Losing state between renders if component is defined in another component - reactjs

codesandbox here: https://codesandbox.io/s/restless-haze-v01wv?file=/src/App.js
I have a Users component which (when simplified) looks something like this:
const Users = () => {
const [toastOpen, setToastOpen] = useState(false)
// functions to handle toast closing
return (
<EditUser />
<Toast />
)
}
const EditUser = () => {
[user, setUser] = useState(null)
useEffect(() => {
const fetchedUser = await fetchUser()
setUser(fetchedUser)
}, [])
// this approach results in UserForm's username resetting when the toast closes
const Content = () => {
if (user) return <UserForm user={user} />
else return <div>Loading...</div>
}
return <Content />
// if I do this instead, everything's fine
return (
<div>
{
user ? <UserForm user={user} /> : <div>Loading...</div>
}
</div>
)
}
const UserForm = ({ user }) => {
const [username, setUsername] = useState(user.name)
return <input value={username}, onChange={e => setUsername(e.target.value)} />
}
While viewing the UserForm page while a Toast is still open, the UserForm state is reset when the Toast closes.
I've figured out that the issue is the Content component defined inside of EditUser, but I'm not quite clear on why this is an issue. I'd love a walkthrough of what's happening under React's hood here, and what happens in a "happy path"

You have defined Content inside EditUser component which we never do with React Components, because in this situtaion, Content will be re-created every time the EditUser is re-rendered. (surely, EditUser is going to be re-rendered few/many times).
So, a re-created Content component means the old Content will be destroyed (unmounted) and the new Content will be mounted.
That's why it is be being mounted many times and hence resetting the state values to initial values.
So, the solution is to just define it (Content) outside - not inside any other react component.

The culprit was EditUser's Content function, which predictably returns a brand new instance of each time it's called.

