When developing React applications, it is important to have adequate tools and techniques to debug and inspect the state of your components. One such tool is the useDebugValue hook introduced in React 16.8. This hook allows you to label custom hooks and provide custom debug values to be displayed in React DevTools.

Understanding the useDebugValue Hook

The useDebugValue hook is a built-in hook provided by React. It enables you to customize the display name and value shown for a custom hook when inspecting it in the React DevTools.

Typically, when you create a custom hook, it is displayed in React DevTools as “CustomHook” by default. However, by using the useDebugValue hook, you can override this default behavior and display a more meaningful label and value.

Usage of the useDebugValue Hook

To begin using the useDebugValue hook, you first need to import it from the React library:

import { useDebugValue } from 'react';

Next, within your custom hook, you can use the useDebugValue hook to provide a custom label and value:

function useCustomHook() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  // Provide custom label and value for the custom hook
  useDebugValue('Custom Hook', count);

  // Rest of the custom hook logic
  // ...

  return count;
}

In the above example, we have a custom hook called useCustomHook that uses the useDebugValue hook to provide a custom label of “Custom Hook” and the current count value as the debug value.

Viewing the Debug Value in React DevTools

After providing the custom label and value using useDebugValue, you can easily view it in the React DevTools.

To inspect the value of a custom hook, open the React DevTools extension in your browser’s developer tools. Locate the component using the custom hook and expand it to see the debug value. It will display the custom label along with the current value.

Conclusion

The useDebugValue hook is a powerful tool that allows you to provide meaningful labels and values for your custom hooks in React DevTools. By using this hook, you can enhance the debugging experience and quickly gain insights into the state and behavior of your components.

Remember to import the useDebugValue hook from the React library and call it within your custom hook to provide the desired label and value for debugging purposes.

By leveraging the useDebugValue hook effectively, you can streamline your debugging process and improve your React development workflow.