React usePersistedState hook

React, Hooks, State, Effect · Oct 13, 2021

Returns a stateful value, persisted in localStorage, and a function to update it.

  • Use the useState() hook to initialize the value to defaultValue.
  • Use the useRef() hook to create a ref that will hold the name of the value in Window.localStorage.
  • Use 3 instances of the useEffect() hook for initialization, value change and name change respectively.
  • When the component is first mounted, use Storage.getItem() to update value if there's a stored value or Storage.setItem() to persist the current value.
  • When value is updated, use Storage.setItem() to store the new value.
  • When name is updated, use Storage.setItem() to create the new key, update the nameRef and use Storage.removeItem() to remove the previous key from Window.localStorage.
  • Note: The hook is meant for use with primitive values (i.e. not objects) and doesn't account for changes to Window.localStorage due to other code. Both of these issues can be easily handled (e.g. JSON serialization and handling the 'storage' event).
const usePersistedState = (name, defaultValue) => {
  const [value, setValue] = React.useState(defaultValue);
  const nameRef = React.useRef(name);

  React.useEffect(() => {
    try {
      const storedValue = localStorage.getItem(name);
      if (storedValue !== null) setValue(storedValue);
      else localStorage.setItem(name, defaultValue);
    } catch {
      setValue(defaultValue);
    }
  }, []);

  React.useEffect(() => {
    try {
      localStorage.setItem(nameRef.current, value);
    } catch {}
  }, [value]);

  React.useEffect(() => {
    const lastName = nameRef.current;
    if (name !== lastName) {
      try {
        localStorage.setItem(name, value);
        nameRef.current = name;
        localStorage.removeItem(lastName);
      } catch {}
    }
  }, [name]);

  return [value, setValue];
};
const MyComponent = ({ name }) => {
  const [val, setVal] = usePersistedState(name, 10);
  return (
    <input
      value={val}
      onChange={e => {
        setVal(e.target.value);
      }}
    />
  );
};

const MyApp = () => {
  const [name, setName] = React.useState('my-value');
  return (
    <>
      <MyComponent name={name} />
      <input
        value={name}
        onChange={e => {
          setName(e.target.value);
        }}
      />
    </>
  );
};

ReactDOM.render(<MyApp />, document.getElementById('root'));

Written by Angelos Chalaris

I'm Angelos Chalaris, a JavaScript software engineer, based in Athens, Greece. The best snippets from my coding adventures are published here to help others learn to code.

If you want to keep in touch, follow me on GitHub or Twitter.

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