Am I using React hooks wrong? - javascript

I wanted to create a sevice-like hook that doesn't hold state, it just exports an object with funtions.
I first started with this:
export default useFoo = () => ({ // some functions here... });
But then I realized that this wouldn't be the best approach because a new object is going to be created every time the hook is called and I don't want that - I need one global object with the same reference across all components, so then I tried this:
const foo = { // some functions here... };
export default useFoo = () => foo;
It works as expected, but I'm not sure if it's the right way to do it. Is there a better way to achieve this? Or should I use context maybe?
EDIT: I know that I can just export a plain JS object and not bother myself with hooks, but I need it to be a hook because I use other hooks inside.

It works as expected, but I'm not sure if it's the right way to do it. Is there a better way to achieve this?
If foo never changes, and doesn't need to close over any values from the other hooks you're calling in useFoo, then that's fine. If it does need to change based on other values, then you can use useCallback and/or useMemo to only recreate the object when relevant things change.
export default useFoo = () => {
const something = useSomeHook();
const foo = useMemo(() => {
return { /* some functions that use `something` */ }
}, [something]);
return foo;
}

Related

Using Variable from Props vs Passing Prop as Argument in React

In terms of writing components, which would be the preferred way to write below component? Assume that removeCard is outside of shown scope, ie. redux action.
My assumption would be that ComponentCardB would be, as it avoids passing an unnecessary argument which would be in the scope anyway. I imagine in terms of performance in the grand scheme of things, the difference is negligible, just more of a query in regards to best practise.
TIA
const ComponentCardA = (id) => {
const handleRemove = (cardId) => {
removeCard(cardId);
};
<div onClick={() => handleRemove(id)} />;
};
const ComponentCardB = (id) => {
const handleRemove = () => {
removeCard(id);
};
<div onClick={handleRemove} />;
};
With functional components like that, yes, there's no reason for the extra layer of indirection in ComponentCardA vs ComponentCardB.
Slightly tangential, but related: Depending on what you're passing handleRemove to and whether your component has other props or state, you may want to memoize handleRemove via useCallback or useMemo. The reason is that if other props or state change, your component function will get called again and (with your existing code) will create a new handleRemove function and pass that to the child. That means that the child has to be updated or re-rendered. If the change was unrelated to id, that update/rerender is unnecessary.
But if the component just has id and no other props, there's no point, and if it's just passing it to an HTML element (as opposed to React component), there's also probably no point as updating that element's click handler is a very efficient operation.
The second option is better way because using an arrow function in render creates a new function each time the component renders, which may break optimizations based on strict identity comparison.
Also if you don't want to use syntax with props.id you rather create function component with object as parameter:
const Component = ({id}) => { /* ... */ }
Of course using arrow function is also allowed but remember, when you don't have to use them then don't.

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.

Custom react hook not updating it's value

So I have the following custom hook, I want to use it to enable/disable some buttons based on various triggers inside the app.
import { useState } from 'react';
interface IDisableProps {
buttonsDisabled: boolean;
toggleButtons: (isDisabled: boolean) => void;
}
export default function useDisable(): IDisableProps {
const [buttonsDisabled, setButtonsDisabled] = useState<boolean>(false);
const toggleButtons = (isDisabled: boolean) => {
setButtonsDisabled(isDisabled);
};
return {
buttonsDisabled,
toggleButtons,
};
}
One of the places I'm using it from is another hook, where I declare it as
const { buttonsDisabled, toggleButtons } = useDisable(); then use it at the right moment like
if (!buttonsDisabled) {
toggleButtons(true);
}
However, the state always remains the initial one. Upon entering with debugger in toggleButtons I see that in the local scope, this is undefined and can't see the value of buttonsDisabled. What am I missing here? Did I take the wrong approach?
From Building Your Own Hooks – React
Do two components using the same Hook share state? No. Custom Hooks are a mechanism to reuse stateful logic (such as setting up a subscription and remembering the current value), but every time you use a custom Hook, all state and effects inside of it are fully isolated.
So when you say "one of the places [you're] using it from is another hook" you are creating an additional [buttonsDisabled, setButtonsDisabled] in memory and not referencing the same state created in the other place(s) you've invoked useDisable.
Two ways to share state are 1) passing props around and 2) using Context.
try with
const toggleButtons = useMemo(isDisabled: boolean) => {
setButtonsDisabled(isDisabled)
}, [isDisabled]);

