How to use `setState` callback on react hooks

Question

React hooks introduces useState for setting component state. But how can I use hooks to replace the callback like below code:

setState(
  { name: "Michael" },
  () => console.log(this.state)
);

I want to do something after the state is updated.

I know I can use useEffect to do the extra things but I have to check the state previous value which requires a bit code. I am looking for a simple solution which can be used with useState hook.

Answer 1

Using flushSync

If the reason you want to do something after setState is to somehow interact with the dom I suggest using the flushSync callback provided by ReactDOM.

import { flushSync } from 'react-dom';

flushSync(() => {
  setShowButton(true)
});
buttonRef.current?.focus()

Docs: https://react.dev/reference/react-dom/flushSync

flushSync lets you force React to flush any updates inside the provided callback synchronously. This ensures that the DOM is updated immediately.

This can hurt performance of your app so only use it when it's really needed. Valid reasons to use it would for example be

• setting focus to an element that your setState call makes visible
• setting print styles in beforeprint
• interacting with non React API/library that requires the render to be done

Answer 2

Custom Hook for useState with Callback:

import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';

// Define a generic function type for the updater and the callback
type Updater<T> = T | ((prevState: T) => T);
type Callback<T> = (state: T) => void;

function useStateCallback<T>(initialState: T): [T, (stateUpdater: Updater<T>, cb?: Callback<T>) => void] {
    const [state, setState] = useState<T>(initialState);
    const cbRef = useRef<Callback<T> | undefined>(undefined); // Ref to hold the callback

    const setStateCallback = useCallback(
        (stateUpdater: Updater<T>, cb?: Callback<T>) => {
            cbRef.current = cb; // Store the callback in ref
            // Set the state, handle function type updater for prevState
            setState(prevState => typeof stateUpdater === 'function' 
                ? (stateUpdater as (prevState: T) => T)(prevState) 
                : stateUpdater);
        }, 
        []
    );

    // useEffect to call the callback after state update
    useEffect(() => {
        if (cbRef.current) {
            cbRef.current(state); // Call the callback with the updated state
            cbRef.current = undefined; // Reset the callback ref
        }
    }, [state]);

    return [state, setStateCallback];
}

export default useStateCallback;

This hook adds a bit more complexity, but effectively mimics class component setState in hooks.

Potential Usage:

import React from 'react';
import useStateCallback from './useStateCallback';

const ExampleComponent: React.FC = () => {
    const [count, setCount] = useStateCallback(0);

    // Example usage of setState with a callback
    const incrementAndLog = () => {
        setCount(count + 1, (newCount) => {
            console.log(`Count updated to: ${newCount}`);
        });
    };

    return (
        <div>
            <p>Count: {count}</p>
            <button onClick={incrementAndLog}>Increment</button>
        </div>
    );
};

export default ExampleComponent;

Answer 3

If you want to update previous state then you can do like this in hooks:

const [count, setCount] = useState(0);


setCount(previousCount => previousCount + 1);

Docs:

• Updating the same state multiple times before the next render
• legacy: functional-updates

Answer 4

I have a very specific use case where I needed to render a class in the dom, then set another class. This was my solution which I found to be quite elegant.

const [value1, setValue1] = useState({value: 'whatever', onValue: false})


useEffect(() => {
    setValue1(prev => ({
      value: 'whatever',
      onValue: !prev.onValue, 
    }));
}, ['whatever'])

 
useEffect(() => {

// if you want to ensure the render happens before doThing2() then put it in a timeout of 1ms,
  setTimeout(doThing2, 1); 

// or if you are happy to call it immediately after setting value don't include the timeout
 doThing2()


}, [value1.onValue])

Answer 5

What about passing a function?

const [name, setName] = useState(initialName); 
...
setName(() => {
    const nextName = "Michael";
    console.log(nextName);
    return nextName;
  });

Answer 6

Edited

Using promise here seems still postpone the execution after rerender, triggering setState twice may be the best solution to get the latest state. Because the setState will be listed and we just need to get prevState to use before rerendering.

Original Post

I just figured out if we can use a Promise here to let setState become awaitable.

