Using suspense with state management libraries like MobX

16 Oct 2023

References

In React, the Suspense component enables a better user experience by allowing for the declarative handling of asynchronous data fetching and code splitting. With the introduction of React 16.6, Suspense has become one of the key features of React’s concurrent mode.

While Suspense primarily works with React’s built-in data fetching APIs like useEffect and useContext, it can also be used with state management libraries like MobX to handle the loading and error states of data. This allows us to seamlessly integrate Suspense into our application’s state management flow.

Setting up Suspense

To use Suspense with MobX, we first need to install the necessary packages:

npm install react@next react-dom@next mobx mobx-react-lite

Next, let’s create a simple MobX store to handle our data state:

import { observable, action } from 'mobx';

class DataStore {
  @observable data = [];

  @action fetchData() {
      // Fetch and update the data here
  }
}

export default new DataStore();

Using Suspense with MobX

With our store in place, we can now integrate Suspense into our component that consumes the data:

import React, { Suspense } from 'react';
import { observer } from 'mobx-react-lite';
import dataStore from './DataStore';

const DataComponent = observer(() => {
  dataStore.fetchData(); // Fetch data using the MobX store

  return (
    <Suspense fallback={<div>Loading...</div>}>
      <div>
        {dataStore.data.map((item) => (
          <div key={item.id}>{item.name}</div>
        ))}
      </div>
    </Suspense>
  );
});

export default DataComponent;

In this example, when the DataComponent renders for the first time, the fetchData action will be called, triggering the data fetching from your backend API. Meanwhile, the fallback prop of Suspense will be rendered, displaying a loading indicator to the user.

Once the data is successfully fetched and stored in the MobX store, the component will re-render, displaying the data. If an error occurs during data fetching, the fallback component will be replaced with an error boundary.

By leveraging Suspense with MobX, we can ensure a smooth user experience, handling both the loading and error states of our data gracefully.

Conclusion

Using Suspense with state management libraries like MobX allows us to easily handle the asynchronous behavior of data fetching and code splitting in our React applications. By integrating Suspense into our existing state management flow, we can provide a seamless user experience with minimal effort.

#References