Should I use useselector/useDispatch instead of mapStateToProps

When creating a React app, if I use the hook useSelector, I need to adhere to the hooks invoking rules (Only call it from the top level of a functional component). If I use the mapStateToProps, I get the state in the props and I can use it anywhere without any issues... Same issue for useDispatch
What are the benefits of using the hook besides saving lines of code compared to mapStateToProps?
Redux store state can be read and changed from anywhere in the component, including callbacks. Whenever the store state is changed the component rerenders. When the component rerenders, useSelector runs again, and gives you the updated data, later to be used wherever you want. Here is an example of that and a usage of useDispatch inside a callback (after an assignment in the root level):
function Modal({ children }) {
const isOpen = useSelector(state => state.isOpen);
const dispatch = useDispatch();
function handleModalToggeled() {
// using updated data from store state in a callback
if(isOpen) {
// writing to state, leading to a rerender
dispatch({type: "CLOSE_MODAL"});
return;
}
// writing to state, leading to a rerender
dispatch({type: "OPEN_MODAL"});
}
// using updated data from store state in render
return (isOpen ? (
<div>
{children}
<button onClick={handleModalToggeled}>close modal</button>
</div>
) : (
<button onClick={handleModalToggeled}>open modal</button>
);
);
}
There is nothing you can do with mapStateToProps/mapDispatchToProps that you can't do with the useSelector and useDispatch hooks as well.
With that said, there are a couple of differences between the two methods that are worth considering:
Decoupling: with mapStateToProps, container logic (the way store data is injected into the component) is separate from the view logic (component rendering).
useSelector represents a new and different way of thinking about connected components, arguing that the decoupling is more important between components and that components are self contained. Which is better? Verdict: no clear winner. source
DX (Developer experience): using the connect function usually means there should be another additional container component for each connected component, where using the useSelector and useDispatch hooks is quite straightforward. Verdict: hooks have better DX.
"Stale props" and "Zombie child": there are some weird edge cases with useSelector, if it depends on props, where useSelector can run before the newest updated props come in. These are mostly rare and avoidable edge cases, but they had been already worked out in the older connect version. verdict: connect is slightly more stable than hooks. source
Performance optimizations: both support performance optimizations in different ways: connect has some advanced techniques, using merge props and other options hidden in the connect function. useSelector accepts a second argument - an equality function to determine if the state has changed. verdict: both are great for performance in advanced situations.
Types: using typescript with connect is a nightmare. I remember myself feverishly writing three props interfaces for each connected component (OwnProps, StateProps, DispatchProps). Redux hooks support types in a rather straightforward way. verdict: types are significantly easier to work with using hooks.
The future of React: Hooks are the future of react. This may seam like an odd argument, but change to the ecosystem is right around the corner with "Concurrent mode" and "Server components". While class components will still be supported in future React versions, new features may rely solely on hooks. This change will of course also affect third party libraries in the eco system, such as React-Redux. verdict: hooks are more future proof.
TL;DR - Final verdict: each method has its merits. connect is more mature, has less potential for weird bugs and edge cases, and has better separation of concerns. Hooks are easier to read and write, as they are collocated near the place where they are used (all in one self contained component). Also, they are easier to use with TypeScript. Finally, they will easily be upgradable for future react versions.
I think you misunderstand what "top level" is. It merely means that, inside a functional component, useSelector() cannot be placed inside loops, conditions and nested functions. It doesn't have anything to do with root component or components structure
// bad
const MyComponent = () => {
if (condition) {
// can't do this
const data = useSelector(mySelector);
console.log(data);
}
return null;
}
---
// good
const MyComponent = () => {
const data = useSelector(mySelector);
if (condition) {
console.log(data); // using data in condition
}
return null;
}
If anything, mapStateToPtops is located at even higher level than a hook call
the rules of hooks make it very hard to use that specific hook. You still need to somehow access a changing value from the state inside callbacks
To be fair you almost never have to access changing value inside a callback. I can't remember last time I needed that. Usually if your callback needs the latest state, you are better off just dispatching an action and then handler for that action (redux-thunk, redux-saga, redux-observable etc) will itself access the latest state
This is just specifics of hooks in general (not just useSelector) and there are tons of ways to go around it if you really want to, for example
const MyComponent = () => {
const data = useSelector(mySelector);
const latestData = useRef()
latestData.current = data
return (
<button
onClick={() => {
setTimeout(() => {
console.log(latestData.current) // always refers to latest data
}, 5000)
}}
/>
)
}
What are the benefits of using the hook besides saving lines of code compared to mapStateToProps?
You save time by not writing connect function any time you need to access store, and removing it when you no longer need to access store. No endless wrappers in react devtools
You have clear distinction and no conflicts between props coming from connect, props coming from parent and props injected by wrappers from 3rd party libraries
Sometimes you (or fellow developers you work with) would choose unclear names for props in mapStateToProps and you will have to scroll all the way to mapStateToProps in the file to find out which selector is used for this specific prop. This is not the case with hooks where selectors and variables with data they return are coupled on the same line