Here is my experiment result, feels better then using a callback

Mainly temp the resolve function to trigger in useEffect

function useAsyncState(initialState) {
  const [state, setState] = useState(initialState)
  const resolveCb = useRef()

  const handleSetState = (updatedState) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    // force previous promise resolved
    if (typeof resolveCb.current === 'function') {
      resolveCb.current(updatedState)
    }
    resolveCb.current = resolve
    try {
      setState(updatedState)
    } catch(err) {
      resolveCb.current = undefined
      reject(err)
    }
  })

  useEffect(() => {
    if (typeof resolveCb.current === 'function') {
      resolveCb.current(state)
      resolveCb.current = undefined
    }
  }, [state])

  return [state, handleSetState]
}

using in component

function App() {
  const [count, setCount] = useAsyncState(0)

  const increment = useMemoizedFn(async () => {
    const newCount = await setCount(count + 1)
    console.log(newCount)
  })

  console.log('rerender')

  return (
    <div>
      <h3 onClick={increment}>Hi, {count}</h3>
    </div>
  )
}

Answer 7

You need to use useEffect hook to achieve this.

const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);

const doSomething = () => {
  setCounter(123);
}

useEffect(() => {
   console.log('Do something after counter has changed', counter);
}, [counter]);

---

If you want the useEffect callback to be ignored during the first initial render, then modify the code accordingly:

import React, { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';

const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);
const didMount = useRef(false);

const doSomething = () => {
  setCounter(123);
}

useEffect(() => {
  // Return early, if this is the first render:
  if ( !didMount.current ) {
    return didMount.current = true;
  }
  // Paste code to be executed on subsequent renders:
  console.log('Do something after counter has changed', counter);
}, [counter]);

Answer 8

I explored the use-state-with-callback npm library, and other similar custom hooks, but in the end I realized I can just do something like this:

const [user, setUser] = React.useState(
  {firstName: 'joe', lastName: 'schmo'}
)

const handleFirstNameChange=(val)=> {
  const updatedUser = {
     ...user,
     firstName: val
  }
  setUser(updatedUser)
  updateDatabase(updatedUser)
}

Answer 9

If you don't need to update state asynchronously you can use a ref to save the value instead of useState.

const name = useRef("John");
name.current = "Michael";
console.log(name.current); // will print "Michael" since updating the ref is not async

Answer 10

Simple solution, Just install

npm i use-state-with-callback

import React from 'react';
import { useStateWithCallbackLazy } from "use-state-with-callback";

const initialFilters = {
  smart_filter: "",
};

const MyCallBackComp = () => {
  const [filters, setFilters] = useStateWithCallbackLazy(initialFilters);

  const filterSearchHandle = (e) => {
    setFilters(
      {
        ...filters,
        smart_filter: e,
      },
      (value) => console.log("smartFilters:>", value)
    );
  };

  return (
    <Input
      type="text"
      onChange={(e) => filterSearchHandle(e.target.value)}
      name="filter"
      placeholder="Search any thing..."
    />
  );
};

credited to: REACT USESTATE CALLBACK

Answer 11

Until we have native built in support for setState callback, we can do the plain javascript way ... call the function and pass the new variables to it directly.

  const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);

  const doSomething = () => {
    const newCounter = 123
    setCounter(newCounter);
    doSomethingWCounter(newCounter);
  };

  function doSomethingWCounter(newCounter) {
    console.log(newCounter); // 123
  }

Answer 12

I don't think that distinguish mounted or not with useRef is a good way, isn't a better way by determining the value genetated useState() in useEffect() whether it is the initial value?

const [val, setVal] = useState(null)

useEffect(() => {
  if (val === null) return
  console.log('not mounted, val updated', val)
}, [val])

Answer 13

Mimic setState callback with useEffect, only firing on state updates (not initial state):

const [state, setState] = useState({ name: "Michael" })
const isFirstRender = useRef(true)
useEffect(() => {
  if (isFirstRender.current) {
    isFirstRender.current = false // toggle flag after first render/mounting
    return;
  }
  console.log(state) // do something after state has updated
}, [state])

Custom Hook useEffectUpdate

function useEffectUpdate(callback) {
  const isFirstRender = useRef(true);
  useEffect(() => {
    if (isFirstRender.current) {
      isFirstRender.current = false; // toggle flag after first render/mounting
      return;
    }
    callback(); // performing action after state has updated
  }, [callback]);
}

// client usage, given some state dep
const cb = useCallback(() => { console.log(state) }, [state]); // memoize callback
useEffectUpdate(cb);

Answer 14

I wrote custom hook with typescript if anyone still needs it.

