Is there a way to force a React-Router <Link> to load a page from path, even when the current location is already that page? I can't seem to find any mention of this in the react-router documentations.
We have a page on a route for "apply" that loads up a landing page with a hero image, some explanatory text, etc., and an "apply for this program" button that swaps in content that acts as an application form. This all happens on the same "apply" route, because users should not be able to directly navigate to this form without first hitting the landing page.
However, when they have this form open, and they click on the apply link in the nav menu again, the entire page should reload as it would on first mount, getting them "back" (but really, forward) to the landing page again.
Instead, clicking the <Link> does nothing, because react-router sees we're already on the "apply" page, and so does not unmount the current page to then mount a different one.
Is there a way to force it to unmount the current page before then mounting the requested page, even if it's for the page users are supposedly already on? (via a <Link> property for instance?)
Note: this question was posted when React-Router meant v5, and while the problem in this post is independent of a specific React-Router versions, but the solutions are not. As such, the accepted answer is the solution for React-Router v6, so if you're still using v5, first and foremost upgrade your version of React-Router, but if you absolutely can't, the accepted answer won't work for you and you'll want this answer instead.
In the Route component, specify a random key.
<Route path={YOURPATH} render={(props) => <YourComp {...props} keyProp={someValue} key={randomGen()}/>} />
when react see a different key, they will trigger rerender.
A fix I used to solve my little need around this was to change the location that React-Router looks at. If it sees a location that we're already on (as in your example) it won't do anything, but by using a location object and changing that, rather than using a plain string path, React-Router will "navigate" to the new location, even if the path looks the same.
You can do this by setting a key that's different from the current key (similar to how React's render relies on key) with a state property that allows you to write clear code around what you wanted to do:
render() {
const linkTarget = {
pathname: "/page",
key: uuid(), // we could use Math.random, but that's not guaranteed unique.
state: {
applied: true
}
};
return (
...
<Link to={linkTarget}>Page</Link>
...
);
}
Note that (confusingly) you tell the Link which values you need pass as a state object, but the link will pass those values on into the component as props. So don't make the mistake of trying to access this.state in the target component!
We can then check for this in the target component's componentDidUpdate like so:
componentDidUpdate(prevProps, prevState, snapshot) {
// Check to see if the "applied" flag got changed (NOT just "set")
if (this.props.location.state.applied && !prevProps.location.state.applied) {
// Do stuff here
}
}
Simple as:
<Route path="/my/path" render={(props) => <MyComp {...props} key={Date.now()}/>} />
Works fine for me. When targeting to the same path:
this.props.history.push("/my/path");
The page gets reloaded, even if I'm already at /my/path.
Based on official documentation for 'react-router' v6 for Link component
A is an element that lets the user navigate to another page by clicking or tapping on it. In react-router-dom, a renders an accessible element with a real href that points to the resource it's linking to. This means that things like right-clicking a work as you'd expect. You can use to skip client side routing and let the browser handle the transition normally (as if it were an ).
So you can pass reloadDocument to your <Link/> component and it will always refresh the page.
Example
<Link reloadDocument to={linkTo}> myapp.com </Link>
At least works for me!
Not a good solution because it forces a full page refresh and throws an error, but you can call forceUpdate() using an onClick handler like:
<Link onClick={this.forceUpdate} to={'/the-page'}>
Click Me
</Link>
All I can say is it works. I'm stuck in a similar issue myself and hope someone else has a better answer!
React router Link not causing component to update within nested routes
This might be a common problem and I was looking for a decent solution to have in my toolbet for next time. React-Router provides some mechanisms to know when an user tries to visit any page even the one they are already.
Reading the location.key hash, it's the perfect approach as it changes every-time the user try to navigate between any page.
componentDidUpdate (prevProps) {
if (prevProps.location.key !== this.props.location.key) {
this.setState({
isFormSubmitted: false,
})
}
}
After setting a new state, the render method is called. In the example, I set the state to default values.
