What’s the difference between a custom hook and a functional component?

The (common) problem

You have a component and need to control its state, and it works great:

function BaseExample() {
  const [option, setOption] = useState('two');

  const handleChange = (el) => {
    setOption(el.target.value);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <select
        onChange={handleChange}
        value={option}
      >
        {[
          { value: 'one', label: 'One' },
          { value: 'two', label: 'Two' },
          { value: 'three', label: 'Three' },
        ].map((option) => (
          <option
            key={option.value}
            value={option.value}
          >
            {option.label}
          </option>
        ))}
      </select>
      <div>{option ? `Selected: ${option}` : 'No selection'}</div>
    </div>
  );
}

But what happens when you try to refactor it?

function RefactoredExample() {
  const [option, setOption] = useState('two');

  const handleChange = (el) => {
    setOption(el.target.value);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      {SelectComponent(handleChange, option)}
      <div>{option ? `Selected: ${option}` : 'No selection'}</div>
    </div>
  );
}

function SelectComponent(handleChange, option) {
  return (
    <select
      onChange={handleChange}
      value={option}
    >
      {[
        { value: 'one', label: 'One' },
        { value: 'two', label: 'Two' },
        { value: 'three', label: 'Three' },
      ].map((option) => (
        <option
          key={option.value}
          value={option.value}
        >
          {option.label}
        </option>
      ))}
    </select>
  );
}

Now, we have one component that has to know too much and another one that can’t do anything on its own.

Enter custom hooks

By convention normal functional components return JSX and custom hooks can return anything.

Anything? Yes, even JSX.

function RefactoredWithHookExample() {
  const { option, SelectComponent } = useSelectComponent();

  return (
    <div>
      <SelectComponent />
      <div>{option ? `Selected: ${option}` : 'No selection'}</div>
    </div>
  );
}

function useSelectComponent() {
  const [option, setOption] = useState('two');

  const handleChange = (el) => {
    setOption(el.target.value);
  };

  const SelectComponent = () => (
    <select
      onChange={handleChange}
      value={option}
    >
      {[
        { value: 'one', label: 'One' },
        { value: 'two', label: 'Two' },
        { value: 'three', label: 'Three' },
      ].map((option) => (
        <option
          key={option.value}
          value={option.value}
        >
          {option.label}
        </option>
      ))}
    </select>
  );

  return { option, SelectComponent };
}

Now the SelectComponent knows all it needs to control its state and the parent component knows only what it needs.

Anything goes with closures!

An example like this is hardly exciting, but remember that you can return anything from a hook!

Not only that, this can work as a closure, so you could have something like this:

function RefactoredWithClosureHookExample() {
  const { option, SelectComponent } = useSelectComponent({
    options: [
      { value: 'one', label: 'One' },
      { value: 'two', label: 'Two' },
      { value: 'three', label: 'Three' },
    ],
    initial: 'two',
  });

  return (
    <div>
      <SelectComponent
        selectProps={{ style: { color: 'red' } }}
        optionProps={{ style: { color: 'green' } }}
      />
      <div>{option ? `Selected: ${option}` : 'No selection'}</div>
    </div>
  );
}

function useSelectComponent({ options, initial }) {
  const [option, setOption] = useState(initial);

  const handleChange = (el) => {
    setOption(el.target.value);
  };

  const SelectComponent = ({ selectProps, optionProps }) => (
    <select
      onChange={handleChange}
      value={option}
      {...selectProps}
    >
      {options.map((option) => (
        <option
          key={option.value}
          value={option.value}
          {...optionProps}
        >
          {option.label}
        </option>
      ))}
    </select>
  );

  return { option, SelectComponent };
}

This was, of course, an exaggeration. But by understanding what’s possible you’ll be sure to find easier solutions to your problems.

Cover Photo by Jamie Matociños on Unsplash

React - Closure that dependency!

The (common) problem

Enter custom hooks

Anything goes with closures!