For some odd reason the value of props in my "unmount" useEffect hook is always at the original state (true), I can console and see in the devtools that it has changed to false but when the useEffect is called on unmount it is always true.
I have tried adding the props to the dependancies but then it is no longer called only on unmount and does not serve it's purpose.
Edit: I am aware the dependancy array is empty, I cannot have it triggered on each change, it needs to be triggered ONLY on unmount with the update values from the props. Is this possible?
React.useEffect(() => {
return () => {
if (report.data.draft) { // this is ALWAYS true
report.snapshot.ref.delete();
}
};
}, []);
How can I conditionally run my code on unmount with the condition being dependant on the updated props state?
If you want code to run on unmount only, you need to use the empty dependency array. If you also require data from the closure that may change in between when the component first rendered and when it last rendered, you'll need to use a ref to make that data available when the unmount happens. For example:
const onUnmount = React.useRef();
onUnmount.current = () => {
if (report.data.draft) {
report.snapshot.ref.delete();
}
}
React.useEffect(() => {
return () => onUnmount.current();
}, []);
If you do this often, you may want to extract it into a custom hook:
export const useUnmount = (fn): => {
const fnRef = useRef(fn);
fnRef.current = fn;
useEffect(() => () => fnRef.current(), []);
};
// used like:
useUnmount(() => {
if (report.data.draft) {
report.snapshot.ref.delete();
}
});
The dependency list of your effect is empty which means that react will only create the closure over your outer variables once on mount and the function will only see the values as they have been on mount. To re-create the closure when report.data.draft changes you have to add it to the dependency list:
React.useEffect(() => {
return () => {
if (report.data.draft) { // this is ALWAYS true
report.snapshot.ref.delete();
}
};
}, [report.data.draft]);
There also is an eslint plugin that warns you about missing dependencies: https://www.npmjs.com/package/eslint-plugin-react-hooks
Using custom js events you can emulate unmounting a componentWillUnmount even when having dependency. Here is how I did it.
Problem:
useEffect(() => {
//Dependent Code
return () => {
// Desired to perform action on unmount only 'componentWillUnmount'
// But it does not
if(somethingChanged){
// Perform an Action only if something changed
}
}
},[somethingChanged]);
Solution:
// Rewrite this code to arrange emulate this behaviour
// Decoupling using events
useEffect( () => {
return () => {
// Executed only when component unmounts,
let e = new Event("componentUnmount");
document.dispatchEvent(e);
}
}, []);
useEffect( () => {
function doOnUnmount(){
if(somethingChanged){
// Perform an Action only if something changed
}
}
document.addEventListener("componentUnmount",doOnUnmount);
return () => {
// This is done whenever value of somethingChanged changes
document.removeEventListener("componentUnmount",doOnUnmount);
}
}, [somethingChanged])
Caveats: useEffects have to be in order, useEffect with no dependency have to be written before, this is to avoid the event being called after its removed.
I admit I will probably never understand hooks but is this assertion correct that a prop based useEffect should only run when the prop changes? In the following code both useEffects run the first time comp is rendered. Why?
function Comp() {
const [search, setSearch] = useState();
useEffect(() => {
console.log("this should run once on comp load")
}, [])
useEffect(() => {
console.log("this should only run if search prop changes")
}, [search])
return (
<div>
</div>
);
}
Sample Code
It seem that you misundersood how hooks work.
The official hook effect documentation states:
Does useEffect run after every render? Yes! By default, it runs both after the first render and after every update. ...
So all the useEffect hooks will run on first render. By adding search dependency to your hook, you only stated that the hook should additionally run on each change of search.
If you want to disable the functionality of a hook effect on the first render then you can construct a custom hook which utilises useRef hook to conditionally block the initial run of the useEffect:
const useDidUpdate = (callback, dependencies) => {
const didMountRef = useRef(false);
useEffect(() => { // block first call of the hook and forward each consecutive one
if (didMountRef.current) {
callback();
} else {
didMountRef.current = true;
}
}, dependencies);
};
Then you would call it like:
useDidUpdate(() => {
console.log("this should only run if search prop changes")
}, [ search ]);
I'm trying to call useState inside an async function like:
const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = useState({});
const fetchData = () => useCallback(
() => {
if (!isEmpty(searchParams)) {
setIsLoading(true); // this is a state hook
fetchData(searchParams)
.then((ids) => {
setIds(ids); // Setting the id state here
}).catch(() => setIsLoading(false));
}
},
[],
);
There are two states I am trying to set inside this fetchData function (setIsLoading and setIds), but whenever this function is executed am getting the error:
Uncaught Error: Invalid hook call. Hooks can only be called inside of the body of a function component. This could happen for one of the following reasons:
1. You might have mismatching versions of React and the renderer (such as React DOM)
2. You might be breaking the Rules of Hooks
3. You might have more than one copy of React in the same app
What is this Rule of hooks I am breaking here?
