UseEffect causes infinite loop with swipeable routes - reactjs

Question

I am using the https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-swipeable-routes library to set up some swipeable views in my React app.
I have a custom context that contains a dynamic list of views that need to be rendered as children of the swipeable router, and I have added two buttons for a 'next' and 'previous' view for desktop users.
Now I am stuck on how to get the next and previous item from the array of modules.
I thought to fix it with a custom context and custom hook, but when using that I am getting stuck in an infinite loop.
My custom hook:
import { useContext } from 'react';
import { RootContext } from '../context/root-context';
const useShow = () => {
const [state, setState] = useContext(RootContext);
const setModules = (modules) => {
setState((currentState) => ({
...currentState,
modules,
}));
};
const setActiveModule = (currentModule) => {
// here is the magic. we get the currentModule, so we know which module is visible on the screen
// with this info, we can determine what the previous and next modules are
const index = state.modules.findIndex((module) => module.id === currentModule.id);
// if we are on first item, then there is no previous
let previous = index - 1;
if (previous < 0) {
previous = 0;
}
// if we are on last item, then there is no next
let next = index + 1;
if (next > state.modules.length - 1) {
next = state.modules.length - 1;
}
// update the state. this will trigger every component listening to the previous and next values
setState((currentState) => ({
...currentState,
previous: state.modules[previous].id,
next: state.modules[next].id,
}));
};
return {
modules: state.modules,
setActiveModule,
setModules,
previous: state.previous,
next: state.next,
};
};
export default useShow;
My custom context:
import React, { useState } from 'react';
export const RootContext = React.createContext([{}, () => {}]);
export default (props) => {
const [state, setState] = useState({});
return (
<RootContext.Provider value={[state, setState]}>
{props.children}
</RootContext.Provider>
);
};
and here the part where it goes wrong, in my Content.js
import React, { useEffect } from 'react';
import { Route } from 'react-router-dom';
import SwipeableRoutes from 'react-swipeable-routes';
import useShow from '../../hooks/useShow';
import NavButton from '../NavButton';
// for this demo we just have one single module component
// when we have real data, there will be a VoteModule and CommentModule at least
// there are 2 important object given to the props; module and match
// module comes from us, match comes from swipeable views library
const ModuleComponent = ({ module, match }) => {
// we need this function from the custom hook
const { setActiveModule } = useShow();
// if this view is active (match.type === 'full') then we tell the show hook that
useEffect(() => {
if (match.type === 'full') {
setActiveModule(module);
}
},[match]);
return (
<div style={{ height: 300, backgroundColor: module.title }}>{module.title}</div>
);
};
const Content = () => {
const { modules, previousModule, nextModule } = useShow();
// this is a safety measure, to make sure we don't start rendering stuff when there are no modules yet
if (!modules) {
return <div>Loading...</div>;
}
// this determines which component needs to be rendered for each module
// when we have real data we will switch on module.type or something similar
const getComponentForModule = (module) => {
// this is needed to get both the module and match objects inside the component
// the module object is provided by us and the match object comes from swipeable routes
const ModuleComponentWithProps = (props) => (
<ModuleComponent module={module} {...props} />
);
return ModuleComponentWithProps;
};
// this renders all the modules
// because we return early if there are no modules, we can be sure that here the modules array is always existing
const renderModules = () => (
modules.map((module) => (
<Route
path={`/${module.id}`}
key={module.id}
component={getComponentForModule(module)}
defaultParams={module}
/>
))
);
return (
<div className="content">
<div>
<SwipeableRoutes>
{renderModules()}
</SwipeableRoutes>
<NavButton type="previous" to={previousModule} />
<NavButton type="next" to={nextModule} />
</div>
</div>
);
};
export default Content;
For sake of completion, also my NavButton.js :
import React from 'react';
import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
const NavButton = ({ type, to }) => {
const iconClassName = ['fa'];
if (type === 'next') {
iconClassName.push('fa-arrow-right');
} else {
iconClassName.push('fa-arrow-left');
}
return (
<div className="">
<NavLink className="nav-link-button" to={`/${to}`}>
<i className={iconClassName.join(' ')} />
</NavLink>
</div>
);
};
export default NavButton;
In Content.js there is this part:
// if this view is active (match.type === 'full') then we tell the show hook that
useEffect(() => {
if (match.type === 'full') {
setActiveModule(module);
}
},[match]);
which is causing the infinite loop. If I comment out the setActiveModule call, then the infinite loop is gone, but of course then I also won't have the desired outcome.
I am sure I am doing something wrong in either the usage of useEffect and/or the custom hook I have created, but I just can't figure out what it is.
Any help is much appreciated

Answer 1

I think it's the problem with the way you are using the component in the Route.
Try using:
<Route
path={`/${module.id}`}
key={module.id}
component={() => getComponentForModule(module)}
defaultParams={module}
/>
EDIT:
I have a feeling that it's because of your HOC.
Can you try
component={ModuleComponent}
defaultParams={module}
And get the module from the match object.
const ModuleComponent = ({ match }) => {
const {type, module} = match;
const { setActiveModule } = useShow();
useEffect(() => {
if (type === 'full') {
setActiveModule(module);
}
},[module, setActiveModule]);

Answer 2

match is an object and evaluated in the useEffect will always cause the code to be executed. Track match.type instead. Also you need to track the module there. If that's an object, you'll need to wrap it in a deep compare hook: https://github.com/kentcdodds/use-deep-compare-effect
useEffect(() => {
if (match.type === 'full') {
setActiveModule(module);
}
},[match.type, module]);