Updating an object with setState in React
There are multiple ways of doing this, since state update is a async operation, so to update the state object, we need to use updater function with setState
.
1- Simplest one:
First create a copy of jasper
then do the changes in that:
this.setState(prevState => {
let jasper = Object.assign({}, prevState.jasper); // creating copy of state variable jasper
jasper.name = 'someothername'; // update the name property, assign a new value
return { jasper }; // return new object jasper object
})
Instead of using Object.assign
we can also write it like this:
let jasper = { ...prevState.jasper };
2- Using spread syntax:
this.setState(prevState => ({
jasper: { // object that we want to update
...prevState.jasper, // keep all other key-value pairs
name: 'something' // update the value of specific key
}
}))
Note: Object.assign
and Spread Operator
creates only shallow copy, so if you have defined nested object or array of objects, you need a different approach.
Updating nested state object:
Assume you have defined state as:
this.state = {
food: {
sandwich: {
capsicum: true,
crackers: true,
mayonnaise: true
},
pizza: {
jalapeno: true,
extraCheese: false
}
}
}
To update extraCheese of pizza object:
this.setState(prevState => ({
food: {
...prevState.food, // copy all other key-value pairs of food object
pizza: { // specific object of food object
...prevState.food.pizza, // copy all pizza key-value pairs
extraCheese: true // update value of specific key
}
}
}))
Updating array of objects:
Lets assume you have a todo app, and you are managing the data in this form:
this.state = {
todoItems: [
{
name: 'Learn React Basics',
status: 'pending'
}, {
name: 'Check Codebase',
status: 'pending'
}
]
}
To update the status of any todo object, run a map on the array and check for some unique value of each object, in case of condition=true
, return the new object with updated value, else same object.
let key = 2;
this.setState(prevState => ({
todoItems: prevState.todoItems.map(
el => el.key === key? { ...el, status: 'done' }: el
)
}))
Suggestion: If object doesn't have a unique value, then use array index.
This is the fastest and the most readable way:
this.setState({...this.state.jasper, name: 'someothername'});
Even if this.state.jasper
already contains a name property, the new name name: 'someothername'
with be used.