
If you have some peculiar pattern where you're updating a couple of state variables at once, and need to run a specific side effect, you might find this difficult (not impossible) with a function component.Net. Instead we use the useState hook, which returns a state variable, and an updater function. tState is no longer available in a function component. You can make a HOC (higher order component) with a function, however it can often be a bit easier to use a class. This is more or less not possible with function components, so I wouldn't bother trying Higher order components In fact, if you're creating a class component, you have to extend the base component from React.

In Javascript, classes can extend other classes, thus inheriting the parent's prototype. It appears like you are trying to set a default value in the mapStateToProps function but aren't.


The action to load the item is called in the componentWillMount function, which occurs after the constructor is called. Both these things are handled differently in function components so we're good. The reason you can't access the props in the constructor is that it is only called once, before the component is first mounted. Most of the time all that's being done in the constructor of a class component anyway is setting up state, and binding event listeners. Currently, I haven't found a hook that will replace this functionality (know of one? Let me know! ) A constructor runs once and only exactly once, before the first render of the component. If you really, really need a constructor, you're gonna have a bad time. We'll quickly discuss a couple, and there may be more! Consider yourself warned. There are some use cases where a function component simply won't work. The concept of a constructor is the same in React. Since the new -expression returns the newly created object, returning a Promise is not an option. Finally, as the constructor returns, that object becomes the result of the new WebPage ('url') expression. It automatically called during the creation of an object in a class. The constructor modifies the object setting and initializing variables. But 99% of the time you'll be fine with a function component. The constructor is a method used to initialize an objects state in a class. If you've got a slightly older codebase, and you'd like to refactor some of your components into function components, then you're in the right place!īeware! Not all class components can be converted to functions! There are still some cases where you need to use a class component. Why convert a class component to a function component Whereas the function component is simply a function, and the render method is simply the return value of the function. The class component needs to extend the React Component class, and must specify a render method. It's an extremely simple example but already we can see some of the differences. Example class component class M圜omponent extends React. The first one is a class component, the second one is a function component.

Well to put it simply, one is a class, and the other is. What's the difference between class components and function components? If you're not sure, just explicitly import it as I've done here. Note that if you're using React 17 and above, it may no longer be necessary to explicitly import react in your code, depending on your JSX transform.
REACT CONSTRUCTOR HOW TO
Note: in the examples below, I've shown how to import `React` and `Component`. They're (in my opinion) a bit more flexible with hooks and custom hooks, and they are (usually) a bit more performant. Partly this is just because developers suffer from 'shiny-object-syndrome', and hooks are new and shiny, but there are also good reasons for the shift as well.įunction components are far less verbose, and require less boilerplate.
REACT CONSTRUCTOR UPDATE
Since the React 16.8 update which added hooks to function components, you might have seen function components replacing class components everywhere.
