React Hooks: useEffect() is called twice even if an empty array is used as an argument
ReactjsReact HooksReactjs Problem Overview
I am new to reactJS and am writing code so that before the data is loaded from DB, it will show loading message, and then after it is loaded, render components with the loaded data. To do this, I am using both useState hook and useEffect hook. Here is the code:
The problem is, useEffect is triggered twice when I check with console.log. The code is thus querying the same data twice, which should be avoided.
Below is the code that I wrote:
import React from 'react';
import './App.css';
import {useState,useEffect} from 'react';
import Postspreview from '../components/Postspreview'
const indexarray=[]; //The array to which the fetched data will be pushed
function Home() {
const [isLoading,setLoad]=useState(true);
useEffect(()=>{
/*
Query logic to query from DB and push to indexarray
*/
setLoad(false); // To indicate that the loading is complete
})
},[]);
if (isLoading===true){
console.log("Loading");
return <div>This is loading...</div>
}
else {
console.log("Loaded!"); //This is actually logged twice.
return (
<div>
<div className="posts_preview_columns">
{indexarray.map(indexarray=>
<Postspreview
username={indexarray.username}
idThumbnail={indexarray.profile_thumbnail}
nickname={indexarray.nickname}
postThumbnail={indexarray.photolink}
/>
)}
</div>
</div>
);
}
}
export default Home;
Can someone help me out in understanding why it is called twice, and how to fix the code properly? Thank you very much!
Reactjs Solutions
Solution 1 - Reactjs
Put the console.log inside the useEffect
Probably you have other side effects that cause the component to rerender but the useEffect itself will only be called once. You can see this for sure with the following code.
useEffect(()=>{
/*
Query logic
*/
console.log('i fire once');
},[]);
If the log "i fire once" is triggered more than once it means your issue is one of 3 things.
This component appears more than once in your page
This one should be obvious, your component is in the page a couple of times and each one will mount and run the useEffect
Something higher up the tree is unmounting and remounting
The component is being forced to unmount and remount on its initial render. This could be something like a "key" change happening higher up the tree. you need to go up each level with this useEffect until it renders only once. then you should be able to find the cause or the remount.
React.Strict mode is on
> StrictMode renders components twice (on dev but not production) in order to detect any problems with your code and warn you about them (which can be quite useful).
This answer was pointed out by @johnhendirx and written by @rangfu, see link and give him some love if this was your problem.
Solution 2 - Reactjs
You are most likely checking the issue on a dev environment with strict mode enabled.
To validate this is the case, search for
> Strict mode can’t automatically detect side effects for you, but it can help you spot them by making them a little more deterministic. This is done by intentionally double-invoking the following functions: >- Functions passed to useState, useMemo, or useReducer >- [...]
Similar question here My React Component is rendering twice because of Strict Mode
Solution 3 - Reactjs
Remove
root.render(
<React.StrictMode>
<App />
</React.StrictMode>
);
this
root.render(
<App />
);
React StrictMode renders components twice on dev server
Solution 4 - Reactjs
Please check your index.js
<React.StrictMode>
<App />
</React.StrictMode>
Remove the
root.render(
<App />
);
Solution 5 - Reactjs
I'm using this as my alternative useFocusEffect. I used nested react navigation stacks like tabs and drawers and refactoring using useEffect doesn't work on me as expected.
import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
import { useFocusEffect } from '@react-navigation/native'
const app = () = {
const [isloaded, setLoaded] = useState(false)
useFocusEffect(() => {
if (!isloaded) {
console.log('This should called once')
setLoaded(true)
}
return () => {}
}, [])
}
Also, there's an instance that you navigating twice on the screen.
Solution 6 - Reactjs
Not sure why you won't put the result in state, here is an example that calls the effect once so you must have done something in code not posted that makes it render again:
const App = () => {
const [isLoading, setLoad] = React.useState(true)
const [data, setData] = React.useState([])
React.useEffect(() => {
console.log('in effect')
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos')
.then(result => result.json())
.then(data => {
setLoad(false)//causes re render
setData(data)//causes re render
})
},[])
//first log in console, effect happens after render
console.log('rendering:', data.length, isLoading)
return <pre>{JSON.stringify(data, undefined, 2)}</pre>
}
//render app
ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'))
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.8.4/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.8.4/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>
<div id="root"></div>
To prevent the extra render you can combine data and loading in one state:
const useIsMounted = () => {
const isMounted = React.useRef(false);
React.useEffect(() => {
isMounted.current = true;
return () => isMounted.current = false;
}, []);
return isMounted;
};
const App = () => {
const [result, setResult] = React.useState({
loading: true,
data: []
})
const isMounted = useIsMounted();
React.useEffect(() => {
console.log('in effect')
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos')
.then(result => result.json())
.then(data => {
//before setting state in async function you should
// alsways check if the component is still mounted or
// react will spit out warnings
isMounted.current && setResult({ loading: false, data })
})
},[isMounted])
console.log(
'rendering:',
result.data.length,
result.loading
)
return (
<pre>{JSON.stringify(result.data, undefined, 2)}</pre>
)
}
//render app
ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'))
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/16.8.4/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-dom/16.8.4/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>
<div id="root"></div>
Solution 7 - Reactjs
I've had this issue where something like:
const [onChainNFTs, setOnChainNFTs] = useState([]);
would trigger this useEffect twice:
useEffect(() => {
console.log('do something as initial state of onChainNFTs changed'); // triggered 2 times
}, [onChainNFTs]);
I confirmed that the component MOUNTED ONLY ONCE and setOnChainNFTs was NOT called more than once - so this was not the issue.
I fixed it by converting the initial state of onChainNFTs to null and doing a null check.
e.g.
const [onChainNFTs, setOnChainNFTs] = useState(null);
useEffect(() => {
if (onChainNFTs !== null) {
console.log('do something as initial state of onChainNFTs changed'); // triggered 1 time!
}
}, [onChainNFTs]);
Solution 8 - Reactjs
Here is the custom hook for your purpose. It might help in your case.
import {
useRef,
EffectCallback,
DependencyList,
useEffect
} from 'react';
/**
*
* @param effect
* @param dependencies
* @description Hook to prevent running the useEffect on the first render
*
*/
export default function useNoInitialEffect(
effect: EffectCallback,
dependancies?: DependencyList
) {
//Preserving the true by default as initial render cycle
const initialRender = useRef(true);
useEffect(() => {
let effectReturns: void | (() => void) = () => {};
/**
* Updating the ref to false on the first render, causing
* subsequent render to execute the effect
*
*/
if (initialRender.current) {
initialRender.current = false;
} else {
effectReturns = effect();
}
/**
* Preserving and allowing the Destructor returned by the effect
* to execute on component unmount and perform cleanup if
* required.
*
*/
if (effectReturns && typeof effectReturns === 'function') {
return effectReturns;
}
return undefined;
}, dependancies);
}