Reference: A location object is never mutated so you can use it in the lifecycle hooks to determine when navigation happens
I solved this by pushing a new route into history, then replacing that route with the current route (or the route you want to refresh). This will trigger react-router to "reload" the route without refreshing the entire page.
<Link onClick={this.reloadRoute()} to={'/route-to-refresh'}>
Click Me
</Link>
let reloadRoute = () => {
router.push({ pathname: '/empty' });
router.replace({ pathname: '/route-to-refresh' });
}
React router works by using your browser history to navigate without reloading the entire page. If you force a route into the history react router will detect this and reload the route. It is important to replace the empty route so that your back button does not take you to the empty route after you push it in.
According to react-router it looks like the react router library does not support this functionality and probably never will, so you have to force the refresh in a hacky way.
I got this working in a slightly different way that #peiti-li's answer, in react-router-dom v5.1.2, because in my case, my page got stuck in an infinite render loop after attempting their solution.
Following is what I did.
<Route
path="/mypath"
render={(props) => <MyComponent key={props.location.key} />}
/>
Every time a route change happens, the location.key prop changes even if the user is on the same route already. According to react-router-dom docs:
Instead of having a new React element created for you using the
component prop, you can pass in a function to be called when the
location matches. The render prop function has access to all the same
route props (match, location and history) as the component render
prop.
This means that we can use the props.location.key to obtain the changing key when a route change happens. Passing this to the component will make the component re-render every time the key changes.
I found a simple solution.
<BrowserRouter forceRefresh />
This forces a refresh when any links are clicked on. Unfortunately, it is global, so you can't specify which links/pages to refresh only.
From the documentation:
If true the router will use full page refreshes on page navigation. You may want to use this to imitate the way a traditional server-rendered app would work with full page refreshes between page navigation.
Here's a hacky solution that doesn't require updating any downstream components or updating a lot of routes. I really dislike it as I feel like there should be something in react-router that handles this for me.
Basically, if the link is for the current page then on click...
Wait until after the current execution.
Replace the history with /refresh?url=<your url to refresh>.
Have your switch listen for a /refresh route, then have it redirect back to the url specified in the url query parameter.
Code
First in my link component:
function MenuLink({ to, children }) {
const location = useLocation();
const history = useHistory();
const isCurrentPage = () => location.pathname === to;
const handler = isCurrentPage() ? () => {
setTimeout(() => {
if (isCurrentPage()) {
history.replace("/refresh?url=" + encodeURIComponent(to))
}
}, 0);
} : undefined;
return <Link to={to} onClick={handler}>{children}</Link>;
}
Then in my switch:
<Switch>
<Route path="/refresh" render={() => <Redirect to={parseQueryString().url ?? "/"} />} />
{/* ...rest of routes go here... */}
<Switch>
...where parseQueryString() is a function I wrote for getting the query parameters.
There is a much easier way now to achieve this, with the reloadDocument Link prop:
<Link to={linkTarget} reloadDocument={true}>Page</Link>
you can use BrowserRouter forceRefresh={true}
I use react-router-dom 5
Example :
<BrowserRouter forceRefresh={true}>
<Link
to={{pathname: '/otherPage', state: {data: data}}}>
</Link>
</BrowserRouter>
Solved using the Rachita Bansal answer but with the componentDidUpdate instead componentWillReceiveProps
componentDidUpdate(prevProps) {
if (prevProps.location.pathname !== this.props.location.pathname) { window.location.reload();
}
}
You can use the lifecycle method - componentWillReceiveProps
When you click on the link, the key of the location props is updated. So, you can do a workaround, something like below,
/**
* #param {object} nextProps new properties
*/
componentWillReceiveProps = (nextProps)=> {
if (nextProps.location.pathname !== this.props.location.pathname) {
window.location.reload();
}
};
To be honest, none of these are really "thinking React". For those that land on this question, a better alternative that accomplishes the same task is to use component state.
Set the state on the routed component to a boolean or something that you can track:
this.state = {
isLandingPage: true // or some other tracking value
};
When you want to go to the next route, just update the state and have your render method load in the desired component.
