In React, the useRef hook is used to create a mutable variable that persists across multiple renders of a component. It is often used to store references to DOM elements or values that need to be accessed within different parts of a component.

Here, we will learn how to create a custom useRef hook that includes additional functionality to handle focus management in a more convenient way.

Table of Contents

• Basic useRef Hook
• Custom useRef Hook
• Usage
• Conclusion

Basic useRef Hook

Before we dive into creating a custom useRef hook, let’s review the basic usage of useRef.

import React, { useRef } from 'react';

function ExampleComponent() {
  const inputRef = useRef();

  const handleClick = () => {
    inputRef.current.focus();
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <input ref={inputRef} type="text" />
      <button onClick={handleClick}>Focus Input</button>
    </div>
  );
}

In the example above, we create a ref using the useRef hook, and assign it to the ref prop of the input element. By accessing the current property of the ref, we can access the DOM element and call its focus method to set the focus on it.

Custom useRef Hook

Now let’s create a custom useFocus hook that simplifies focus management. This custom hook will handle focus automatically when the component mounts and provide a function to manually focus the element.

import { useRef, useEffect } from 'react';

function useFocus() {
  const ref = useRef();

  useEffect(() => {
    if (ref.current) {
      ref.current.focus();
    }
  }, []);

  return ref;
}

In the custom useFocus hook, we use the useRef hook to create a ref just like in the basic example. Then, we use the useEffect hook with an empty dependency array to execute a callback function only once when the component mounts. Inside the callback, we check if the ref.current is defined, and if so, call its focus method.

Finally, we return the ref from the hook so that it can be used in the component.

Usage

Now that we have our custom useFocus hook, let’s see how we can use it in a component.

import React from 'react';
import useFocus from './hooks/useFocus';

function ExampleComponent() {
  const inputRef = useFocus();

  return (
    <div>
      <input ref={inputRef} type="text" />
      <button onClick={() => inputRef.current.focus()}>Focus Input</button>
    </div>
  );
}

In the above example, we import our custom useFocus hook and use it to create a ref named inputRef. We then assign this ref to the ref prop of the input element.

To focus the input element manually, we can simply call the focus method on inputRef.current.

Conclusion

Creating a custom useRef hook allows us to encapsulate reusable logic for focus management. This can result in cleaner and more organized code, especially when multiple components require similar functionality. By using custom hooks, we can enhance the reusability and maintainability of our React components while keeping our codebase clean and readable.

#react #hooks