Related

Simulate user navigation with React Testing Library and React Router

I have a component that is meant to trigger when the user navigates away from a page. It wraps a formik form; if a user has unsaved changes, it attempts to save those changes as soon as the user attempts to navigate away. While the save is resolving, users will see a modal that says "saving..." If the save is successful, the user continues on to the next page. If it is unsuccessful, it displays a modal prompting them to either stay or move along. The component works fine, but I'm struggling to test it.
Component in question:
const AutoSaveUnsavedChangesGuard: React.FC<Props> = ({
when,
onLeave,
children,
ignoreRoutes = [],
submitForm,
}) => {
const { push } = useHistory();
const { error, savingStatus } = useSavingStatusContext();
const [nextLocation, setNextLocation] = React.useState<string>();
const [isShowing, setIsShowing] = React.useState<boolean>(false);
const [showUnsavedChangesModal, setShowUnsavedChangesModal] = React.useState<boolean>(false);
const [showSavingModal, setShowSavingModal] = React.useState<boolean>(false);
const handleBlockNavigation = (nextLocation: Location) => {
if (!!matchPath(nextLocation.pathname, ignoreRoutes)) {
return true;
}
setNextLocation(nextLocation.pathname);
setIsShowing(true);
submitForm();
return false;
};
React.useEffect(() => {
// Proceed to next location when there has been a navigation attempt and client no longer blocks it
if (!when && nextLocation) {
push(nextLocation);
}
}, [when, nextLocation, push]);
React.useEffect(() => {
// If we have an error and we have triggered the Prompt, display the unsaved changes guard.
setShowUnsavedChangesModal(!!error)
}, [error]);
React.useEffect(() => {
setShowSavingModal(savingStatus=== SavingStatusType.SAVING)
}, [savingStatus]);
return (
<React.Fragment>
<Prompt when={when} message={handleBlockNavigation}/>
<UnsavedChangesModal
show={showUnsavedChangesModal && isShowing}
onLeave={() => {
onLeave && onLeave();
}}
onStay={() => {
setNextLocation(undefined);
}}
onHide={() => {
setIsShowing(false);
setShowUnsavedChangesModal(false);
}}
/>
<SavingModal show={showSavingModal && isShowing} />
{children}
</React.Fragment>
);
};
export default AutoSaveUnsavedChangesGuard;
I'm trying to test behavior with react-testing-library. I'd like to simulate a user navigating away (IE call the message method in the rendered component with a new location), but I am struggling to do so. We had a function like the one below when we tested using enzyme.
const changeRouteLocation = (nextLocation: Location, wrapper: ShallowWrapper) => {
const prompt = wrapper.find(ReactRouter.Prompt);
const onNavigate = prompt.props().message as (location: Location) => string | boolean;
onNavigate(nextLocation);
};
Unfortunately, this component uses useEffect hooks that don't play nice with enzyme, and I must test it using react-testing-library. How can I simulate a user attempting to navigate to a new location with react-testing-library?
Edit: Adding what I have for testing code per a request. This code does not produce the desired outcome, and I honestly didn't expect it to.
const RenderingComponent = ({initialEntries})=>{
return(
<ThemeProvider>
<MemoryRouter initialEntries={initialEntries}>
<AutoSaveUnsavedChangesGuard {...defaults} />
</MemoryRouter>
</ThemeProvider>
)
}
beforeEach(() => {
jest.spyOn(ReactRouter, 'useHistory').mockReturnValue(makeHistory());
useSavingStatusContextSpy = jest.spyOn(useAutoSaveContextModule, 'useSavingStatusContext')
});
it('should render default. It should not show any modals when there are no errors and the route has not changed.', async () => {
// Default rendering. Works fine, because it's not meant to display anything.
const wrapper = render(
<RenderingComponent initialEntries={['/initial-value']} />
)
expect(screen.queryByText('Saving...')).toBeNull();
expect(screen.queryByText('Unsaved Changes')).toBeNull();
expect(wrapper).toMatchSnapshot()
});
it('should show the saving modal when the route location changes and saving status context is of type SAVING',()=>{
useSavingStatusContextSpy.mockReturnValueOnce(makeAutoSaveContext({savingStatus: SavingStatusType.SAVING}))
const {rerender, debug} = render(
<RenderingComponent initialEntries={["initial-value"]} />
)
rerender(<RenderingComponent initialEntries={['/mock-value','/mock-some-new-value']} />)
// I had hoped that re-rendering with new values for initial entries would trigger a navigation event for the prompt to block. It did not work.
debug()
const savingModal = screen.getByText('Saving...');
expect(savingModal).toBeVisible();
})
})

prevent child component to re-render below context provider with memo

I am using a context provider in React to share data across several components. However since a value gets changed from one of my subcomponents, it rerenders all of my other components which partly leads to performance issues. So I want to prevent my child components to rerender. I tried using React.memo() but it's still rendering whenever I set the state of the Context Provider.
const Authenticator = React.memo(() => {
const [myChat, setMyChat] = useContext(ChatContext);
console.log("rerender"); // gets called everytime on click
return (
<Button
title="click me"
onPress={() => setMyChat({ text: "hello" })}
></Button>
);
});
My Context Provider looks like this:
const ChatProvider = ({ children }) => {
const [myChat, setMyChat] = useState([]);
return (
<ChatContext.Provider value={[myChat, setMyChat]}>
{children}
</ChatContext.Provider>
);
};
My App.js looks like this:
<ChatProvider>
<Authenticator />
</ChatProvider>
React.Memo doesn't help since you are calling the useContext hook which will cause the component to re-render every time the value from the provider changes. You should consider splitting your context into two separate contexts: one for the value, one for the state updater.
const ChatProvider = ({ children }) => {
const [myChat, setMyChat] = useState([])
return (
<ChatDispatchContext.Provider value={setMyChat}>
<ChatValueContext.Provider value={myChat}>
{children}
</ChatValueContext.Provider>
</ChatDispatchContext.Provider>
)
}
Then, update your Authenticator component to the following:
const Authenticator = React.memo(() => {
const setMyChat = useContext(ChatDispatchContext)
return (
<Button
title="click me"
onPress={() => setMyChat({ text: "hello" })}
></Button>
)
})

