Each component in React has a lifecycle that you can monitor and manipulate during its three main phases.
React Mounting
constructor()
called before anything else, when the component is initiated, and it is the natural place to set up the initial state
and other initial values.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
render() {
return (
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
getDerivedStateFromProps()
Called right before rendering the element(s) in the DOM
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
static getDerivedStateFromProps(props, state) {
return {favoritecolor: props.favcol };
}
render() {
return (
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header favcol="yellow"/>, document.getElementById('root'));
render()
required, and is the method that actual outputs HTML to the DOM.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<h1>This is the content of the Header component</h1>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
componentDidMount()
called after the component is rendered.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
componentDidMount() {
setTimeout(() => {
this.setState({favoritecolor: "yellow"})
}, 1000)
}
render() {
return (
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
React Updating
getDerivedStateFromProps()
This is the first method that is called when a component gets updated.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
static getDerivedStateFromProps(props, state) {
return {favoritecolor: props.favcol };
}
changeColor = () => {
this.setState({favoritecolor: "blue"});
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
<button type="button" onClick={this.changeColor}>Change color</button>
</div>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header favcol="yellow"/>, document.getElementById('root'));
shouldComponentUpdate()
you can return a Boolean value that specifies whether React should continue with the rendering or not.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
shouldComponentUpdate() {
return false;
}
changeColor = () => {
this.setState({favoritecolor: "blue"});
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
<button type="button" onClick={this.changeColor}>Change color</button>
</div>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
render()
called when a component gets updated , it has to re-render the HTML to the DOM, with the new changes.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
changeColor = () => {
this.setState({favoritecolor: "blue"});
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
<button type="button" onClick={this.changeColor}>Change color</button>
</div>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
getSnapshotBeforeUpdate()
you have access to the props
and state
before the update, meaning that even after the update, you can check what the values were before the update.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
componentDidMount() {
setTimeout(() => {
this.setState({favoritecolor: "yellow"})
}, 1000)
}
getSnapshotBeforeUpdate(prevProps, prevState) {
document.getElementById("div1").innerHTML =
"Before the update, the favorite was " + prevState.favoritecolor;
}
componentDidUpdate() {
document.getElementById("div2").innerHTML =
"The updated favorite is " + this.state.favoritecolor;
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
<div id="div1"></div>
<div id="div2"></div>
</div>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
componentDidUpdate()
called after the component is updated in the DOM.
Example
class Header extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {favoritecolor: "red"};
}
componentDidMount() {
setTimeout(() => {
this.setState({favoritecolor: "yellow"})
}, 1000)
}
componentDidUpdate() {
document.getElementById("mydiv").innerHTML =
"The updated favorite is " + this.state.favoritecolor;
}
render() {
return (
<div>
<h1>My Favorite Color is {this.state.favoritecolor}</h1>
<div id="mydiv"></div>
</div>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Header />, document.getElementById('root'));
Unmounting
componentWillUnmount()
called when the component is about to be removed from the DOM.
Example
class Container extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {show: true};
}
delHeader = () => {
this.setState({show: false});
}
render() {
let myheader;
if (this.state.show) {
myheader = <Child />;
};
return (
<div>
{myheader}
<button type="button" onClick={this.delHeader}>Delete Header</button>
</div>
);
}
}
class Child extends React.Component {
componentWillUnmount() {
alert("The component named Header is about to be unmounted.");
}
render() {
return (
<h1>Hello World!</h1>
);
}
}
ReactDOM.render(<Container />, document.getElementById('root'));