import React, { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";

export const useStateWithCallback = <T>(initialState: T): [state: T, setState: (updatedState: React.SetStateAction<T>, callback?: (updatedState: T) => void) => void] => {
    const [state, setState] = useState<T>(initialState);
    const callbackRef = useRef<(updated: T) => void>();

    const handleSetState = (updatedState: React.SetStateAction<T>, callback?: (updatedState: T) => void) => {
        callbackRef.current = callback;
        setState(updatedState);
    };

    useEffect(() => {
        if (typeof callbackRef.current === "function") {
            callbackRef.current(state);
            callbackRef.current = undefined;
        }
    }, [state]);

    return [state, handleSetState];
}

Answer 15

We can write a hook called useScheduleNextRenderCallback that returns a "schedule" function. After we call setState, we can call the "schedule" function, passing a callback that we want to run on the next render.

import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef } from "react";

type ScheduledCallback = () => void;
export const useScheduleNextRenderCallback = () => {
  const ref = useRef<ScheduledCallback>();

  useEffect(() => {
    if (ref.current !== undefined) {
      ref.current();
      ref.current = undefined;
    }
  });

  const schedule = useCallback((fn: ScheduledCallback) => {
    ref.current = fn;
  }, []);

  return schedule;
};

Example usage:

const App = () => {
  const scheduleNextRenderCallback = useScheduleNextRenderCallback();

  const [state, setState] = useState(0);

  const onClick = useCallback(() => {
    setState(state => state + 1);
    scheduleNextRenderCallback(() => {
      console.log("next render");
    });
  }, []);

  return <button onClick={onClick}>click me to update state</button>;
};

Reduced test case: https://stackblitz.com/edit/react-ts-rjd9jk

Answer 16

you can use following ways I knew to get the lastest state after updating:

1. useEffect
   https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-reference.html#useeffect

    const [state, setState] = useState({name: "Michael"});
    
    const handleChangeName = () => {
      setState({name: "Jack"});
    }
    
    useEffect(() => {
      console.log(state.name); //"Jack"

      //do something here
    }, [state]);

2. functional update
   https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-reference.html#functional-updates
   "If the new state is computed using the previous state, you can pass a function to setState. The function will receive the previous value, and return an updated value. "

    const [state, setState] = useState({name: "Michael"});

    const handleChangeName = () => {
      setState({name: "Jack"})
      setState(prevState => {
        console.log(prevState.name);//"Jack"

        //do something here

        // return updated state
        return prevState;
      });
    }

3. useRef
   https://reactjs.org/docs/hooks-reference.html#useref
   "The returned ref object will persist for the full lifetime of the component."

    const [state, setState] = useState({name: "Michael"});

    const stateRef = useRef(state);
    stateRef.current  = state;
    const handleClick = () => {
      setState({name: "Jack"});

      setTimeout(() => {
        //it refers to old state object
        console.log(state.name);// "Michael";

        //out of syntheticEvent and after batch update
        console.log(stateRef.current.name);//"Jack"

        //do something here
      }, 0);
    }

In react syntheticEvent handler, setState is a batch update process, so every change of state will be waited and return a new state.
"setState() does not always immediately update the component. It may batch or defer the update until later. ",
https://reactjs.org/docs/react-component.html#setstate

Here is a useful link
Does React keep the order for state updates?

Answer 17

How about this:

const [Name, setName] = useState("");
...
onClick={()=>{
setName("Michael")
setName(prevName=>{...}) //prevName is Michael?
}}

Answer 18

I was running into the same problem, using useEffect in my setup didn't do the trick (I'm updating a parent's state from an array multiple child components and I need to know which component updated the data).

Wrapping setState in a promise allows to trigger an arbitrary action after completion:

import React, {useState} from 'react'

function App() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0)

  function handleClick(){
    Promise.resolve()
      .then(() => { setCount(count => count+1)})
      .then(() => console.log(count))
  }


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

export default App;

The following question put me in the right direction: Does React batch state update functions when using hooks?

