how to reload data from server using react navigation tabs - react-native

I wanted to reload data from the server ever time a certain tab is tapped on. useEffect was however not doing this by itself as I expected it would. I found useFocusEffect however
which seems to do what I want.
import { useFocusEffect } from "#react-navigation/native";
useFocusEffect(
React.useCallback(() => {
request(uid);
return () => {
alert("Screen was unfocused");
// Do something when the screen is unfocused
// Useful for cleanup functions
};
}, [])
);
So, this works great in that every time I tap on that tab it fetches the data like I want. However, in the example code it has the 'useful for cleanup functions'. Is there something I should be doing there? I am basically fetching a list of users.

Related

Trigger UseEffect whenever i switch tabs in React Native Tab Navigator

I have implemented react native tab navigator and added 4 screens to it.
I post some record to api in the second screen and i want to have the updated record in the 4th screens where i am getting updated records..
Useeffect only gets targeted only once, and when i put something in it's argument it gives me strange behavior.
I want useeffect to reload and call the api to get latest items in the 4th screen without putting anything in it's arguement(empty argument)
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Try doing this ;
useEffect(() => {
const unsubscribe = navigation.addListener("focus", () => {
makeApiCall();
});
return unsubscribe;
}, [navigation]);
Get navigation in component's arguments(destructuring)
like below;
const My4thTab = ({ navigation }) => {
}
This way useEffect will trigger only once, every time you come on this screen
but make sure to clear the previous state where you store your data, otherwise, there could be a record duplication.
Hope it helps :)

How unmount a hook after going to new screen with navigate

The context is a simple React Native app with React Navigation.
There are 3 screens.
The first simply displays a button to go to second screen using navigation.navigate("SecondScreen").
The Second contains a hook (see code below) that adds a listener to listen the mouse position. This hook adds the listener in a useEffect hook and removes the listener in the useEffect cleanup function. I just added a console.log in the listener function to see when the function is triggered.
This screen contains also a button to navigate to the Third screen, that only shows a text.
If I go from first screen to second screen: listener in hook start running. Good.
If I go back to the first screen using default react navigation 's back button in header. the listener stops. Good.
If I go again to second screen, then listener runs again. Good.
But if I now go from second screen to third screen, the listener is still running. Not Good.
How can I unmount the hook when going to third screen, and mount it again when going back to second screen?
Please read the following before answering :
I know that:
this is due to the fact that react navigation kills second screen when we go back to first screen, and then trigger the cleanup function returned by the useEffect in the hook. And that it doesn't kill second screen when we navigate to third screen, and then doesn't trigger the cleanup function.
the react navigation's hook useFocusEffect could be used to resolve this kind of problem. But it can't be used here because it will involve to replace the useEffect in the hook by the useFocusEffect. And I want my hook to be usable in every context, even if react navigation is not installed. More, I'm using here a custom hook for explanation, but it's the same problem for any hook (for example, the native useWindowDimensions).
Then does anyone know how I could manage this case to avoid to have the listener running on third screen ?
This is the code of the hook sample, that I take from https://github.com/rehooks/window-mouse-position/blob/master/index.js, but any hook could be used.
"use strict";
let { useState, useEffect } = require("react");
function useWindowMousePosition() {
let [WindowMousePosition, setWindowMousePosition] = useState({
x: null,
y: null
});
function handleMouseMove(e) {
console.log("handleMouseMove");
setWindowMousePosition({
x: e.pageX,
y: e.pageY
});
}
useEffect(() => {
window.addEventListener("mousemove", handleMouseMove);
return () => {
window.removeEventListener("mousemove", handleMouseMove);
};
}, []);
return WindowMousePosition;
}
module.exports = useWindowMousePosition;
the react navigation's hook useFocusEffect could be used to resolve this kind of problem. But it can't be used here because it will involve to replace the useEffect in the hook by the useFocusEffect. And I want my hook to be usable in every context, even if react navigation is not installed
So your hook somehow needs to know about the navigation state. If you can't use useFocusEffect, you'll need to pass the information about whether the screen is focused or not (e.g. with an enabled prop).
function useWindowMousePosition({ enabled = true } = {}) {
let [WindowMousePosition, setWindowMousePosition] = useState({
x: null,
y: null
});
useEffect(() => {
if (!enabled) {
return;
}
function handleMouseMove(e) {
console.log("handleMouseMove");
setWindowMousePosition({
x: e.pageX,
y: e.pageY
});
}
window.addEventListener("mousemove", handleMouseMove);
return () => {
window.removeEventListener("mousemove", handleMouseMove);
};
}, [enabled]);
return WindowMousePosition;
}
And then pass enabled based on screen focus:
const isFocused = useIsFocused();
const windowMousePosition = useWindowMousePosition({ enabled: isFocused });
Note that this approach will need the screen to re-render when it's blurred/focused unlike useFocusEffect.

