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Problem with indirect communication between parent and child elements

I have a problem with an indirect communication in react native.
I have a parent component, which is one component per class. And I have a child component that is a functional component.
Parent:
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
search: '',
};
}
getInfoSearch(userSearch) {
this.setState({
search: userSearch
})
}
render(){
return(
<SearchHeader placeholder={'Buscar procedimento'} getValueUserSearch={this.getInfoSearch}/>
)
}
Child:
import React, {useState} from 'react';
import {View, TextInput} from 'react-native';
const SearchHeader = props => {
const [search, setSearch] = useState('');
const {placeholder, getValueUserSearch} = props;
const handleSearch = (search) => {
console.log(this);
setSearch(search);
getValueUserSearch(search);
};
return (
<View>
<TextInput placeholder={placeholder || 'Buscar'} onChangeText={handleSearch}/>
</View>
);
};
export default SearchHeader;
But when I type text in the InputText, an error occurs. Stating that:
"I cannot apply the setState function of undefined"
Do you know how I could solve this problem? Because I want to change the 'search' state in the parent element.

Error might be because of this.setState line in getInfoSearch function.
Try using arrow function or do the explicit binding in constructor as below
constructor(props) {
...
this.getInfoSearch = this.getInfoSearch.bind(this);
}
(Or)
getInfoSearch = (userSearch) => {
this.setState({ search: userSearch });
}
Check here for more details.

It's because you are not passing argument to the handleSearch function, it should be:
onChangeText={(event) => handleSearch(event.target.value}

React: How to use one variable in one component when it is imported to another component

import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { Card } from 'components/Card';
import { dateFilter } from 'helpers';
import Chart from 'chart.js';
import 'chartjs-chart-matrix';
import chroma from 'chroma-js';
import moment from 'moment';
const WeeklyTrafficCard = (props) => {
const { start, end, data, store } = props;
const capacity = store && store.capacity;
var numberOfweeks = 0; //representing how many weeks back
const dateArray = [];
var today = moment();
while (numberOfweeks < 10) {
var from_date = today.startOf('week').format('MM/DD/YY');
var to_date = today.endOf('week').format('MM/DD/YY');
var range = from_date.concat(' ','-',' ',to_date);
dateArray.push(range);
today = today.subtract(7, 'days');
numberOfweeks++;
//console.log(dateArray);
}
const [each_daterange, setDateRange] = useState();
I have this Component called WeeklyTrafficCard and I want to use the variable, each_daterange, in another component, which imported WeeklyTrafficCard as below to send the get request, clearly I cannot use each_daterange directly right here, how I can work around it?
import React, { useContext, useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { WeeklyTrafficCard } from './WeeklyTrafficCard';
import { AppContext } from 'contexts/App';
import { API_URL } from 'constants/index.js';
import { todayOpen, todayClose } from 'helpers';
import moment from 'moment';
const WeeklyTrafficCardContainer = (props) => {
const { API } = useContext(AppContext);
const { store = {} } = props;
const [data, setData] = useState([]);
const open = todayOpen(store.hours, store.timezone);
const close = todayClose(store.hours, store.timezone);
useEffect(() => {
async function fetchData() {
const result = await API.get(`${API_URL}/api/aggregates`, {
params: {
each_daterange,
every: '1h',
hourStart: 13,
hourStop: 4
},
});

You should use a useEffect(prop drilling) to pass your variable in your parent:
import React, { Component } from "react";
import { render } from "react-dom";
import "./style.css";
const App = () => {
const [myVar, setMyVar] = React.useState('');
return (
<div>
<Child setMyVar={setMyVar} />
{myVar}
</div>
);
};
const Child = ({setMyVar}) => {
const myChildVar = "Hello world !"
React.useEffect( () => setMyVar(myChildVar),[]);
return <div> This is the child</div>
}
render(<App />, document.getElementById("root"));
Here is the repro on stackblitz

Understanding of the Problem
You want to pass data up to the parent from the child.
Manage each_daterange in the parent:
Instead of creating your useState variable each_daterange in the child you can declare it in the parent and pass down it's setter function. For instance:
const WeeklyTrafficCardContainer = (props) => {
const [eachDateRange, setEachDateRange] = useState();
return (
<div>
{/* your return */}
<WeeklyTrafficCard setEachDateRange={setEachDateRange} />
</div>
)
}
If you need to display eachDateRange in the traffic card, or the traffic card needs to completely own that variable, you can create another state variable in the parent and pass a callback to the child (essentially what is above but now you have two different state variables).
The parent becomes
const WeeklyTrafficCardContainer = (props) => {
const [requestDateRange, setRequestDateRange] = useState();
const updateRequestDateRange = (dateRange) => {
setRequestDateRange(dateRange)
}
return (
<div>
{/* your return */}
<WeeklyTrafficCard updateDateRange={updateRequestDateRange} />
</div>
)
}
Then in your WeeklyTrafficCard call props.updateDateRange and pass it the date range whenever each_daterange changes.

