CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptreactjs
rodrigocfd
rodrigocfd

Reputation: 8053

React: set focus on componentDidMount, how to do it with hooks?

In React, with classes I can set the focus to an input when the component loads, something like this:

class Foo extends React.Component {
    txt1 = null;

    componentDidMount() {
        this.txt1.focus();
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <input type="text"
                ref={e => this.txt1 = e}/>
        );
    }
}

I'm trying to rewrite this component using the new hooks proposal.

I suppose I should use useEffect instead of componentDidMount, but how can I rewrite the focus logic?

Upvotes: 18

Views: 19849

Answers (2)

Ruslan Korkin
Ruslan Korkin

Reputation: 5081

According to official docs: https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-reference.html#useref you can use useRef.

useRef returns a mutable ref object whose .current property is initialized to the passed argument (initialValue). The returned object will persist for the full lifetime of the component.

A common use case is to access a child imperatively:

function TextInputWithFocusButton() {
  const inputEl = useRef(null);
  const onButtonClick = () => {
    // `current` points to the mounted text input element
    inputEl.current.focus();
  };
  return (
    <>
      <input ref={inputEl} type="text" />
      <button onClick={onButtonClick}>Focus the input</button>
    </>
  );
}

Essentially, useRef is like a “box” that can hold a mutable value in its .current property.

You might be familiar with refs primarily as a way to access the DOM. If you pass a ref object to React with <div ref={myRef} />, React will set its .current property to the corresponding DOM node whenever that node changes.

However, useRef() is useful for more than the ref attribute. It’s handy for keeping any mutable value around similar to how you’d use instance fields in classes.

This works because useRef() creates a plain JavaScript object. The only difference between useRef() and creating a {current: ...} object yourself is that useRef will give you the same ref object on every render.

Keep in mind that useRef doesn’t notify you when its content changes. Mutating the .current property doesn’t cause a re-render. If you want to run some code when React attaches or detaches a ref to a DOM node, you may want to use a callback ref instead.

Upvotes: 0

Tholle
Tholle

Reputation: 112787

You can use the useRef hook to create a ref, and then focus it in a useEffect hook with an empty array as second argument to make sure it is only run after the initial render.

const { useRef, useEffect } = React;

function Foo() {
  const txt1 = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    txt1.current.focus();
  }, []);

  return <input type="text" ref={txt1} />;
}

ReactDOM.render(<Foo />, document.getElementById("root"));
<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>

<div id="root"></div>

Upvotes: 34

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