Render useEffect/Async function from a difference screen

I have an async function and a useEffect that fetches data once.
const [data, setData] = useState([]);
async function fetchData() {
fetch(`${baseURL}api/v1/data/${userId}`)
.then((response) => response.json())
.then((response) => {
try {
if (response.length > 0) {
setData(response);
} else {
setData([]);
// console.log(response);
}
} catch (err) {
console.log('no response');
alert(err);
}
});
}
useEffect(() => {
fetchData();
}, [userId, data]);
I could remove the array on the use effect but it will always run the function if I do that.
So when I open the screen, it will fetch the latest data. However, if I want to add a new data from a different screen, it wont trigger the async nor the useEffect function. How should I tell RN that there is a new data? Would AsyncStorage work? to update a data from one screen and apply the data here? I am open for suggestions on how to proceed.
What I meant by a different screen: A register screen and a view screen. In this case, I already opened the View Screen before I open the register screen so view screen is already rendered.
In React Navigation and most of the navigation libraries, screens don't get unmounted from the stack when it's navigated to another screen. For example if you have a list of something and then you press to "+" button to navigate to the "new item" screen to add a new one, when you press back button, since the previous "list" screen was not unmounted from the stack, useEffect won't be triggered, and you won't get the new data.
There are a couple of solutions for this case:
You can hold your data in a global state, and when you update an item from another screen, after a successful API call, you can also update the global state. You can look for React Context, MobX or Redux for this.
You can pass parent's state with a callback from one screen to another if they are not that apart from each other. So that in the "new data" screen, you can call that callback function to change the parent screen's state too.
Third, and IMO the best way is using a hook called useFocusEffect by React Navigation itself: https://reactnavigation.org/docs/use-focus-effect
I hope these will help.

React Native: Didn't rerender the component after data was updated

i have two screens one where the profile information is showing and another screen to edit the information. If i entered the first screen profile it's shows me the right data from the database. Then i move to the next screen where i can change the Information everthing worked so far. But if I go back to the previous screen i still see the old data. So there is no rerendering.
But if i navigate to the other screen that screen fetched the new data. and the call getCurrentUserProfile is executed
This ist the screen with the profile information about the user.
const ProfileScreen = props => {
const [userObj, setUserObj] = useState({});
useEffect(() => {
let mounted = true;
getCurrentUserProfile().then(user => {
if (mounted) {
setUserObj(user);
}
console.log(user)
});
return () => mounted = false;
}, []);
console.log("----b------") // This is only output on the first call
}
How can i fix this. Is there a way when in the database is something changed, so the component rerender and fetches the new data.
Thanks.
You are probably using #react-navigation package. So, if you want to refetch data when come back to the previous page, you can use https://reactnavigation.org/docs/use-is-focused on that “previous” page.
Just look at their docs, you will get the idea.
P.S: Usually we don't unmount components directly. In React Native, we use navigator to mount/unmount components

NavigatorIOS - Is there a viewDidAppear or viewWillAppear equivalent?

I'm working on porting an app to React-Native to test it out. When I pop back to a previous view in the navigator stack (hit the back button) I'd like to run some code. Is there a viewWillAppear method? I see on the Navigator there is a "onDidFocus()" callback which sounds like it might be the right thing.. but there doesn't appear to be anything like that on NavigatorIOS
I find a way to simulate viewDidAppear and viewDidDisappear in UIKit,
but i'm not sure if it's a "right" way.
componentDidMount: function() {
// your code here
var currentRoute = this.props.navigator.navigationContext.currentRoute;
this.props.navigator.navigationContext.addListener('didfocus', (event) => {
//didfocus emit in componentDidMount
if (currentRoute === event.data.route) {
console.log("me didAppear");
} else {
console.log("me didDisappear, other didAppear");
}
console.log(event.data.route);
});
},
For people who are using hooks and react navigation version 5.x, I think you can do this to expect similar behavior of viewDidAppear:
import React, {useCallback } from "react";
import { useFocusEffect } from "#react-navigation/native";
const SomeComponent = () => {
useFocusEffect(
useCallback(() => {
//View did appear
}, [])
);
//Other codes
}
For more information, refer https://reactnavigation.org/docs/use-focus-effect/
Here is a solution to simulate viewDidAppear with latest React Navigation version:
componentDidMount() {
var currentRoute = this.props.navigation.state.routeName;
this.props.navigation.addListener('didFocus', (event) => {
if (currentRoute === event.state.routeName) {
// VIEW DID APPEAR
}
});
}
Thanks Jichao Wu for the idea :)
If you are using React Navigation, use this:
componentDidMount(){
this.props.navigation.addListener('focus', () => {
// put your code here
});
}
Basically you are adding a focus event when component is first mounted. It will be called whenever (including the first time too) the component is focused. Ideally you'd also need to remove listener on unmount by capturing the value returned from addListener call and call that returned value (which is actually the unsubscribe function).
I've created a custom button with onLeftButtonPress to handled the back to run code as per https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/26
The way to get around it is to either set your custom back button on the left side, or to implement - viewWillDisappear: in iOS.
You can use ComponentWillMount or if you're leaving the view you can use ComponentWillUnmount which will run some code on exit.