Ciao, of course you need a global state manager. My preferred is react-redux. In few word, react-redux allows you to have a state that is shared in all your components. Sharing each_daterange between WeeklyTrafficCardContainer and WeeklyTrafficCard will be very easy if you decide to use it.
This is the more appropriate guide to quick start with react-redux. have a nice coding :)

Keep the value outside of the component, where both can access it. There are other ways to do this, but just as a simple example you could create a simple "store" to hold it and reference that store from each component that needs it:
class Store {
setDateRange (newDateRange) {
this._dateRange = newDateRange;
}
get dateRange () {
return this._dateRange;
}
}
export default new Store(); // singleton; everyone gets the same instance
import store from './Store';
const WeeklyTrafficCard = (props) => {
// use current dateRange value
const dateRange = store.dateRange;
// set new dateRange
store.setDateRange( newDateRange );
// do other stuff
}
import store from './Store';
const WeeklyTrafficCardContainer = (props) => {
// use current dateRange value
const dateRange = store.dateRange;
// set new dateRange
store.setDateRange( newDateRange );
// do other stuff
}
If you want store updates to trigger component re-renders you'd need to add some higher order component plumbing, like redux's connect, or some other mechanism for triggering updates:
// pseudocode; make store an event emitter and return
// a component that re-renders on store events
store.connect = Component => {
return props => {
React.useEffect(() => {
store.addEventListener( ... )
return () => store.removeEventListener( ... )
})
}
}
Or if the components share a common parent, you could lift the state to the parent and pass the information to each component as props. If either component updates the value, the parent state change will trigger a re-render of both components with the new value:
const Parent = () => {
const [dateRange, setDateRange] = React.useState();
return (
<>
<WeeklyTrafficCardContainer
dateRange={dateRange}
onDateRangeChange={newRange => setDateRange(newRange)}
/>
<WeeklyTrafficCard
dateRange={dateRange}
onDateRangeChange={newRange => setDateRange(newRange)}
/>
</>
);
}

Let's rephrase the objective here.
Objective: access each_daterange from WeeklyTrafficCard component in WeeklyTrafficCardContainer component.
Note: simply put, choose the following case based on your problem.
choose using prop if the variable is to be accessed by only one component
choose using context if the variable is to be accessed by more than one components
Solution Cases:
Case A: using prop.
Case A.1. WeeklyTrafficCard is the parent of WeeklyTrafficCardContainer
each_datarange being passed from WeeklyTrafficCard component as prop to WeeklyTrafficCardContainer component
working example for reference: codesandbox - variable passed as prop
// WeeklyTrafficCard.jsx file
const WeeklyTrafficCard = () => {
const [each_daterange, setDateRange] = useState();
return (
<>
...
<WeeklyTrafficCardContainer eachDateRange={each_daterange} />
</>
);
};
// WeeklyTrafficCardContainer.jsx file
const WeeklyTrafficCardContainer = props => {
const eachDateRange = props.eachDateRange;
return (
<>
...
</>
);
};
Case A.2. WeeklyTrafficCard & WeeklyTrafficCardContainer are children of a parent, say WeeklyTraffic component
each_datarange will be present in WeeklyTraffic component which is shared among WeeklyTrafficCard component & WeeklyTrafficCardContainer component
// WeeklyTraffic.jsx file
const WeeklyTraffic = () => {
const [each_daterange, setDateRange] = useState();
return (
<>
...
<WeeklyTrafficCard eachDateRange={each_daterange} />
<WeeklyTrafficCardContainer eachDateRange={each_daterange} />
</>
);
};
// WeeklyTrafficCard.jsx file
const WeeklyTrafficCard = props => {
const eachDateRange = props.eachDateRange;
return (
<>
...
</>
);
};
// WeeklyTrafficCardContainer.jsx file
const WeeklyTrafficCardContainer = props => {
const eachDateRange = props.eachDateRange;
return (
<>
...
</>
);
};
Case B: using context.
follow blog example found: blog - react context
this is preferred way to implement if the variable/variables is/are shared or need to be accessed by more than 1 components

How to pass async state to child component props?