Is there any way around to set these states from the function?
PS: I only used the useCallback hook here for calling this function with lodash/debounce
Edit: The function is called inside useEffect like:
const debouncedSearch = debounce(fetchSearchData, 1000); // Is this the right way to use debounce? I think this is created every render.
const handleFilter = (filterParams) => {
setSearchParams(filterParams);
};
useEffect(() => {
console.log('effect', searchParams); // {name: 'asd'}
debouncedSearch(searchParams); // Tried without passing arguments here as it is available in state.
// But new searchParams are not showing in the `fetchData`. so had to pass from here.
}, [searchParams]);
The hook rule you are breaking concerns useCallback because you are returning it as the result of your fetchData;
useCallback should be called on top level; not in a callback, like this:
const fetchData = useCallback(
() => {
if (!isEmpty(searchParams)) {
setIsLoading(true); // this is a state hook
fetchData(searchParams)
.then((ids) => {
setIds(ids); // Setting the id state here
}).catch(() => setIsLoading(false));
}
},
[],
);
The code you wrote is equivalent to
const fetchData = () => { return React.useCallback(...
or even
function fetchData() { return React.useCallback(...
To read more about why you can't do this, I highly recommend this blog post.
edit:
To use the debounced searchParams, you don't need to debounce the function that does the call, but rather debounce the searched value. (and you don't actually the fetchData function that calls React.useCallback at all, just use it directly in your useEffect)
I recommend using this useDebounce hook to debounce your search query
const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = React.useState('');
const debouncedSearchParams = useDebounce(searchParams, 300);// let's say you debounce using a delay of 300ms
React.useEffect(() => {
if (!isEmpty(debouncedSearchQuery)) {
setIsLoading(true); // this is a state hook
fetchData(debouncedSearchParams)
.then((ids) => {
setIds(ids); // Setting the id state here
}).catch(() => setIsLoading(false));
}
}, [debouncedSearchParams]); // only call this effect again if the debounced value changes
I'm using a componentDidUpdate function
componentDidUpdate(prevProps){
if(prevProps.value !== this.props.users){
ipcRenderer.send('userList:store',this.props.users);
}
to this
const users = useSelector(state => state.reddit.users)
useEffect(() => {
console.log('users changed')
console.log({users})
}, [users]);
but it I get the message 'users changed' when I start the app. But the user state HAS NOT changed at all
Yep, that's how useEffect works. It runs after every render by default. If you supply an array as a second parameter, it will run on the first render, but then skip subsequent renders if the specified values have not changed. There is no built in way to skip the first render, since that's a pretty rare case.
If you need the code to have no effect on the very first render, you're going to need to do some extra work. You can use useRef to create a mutable variable, and change it to indicate once the first render is complete. For example:
const isFirstRender = useRef(true);
const users = useSelector(state => state.reddit.users);
useEffect(() => {
if (isFirstRender.current) {
isFirstRender.current = false;
} else {
console.log('users changed')
console.log({users})
}
}, [users]);
If you find yourself doing this a lot, you could create a custom hook so you can reuse it easier. Something like this:
const useUpdateEffect = (callback, dependencies) => {
const isFirstRender = useRef(true);
useEffect(() => {
if (isFirstRender.current) {
isFirstRender.current = false;
} else {
return callback();
}
}, dependencies);
}
// to be used like:
const users = useSelector(state => state.reddit.users);
useUpdateEffect(() => {
console.log('users changed')
console.log({users})
}, [users]);
If you’re familiar with React class lifecycle methods, you can think
of useEffect Hook as componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate, and
componentWillUnmount combined.
As from: Using the Effect Hook
This, it will be invoked as the component is painted in your DOM, which is likely to be closer to componentDidMount.