Try just using an anchor tag a href link. Use target="_self" in the tag to force the page to rerender fully.
This kind of "component not rendering in React Router" type of questions seem to be a very frequently asked question. I have looked through everything but I could not find a solution for my problem.
Here is how my code look like:
render(){
return(
<div>
<SearchBar searchBody={this.state.body}/>
<Route path = "/ranked/" component ={Ranked}></Route>
</div>
);
}
Above, the component Ranked is created which, depending on the subpath renders different things.
(For example, localhost:3000/ranked/NBA)
function SearchDropDown(props){
return(
<div className = "searchDropDownItem">
<Link to={"/ranked/"+props.item.url}>{props.item.name}</Link>
</div>
)
}
Above is a different component with the Link tag, which, depending on the url, links to different subpath of /ranked/.
The problem is that let say I am on localhost:3000/ranked/NBA.
If I get redirected to localhost:3000/ranked/WNBA through the linked tag, the url is updated correctly but the component is refreshed to itself.
From the solutions from previous related posts, I have tried
<Route exact path = "/ranked" ...
But it didn't work.
What could be the problem here? How do I solve it?
I would recommend your route look something like this instead /route/:org if you expect to receive props at the end of that specified route. Then inside your Ranked component you would use this.props.match.params.org to get the organization you want ie. (NBA, WNBA). After you have received these props in your Ranked component then you can render what ever you need for that specified organization. Hopefully this makes some sense.
According to the latest v6.0.0-alpha.5 release of react router, the history prop has been removed:
https://github.com/ReactTraining/react-router/releases/tag/v6.0.0-alpha.5
Removed the <Router history> prop and moved responsibility for setting
up/tearing down the listener (history.listen) into the wrapper
components (<BrowserRouter>, <HashRouter>, etc.). <Router> is now a
controlled component that just sets up context for the rest of the
app.
Navigating within the react context is simple with the useNavigate hook.
But, how does the removal of the history prop affect programmatically navigating outside of the react context?
For example, how would we keep our history in sync in order to navigate from inside redux, or an axios/http interceptor, etc., when we no longer can pass the history object?
Current V5 implementation:
https://reacttraining.com/react-router/web/api/Router
Or, from v6 onwards is the goal to rely on navigating from within react components only?
Thanks for the question, we know this is going to come up a lot. This is a common question we've gotten for years. Please be patient with us as we begin documenting all of these kinds of things, there's a lot to do!
Short answer: Typically people use thunks for async work that leads to wanting to navigate somewhere else (after a login, after a record is created, etc.). When your thunk is successful, change the state to something like "success" or "redirect" and then useEffect + navigate:
export function AuthForm() {
const auth = useAppSelector(selectAuth);
const dispatch = useAppDispatch();
const navigate = useNavigate();
useEffect(() => {
if (auth.status === "success") {
navigate("/dashboard", { replace: true });
}
}, [auth.status, navigate]);
return (
<div>
<button
disabled={auth.status === "loading"}
onClick={() => dispatch(login())}
>
{auth.status === "idle"
? "Sign in"
: auth.status === "loading"
? "Signing in..."
: null}
</button>
</div>
);
}
A bit more explanation:
For example, how would we keep our history in sync in order to navigate from inside redux
We've always considered this bad practice and reluctantly provided the history objects as first-class API to stop having philosophical conversations about app state and the URL 😅.
But today things are a bit different. The conversation isn't just philosophical anymore but has some concrete bugs when mixed with React's recent async rendering, streaming, and suspense features. To protect react router apps from synchronization bugs with the URL (that developers can't do anything about), v6 no longer exposes the history object.
Hopefully this explanation will help:
Changing the URL is a side-effect, not state. Thunks are used to perform side-effects that eventually figure out some state for the state container but aren't used for the side-effect in and of itself (at least that's my understanding).
