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CodeSandbox link

You can find the full code for this tutorial at https://codesandbox.io/s/useref-hook-0gs62.

Create your component

We'll create a button component. On click of the button, we'll display an alert that says You clicked!.

import React from "react";

const MyButton = () => {
    return <button onClick={() => alert("You clicked!")}>Click me</button>;
};

export default MyButton;

Import the hook

Import the hook from the React library at the top of your file.

import React, { useRef } from "react"

Create a ref

Create a new ref using the useRef hook. In the parentheses, pass in the initial value of your ref. Usually, it'll be null or undefined.

const ref = useRef(null)

Then, add the ref to your element.

<button onClick={() => alert("You clicked!")} ref={ref}>
		Click me
</button>

Print the ref in the console

We'll test if our ref works. To do so, we'll use the useEffect hook.

import React, { useRef, useEffect } from "react"

Once the component is mounted, we will print our ref on the console. The useRef always returns a current object. To get the actual HTML element, you need to do ref.current:

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

You should see a HTML button printed on the console:

Screen Shot 2021-03-19 at 2.57.04 PM

Use your ref

Finally, you can just use your ref! For example, we can simulate a programmatic click on the button every time the component is mounted with the following code. The alert we added before should show every time you land on the page.

useEffect(() => {
    if (ref) {
      ref.current.click()
    }
 })

Final code with styling

Here is the final code with styling:

import React, { useRef, useEffect } from "react";
import styled from "styled-components";

const MyButton = () => {
    const ref = useRef(null);

    useEffect(() => {
        if (ref) {
            ref.current.click()
        }
    })

    return (
        <Button onClick={() => alert("You clicked!")} ref={ref}>
            Click me
        </Button>
    );
};

export default MyButton;

const Button = styled.button`
    background: linear-gradient(91.4deg, #2fb8ff 0%, #9eecd9 100%);
    padding: 12px 0;
    width: 200px;
    border: none;
    border-radius: 30px;
    color: #fff;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-family: Segoe UI, sans-serif;
    cursor: pointer;

    :focus {
        outline: none;
    }
`;

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Video files, ePub and subtitles

Videos

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1

Intro to React Hooks

An overview of React Hooks and the frameworks you can use to build your React application blazingly fast

3:39

2

Create your first React app

Create your first React project from the Terminal and save it on your local computer

4:23

3

React Component

Create your first JSX component using React

2:54

4

Styling in React

How to style your React components using inline styling, separate stylesheets or styled-components

5:06

5

Styles and Props

Render different styles depending on different properties passed to your component

2:22

6

Understanding Hooks

Learn about the basics of React Hooks, which introduced at React Conf 2018

3:21

7

useState Hook

Use the useState hook to manage local state in your React component

2:54

8

useEffect Hook

Manage with your component's lifecycle with the useEffect hook

3:41

9

useRef Hook

Learn about the useRef hook, which replaces the JavaScript getElementById way

3:00

10

Props

Learn about props in React to pass data from parent to child components

3:11

11

Conditional Rendering

Render different UIs depending on different conditions and states

4:21

12

Load Local Data

Load local JSON data into your React application

4:04

13

Fetch Data from an API

Learn the basics of asynchronous functions and promises by fetching data from an API using fetch, useEffect and useState

5:40

14

Toggle a state

Learn how to toggle a state from true to false and back again

4:05

15

useInput Hook

Create a hook to get the value and the onChange event of input fields

6:04

16

Gatsby and React

Create a static content-oriented website using React on Gatsby

6:44

17

NextJS and React

Create your first NextJS React application

5:24

18

React TypeScript Part 1

Learn how to create a React TypeScript application using the Create React App, Gatsby and NextJS methods

8:19

19

React TypeScript Part 2

Learn the basics of TypeScript and how to use TypeScript in a React component

7:35

20

useScrollPosition Hook

Create a custom hook to listen to the current window position of the user

4:26

21

useOnScreen hook

Create a custom hook to listen to when an element is visible on screen

8:08

22

useContext Hook

Manage global states throughout the entire application

8:32

23

Fragments

Group multiple children together with React Fragments

2:43

24

Lazy Loading

Lazy Load heavy components to improve performance

4:05

25

React Suspense

Wait for data with React Suspense and React.lazy

3:13

26

Environment Variables

Make environment variables secret with a .env file

4:43

27

Reach Router

Create a multiple-pages React application with Reach Router

5:31

28

URL Params

Create unique URL with URL Params

4:04

29

SEO and Metadata

Optimize a React application for search engines with React Helmet

6:47

30

Favicon

Add an icon to a React website

3:03

31

Dynamic Favicon

Change the favicon's fill color depending on the user's system appearance

2:14

32

PropTypes

Implement props type-checking with PropTypes

3:54

33

Custom PropTypes

Create a custom PropType using a validator function

3:58

34

useMemo Hook

Prevent unnecessary re-renders when the component stays the same

4:05

35

forwardRef Hook

Forward a ref to a child component

3:28

36

Handling Events

How to handle events in React

5:44

37

Spread attributes

Learn how to make use of the spread operator

3:35

38

useMousePosition Hook

Detect the user's mouse position on a bound element

4:55

39

useReducer with useContext Part 1

Create a reducer to be used in a context

7:33

40

useReducer with useContext Part 2

Incorporate useReducer with useContext

6:48

41

useReducer with useContext Part 3

Connect the context and reducer with the frontend

5:43

42

Netlify

Deploy to production using Netlify

5:08

43

Gatsby Cloud

Deploy to production using Gatsby Cloud

6:19

44

Gatsby Plugin Image

Use gatsby-plugin-image for automatic image resizing, formatting, and higher performance

8:11

45

useOnClickOutside Hook

Toggle a modal visibility with a useOnClickOutside hook

6:32

46

useWindowSize Hook

Create a hook to determine the width and height of the window

4:14

47

usePageBottom hook

Detect if the user scrolled to the bottom of the page

4:48

48

useLocalStorage Hook

Store an item in a browser's local storage

5:27

49

Three.js in React Part 1

Bring your website to life with beautiful 3D objects

17:33

50

Three.js in React Part 2

Bring your website to life with beautiful 3D objects

11:18