React click specific element in setInterval loop - reactjs

Question

I'm trying to click my element in setInterval loop, so it would be clicked every 10 second, but there's always error click is not a function or cannot read click null
I've tired with useRef and also did nothing.
here is my code:
useEffect(() => {
setInterval(function () {
const handleChangeState = () => {
console.log("Now");
document.getElementById("dice").click();
};
handleChangeState();
}, 10 * 1000);
}, []);
return (
<>
<Dice id="dice" rollingTime="3000" triggers={["click", "P"]} />
</>
);
};

Answer 1

It is often considered anti-pattern in React to query the DOM. You should instead use a React ref to gain access to the underlying DOMNode.
There are a couple ways to use a React ref to invoke a dice roll of the child component. FYI, rollingTime should probably be number type instead of a string if using in any setTimeout calls.
Forward the React ref and attach to the button element and invoke the click handler.
Example:
const Dice = forwardRef(({ id, rollingTime }, ref) => {
const timerRef = useRef();
const [value, setValue] = useState();
const [isRolling, setIsRolling] = useState();
useEffect(() => {
return () => clearTimeout(timerRef.current);
}, []);
const roll = () => {
if (!isRolling) {
setIsRolling(true);
clearTimeout(timerRef.current);
timerRef.current = setTimeout(() => {
setValue(Math.floor(Math.random() * 6) + 1);
setIsRolling(false);
}, rollingTime);
}
};
return (
<>
<h1>Dice</h1>
<h2>Roll Value: {isRolling ? "Rolling..." : value}</h2>
<button ref={ref} id={id} type="button" onClick={roll}>
Roll the dice
</button>
</>
);
});
...
export default function App() {
const diceRef = useRef();
useEffect(() => {
const handleChangeState = () => {
console.log("Clicking Dice");
diceRef.current?.click();
};
setInterval(() => {
handleChangeState();
}, 10 * 1000);
}, []);
return (
<div className="App">
<Dice
ref={diceRef}
id="dice"
rollingTime={3000}
triggers={["click", "P"]}
/>
</div>
);
}
Forward the React ref and invoke the button's callback function directly via the useImperativeHandle hook.
Example:
const Dice = forwardRef(({ id, rollingTime }, ref) => {
const timerRef = useRef();
const [value, setValue] = useState();
const [isRolling, setIsRolling] = useState();
useEffect(() => {
return () => clearTimeout(timerRef.current);
}, []);
const roll = () => {
if (!isRolling) {
setIsRolling(true);
clearTimeout(timerRef.current);
timerRef.current = setTimeout(() => {
setValue(Math.floor(Math.random() * 6) + 1);
setIsRolling(false);
}, rollingTime);
}
};
useImperativeHandle(ref, () => ({
roll
}));
return (
<>
<h1>Dice 2</h1>
<h2>Roll Value: {isRolling ? "Rolling..." : value}</h2>
<button id={id} type="button" onClick={roll}>
Roll the dice
</button>
</>
);
});
...
export default function App() {
const diceRef = useRef();
useEffect(() => {
const handleRollDice = () => {
console.log("Roll dice");
diceRef.current.roll();
};
setInterval(() => {
handleRollDice();
}, 10 * 1000);
}, []);
return (
<div className="App">
<Dice
ref={diceRef}
id="dice"
rollingTime={3000}
triggers={["click", "P"]}
/>
</div>
);
}
Using react-dice-roll
If you examine the react-dice-roll source code you'll see that the Dice component forwards a React ref and uses the useImperativeHandle hook to expose out a rollDice function.
Dice Source
const Dice = forwardRef((props: TProps, ref: React.MutableRefObject<TDiceRef>) => {
...
const handleDiceRoll = (value?: TValue) => {
let diceAudio: HTMLAudioElement;
if (sound) {
diceAudio = new Audio(sound);
diceAudio.play();
}
setRolling(true);
setTimeout(() => {
let rollValue = Math.floor((Math.random() * 6) + 1) as TValue;
if (value) rollValue = value;
if (cheatValue) rollValue = cheatValue;
setRolling(false);
setValue(rollValue);
if (diceAudio) diceAudio.pause();
if (!onRoll) return;
onRoll(rollValue);
}, rollingTime);
};
useImperativeHandle(ref, () => ({ rollDice: handleDiceRoll }));
...
return (
...
)
});
Your code then just needs to create a React ref and pass it to the Dice component, and instantiate the interval in a mounting useEffect hook.
Example:
function App() {
const diceRef = useRef();
useEffect(() => {
const rollDice = () => {
console.log("Rolling Dice");
diceRef.current.rollDice(); // <-- call rollDice function
};
// instantiate interval
setInterval(() => {
rollDice();
}, 10 * 1000);
// immediately invoke so we don't wait 10 seconds for first roll
rollDice();
}, []);
return (
<div className="App">
<Dice
ref={diceRef}
id="dice"
rollingTime={3000}
triggers={["click", "P"]}
/>
</div>
);
}