By using hooks you get general advantages of hooks, the biggest of which is being able couple together and reuse related stateful logic in multiple components
With mapStateToProps you usually have to deal with mapDispatchToProps which is even more cumbersome and easier to get lost in, especially reading someone else's code (object form? function form? bindActionCreators?). Prop coming from mapDispatchToProps can have same name as it's action creator but different signature because it was overridden in mapDispatchToprops. If you use one action creator in a number of components and then rename that action creator, these components will keep using old name coming from props. Object form easily breaks if you have a dependency cycle and also you have to deal with shadowing variable names
.
import { getUsers } from 'actions/user'
class MyComponent extends Component {
render() {
// shadowed variable getUsers, now you either rename it
// or call it like this.props.getUsers
// or change import to asterisk, and neither option is good
const { getUsers } = this.props
// ...
}
}
const mapDispatchToProps = {
getUsers,
}
export default connect(null, mapDispatchToProps)(MyComponent)
See EDIT 2 at the end for the final answer
Since no one knows how to answer, it seems like the best answer is that you should NOT be using useselector when you need information in other places other than the root level of your component. Since you don't know if the component will change in the future, just don't use useselector at all.
If someone has a better answer than this, I'll change the accepted answer.
Edit: Some answers were added, but they just emphasize why you shouldn't be using useselector at all, until the day when the rules of hooks will change, and you'll be able to use it in a callback as well. That being said, if you don't want to use it in a callback, it could be a good solution for you.
EDIT 2: An answer with examples of all that I wanted was added and showed how useSelector and useDispatch are easier to use.
The redux state returned from the useSelector hook can be passed around anywhere else just like its done for mapStateToProps. Example: It can be passed to another function too. Only constraint being that the hook rules has to be followed during its declaration:
It has to be declared only within a functional component.
During declaration, it can not be inside any conditional block . Sample code below
function test(displayText) {
return (<div>{displayText}</div>);
}
export function App(props) {
const displayReady = useSelector(state => {
return state.readyFlag;
});
const displayText = useSelector(state => {
return state.displayText;
});
if(displayReady) {
return
(<div>
Outer
{test(displayText)}
</div>);
}
else {
return null;
}
}
EDIT: Since OP has asked a specific question - which is about using it within a callback, I would like to add a specific code.In summary, I do not see anything that stops us from using useSelector hook output in a callback. Please see the sample code below, its a snippet from my own code that demonstrates this particular use case.
export default function CustomPaginationActionsTable(props) {
//Read state with useSelector.
const searchCriteria = useSelector(state => {
return state && state.selectedFacets;
});
//use the read state in a callback invoked from useEffect hook.
useEffect( ()=>{
const postParams = constructParticipantListQueryParams(searchCriteria);
const options = {
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
},
validateStatus: () => true
};
var request = axios.post(PORTAL_SEARCH_LIST_ALL_PARTICIPANTS_URI, postParams, options)
.then(function(response)
{
if(response.status === HTTP_STATUS_CODE_SUCCESS) {
console.log('Accessing useSelector hook output in axios callback. Printing it '+JSON.stringify(searchCriteria));
}
})
.catch(function(error) {
});
}, []);
}
For callback functions you can use the value returned from useSelector the same way you would use the value from useState.
const ExampleComponent = () => {
// use hook to get data from redux state.
const stateData = useSelector(state => state.data);
// use hook to get dispatch for redux store.
// this allows actions to be dispatched.
const dispatch = useDispatch();
// Create a non-memoized callback function using stateData.
// This function is recreated every rerender, a change in
// state.data in the redux store will cause a rerender.
const callbackWithoutMemo = (event) => {
// use state values.
if (stateData.condition) {
doSomething();
}
else {
doSomethingElse();
}
// dispatch some action to the store
// can pass data if needed.
dispatch(someActionCreator());
};
// Create a memoized callback function using stateData.
// This function is recreated whenever a value in the
// dependency array changes (reference comparison).
const callbackWithMemo = useCallback((event) => {
// use state values.
if (stateData.condition) {
doSomething();
}
else {
doSomethingElse();
}
// dispatch some action to the store
// can pass data if needed.
dispatch(someActionCreator());
}, [stateData, doSomething, doSomethingElse]);
// Use the callbacks.
return (
<>
<div onClick={callbackWithoutMemo}>
Click me
</div>
<div onClick={callbackWithMemo}>
Click me
</div>
</>
)
};
Rules of hooks says you must use it at the root of your component, meaning you CANT use it anywhere.
As Max stated in his answer just means that the hook statement itself must not be dynamic / conditional. This is because the order of the base hooks (react's internal hooks: useState, etc) is used by the backing framework to populate the stored data each render.
The values from hooks can be used where ever you like.
While I doubt this will be close to answering your complete question, callbacks keep coming up and no examples had been posted.
not the answer but this hook can be very helpful if you want to get decoupled nature of mapDispatchToProps while keeping simplicity and dev experience of hooks:
https://gist.github.com/ErAz7/1bffea05743440d6d7559afc9ed12ddc
the reason I don't mention one for mapStatesToProps is that useSelector itself is more store-logic-decoupling than mapStatesToProps so don't see any advantage for mapStatesToProps. Of course I dont mean using useSelector directly but instead create a wrapper on it in your store files (e.g. in reducer file) and import from there, like this:
// e.g. userReducer.js
export const useUserProfile = () => useSelector(state => state.user.profile)

