i have a button that is connected to handleRefresh.
This works, but it is not a beautiful way to do it.

First of all, you have to know that useEffect combines componentDidMount, ComponentDidUpdate and componentWillUnmount.
So, if you need it to work just one time when your component renders (commponentDidMount Approach):
Recommended if you're fetching data from API
Your array of dependencies should be empty
useEffect( () => {
set Your Logic here
}, [])
If you need to keep watching changes for some variables/ states (ComponentDidUpdate Approach):
Recommended If you want to update some parts of your component based on a variable that might change in run time
Pass the variables that you want to watch in the array of dependencies
useEffect(()=>{
set Your Logic here
},[yourDependencies])
Finally, if you want to run a cleanup function when you're leaving a component to prevent memory leaks and unwanted behaviors in your application (componentWillUnmount Approach):
useEffect(()=>{
set Your Logic here
return () => {
cleanup
}
},[])

Related

Is it correct to use two different useState hook to store an array and a filtered array for passing to components?

I am currently porting my Pokemon project to React as I just learned the basics of React just a couple of weeks ago and want to see how well I can adapt it. Right now, the way I have my code architectured is to use two different useState hooks, one for the original array fetched from the PokeAPI and is only set once. This original array is also passed into my form object, which filters it according to a few form elements such as a Pokemon type or the Pokemon's name. And another useState hook is used to keep track of the filteredList which is what gets rendered to the website using the Array.map() function.
const [pokemonList, setPokemonList] = useState([]);
const [filteredList, setPokemonFilteredList] = useState([]);
Here's the useEffect() hook where we fetch and set the states
useEffect(() => {
const getPokemon = async () => {
const list = await fetchPokemon();
setPokemonList(list);
setPokemonFilteredList(list);
};
And finally the pokemonList state variable and setPokemonFilteredList methods get passed into the <PokemonSearchForm>
<PokemonSearchForm pokemonList={pokemonList} setPokemonList={setPokemonFilteredList} />
So as my question title suggests, is the way I use two different useState() 'correct'? Maybe a different way is for the child component to access pokemonList variable? But I believe this may be an anti-pattern.
It is better practice to not maintain duplicate or, in this case, derived state because you may run into divergence. For example, if your original pokemon data got updated, how would you make sure your filtered data got updated and then the filters re-applied? It gets hairy very fast.
The preferred alternative is to maintain the original data and filters in state and then compute the derived state (in this case, filter the list) during render.
function App() {
const [pokemonList, setPokemonList] = useState([]);
// Some default filter state
const [filters, setFilters] = useState({
types: ["any"],
search: ""
});
const filteredList = pokemonList.filter((pokemon) => {
// Filter logic here
});
return <PokemonSearchForm setFilters={setFilters} />
}
I would refactor this in a few different ways:
Keep the filter state in your parent component, the child component will simply notify it when those change.
Ditch the useState for useMemo which computes a value every time its dependencies change.
function YourComponent() {
const [filters, setFilters] = useState({});
const [pokemons, setPokemons] = useState([]);
useEffect(
() => {
const list = await fetchPokemon();
setPokemons(list);
},
[]
);
// This will run each time `filters` or `pokemons` change.
const filteredPokemons = useMemo(
() => {
return pokemons.filter((pokemon) => {
// Perform any filtering logic you may have,
// based on the filters set by the child component.
if (filters.name) {
return pokemon.name.includes(filters.name);
}
// etc...
});
},
[filters, pokemons]
);
return (
<PokemonSearchForm
pokemons={filteredPokemons}
onChange={setFilters}
/>
);
}

React: how can I force state to update in a functional component?