With React's new Effect Hooks, I can tell React to skip applying an effect if certain values haven't changed between re-renders - Example from React's docs:
useEffect(() => {
document.title = `You clicked ${count} times`;
}, [count]); // Only re-run the effect if count changes
But the example above applies the effect upon initial render, and upon subsequent re-renders where count has changed. How can I tell React to skip the effect on the initial render?
As the guide states,
The Effect Hook, useEffect, adds the ability to perform side effects from a function component. It serves the same purpose as componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate, and componentWillUnmount in React classes, but unified into a single API.
In this example from the guide it's expected that count is 0 only on initial render:
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
So it will work as componentDidUpdate with additional check:
useEffect(() => {
if (count)
document.title = `You clicked ${count} times`;
}, [count]);
This is basically how custom hook that can be used instead of useEffect may work:
function useDidUpdateEffect(fn, inputs) {
const didMountRef = useRef(false);
useEffect(() => {
if (didMountRef.current) {
return fn();
}
didMountRef.current = true;
}, inputs);
}
Credits go to #Tholle for suggesting useRef instead of setState.
Here's a custom hook that just provides a boolean flag to indicate whether the current render is the first render (when the component was mounted). It's about the same as some of the other answers but you can use the flag in a useEffect or the render function or anywhere else in the component you want. Maybe someone can propose a better name.
import { useRef, useEffect } from 'react';
export const useIsMount = () => {
const isMountRef = useRef(true);
useEffect(() => {
isMountRef.current = false;
}, []);
return isMountRef.current;
};
You can use it like:
import React, { useEffect } from 'react';
import { useIsMount } from './useIsMount';
const MyComponent = () => {
const isMount = useIsMount();
useEffect(() => {
if (isMount) {
console.log('First Render');
} else {
console.log('Subsequent Render');
}
});
return isMount ? <p>First Render</p> : <p>Subsequent Render</p>;
};
And here's a test for it if you're interested:
import { renderHook } from '#testing-library/react-hooks';
import { useIsMount } from '../useIsMount';
describe('useIsMount', () => {
it('should be true on first render and false after', () => {
const { result, rerender } = renderHook(() => useIsMount());
expect(result.current).toEqual(true);
rerender();
expect(result.current).toEqual(false);
rerender();
expect(result.current).toEqual(false);
});
});
Our use case was to hide animated elements if the initial props indicate they should be hidden. On later renders if the props changed, we did want the elements to animate out.
I found a solution that is more simple and has no need to use another hook, but it has drawbacks.
useEffect(() => {
// skip initial render
return () => {
// do something with dependency
}
}, [dependency])
This is just an example that there are others ways of doing it if your case is very simple.
The drawback of doing this is that you can't have a cleanup effect and will only execute when the dependency array changes the second time.
This isn't recommended to use and you should use what the other answers are saying, but I only added this here so people know that there is more than one way of doing this.
Edit:
Just to make it more clear, you shouldn't use this approach to solving the problem in the question (skipping the initial render), this is only for teaching purpose that shows you can do the same thing in different ways.
If you need to skip the initial render, please use the approach on other answers.
I use a regular state variable instead of a ref.
// Initializing didMount as false
const [didMount, setDidMount] = useState(false)
// Setting didMount to true upon mounting
useEffect(() => { setDidMount(true) }, [])
// Now that we have a variable that tells us wether or not the component has
// mounted we can change the behavior of the other effect based on that
const [count, setCount] = useState(0)
useEffect(() => {
if (didMount) document.title = `You clicked ${count} times`
}, [count])
We can refactor the didMount logic as a custom hook like this.
function useDidMount() {
const [didMount, setDidMount] = useState(false)
useEffect(() => { setDidMount(true) }, [])
return didMount
}
Finally, we can use it in our component like this.
const didMount = useDidMount()
const [count, setCount] = useState(0)
useEffect(() => {
if (didMount) document.title = `You clicked ${count} times`
}, [count])
UPDATE Using useRef hook to avoid the extra rerender (Thanks to #TomEsterez for the suggestion)
This time our custom hook returns a function returning our ref's current value. U can use the ref directly too, but I like this better.
function useDidMount() {
const mountRef = useRef(false);
useEffect(() => { mountRef.current = true }, []);
return () => mountRef.current;
}
Usage
const MyComponent = () => {
const didMount = useDidMount();
useEffect(() => {
if (didMount()) // do something
else // do something else
})
return (
<div>something</div>
);
}
On a side note, I've never had to use this hook and there are probably better ways to handle this which would be more aligned with the React programming model.
