I have a problem where useState updates the state but does not show the changes until I refresh the app. First, I declare an array called sampleFriends, made up of objects with fields "name", "location", and "picture" (each element of the array looks similar to: {name: 'John', location: 'Boston', picture: TestImage}).
Then, I have the following useState:
const [selectedFriends, setSelectedFriends] = useState([])
At some point, I successfully render
sampleFriends.map(({ name, location, image }, index) => (
<NewMsgTableRow
name={name}
index={index}
location={location}
image={image}
onPress={() => selectFriend(name)}
/>
))
And I also have this function right above
const selectFriend = name => {
// if the friend is not already selected
if (!selectedFriends.find(e => e === name)) {
const newFriends = selectedFriends
newFriends.push(name)
setSelectedFriends(newFriends)
}
}
The component NewMsgTableRow has a button that uses onPress
<TouchableOpacity
onPress={onPress}
>
So, I want to render selectedFriends as soon as they are selected (the TouchableOpacity is touched and thus the state updates). However, when I click the button, nothing shows up until I edit and save my code and it refreshes automatically. It was my understanding that useState rerendered the components as soon as it was updated, but it is not happening in this case and I can't figure out why. I've been reading that it is async and that it does not change it instantly, but I don't know how to make it work. Hope it makes sense and thanks for your help!!
You can use array spread or Array.concat() to make a shallow clone, and add new items as well) so change the line below:
const newFriends = selectedFriends
to this line :
const newFriends = [...selectedFriends]