This function component has a template method that calls onChangeHandler, which accepts a select value and updates state. The problem is, state does not update until after the render method is called a second time, which means the value of selected option is one step ahead of the state value of selectedRouteName.
I know there are lifecycle methods in class components that I could use to force a state update, but I would like to keep this a function component, if possible.
As noted in the code, the logged state of selectedRouteDirection is one value behind the selected option. How can I force the state to update to the correct value in a functional component?
This question is not the same as similarly named question because my question asks about the actual implementation in my use case, not whether it is possible.
import React, { useState, Fragment, useEffect } from 'react';
const parser = require('xml-js');
const RouteSelect = props => {
const { routes } = props;
const [selectedRouteName, setRouteName] = useState('');
const [selectedRouteDirection, setRouteDirection] = useState('');
//console.log(routes);
const onChangeHandler = event => {
setRouteName({ name: event.target.value });
if(selectedRouteName.name) {
getRouteDirection();
}
}
/*
useEffect(() => {
if(selectedRouteName) {
getRouteDirection();
}
}); */
const getRouteDirection = () => {
const filteredRoute = routes.filter(route => route.Description._text === selectedRouteName.name);
const num = filteredRoute[0].Route._text;
let directions = [];
fetch(`https://svc.metrotransit.org/NexTrip/Directions/${num}`)
.then(response => {
return response.text();
}).then(response => {
return JSON.parse(parser.xml2json(response, {compact: true, spaces: 4}));
}).then(response => {
directions = response.ArrayOfTextValuePair.TextValuePair;
// console.log(directions);
setRouteDirection(directions);
})
.catch(error => {
console.log(error);
});
console.log(selectedRouteDirection); // This logged state is one value behind the selected option
}
const routeOptions = routes.map(route => <option key={route.Route._text}>{route.Description._text}</option>);
return (
<Fragment>
<select onChange={onChangeHandler}>
{routeOptions}
</select>
</Fragment>
);
};
export default RouteSelect;
Well, actually.. even though I still think effects are the right way to go.. your console.log is in the wrong place.. fetch is asynchronous and your console.log is right after the fetch instruction.
As #Bernardo states.. setState is also asynchronous
so at the time when your calling getRouteDirection();, selectedRouteName might still have the previous state.
So to make getRouteDirection(); trigger after the state was set.
You can use the effect and pass selectedRouteName as second parameter (Which is actually an optimization, so the effect only triggers if selectedRouteName has changed)
So this should do the trick:
useEffect(() => {
getRouteDirection();
}, [selectedRouteName]);
But tbh.. if you can provide a Stackblitz or similar, where you can reproduce the problem. We can definitely help you better.
setState is asynchronous! Many times React will look like it changes the state of your component in a synchronous way, but is not that way.

The react component renders several times when using useEffect

I use functional react component with hooks.
const [loaded, setLoaded] = React.useState(null);
const [title, setTitle] = React.useState(title);
React.useEffect(() => {
//...
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1')
.then(response => response.json())
.then(json => {
setLoaded(true);
setTitle(title);
});
}, []);
In this case, the component is rendered twice. On the one hand, it seems to be logical.
But I also have a checkbox handler in this component
const changeHandler = event => {
//...
setTotal(new_total);
setError(false);
};
In this case, two rendering does not occur, although state also changes 2 times. I can’t understand why this is happening.
P.S.
There is no problem to solve this problem, I wonder why this is exactly what happens
UPD:
If I set in useEffect
setLoaded(true);
setTitle(title);
setTitle2(title);
setTitle3(title);
will be 4 re-renders, and if I set in changeHandler
setTotal(new_total);
setError(false);
setError2(false);
setError3(false);
will be 1 re-render
A side effect of calling setter method of the useState() hook, is that doing so triggers the component to re-render.
One solution to avoid the redundant re-render would be to merge your component state like this:
function functionalComponent() {
/* Merge both values into common "state object */
const [{ loaded, title }, setState] = React.useState({
loaded : null,
title : "inital title"
});
React.useEffect(() => {
/*
Single call to setState triggers on re-render only. The
value of "new title" for title could have been set in the
inital state, however I set it here to show how combined
state can be updated with a single call to setState()
*/
setState({ loaded : true, title : "new title" })
/*
setLoaded(true);
setTitle(title);
*/
}, []);
/* Use loaded and title variables as needed during render */
return <div>{ loaded } - { title }</div>
}
React wraps your event handlers in a call to
unstable_batchedUpdates(), so that your handler runs inside a
callback. Any state updates triggered inside that callback will be
batched. Any state updates triggered outside that callback will not be
batched. Timeouts, promises, and async functions will end up executing
outside that callback, and therefore not be batched.
https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/14259

Why is the cleanup function from `useEffect` called on every render?