I'm new to react and I am trying to fetch data from an API and pass the data to a child component. I've passed the data to the state on my parent component, however, when I pass it to the child component as props it logs as an empty array. I'm sure there is something simple I am overlooking but I don't know what, my code is below
PARENT COMPONENT
import React, {Component} from 'react';
import Child from '../src/child';
import './App.css';
class App extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
properties: []
}
}
getData = () => {
fetch('url')
.then(response => {
return response.text()
})
.then(xml => {
return new DOMParser().parseFromString(xml, "application/xml")
})
.then(data => {
const propList = data.getElementsByTagName("propertyname");
const latitude = data.getElementsByTagName("latitude");
const longitude = data.getElementsByTagName("longitude");
var allProps = [];
for (let i=0; i<propList.length; i++) {
allProps.push({
name: propList[i].textContent,
lat: parseFloat(latitude[i].textContent),
lng: parseFloat(longitude[i].textContent)
});
}
this.setState({properties: allProps});
});
}
componentDidMount = () => this.getData();
render () {
return (
<div>
<Child data={this.state.properties} />
</div>
)
}
}
export default App;
CHILD COMPONENT
import React, {Component} from 'react';
class Child extends Component {
initChild = () => {
console.log(this.props.data); // returns empty array
const properties = this.props.data.map(property => [property.name, property.lat, property.lng]);
}
componentDidMount = () => this.initChild();
render () {
return (
<div>Test</div>
)
}
}
export default Child;

Change the componentDidMount in the child to componentDidUpdate.
The componentDidMount lifecycle method is called only once in the starting. Whereas, the componentDidUpdate lifecycle method gets called whenever there is a change in the state of the application. Since api calls are asynchronous, the initChild() function is already called once before the api call's results are passed to the child.

You can use conditional rendering
import React, {Component} from 'react';
class Child extends Component {
initChild = () => {
if(this.props.data){
const properties = this.props.data.map(property => [property.name, property.lat, property.lng]);
}
}
componentDidMount = () => this.initChild();
render () {
return (
<div>Test</div>
)
}
}
export default Child;

React Context API and avoiding re-renders

I have updated this with an update at the bottom
Is there a way to maintain a monolithic root state (like Redux) with multiple Context API Consumers working on their own part of their Provider value without triggering a re-render on every isolated change?
Having already read through this related question and tried some variations to test out some of the insights provided there, I am still confused about how to avoid re-renders.
Complete code is below and online here: https://codesandbox.io/s/504qzw02nl
The issue is that according to devtools, every component sees an "update" (a re-render), even though SectionB is the only component that sees any render changes and even though b is the only part of the state tree that changes. I've tried this with functional components and with PureComponent and see the same render thrashing.
Because nothing is being passed as props (at the component level) I can't see how to detect or prevent this. In this case, I am passing the entire app state into the provider, but I've also tried passing in fragments of the state tree and see the same problem. Clearly, I am doing something very wrong.
import React, { Component, createContext } from 'react';
const defaultState = {
a: { x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 },
b: { x: 4, y: 5, z: 6 },
incrementBX: () => { }
};
let Context = createContext(defaultState);
class App extends Component {
constructor(...args) {
super(...args);
this.state = {
...defaultState,
incrementBX: this.incrementBX.bind(this)
}
}
incrementBX() {
let { b } = this.state;
let newB = { ...b, x: b.x + 1 };
this.setState({ b: newB });
}
render() {
return (
<Context.Provider value={this.state}>
<SectionA />
<SectionB />
<SectionC />
</Context.Provider>
);
}
}
export default App;
class SectionA extends Component {
render() {
return (<Context.Consumer>{
({ a }) => <div>{a.x}</div>
}</Context.Consumer>);
}
}
class SectionB extends Component {
render() {
return (<Context.Consumer>{
({ b }) => <div>{b.x}</div>
}</Context.Consumer>);
}
}
class SectionC extends Component {
render() {
return (<Context.Consumer>{
({ incrementBX }) => <button onClick={incrementBX}>Increment a x</button>
}</Context.Consumer>);
}
}
Edit: I understand that there may be a bug in the way react-devtools detects or displays re-renders. I've expanded on my code above in a way that displays the problem. I now cannot tell if what I am doing is actually causing re-renders or not. Based on what I've read from Dan Abramov, I think I'm using Provider and Consumer correctly, but I cannot definitively tell if that's true. I welcome any insights.

