I have currently a drop-down select to filter some charts after 'Apply'. It works fine.(See screenshot below).

The problem is that when another timespan gets selected, React does a re-render to all charts before I click 'Apply' button.
I want to avoid this unnecessary re-render by implementingshouldComponentUpdate, but I can't figure out how.
Below what I tried but it did not work(still a re-render):
shouldComponentUpdate(nextState) {
if (this.state.timespanState !== nextState.timespanState) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
But it always return true, because nextState.timespanState is undefined. Why?
Drop-down Select
<Select value={this.state.timespanState} onChange={this.handleTimeSpanChange}>
handleTimeSpanChange = (event) => {
this.setState({ timespanState: event.target.value });
};
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = { timespanState: 'Today'};
this.handleTimeSpanChange = this.handleTimeSpanChange.bind(this);
}
You're on the right track with using shouldComponentUpdate, it's just that the first parameter is nextProps and the second is nextState, so in your case, the undefined value is actually nextProps with the wrong name.
Change your code to this,
shouldComponentUpdate(nextProps,nextState) { // <-- tweak this line
if (this.state.timespanState !== nextState.timespanState) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
Finally, I solve the problem by separating drop-down selectbox and charts into two apart components and made the drop-down component as a child component from its parent component, charts components. The reason is the following statement
React components automatically re-render whenever there is a change in their state or props.
Therefore, React will re-render everything in render() method of this component. So keeping them in two separate components will let them re-render without side effect. In my case, any state changes in drop-down or other states in Filter component, will only cause a re-render inside this component. Then passing the updated states to charts component with a callback function.
Something like below:
Child component
export class Filter extends Component {
handleApplyChanges = () => {
this.props.renderPieChart(data);
}
render(){
return (
...
<Button onClick={this.handleApplyChanges} />
);
}
}
Parent component
export class Charts extends Component{
constructor(props){
this.state = { dataForPieChart: []};
this.renderPieChart = this.renderPieChart.bind(this);
}
renderPieChart = (data) => {
this.setState({ dataForPieChart: data });
}
render(){
return (
<Filter renderPieChart={this.renderPieChart} />
<Chart>
...data={this.state.dataForPieChart}
</Chart>
);
}
}
If still any question, disagreement or suggestions, pls let me know:)