For example, you may want to change the focus on the page after your redux state changes. You probably wouldn't try to synchronize and control the document's focus at all times through redux actions and state. Scroll position is the same. Ultimately the user is in control of these things: they can hit the tab key, click on something, or scroll around. Your app doesn't try to own or synchronize that state, it just changes it from time to time in response to actions and state that you do control.
The URL is the same. Users can type whatever they want into the address bar, click back, forward, or even click and hold the back button to go 3 entries back! It's the same kind of state as focus and scroll positions: owned by the user. The container can't ever truly own the URL state because it can't control the actions surrounding it. Mix in React's new and upcoming features and you're gonna lose that game.
In a nutshell: Change redux state > useEffect in the UI > navigate. Hope that helps!
I solved this for my login redirect by creating a navigate hook in my LoginForm UI component, then passing it to my login action creator, and calling it when the login endpoint returns successfully. In other words...
import React from 'react'
import {useNavigate} from 'react-router-dom'
function LoginForm (props) {
// create your navigate hook in your UI component
const navigate = useNavigate()
// other stuff...
handleLogin (loginFields) {
// then pass it into your action file, and call it
// when the query returns a successful result
dispatch(login(loginFields, navigate))
}
// other stuff, and return statement...
}
I have an app (project in Udacity) in React which display books on my shelves according to categories: Currently Reading, Want to Read and Read. Every time I change the category say from Want to Read to Currently Reading the book will move to the right category and in this case it would be Currently Reading. My code works on this one with no problem. However, you can also search from the vast library of books wherein you could move to your shelf, by default the category is None, although you could include the existing books in your shelf as part of being search (aside from the main library of books). Now, my problem is this, if I move from None to Want To Read category for example my UI does not change after I click the back button that brought me back to the main page (i.e. App.js). When I do however, change of category in the main, I have no problem. Also my function for updating the Book Shelf in App.js when called does not show any error in the console.
I have the following components:
App
|
|--BooksSearch
|--BooksList
| |--BookShelf
|--BooksSearchPage
|--BookShelf
The BooksList and BooksSearch displays the books and the search button respectively in the main page (i.e. App.js). The BooksSearchPage allows user to search books from the library to move into the shelves. The BookShelf displays the list of books whether they are in the shelves or in the library.
This is my App.js
class App extends React.Component {
state = {
mybooks : [],
showSearchPage: false
}
componentDidMount() {
BooksAPI.getAll().then( (mybooks)=> {
this.setState({mybooks})
})}
toCamelShelf(Shelf) {
if (Shelf==="currentlyreading") return "currentlyReading"
if (Shelf==="wanttoread") return "wantToRead"
return Shelf
}
updateBookShelf = (mybook, shelf) => {
shelf=this.toCamelShelf(shelf)
BooksAPI.update(mybook, shelf).then(
this.setState((state)=>({
mybooks: state.mybooks.map((bk)=>bk.id === mybook.id ?
{...bk, shelf:shelf} : bk)
})))}
render() {
return (
<div className="app">
{this.state.showSearchPage ? (
<Route path='/search' render={({history})=>(
<BooksSearchPage mybooks={this.state.mybooks} onSetSearchPage={
()=>{ this.setState({showSearchPage:false});
history.push("/");
}}
onUpdateBookShelf={this.updateBookShelf}
/>
)} />
) : (
<Route exact path='/' render={()=>(
<div className="list-books">
<div className="list-books-title">
<h1>My Reads</h1>
</div>
<BooksList mybooks={this.state.mybooks}
onUpdateBookShelf={this.updateBookShelf}/>
<BooksSearch onSetSearchPage={()=>this.setState({showSearchPage:true})}/>
</div>
)} />
)}
</div>
)
}
}
export default App
And since the code is too long, I included my repo in Github. I am very new to ReactJS and have been debugging this problem for the last 3 days but to no avail.
I'm having a hard time understanding the app enough to know why exactly, but it sounds like its a state issue.
If you navigate away and come back, or click something and it doesn't update properly, the state isn't being updated at that moment (that event) or the state wasn't saved correctly right before that event.