Incorrect use of useEffect() when filtering an array

I have this React app that's is getting data from a file showing in cards. I have an input to filter the cards to show. The problem I have is that after I filter once, then it doesn't go back to all the cards. I guess that I'm using useEffect wrong. How can I fix this?
import { data } from './data';
const SearchBox = ({ onSearchChange }) => {
return (
<div>
<input
type='search'
placeholder='search'
onChange={(e) => {
onSearchChange(e.target.value);
}}
/>
</div>
);
};
function App() {
const [cards, setCards] = useState(data);
const [searchField, setSearchField] = useState('');
useEffect(() => {
const filteredCards = cards.filter((card) => {
return card.name.toLowerCase().includes(searchField.toLowerCase());
});
setCards(filteredCards);
}, [searchField]);
return (
<div>
<SearchBox onSearchChange={setSearchField} />
<CardList cards={cards} />
</div>
);
}
you should Include both of your state "Card", "searchedField" as dependincies to useEffect method.once any change happens of anyone of them, your component will re-render to keep your data up to date,
useEffect(() => { // your code }, [searchField, cards]);
cards original state will be forever lost unless you filter over original data like const filteredCards = data.filter().
though, in a real project it's not interesting to modify your cards state based on your filter. instead you can remove useEffect and create a filter function wrapped at useCallback:
const filteredCards = useCallback(() => cards.filter(card => {
return card.name.toLowerCase().includes(searchField.toLowerCase());
}), [JSON.stringify(cards), searchField])
return (
<div>
<SearchBox onSearchChange={setSearchField} />
<CardList cards={filteredCards()} />
</div>
);
working example
about array as dependency (cards)
adding an object, or array as dependency at useEffect may crash your app (it will throw Maximum update depth exceeded). it will rerun useEffect forever since its object reference will change everytime. one approach to avoid that is to pass your dependency stringified [JSON.stringify(cards)]

React Component is rendering twice

I have no idea why, the first render shows an empty object and the second shows my data:
function RecipeList(props) {
return (
<div>
{console.log(props.recipes)}
{/*{props.recipes.hits.map(r => (*/}
{/* <Recipe initial="lb" title={r.recipe.label} date={'1 Hour Ago'}/>*/}
</div>
)
}
const RECIPES_URL = 'http://cors-anywhere.herokuapp.com/http://test-es.edamam.com/search?i?app_id=426&q=chicken&to=10'
export default function App() {
const classes = useStyles();
const [data, setData] = useState({});
useEffect(() => {
axios.get(RECIPES_URL)
.then(res => {
setData(res.data);
})
.catch(err => {
console.log(err)
})
}, []);
return (
<div className={classes.root}>
<NavBar/>
<RecipeList recipes={data}/>
<Footer/>
</div>
);
}
I don't know why and I have struggled here for over an hour (React newbie), so I must be missing something.
This is the expected behavior. The reason you see two console logs is because, the first time RecipeList is called with no data (empty object), and the second time when the data becomes available. If you would like to render it only when the data is available you could do something like {Object.keys(data).length > 0 && <RecipeList recipes={data}/>}. By the way this is called conditional rendering.
This is perfectly normal, React will render your component first with no data. Then when your axios.get returns and update data, it will be rendered again with the new data

