Lifecycle Methods

Published Aug 27, 2021Updated Jan 19, 2024
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In React, lifecycle methods are unique event listeners that listen for changes during certain points during a component‘s lifecycle. A component’s lifecycle usually runs in this order:

  1. Rendering/mounting a component to the DOM for the first time.
  2. Updating an existing component.
  3. Catching any errors associated with a component render-gone-wrong.
  4. Unmounting a component and removing it from the DOM.

Lifecycle methods were originally exclusive to class components. But thanks to React hooks, even functional component’s can work with their lifecycle.

Rendering/Mounting a Component

After a component is first created and render()ed to the DOM, it is “mounted”. The method used here is called componentDidMount(), which occurs after the component is rendered.

import React from "react";
class App extends React.Component {
componentDidMount() {
conosle.log("Component has mounted!")
}
render() {
console.log("Rendering...")
return(
<React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
)
}
}

And the output should be this:

Rendering...
Component has mounted!

Updating a Component

When changes are made to a component, usually to its state, it is in the update-phase of its lifecycle. This is handled by the componentDidUpdate() method.

Using the common <Counter> example, and some custom increase() and decrease() event methods to change its count state, compomentDidUpdate() will execute immediately after either of these methods executes:

import React from 'react';
class Counter extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
count: 0,
};
this.increment = () => this.setState({ count: this.state.count + 1 });
this.decrement = () => this.setState({ count: this.state.count - 1 });
}
componentDidMount() {
console.log('Component has mounted.');
}
componentDidUpdate() {
console.log('Component updated. Count is now ' + this.state.count + '.');
}
render() {
console.log('Rendering...');
return (
<React.Fragment>
<h1>Count: {this.state.count}</h1>
<button onClick={this.increment}>+1</button>
<button onClick={this.decrement}>-1</button>
</React.Fragment>
);
}
}

Assuming we clicked the “+” button twice, which causes a re-render() each time, our output would be this:

Rendering...
Component has mounted.
Rendering...
Component updated. Count is now 1.
Rendering...
Component updated. Count is now 2.

Catching Errors in Components

Prior to React 16, there were no features that handled errors being thrown during the component tree’s “rendering” phase. When this occurred, the following would happen:

  • The entire app would crash and all components would ummount.
  • A trace report of the error would replace the UI.

This prompted the creation of the following lifecycle methods for handling errors in React class components:

  • static getDerivedStateFromError(error) for returning an updated state to allow a render of fallback UI.
  • componentDidCatch(error, errorInfo) for logging error information to the console, including a component stack tracing back to the source of the error.

Any class component that uses either or both of these methods is considered to be an Error Boundary component because they are catching errors thrown from their child components.

import React from "react";
class CounterThatThrowsError extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props)
this.state = {
count: 0
}
this.increment = () => this.setState({count: this.state.count + 1})
this.decrement = () => this.setState({count: this.state.count - 1})
}
render() {
if(this.state.count === 3) throw new Error("Crashed!")
return(
<React.Fragment>
<h1>Count: {this.state.count}</h1>
<button onClick={this.increment}>+1</button>
<button onClick={this.decrement}>-1</button>
</React.Fragment>
)
}
};
class App extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props)
this.state = {
hasError: false,
error: null
}
}
getDerivedStateFromError(error) {
return {
hasError: true,
error: error
}
}
componentDidCatch(error, errorInfo) {
console.log(error.name + ": " error.message)
// Output: Error: Crashed!
}
render() {
if(this.state.hasError) {
return (
<div style={{ marginLeft: "2em" }}>
<h1>Oh no! Something's gone wrong!</h1>
</div>
)
}
return(
<div className="App">
<Counter />
</div>
)
}
}

Note: getDerivedStateFromError() and componentDidCatch() are only able to work with errors strictly related to their child components. They are not compatible with errors related to event handlers.

Unmounting a Component

When a component is unmounted, it is considered to be at the end of its lifecycle within the React application. The associated lifecycle method is componentWillUnmount(), which executes when React anticipates its host-component will be destroyed.

Going back to the previous example where the <Counter> component throws an error after is state is equal to 3, it is thereby destroyed and replaced by new a new UI inside of its parent component, <App>.

import React from "react";
class CounterThatThrowsError extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props)
this.state = {
count: 0
}
this.increment = () => this.setState({count: this.state.count + 1})
this.decrement = () => this.setState({count: this.state.count - 1})
}
componentWillUnmount() {
console.log("Counter has been unmounted!")
// Output: Counter has been unmounted!
}
render() {
if(this.state.count === 3) throw new Error("Crashed!")
return(
<React.Fragment>
<h1>Count: {this.state.count}</h1>
<button onClick={this.increment}>+1</button>
<button onClick={this.decrement}>-1</button>
</React.Fragment>
)
}
};
class App extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props)
this.state = {
hasError: false,
error: null
}
}
getDerivedStateFromError(error) {
return {
hasError: true,
error: error
}
}
componentDidCatch(error, errorInfo) {
console.log(error.name + ": " error.message)
// Output: Error: Crashed!
}
render() {
if(this.state.hasError) {
return (
<div style={{ marginLeft: "2em" }}>
<h1>Oh no! Something's gone wrong!</h1>
</div>
)
}
return(
<div className="App">
<Counter />
</div>
)
}
}

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