I've been learning React and I read that the function returned from useEffect is meant to do cleanup and React performs the cleanup when the component unmounts.
So I experimented with it a bit but found in the following example that the function was called every time the component re-renders as opposed to only the time it got unmounted from the DOM, i.e. it console.log("unmount"); every time the component re-renders.
Why is that?
function Something({ setShow }) {
const [array, setArray] = useState([]);
const myRef = useRef(null);
useEffect(() => {
const id = setInterval(() => {
setArray(array.concat("hello"));
}, 3000);
myRef.current = id;
return () => {
console.log("unmount");
clearInterval(myRef.current);
};
}, [array]);
const unmount = () => {
setShow(false);
};
return (
<div>
{array.map((item, index) => {
return (
<p key={index}>
{Array(index + 1)
.fill(item)
.join("")}
</p>
);
})}
<button onClick={() => unmount()}>close</button>
</div>
);
}
function App() {
const [show, setShow] = useState(true);
return show ? <Something setShow={setShow} /> : null;
}
Live example: https://codesandbox.io/s/vigilant-leavitt-z1jd2
React performs the cleanup when the component unmounts.
I'm not sure where you read this but this statement is incorrect. React performs the cleanup when the dependencies to that hook changes and the effect hook needs to run again with new values. This behaviour is intentional to maintain the reactivity of the view to changing data. Going off the official example, let's say an app subscribes to status updates from a friends' profile. Being the great friend you are, you are decide to unfriend them and befriend someone else. Now the app needs to unsubscribe from the previous friend's status updates and listen to updates from your new friend. This is natural and easy to achieve with the way useEffect works.
useEffect(() => {
chatAPI.subscribe(props.friend.id);
return () => chatAPI.unsubscribe(props.friend.id);
}, [ props.friend.id ])
By including the friend id in the dependency list, we can indicate that the hook needs to run only when the friend id changes.
In your example you have specified the array in the dependency list and you are changing the array at a set interval. Every time you change the array, the hook reruns.
You can achieve the correct functionality simply by removing the array from the dependency list and using the callback version of the setState hook. The callback version always operates on the previous version of the state, so there is no need to refresh the hook every time the array changes.
useEffect(() => {
const id = setInterval(() => setArray(array => [ ...array, "hello" ]), 3000);
return () => {
console.log("unmount");
clearInterval(id);
};
}, []);
Some additional feedback would be to use the id directly in clearInterval as the value is closed upon (captured) when you create the cleanup function. There is no need to save it to a ref.
The React docs have an explanation section exactly on this.
In short, the reason is because such design protects against stale data and update bugs.
The useEffect hook in React is designed to handle both the initial render and any subsequent renders (here's more about it).
Effects are controlled via their dependencies, not by the lifecycle of the component that uses them.
Anytime dependencies of an effect change, useEffect will cleanup the previous effect and run the new effect.
