Below are two React Components that do almost the same thing. One is a function; the other is a class. Each Component has an Animated.Value with an async listener that updates _foo on change. I need to be able to access _foo in the functional component like I do with this._foo in the classical component.
FunctionalBar should not have _foo in the global scope in case there are more than one FunctionalBar. FunctionalBar cannot have _foo in the function scope because _foo is reinitialized every time the FunctionalBar renders. _foo also should not be in state because the component does not need to render when _foo changes.ClassBar does not have this problem because it keeps _foo initialized on this throughout the entire life of the Component. How do I keep _foo initialized throughout the life of FunctionalBar without putting it in the global scope?
import React from 'react';
import { Animated, View } from 'react-native';
var _foo = 0;
function FunctionalBar(props) {
const foo = new Animated.Value(0);
_onChangeFoo({ value }) {
_foo = value;
}
function showFoo() {
let anim = Animated.timing(foo, { toValue: 1, duration: 1000, useNativeDriver: true });
anim.start(() => console.log(_foo));
}
useEffect(() => {
foo.addListener(_onChangeFoo);
showFoo();
return () => foo.removeListener(_onChangeFoo);
});
return <View />;
}
import React from 'react';
import { Animated, View } from 'react-native';
class ClassBar extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = { foo: new Animated.Value(0) };
this._foo = 0;
this._onChangeFoo = this._onChangeFoo.bind(this);
}
componentDidMount() {
this.state.foo.addListener(this._onChangeFoo);
this.showFoo();
}
componentWillUnmount() {
this.state.foo.removeListener(this._onChangeFoo);
}
showFoo() {
let anim = Animated.timing(this.state.foo, { toValue: 1, duration: 1000, useNativeDriver: true });
anim.start(() => console.log(this._foo));
}
_onChangeFoo({ value }) {
this._foo = value;
}
render() {
return <View />;
}
}
The useRef hook is not just for DOM refs, but can store any mutable value you like.
Example
function FunctionalBar(props) {
const [foo] = useState(new Animated.Value(0));
const _foo = useRef(0);
function showFoo() {
let anim = Animated.timing(foo, { toValue: 1, duration: 1000, useNativeDriver: true });
anim.start(() => console.log(_foo.current));
}
useEffect(() => {
function _onChangeFoo({ value }) {
_foo.current = value;
}
foo.addListener(_onChangeFoo);
showFoo();
return () => foo.removeListener(_onChangeFoo);
}, []);
return <View />;
}
Just to support Tholle answer here is the official documentation
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 betweenuseRef()and creating a{current: ...}object yourself is thatuseRefwill give you the same ref object on every render.Keep in mind that
useRefdoesn’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.