Is there a way to test private methods?

I have a React component 'A'. One method 'foo' inside it is passed as a prop to component 'B'. foo is triggered on click of component B.
Question - How to test this foo method?
I can circumvent this problem by making the method foo as public and testing it separately. But I do not want to make it public.
Another way which I tried and did not work is triggering the click event in component B hoping it would call the foo method. Not sure if it is possible and if possible how!
const A = () => {
const foo = () => {console.log('Clicked!')}
return (
<B clickTrigger={foo} />
)
}
It sounds like you want to test that the click is causing some change in the component, rather than just checking that the method is called.
You can render component A, fire a click event, and make assertions based on how that causes changes in the component's output. Here's what a test could look like, using react-testing-library:
test('does a thing when clicked', () => {
const { getByText } = render(<A />);
// This assumes you have a button inside component B
// that has `foo` as the onClick:
fireEvent.click(getByText('Click me'));
// Make assertions here based on how the click handler
// causes the component's output to change, generally based
// on some text changing
expect(getByText('You clicked the button')).toBeInTheDocument();
})
You should mock the code executed inside the foo function.
Thanks to this mock, you will be able to test of your foo function has been successfully called .
There's no way to get hold of a reference inside a closure, so you'd have to export it to your test framework somehow. There's a pattern that uses WeakMaps for storing private state, and if the test framework has access to the WeakMap it can look inside, while other objects without that reference can't.
let p = new WeakMap();
const A = () => {
let foo = p.get(A);
return (
<B clickTrigger={foo} />
);
};
p.set(A, () => {console.log('Clicked!')});
// Export A and p to testing framework but just A to clients

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