react-hooks-async

An abortable async function library with React Hooks

Introduction

JavaScript promises are not abortable/cancelable. However, DOM provides AbortController which can be used for aborting promises in general.

This is a library to provide an easy way to handle abortable async functions with React Hooks API.

It comes with a collection of custom hooks that can be used as is. More custom hooks can be developed based on core hooks.

Install

npm install react-hooks-async

Usage

A typeahead search example:

import React, { useState, useCallback } from 'react';

import {
  useAsyncCombineSeq,
  useAsyncRun,
  useAsyncTaskDelay,
  useAsyncTaskFetch,
} from 'react-hooks-async';

const Err = ({ error }) => <div>Error: {error.name} {error.message}</div>;

const Loading = ({ abort }) => <div>Loading...<button onClick={abort}>Abort</button></div>;

const GitHubSearch = ({ query }) => {
  const url = `https://api.github.com/search/repositories?q=${query}`;
  const delayTask = useAsyncTaskDelay(useCallback(() => 500, [query]));
  const fetchTask = useAsyncTaskFetch(url);
  const combinedTask = useAsyncCombineSeq(delayTask, fetchTask);
  useAsyncRun(combinedTask);
  if (delayTask.pending) return <div>Waiting...</div>;
  if (fetchTask.error) return <Err error={fetchTask.error} />;
  if (fetchTask.pending) return <Loading abort={fetchTask.abort} />;
  return (
    <ul>
      {fetchTask.result.items.map(({ id, name, html_url }) => (
        <li key={id}><a target="_blank" href={html_url}>{name}</a></li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
};

const App = () => {
  const [query, setQuery] = useState('');
  return (
    <div>
      Query:
      <input value={query} onChange={e => setQuery(e.target.value)} />
      {query && <GitHubSearch query={query} />}
    </div>
  );
};

A simple fetch example:

import React from 'react';

import { useFetch } from 'react-hooks-async';

const UserInfo = ({ id }) => {
  const url = `https://reqres.in/api/users/${id}?delay=1`;
  const { pending, error, result, abort } = useFetch(url);
  if (pending) return <div>Loading...<button onClick={abort}>Abort</button></div>;
  if (error) return <div>Error: {error.name} {error.message}</div>;
  return <div>First Name: {result.data.first_name}</div>;
};

const App = () => (
  <div>
    <UserInfo id={'1'} />
    <UserInfo id={'2'} />
  </div>
);

Examples

The examples folder contains working examples. You can run one of them with

PORT=8080 npm run examples:minimal

and open http://localhost:8080 in your web browser.

You can also try them in codesandbox.io: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

Reference

Note: Almost all hooks check referential equality of arguments. Arguments must be memoized if they would change in re-renders. Consider defining them outside of render, or useMemo/useMemoOne/useCallback/useCallbackOne.

Core hooks

useAsyncTask

const task = useAsyncTask(func);

This function is to create a new async task.

The first argument func is a function with an argument which is AbortController. This function returns a promise, but the function is responsible to cancel the promise by AbortController. If func receives the second or rest arguments, those can be passed by useAsyncRun(task, ...args) or task.start(...args).

When func is referentially changed, a new async task will be created.

The return value task is an object that contains information about the state of the task and some internal information. The state of the task can be destructured like the following:

const { pending, error, result } = task;

When a task is created, it's not started. To run a task, either call useAsyncRun(task, [...args]) in render, or call task.start([...args]) in callback.

useAsyncRun

useAsyncRun(task, ...args);

This function is to run an async task. When the task is updated, this function aborts the previous running task and start the new one.

The first argument task is an object returned by useAsyncTask and its variants. This can be a falsy value and in that case it won't run any tasks. Hence, it's possible to control the timing by:

useAsyncRun(ready && task);

The second or rest arguments are optional. If they are provided, the referential equality matters, so useMemo/useMemoOne would be necessary.

The return value of this function is void. You need to keep using task to get the state of the task.

Combining hooks

useAsyncCombineSeq

const combinedTask = useAsyncCombineSeq(task1, task2, ...);

This function combines multiple tasks in a sequential manner.

The arguments task1, task2, ... are tasks created by useAsyncTask. They shouldn't be started.

The return value combinedTask is a newly created combined task which holds an array of each task results in the result property.

useAsyncCombineAll

const combinedTask = useAsyncCombineAll(task1, task2, ...);

This function combines multiple tasks in a parallel manner.

The arguments and return value are the same as useAsyncCombineSeq.

useAsyncCombineRace

const combinedTask = useAsyncCombineRace(task1, task2, ...);

This function combines multiple tasks in a "race" manner.

The arguments and return value are the same as useAsyncCombineSeq.

Helper hooks

These hooks are just wrappers of useAsyncTask.

useAsyncTaskTimeout

const task = useAsyncTaskTimeout(func, delay);

This function returns an async task that runs func after delay ms.

When func is referentially changed, a new async task will be created.

useAsyncTaskDelay

const task = useAsyncTaskDelay(delay);

This function returns an async task that finishes after delay. This is a simpler variant of useAsyncTaskTimeout. delay is either a number or a function that returns a number.

When delay is referentially changed, a new async task will be created.

useAsyncTaskFetch

const task = useAsyncTaskFetch(input, init, bodyReader);

This function returns an async task that runs fetch. The first argument input and the second argument init are simply fed into fetch. The third argument bodyReader is to read the response body, which defaults to JSON parser.

When input or other arguments is referentially changed, a new async task will be created.

The hook useFetch has the same signature and runs the async task immediately.

useAsyncTaskAxios

const task = useAsyncTaskAxios(axios, config);

This is similar to useAsyncTaskFetch but using axios.

When config or other arguments is referentially changed, a new async task will be created.

The hook useAxios has the same signature and runs the async task immediately.

useAsyncTaskWasm

const task = useAsyncTaskWasm(input, importObject);

This function returns an async task that fetches wasm and creates a WebAssembly instance. The first argument input is simply fed into fetch. The second argument importObject is passed at instantiating WebAssembly.

When input or other arguments is referentially changed, a new async task will be created.

The hook useWasm has the same signature and runs the async task immediately.

Limitations

• Due to the nature of React Hooks API, creating async tasks dynamically is not possible. For example, we cannot create arbitrary numbers of async tasks at runtime. For such a complex use case, we would use other solutions including upcoming react-cache and Suspense.

Blogs

• Introduction to abortable async functions for React with hooks
• Developing React custom hooks for abortable async functions with AbortController
• How to create React custom hooks for data fetching with useEffect