Such design is more predictable - each render has its own independent (pure) behavioral effect. This makes sure that the UI always shows the correct data (since the UI in React's mental model is a screenshot of the state for a particular render).
The way we control effects is through their dependencies.
To prevent cleanup from running on every render, we just have to not change the dependencies of the effect.
In your case concretely, the cleanup is happening because array is changing, i.e. Object.is(oldArray, newArray) === false
useEffect(() => {
// ...
}, [array]);
// ^^^^^ you're changing the dependency of the effect
You're causing this change with the following line:
useEffect(() => {
const id = setInterval(() => {
setArray(array.concat("hello")); // <-- changing the array changes the effect dep
}, 3000);
myRef.current = id;
return () => {
clearInterval(myRef.current);
};
}, [array]); // <-- the array is the effect dep
As others have said, the useEffect was depending on the changes of "array" that was specified in the 2nd parameter in the useEffect. So by setting it to empty array, that'd help to trigger useEffect once when the component mounted.
The trick here is to change the previous state of the Array.
setArray((arr) => arr.concat("hello"));
See below:
useEffect(() => {
const id = setInterval(() => {
setArray((arr) => arr.concat("hello"));
}, 3000);
myRef.current = id;
return () => {
console.log("unmount");
clearInterval(myRef.current);
};
}, []);
I forked your CodeSandbox for demonstration:
https://codesandbox.io/s/heuristic-maxwell-gcuf7?file=/src/index.js
Looking at the code I could guess its because of the second param [array]. You are updating it, so it will call a re-render. Try setting an empty array.
Every state update will call a re-render and unmount, and that array is changing.
It seems expected. As per the documentation here, useEffect is called after first render, every update and unmount.
https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-effect.html#tip-optimizing-performance-by-skipping-effects
Tip
If you’re familiar with React class lifecycle methods, you can think
of useEffect Hook as componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate and before
componentWillUnmount combined.
This is a Jest test that shows the render and effect order.
As you can see from the expect, once the dependency foo changes due to the state update it triggers a NEW render followed by the cleanup function of the first render.
it("with useEffect async set state and timeout and cleanup", async () => {
jest.useFakeTimers();
let theRenderCount = 0;
const trackFn = jest.fn((label: string) => { });
function MyComponent() {
const renderCount = theRenderCount;
const [foo, setFoo] = useState("foo");
useEffect(() => {
trackFn(`useEffect ${renderCount}`);
(async () => {
await new Promise<string>((resolve) =>
setTimeout(() => resolve("bar"), 5000)
);
setFoo("bar");
})();
return () => trackFn(`useEffect cleanup ${renderCount}`);
}, [foo]);
++theRenderCount;
trackFn(`render ${renderCount}`);
return <span data-testid="asdf">{foo}</span>;
}
const { unmount } = render(<MyComponent></MyComponent>);
expect(screen.getByTestId("asdf").textContent).toBe("foo");
jest.advanceTimersByTime(4999);
expect(screen.getByTestId("asdf").textContent).toBe("foo");
jest.advanceTimersByTime(1);
await waitFor(() =>
expect(screen.getByTestId("asdf").textContent).toBe("bar")
);
trackFn("before unmount");
unmount();
expect(trackFn.mock.calls).toEqual([
['render 0'],
['useEffect 0'],
['render 1'],
['useEffect cleanup 0'],
['useEffect 1'],
['before unmount'],
['useEffect cleanup 1']
])
});