Let me introduce to you react-use.
npm install react-use
Wanna run:
only after first render? -------> useUpdateEffect
only once? -------> useEffectOnce
check is it first mount? -------> useFirstMountState
Want to run effect with deep compare, shallow compare or throttle? and much more here.
Don't want to install a library? Check the code & copy. (maybe a star for the good folks there too)
Best thing is one less thing for you to maintain.
A TypeScript and CRA friendly hook, replace it with useEffect, this hook works like useEffect but won't be triggered while the first render happens.
import * as React from 'react'
export const useLazyEffect:typeof React.useEffect = (cb, dep) => {
const initializeRef = React.useRef<boolean>(false)
React.useEffect((...args) => {
if (initializeRef.current) {
cb(...args)
} else {
initializeRef.current = true
}
// eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
}, dep)
}
Here is my implementation based on Estus Flask's answer written in Typescript. It also supports cleanup callback.
import { DependencyList, EffectCallback, useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
export function useDidUpdateEffect(
effect: EffectCallback,
deps?: DependencyList
) {
// a flag to check if the component did mount (first render's passed)
// it's unrelated to the rendering process so we don't useState here
const didMountRef = useRef(false);
// effect callback runs when the dependency array changes, it also runs
// after the component mounted for the first time.
useEffect(() => {
// if so, mark the component as mounted and skip the first effect call
if (!didMountRef.current) {
didMountRef.current = true;
} else {
// subsequent useEffect callback invocations will execute the effect as normal
return effect();
}
}, deps);
}
Live Demo
The live demo below demonstrates the different between useEffect and useDidUpdateEffect hooks
I was going to comment on the currently accepted answer, but ran out of space!
Firstly, it's important to move away from thinking in terms of lifecycle events when using functional components. Think in terms of prop/state changes. I had a similar situation where I only wanted a particular useEffect function to fire when a particular prop (parentValue in my case) changes from its initial state. So, I created a ref that was based on its initial value:
const parentValueRef = useRef(parentValue);
and then included the following at the start of the useEffect fn:
if (parentValue === parentValueRef.current) return;
parentValueRef.current = parentValue;
(Basically, don't run the effect if parentValue hasn't changed. Update the ref if it has changed, ready for the next check, and continue to run the effect)
So, although other solutions suggested will solve the particular use-case you've provided, it will help in the long run to change how you think in relation to functional components.
Think of them as primarily rendering a component based on some props.
If you genuinely need some local state, then useState will provide that, but don't assume your problem will be solved by storing local state.
If you have some code that will alter your props during a render, this 'side-effect' needs to be wrapped in a useEffect, but the purpose of this is to have a clean render that isn't affected by something changing as it's rendering. The useEffect hook will be run after the render has completed and, as you've pointed out, it's run with every render - unless the second parameter is used to supply a list of props/states to identify what changed items will cause it to be run subsequent times.
Good luck on your journey to Functional Components / Hooks! Sometimes it's necessary to unlearn something to get to grips with a new way of doing things :)
This is an excellent primer: https://overreacted.io/a-complete-guide-to-useeffect/
Below solution is similar to above, just a little cleaner way i prefer.
const [isMount, setIsMount] = useState(true);
useEffect(()=>{
if(isMount){
setIsMount(false);
return;
}
//Do anything here for 2nd render onwards
}, [args])
You can use custom hook to run use effect after mount.
const useEffectAfterMount = (cb, dependencies) => {
const mounted = useRef(true);
useEffect(() => {
if (!mounted.current) {
return cb();
}
mounted.current = false;
}, dependencies); // eslint-disable-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
};
Here is the typescript version:
const useEffectAfterMount = (cb: EffectCallback, dependencies: DependencyList | undefined) => {
const mounted = useRef(true);
useEffect(() => {
if (!mounted.current) {
return cb();
}
mounted.current = false;
}, dependencies); // eslint-disable-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
};
Example:
useEffectAfterMount(() => {
document.title = `You clicked ${count} times`;
}, [count])