Posted on Mar 6, 2021

useState hook simplified!

#react #typescript #javascript #webdev

Lets Begin the discussion

useState is a react hook, we call it inside a functional component to add some local state to it. Between re-renders React actually preserves the state.

useState returns a pair

1. current state
2. function that lets you update it.

this is how you declare const [ age, setAge ] = React.useState(10);

consider this functional component, it updates the age.

const Age = () => {
     const [ age, setAge ] = React.useState(10);
     // Onclick function to update the state
     const updateAge = ()=> {
           setAge(age => age + 1);
     }
     return (
             <div>
                <button onClick={updateAge}> {age}</button>
             </div>   
    );
}

What happens here lets discuss

Whenever this button is clicked updateAge function is called.
The setAge method is called and state is updated.
The Component renders.
useState is called for updated state value.

This perception is very Wrong !!, personally, I had the same misconception. To clear this and prove this point, I will ask you a question

Did it ever occur to you that useState hook doesn't update immediately ?

The answer to this is because they don't make any direct change to the state object, instead they create queue to optimize performance. This is why they Do not reflect immediately.

React.useState create queues for React core to update the state object of a React component.

So the process to update React state is asynchronous for performance reasons. That’s why changes don’t feel immediate.

Since react.useState is asynchronous now how someone will perform something after after react state is changed

 const Age = () => {
     const [ age, setAge ] = React.useState(10);
     // Onclick function to update the state
     const updateAge = ()=> {
           setAge(age => age + 1);
     }
     // This part will act as a callback whenever state updated 
     React.useEffect(()=>{
     if(age < 0){
        alert("Age can't be less then 0, you dumb");
      }
     },[age])
     return (
             <div>
                <button onClick={updateAge}> {age}</button>
             </div>   
    );
}

Rules for using useState

1. Only call Hooks at the top level.
2. Only call Hooks from React functions

Thanks for Bearing,
I will be writing articles explaining each hook provided by react in upcoming articles please follow to stay connected.

Top comments (3)

Amin • Mar 6 '21

Do not forget to wrap your callbacks inside of your components with a useCallback.

import React, {useState, useCallback} from "react";

const Example = () => {
  const [counter, setCounter] = useState();
  const increaseCounter = useCallback(() => setCounter(oldCounter => oldCounter + 1), []);

  return (
    <button onClick={increaseCounter}>Increase ({counter})</button>
  );
};

That way, your callback does not get recalculated each time your component is rendered (when the state is updated). This will prevent the client from unnecessarily redefining a function that does not change over time (since there are no dependencies).

Or, define the function outside of your component using an Inversion of Control.

import React, {useState} from "react";

const updateCounterWith = setter => () => setter(counter => counter + 1);

const Example = () => {
  const [counter, setCounter] = useState();

  return (
    <button onClick={updateCounterWith(setCounter)}>Increase ({counter})</button>
  );
};