Answer 19

I had a use case where I wanted to make an api call with some params after the state is set. I didn't want to set those params as my state so I made a custom hook and here is my solution

import { useState, useCallback, useRef, useEffect } from 'react';
import _isFunction from 'lodash/isFunction';
import _noop from 'lodash/noop';

export const useStateWithCallback = initialState => {
  const [state, setState] = useState(initialState);
  const callbackRef = useRef(_noop);

  const handleStateChange = useCallback((updatedState, callback) => {
    setState(updatedState);
    if (_isFunction(callback)) callbackRef.current = callback;
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    callbackRef.current();
    callbackRef.current = _noop; // to clear the callback after it is executed
  }, [state]);

  return [state, handleStateChange];
};

Answer 20

setState() enqueues changes to the component state and tells React that this component and its children need to be re-rendered with the updated state.

setState method is asynchronous, and as a matter of fact, it does not return a promise. So In cases where we want to update or call a function, the function can be called callback in setState function as the second argument. For example, in your case above, you have called a function as a setState callback.

setState(
  { name: "Michael" },
  () => console.log(this.state)
);

The above code works fine for class component, but in the case of functional component, we cannot use the setState method, and this we can utilize the use effect hook to achieve the same result.

The obvious method, that comes into mind is that ypu can use with useEffect is as below:

const [state, setState] = useState({ name: "Michael" })

useEffect(() => {
  console.log(state) // do something after state has updated
}, [state])

But this would fire on the first render as well, so we can change the code as follows where we can check the first render event and avoid the state render. Therefore the implementation can be done in the following way:

We can use the user hook here to identify the first render.

The useRef Hook allows us to create mutable variables in functional components. It’s useful for accessing DOM nodes/React elements and to store mutable variables without triggering a re-render.

const [state, setState] = useState({ name: "Michael" });
const firstTimeRender = useRef(true);

useEffect(() => {
 if (!firstTimeRender.current) {
    console.log(state);
  }
}, [state])

useEffect(() => { 
  firstTimeRender.current = false 
}, [])

Answer 21

I Think, using useEffect is not an intuitive way.

I created a wrapper for this. In this custom hook, you can transmit your callback to setState parameter instead of useState parameter.

I just created Typescript version. So if you need to use this in Javascript, just remove some type notation from code.

Usage

const [state, setState] = useStateCallback(1);
setState(2, (n) => {
  console.log(n) // 2
});

Declaration

import { SetStateAction, useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';

type Callback<T> = (value?: T) => void;
type DispatchWithCallback<T> = (value: T, callback?: Callback<T>) => void;

function useStateCallback<T>(initialState: T | (() => T)): [T, DispatchWithCallback<SetStateAction<T>>] {
  const [state, _setState] = useState(initialState);

  const callbackRef = useRef<Callback<T>>();
  const isFirstCallbackCall = useRef<boolean>(true);

  const setState = useCallback((setStateAction: SetStateAction<T>, callback?: Callback<T>): void => {
    callbackRef.current = callback;
    _setState(setStateAction);
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (isFirstCallbackCall.current) {
      isFirstCallbackCall.current = false;
      return;
    }
    callbackRef.current?.(state);
  }, [state]);

  return [state, setState];
}

export default useStateCallback;

Drawback

If the passed arrow function references a variable outer function, then it will capture current value not a value after the state is updated. In the above usage example, console.log(state) will print 1 not 2.

Answer 22

Your question is very valid.Let me tell you that useEffect run once by default and after every time the dependency array changes.

check the example below::

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

const App = () => {
  const [age, setAge] = useState(0);
  const [ageFlag, setAgeFlag] = useState(false);

  const updateAge = ()=>{
    setAgeFlag(false);
    setAge(age+1);
    setAgeFlag(true);
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    if(!ageFlag){
      console.log('effect called without change - by default');
    }
    else{
      console.log('effect called with change ');
    }
  }, [ageFlag,age]);

  return (
    <form>
      <h2>hooks demo effect.....</h2>
      {age}
      <button onClick={updateAge}>Text</button>
    </form>
  );
}

export default App;

If you want the setState callback to be executed with the hooks then use flag variable and give IF ELSE OR IF block inside useEffect so that when that conditions are satisfied then only that code block execute. Howsoever times effect runs as dependency array changes but that IF code inside effect will execute only on that specific conditions.

Answer 23

UseEffect is the primary solution. But as Darryl mentioned, using useEffect and passing in state as the second parameter has one flaw, the component will run on the initialization process. If you just want the callback function to run using the updated state's value, you could set a local constant and use that in both the setState and the callback.

const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);

const doSomething = () => {
  const updatedNumber = 123;
  setCounter(updatedNumber);

  // now you can "do something" with updatedNumber and don't have to worry about the async nature of setState!
  console.log(updatedNumber);
}