As soon as you reproduce the problem event, ask yourself "what was the state right before I did this?" and "why is the state how it is now?"
Did you forget to update the state?
Is it getting the wrong state from somewhere?
Did you call this.setState({ something })?
Did you overwrite the state instead of adding to it?
Is there a missing state update?
On both pages, right before and right after, add in the render method: console.log(this.state) and if needed, console.log(this.props). I think you will see the problem if you look there. The question is how exactly did it get like that? Re-visit all your state updates.
If you navigate away and come back, where does it get that state from? Why is that data in there?
Remember, React is a state machine. State is an object that has a snapshot of data every time you look at it. It's like looking at a piece of paper with all your data on it. If you leave the room and come back and the data isn't there, what updated your state and made it go away? or why didn't it get added to your state? That mechanism there is causing your problem.
I see a few spots in your code to focus on:
BooksAPI.update(mybook, shelf).then(
this.setState((state)=>({
mybooks: state.mybooks.map((bk)=>bk.id === mybook.id ?
{...bk, shelf:shelf} : bk)
})))}
and
<BooksSearchPage mybooks={this.state.mybooks} onSetSearchPage={
()=>{ this.setState({showSearchPage:false});
history.push("/");
}}
onUpdateBookShelf={this.updateBookShelf}
and
<BooksList mybooks={this.state.mybooks}
onUpdateBookShelf={this.updateBookShelf}/>
<BooksSearch onSetSearchPage={()=>this.setState({showSearchPage:true})}/>
also right up here:
class App extends React.Component {
state = {
mybooks : [],
showSearchPage: false
}
componentDidMount() {
BooksAPI.getAll().then( (mybooks)=> {
this.setState({mybooks})
})}
One of them is acting too strongly or one of them isn't updating at the right time, or data is getting overwritten, I suspect.
The console.log() should be most helpful. If your data is missing. Make it show up there at that time and the problem will go away :) (P.S. that setState on componentDidMount looks a little suspect).
I know that it's not a default behaviour / feature of react-router to help us reload easily the current component but I really need this in my application.
My application deals with products. I have a product list that I can load, and when I click on an item, it displays the concerned product details.
On that page, I have related product links that load the same component, but with another product details, located at
<Route path="/products/:id/details" component={ProductDetail} />
I m fetching data in my componentWillMount, and it seems that if I only change the URL, a new component is NOT mounted, and so, I m always having my old data displayed, without fetching anything.
As a beginner using React, I'm looking for some help, or some tricks to reload the component concerned by that page. I mean being able to reload the ProductDetail with the good product.
I tried to look around with componentWillUpdate (a method in which I can see that the router URI changes :D) but I can't setState inside of it to make my component reload (it doesn't seem to be a good practice at all)
Any idea how can I make this work ?
EDIT : According to the first answer, I have to use onEnter. I m now stuck with the way of passing state/props to the concerned component :
const onEnterMethod = () => {
return fetch(URL)
.then(res => res.json())
.then(cmp => {
if (cmp.length === 1) {
// How to pass state / props to the next component ?
}
});
};
The way to handle it depends if you are using flux, redux or however you want to manage your actions. On top of it I would try to make use of onChange property of Route component (check React router docs):
<Route path="/products/:id/details" component={ProductDetail} onChange={someMethod} />
And then in the someMethod create the action if you are using redux or however is done in flux.
The redux would be:
<Route path="/products/:id/details" component={ProductDetail} onEnter={onEnterHandler(store)} />
And the onEnterHandler with the redux store:
function onEnterHandler(store) {
return (nextState, replace) => {
store.dispatch({
type: "CHANGEPRODUCT",
payload: nextState.params.id
})
};
}
And then in your ProductDetail component you would print the new information (It would require a bit more of learning in redux and redux-sagas libraries to complete that part).
Keep in mind that React is just the view part, trying to solve all those problems using only react is not only not recommended but also would mess up your code.