forwardRef Hook

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Forward a ref to a child component

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useMemo Hook

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forwardRef Hook

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useMousePosition Hook

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useWindowSize Hook

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usePageBottom hook

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useLocalStorage Hook

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Three.js in React Part 2

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Code Sandbox Link

You can find the full code for this tutorial, with styling, at https://codesandbox.io/s/forwardref-ozkzg.

Why use forwardRef?

As the name implies, forwardRef is used to forward a ref to a child component, when we wish to access that ref further down the DOM tree. In the example below, if we try passing a ref as a prop from the App component to the SubmitButton component, we'll get an error in the console. The error message suggests us to use forwardRef instead.

Errors when passing a ref to child component

Create the ref

First, let's create our SubmitButton component. Note the ref is passed as a prop to this component - but it'll raise an error.

// SubmitButton.js

const SubmitButton = ({ title, ref }) => {
  return (
    <button ref={ref} type="button">
      {title}
    </button>
  );
};

export default SubmitButton;

Next, let's import the SubmitButton into App.js.

// App.js

import SubmitButton from "./SubmitButton";

const App = () => {
		// More code...
				<SubmitButton title="Submit" />
		// More code...
}

export default App;

We'll need to create a ref using the useRef hook from the React library, so import it at the top.

// App.js

import { useRef } from "react";

To create a ref , just call the useRef function and save the result in a ref constant.

// App.js

const ref = useRef();

Pass the ref to the SubmitButton . Note that an error will be raised and it'll be printed on the console.

// App.js

<SubmitButton title="Submit" ref={ref} />

Use forwardRef

In order to use forwardRef , we need to change our SubmitButton component a little bit. Instead of defining a normal functional component, we'll need to use forwardRef . Let's import it.

// SubmitButton.js

import { forwardRef } from "react";

In the code below, the SubmitButton is now equals to the forwardRef . Note that inside of the parentheses of the forwardRef , we need to specify a callback function. This function requires two arguments:

The first one is the props object. In our case, since we only pass a title as a prop, we'll only add title to the object.
The second argument, which is outside of the props object, is the ref. In the return body of the callback function is the component itself - in this case, the button. Since we passed a ref, let's add this to the JSX attributes of the button. We want to display our title on the button, so let's add this as well.

// SubmitButton.js

const SubmitButton = forwardRef(({ title }, ref) => (
  <Button ref={ref}>{title}</Button>
));

Access the ref

Let's try to access the ref in App.js . Note that the ref is accessible only after the component has mounted. In other words, if you add the console log right after the ref in App.js , you'll always see null printed on the console.

// App.js

const App = () => {
  const ref = useRef();

  console.log("ref", ref);

  return (
    <Wrapper>
      <TitleWrapper>
        <h1>forwardRef</h1>
        <p>A Design+Code tutorial</p>
      </TitleWrapper>
      <SubmitButton title="Submit" ref={ref} />
    </Wrapper>
  );
};

To solve this issue, we need a way to print the message only once the component has been mounted. To know when the component has been mounted, we need to use the useEffect hook. Add it to the imports.

import { useRef, useEffect } from "react";

Let's define the useEffect , and print the ref there.

useEffect(() => {
		console.log("ref", ref);
});

Now when you refresh the page, you'll see the forwardRef printed on the console, which is our button from SubmitButton.js !

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