There are some ways to avoid re-renders, also make your state management "redux-like". I will show you how I've been doing, it far from being a redux, because redux offer so many functionalities that aren't so trivial to implement, like the ability to dispatch actions to any reducer from any actions or the combineReducers and so many others.
Create your reducer
export const initialState = {
...
};
export const reducer = (state, action) => {
...
};
Create your ContextProvider component
export const AppContext = React.createContext({someDefaultValue})
export function ContextProvider(props) {
const [state, dispatch] = useReducer(reducer, initialState)
const context = {
someValue: state.someValue,
someOtherValue: state.someOtherValue,
setSomeValue: input => dispatch('something'),
}
return (
<AppContext.Provider value={context}>
{props.children}
</AppContext.Provider>
);
}
Use your ContextProvider at top level of your App, or where you want it
function App(props) {
...
return(
<AppContext>
...
</AppContext>
)
}
Write components as pure functional component
This way they will only re-render when those specific dependencies update with new values
const MyComponent = React.memo(({
somePropFromContext,
setSomePropFromContext,
otherPropFromContext,
someRegularPropNotFromContext,
}) => {
... // regular component logic
return(
... // regular component return
)
});
Have a function to select props from context (like redux map...)
function select(){
const { someValue, otherValue, setSomeValue } = useContext(AppContext);
return {
somePropFromContext: someValue,
setSomePropFromContext: setSomeValue,
otherPropFromContext: otherValue,
}
}
Write a connectToContext HOC
function connectToContext(WrappedComponent, select){
return function(props){
const selectors = select();
return <WrappedComponent {...selectors} {...props}/>
}
}
Put it all together
import connectToContext from ...
import AppContext from ...
const MyComponent = React.memo(...
...
)
function select(){
...
}
export default connectToContext(MyComponent, select)
Usage
<MyComponent someRegularPropNotFromContext={something} />
//inside MyComponent:
...
<button onClick={input => setSomeValueFromContext(input)}>...
...
Demo that I did on other StackOverflow question
Demo on codesandbox
The re-render avoided
MyComponent will re-render only if the specifics props from context updates with a new value, else it will stay there.
The code inside select will run every time any value from context updates, but it does nothing and is cheap.
Other solutions
I suggest check this out Preventing rerenders with React.memo and useContext hook.

I made a proof of concept on how to benefit from React.Context, but avoid re-rendering children that consume the context object. The solution makes use of React.useRef and CustomEvent. Whenever you change count or lang, only the component consuming the specific proprety gets updated.
Check it out below, or try the CodeSandbox
index.tsx
import * as React from 'react'
import {render} from 'react-dom'
import {CountProvider, useDispatch, useState} from './count-context'
function useConsume(prop: 'lang' | 'count') {
const contextState = useState()
const [state, setState] = React.useState(contextState[prop])
const listener = (e: CustomEvent) => {
if (e.detail && prop in e.detail) {
setState(e.detail[prop])
}
}
React.useEffect(() => {
document.addEventListener('update', listener)
return () => {
document.removeEventListener('update', listener)
}
}, [state])
return state
}
function CountDisplay() {
const count = useConsume('count')
console.log('CountDisplay()', count)
return (
<div>
{`The current count is ${count}`}
<br />
</div>
)
}
function LangDisplay() {
const lang = useConsume('lang')
console.log('LangDisplay()', lang)
return <div>{`The lang count is ${lang}`}</div>
}
function Counter() {
const dispatch = useDispatch()
return (
<button onClick={() => dispatch({type: 'increment'})}>
Increment count
</button>
)
}
function ChangeLang() {
const dispatch = useDispatch()
return <button onClick={() => dispatch({type: 'switch'})}>Switch</button>
}
function App() {
return (
<CountProvider>
<CountDisplay />
<LangDisplay />
<Counter />
<ChangeLang />
</CountProvider>
)
}
const rootElement = document.getElementById('root')
render(<App />, rootElement)
count-context.tsx
import * as React from 'react'
type Action = {type: 'increment'} | {type: 'decrement'} | {type: 'switch'}
type Dispatch = (action: Action) => void
type State = {count: number; lang: string}
type CountProviderProps = {children: React.ReactNode}
const CountStateContext = React.createContext<State | undefined>(undefined)
const CountDispatchContext = React.createContext<Dispatch | undefined>(
undefined,
)
function countReducer(state: State, action: Action) {
switch (action.type) {
case 'increment': {
return {...state, count: state.count + 1}
}
case 'switch': {
return {...state, lang: state.lang === 'en' ? 'ro' : 'en'}
}
default: {
throw new Error(`Unhandled action type: ${action.type}`)
}
}
}
function CountProvider({children}: CountProviderProps) {
const [state, dispatch] = React.useReducer(countReducer, {
count: 0,
lang: 'en',
})
const stateRef = React.useRef(state)
React.useEffect(() => {
const customEvent = new CustomEvent('update', {
detail: {count: state.count},
})
document.dispatchEvent(customEvent)
}, [state.count])
React.useEffect(() => {
const customEvent = new CustomEvent('update', {
detail: {lang: state.lang},
})
document.dispatchEvent(customEvent)
}, [state.lang])
return (
<CountStateContext.Provider value={stateRef.current}>
<CountDispatchContext.Provider value={dispatch}>
{children}
</CountDispatchContext.Provider>
</CountStateContext.Provider>
)
}
function useState() {
const context = React.useContext(CountStateContext)
if (context === undefined) {
throw new Error('useCount must be used within a CountProvider')
}
return context
}
function useDispatch() {
const context = React.useContext(CountDispatchContext)
if (context === undefined) {
throw new Error('useDispatch must be used within a AccountProvider')
}
return context
}
export {CountProvider, useState, useDispatch}