How to convert a React class component to a function component with hooks to get firebase data

I have a working React class component that I want to convert to a functional component to use hooks for state etc. I am learning React hooks. The class component version works fine, the functional component is where I need help.
The data structure consists of a client list with three "clients". An image of it is here:
All I am trying to do is get this data, iterate over it and display the data of each name key to the user. Simple enough.
The problem is that a call to firebase from my component leads to erratic behavior in that the data is not retrieved correctly. The last client name is continuously called and it freezes up the browser. :)
Here is an image of the result:
Here is the code:
import React, {Component,useContext,useEffect, useState} from 'react';
import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
import { withStyles } from '#material-ui/core/styles';
import Paper from '#material-ui/core/Paper';
import Grid from '#material-ui/core/Grid';
import ListItem from '#material-ui/core/ListItem';
import Button from '#material-ui/core/Button';
import firebase from 'firebase/app';
import {Consumer,Context} from '../../PageComponents/Context';
const styles = theme => ({
root: {
flexGrow: 1,
},
paper: {
padding: theme.spacing.unit * 2,
textAlign: 'center',
color: theme.palette.text.secondary,
},
});
const FetchData = (props) =>{
const [state, setState] = useState(["hi there"]);
const userID = useContext(Context).userID;
useEffect(() => {
let clientsRef = firebase.database().ref('clients');
clientsRef.on('child_added', snapshot => {
const client = snapshot.val();
client.key = snapshot.key;
setState([...state, client])
});
});
//____________________________________________________BEGIN NOTE: I am emulating this code from my class component and trying to integrate it
// this.clientsRef.on('child_added', snapshot => {
// const client = snapshot.val();
// client.key = snapshot.key;
// this.setState({ clients: [...this.state.clients, client]})
// });
//___________________________________________________END NOTE
console.log(state)
return (
<ul>
{
state.map((val,index)=>{
return <a key={index} > <li>{val.name}</li> </a>
})
}
</ul>
)
}
FetchData.propTypes = {
classes: PropTypes.object.isRequired
}
export default withStyles(styles)(FetchData)
By default, useEffect callback is run after every completed render (see docs) and you're setting up a new firebase listener each such invocation. So when the Firebase emits the event each of such listeners receives the data snapshot and each of them adds to the state a received value.
Instead you need to set the listener once after component is mounted, you can do so by providing an empty array of the dependencies ([]) as a second argument to useEffect:
useEffect(() => {
// your code here
}, []) // an empty array as a second argument
This will tell React that this effect doesn't have any dependencies so there is no need to run it more than once.
But there is another one important moment. Since you setup a listener then you need to clean it up when you don't need it anymore. This is done by another callback that you should return in the function that you pass to useEffect:
useEffect(() => {
let clientsRef = firebase.database().ref('clients');
clientsRef.on('child_added', snapshot => {
const client = snapshot.val();
client.key = snapshot.key;
setState([...state, client])
});
return () => clientsRef.off('child_added') // unsubscribe on component unmount
}, []);
Basically this returned cleanup function will be invoked before every new effect is called and right before a component unmounts (see docs) so only this cleanup function should solve your solution by itself, but there's no need to call your effect after every render anyway hence [] as a second argument.
Your problem is that by default, useEffect() will run every single time your component renders. What is happening, is that your effect triggers a change in the component, which will trigger the effect running again and you end up with something approximating an endless loop.
Luckily react gives us some control over when to run the effect hook in the form of an array you can pass in as an additional parameter. In your case for example:
useEffect(() => {
let clientsRef = firebase.database().ref('clients');
clientsRef.on('child_added', snapshot => {
const client = snapshot.val();
client.key = snapshot.key;
setState([...state, client])
});
}, []);//An empty array here means this will run only once.
The array tells react which properties to watch. Whenever one of those properties changes it will run the cleanup function and re-run the effect. If you submit an empty array, then it will only run once (since there are no properties to watch). For example, if you were to add [userId] the effect would run every time the userId variable changes.
Speaking of cleanup function, you are not returning one in your effect hook. I'm not familiar enough with firebase to know if you need to clean anything up when the component is destroyed (like for example remove the 'child_added' event binding). It would be good practice to return a method as the last part of your use effect. The final code would look something like:
useEffect(() => {
let clientsRef = firebase.database().ref('clients');
clientsRef.on('child_added', snapshot => {
const client = snapshot.val();
client.key = snapshot.key;
setState([...state, client])
});
return () => { /* CLEANUP CODE HERE */ };
}, []);//An empty array here means this will run only once.
Effects, by default, run after every render, and setting state causes a render. Any effect that updates state needs to have a dependency array specified, otherwise you'll just have an infinite update-render-update-render loop.
Also, remember to clean up any subscriptions that effects create. Here, you can do that by returning a function which calls .off(...) and removes the listener.
Then, make sure to use the function form of state update, to make sure the next state always relies on the current state, instead of whatever the closure value happened to be when binding the event. Consider using useReducer if your component's state becomes more complex.
const [clients, setClients] = useState([])
useEffect(() => {
const clientsRef = firebase.database().ref("clients")
const handleChildAdded = (snapshot) => {
const client = snapshot.val()
client.key = snapshot.key
setClients(clients => [...clients, client])
}
clientsRef.on("child_added", handleChildAdded)
return () => clientsRef.off('child_added', handleChildAdded)
}, [])
Also see:
How to fetch data with hooks
React Firebase Hooks
A complete guide to useEffect

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