How to render a different component with React Hooks

I have a parent component with an if statement to show 2 different types of buttons.
What I do, on page load, I check if the API returns an array called lectures as empty or with any values:
lectures.length > 0 ? show button A : show button B
This is the component, called main.js, where the if statement is:
lectures.length > 0
? <div onClick={() => handleCollapseClick()}>
<SectionCollapse open={open} />
</div>
: <LectureAdd dataSection={dataSection} />
The component LectureAdd displays a + sign, which will open a modal to create a new Lecture's title, while, SectionCollapse will show an arrow to show/hide a list of items.
The logic is simple:
1. On page load, if the lectures.lenght > 0 is false, we show the + sign to add a new lecture
OR
2. If the lectures.lenght > 0 is true, we change and show the collpase arrow.
Now, my issue happens when I add the new lecture from the child component LectureAdd.js
import React from 'react';
import { Form, Field } from 'react-final-form';
// Constants
import { URLS } from '../../../../constants';
// Helpers & Utils
import api from '../../../../helpers/API';
// Material UI Icons
import AddBoxIcon from '#material-ui/icons/AddBox';
export default ({ s }) => {
const [open, setOpen] = React.useState(false);
const [ lucturesData, setLecturesData ] = React.useState(0);
const { t } = useTranslation();
const handleAddLecture = ({ lecture_title }) => {
const data = {
"lecture": {
"title": lecture_title
}
}
return api
.post(URLS.NEW_COURSE_LECTURE(s.id), data)
.then(data => {
if(data.status === 201) {
setLecturesData(lucturesData + 1) <=== this doesn't trigger the parent and the button remains a `+` symbol, instead of changing because now `lectures.length` is 1
}
})
.catch(response => {
console.log(response)
});
}
return (
<>
<Button variant="outlined" color="primary" onClick={handleClickOpen}>
<AddBoxIcon />
</Button>
<Form
onSubmit={event => handleAddLecture(event)}
>
{
({
handleSubmit
}) => (
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
<Field
name='lecture_title'
>
{({ input, meta }) => (
<div className={meta.active ? 'active' : ''}>
<input {...input}
type='text'
className="signup-field-input"
/>
</div>
)}
</Field>
<Button
variant="contained"
color="primary"
type="submit"
>
ADD LECTURE
</Button>
</form>
)}
</Form>
</>
)
}
I've been trying to use UseEffect to trigger a re-render on the update of the variable called lucturesData, but it doesn't re-render the parent component.
Any idea?
Thanks Joe
Common problem in React. Sending data top-down is easy, we just pass props. Passing information back up from children components, not as easy. Couple of solutions.
Use a callback (Observer pattern)
Parent passes a prop to the child that is a function. Child invokes the function when something meaningful happens. Parent can then do something when the function gets called like force a re-render.
function Parent(props) {
const [lectures, setLectures] = useState([]);
const handleLectureCreated = useCallback((lecture) => {
// Force a re-render by calling setState
setLectures([...lectures, lecture]);
}, []);
return (
<Child onLectureCreated={handleLectureCreated} />
)
}
function Child({ onLectureCreated }) {
const handleClick = useCallback(() => {
// Call API
let lecture = callApi();
// Notify parent of event
onLectureCreated(lecture);
}, [onLectureCreated]);
return (
<button onClick={handleClick}>Create Lecture</button>
)
}
Similar to solution #1, except for Parent handles API call. The benefit of this, is the Child component becomes more reusable since its "dumbed down".
function Parent(props) {
const [lectures, setLectures] = useState([]);
const handleLectureCreated = useCallback((data) => {
// Call API
let lecture = callApi(data);
// Force a re-render by calling setState
setLectures([...lectures, lecture]);
}, []);
return (
<Child onLectureCreated={handleLectureCreated} />
)
}
function Child({ onLectureCreated }) {
const handleClick = useCallback(() => {
// Create lecture data to send to callback
let lecture = {
formData1: '',
formData2: ''
}
// Notify parent of event
onCreateLecture(lecture);
}, [onCreateLecture]);
return (
<button onClick={handleClick}>Create Lecture</button>
)
}
Use a central state management tool like Redux. This solution allows any component to "listen in" on changes to data, like new Lectures. I won't provide an example here because it's quite in depth.
Essentially all of these solutions involve the same solution executed slightly differently. The first, uses a smart child that notifies its parent of events once their complete. The second, uses dumb children to gather data and notify the parent to take action on said data. The third, uses a centralized state management system.

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