To my understanding, the context API is not meant to avoid re-render but is more like Redux. If you wish to avoid re-render, perhaps looks into PureComponent or lifecycle hook shouldComponentUpdate.
Here is a great link to improve performance, you can apply the same to the context API too

Update variable in React in class not extending component

I am trying to wrap my head around ReactJS and I am stumped with an issue where I want to be able to update the value of a local variable and return the updated value.
I've read about state and I've used that when working with React Components, however, this class is just defined as const and it doesn't extend React.Component.
Is there a different way I should be defining setting the variable?
Here is a simplified version of my code:
import React from 'react';
const WelcomeForm = ({welcome}) => {
var welcomeMsg = 'Test';
DynamicContentApi.loadDynamicContent('welcome_test').then((response) => {
// response.text has content
welcomeMsg = response.text;
}).catch(() => {
welcomeMsg = '';
});
return (
<p>{welcomeMsg}</p> // Returns 'Test'
);
};
export default WelcomeForm;

The easiest option here is to change your stateless component to a stateful component.
Stateless components are just JavaScript functions. They take in an
optional input, called prop.
Stateful components offer more features, and with more features comes more baggage. The primary reason to choose class components (stateful) over functional components (stateless) is that they can have state, that is what you want to update to re-render.
Here is what you can do:
class WelcomeForm extends React.Component {
state = {
welcomeMsg: ''
}
fetchFromApi() {
DynamicContentApi.loadDynamicContent("welcome_test")
.then(response => {
this.setState({welcomeMsg: response.text});
})
.catch((e) => console.log(e));
}
componentDidMount() {
fetchFromApi();
}
render() {
return (
<p>{welcomeMsg}</p>
);
}
};
If you want, for any reason, to keep your component stateless, you will have to put the loadDynamicContent() function on the Parent and pass the text to WelcomeForm as a prop. For example:
// Your WelcomeForm Component
const WelcomeForm = ({welcomeMsg}) => (
<p>{welcomeMsg}</p>
);
// Whatever it's Parent Component is
class Parent extends React.Component {
state = {
welcomeMsg: ''
}
fetchFromApi() {
DynamicContentApi.loadDynamicContent("welcome_test")
.then(response => {
// response.text has content
this.setState({welcomeMsg: response.text});
})
.catch((e) => console.log(e));
}
componentDidMount() {
fetchFromApi();
}
render() {
<WelcomeForm welcomeMsg={this.state.welcomeMsg} />
}
}

As suggested in the comments, you can pass the DynamicContentApi logic to outside:
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom'
DynamicContentApi.loadDynamicContent('welcome_test').then((response) => {
ReactDOM.render(<WelcomeForm data={response.text} />, document.getElementById('where you wanna render this'));
}).catch(() => {
console.log('error while fetching...');
});
And where you have your component:
import React from 'react';
export default class WelcomeForm extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<p>{this.props.data}</p>
);
}
}