How to goBack globally between stacks in React Navigation? - react-native

Question

I am using react navigation ("#react-navigation/native": "^5.1.3") and I have the following setup:
BottomNavigation
-stack1
-stack2
It looks like goBack() is local to the stack. What that means is that if I navigate from a page in stack1 to a page in stack2, I am unable to go the the page I came up from.
Solutions (or rather hacks) that didn't work for me:
pass the source screen as param and then navigate. That isn't a real back button and does not play well with android back button.
Put all pages in bottom navigation. Bottom navigation does not have animations it seems, so I can not achieve the right transitions
Put all pages in stack navigation. In this case I lose the fixed bottom navigation. I can add it to each page, but when transitioning it will go away with the old screen and come again with the new one, which is undesirable.
So I am wondering if I am missing something big here, like a globalBack() that I overlooked?!
And also, I am looking for a solution to this problem which remains.

Answer 1

Naturally if you have bottoms tabs with each tab having its own stack navigator, calling navigation.goBack() will go back from one screen inside stack navigator to previous screen inside that same stack navigator. That's how navigation works in pretty much every app. Pressing back button or swiping back does not change tab for you, tabs are more like separate small apps by itself. If you want to specifically jump from one tab to another instead of going back in stack, use navigation.dispatch(TabActions.jumpTo('Profile')). If pressing something inside tab#1 makes you go to to tab#2 then this screen most likely also belongs to tab#1
also, take a look at backBehavior prop of Tab.Navigator, it might be doing what you want depending on what exactly it is you want https://reactnavigation.org/docs/bottom-tab-navigator/#backbehavior

Answer 2

I'm using bottom tab navigator with 2 stacks as well. I faced similar issue and agree with #Max explanation. Due to my Notification screen is in Stack 1, I have to goBack to Notification after navigating away to Detail screen. After searching for the fix, I'm using this workaround (for v6).
Tab 1 - Stack 1 (Home > Notification screen)
Tab 2 - Stack 2 (Reward Home > Reward Detail screen)
I passed a param when navigating from Notification to RewardDetail. Then I override the headerLeft and use BackHandler to handle Android back function.
Notification.js
navigation.navigate('RewardStack', {
screen: 'RewardDetail',
initial: false,
params:{notification: notification_data_source}
})
RewardDetail.js
const payload = route.params.notification
//1. override headerLeft button
useLayoutEffect(() => {
if(payload)
navigation.setOptions({
headerLeft: () => (
<Button
TouchableComponent={TouchableOpacity}
buttonStyle={{paddingTop:4, paddingLeft:0}}
type='clear'
icon={<Icon name={'chevron-left'} size={30} style={{color:'#FFF'}} />}
onPress={()=>{
navigation.goBack()
navigation.navigate('Notification') //can use this only
}}
/>
)
})
}, [navigation]);
//2. Add BackHandler
useEffect(() => {
const onBackPress = () => {
if (payload) {
navigation.goBack()
navigation.navigate('Notification') //can use this only
return true
} else {
return false
}
}
BackHandler.addEventListener('hardwareBackPress', onBackPress)
return () => BackHandler.removeEventListener('hardwareBackPress', onBackPress)
}, [navigation]);
I can just use navigation.navigate('Notification') to return to Notification but this will cause Detail screen to stay mounted in Stack 2. I want the Stack 2 to return to RewardHome after go back to Notification. Hence I used:
navigation.goBack() //pop screen to RewardHome
navigation.navigate('Notification') //jump to Notification