Level Up Your React Native App's Data Handling with React Query

Say goodbye to the complexities of traditional API calls in React Native. Today, we're diving into the world of React Query — a powerful library that redefines the way you handle data fetching. Join us on a journey to streamline your development workflow and supercharge your app's performance.

What is React Query?

In the realm of React Native development, managing asynchronous data and API calls can often be a complex dance. Enter React Query, a powerful library designed to simplify and streamline the way we handle data fetching in React Native applications. You can explore official documentation here https://tanstack.com/query/v3/

At its core, React Query is a declarative data-fetching library that makes it remarkably easy to manage, cache, and update your application's state in response to remote data. It offers an elegant and intuitive API that abstracts away the complexities of dealing with asynchronous operations, allowing developers to focus on building robust and responsive user interfaces.

Key Features for React Native Development:

Effortless Data Fetching: React Query simplifies the process of fetching data from APIs by providing a clean and straightforward syntax. With just a few lines of code, you can initiate API calls and seamlessly integrate the retrieved data into your React Native components.

1. Automatic Caching: One of React Query's standout features is its intelligent caching system. It automatically caches API responses, minimizing redundant network requests and ensuring your app remains responsive and performs optimally, even in challenging network conditions.

2. Optimistic Updates: React Query supports optimistic updates out of the box, allowing you to update your UI optimistically before confirming the success of a mutation. This feature ensures a smoother user experience and reduces perceived latency.

3. Pagination Support: Handling paginated data becomes a breeze with React Query. Whether you're dealing with long lists or endless scrolls, React Query provides a straightforward mechanism for paginating through large datasets.

4. DevTools Integration: Developers love tools that make their lives easier, and React Query delivers on this front. Its seamless integration with DevTools offers an insightful look into the state of your queries, making debugging and optimization a more transparent process.

In the coming sections, we'll explore how to harness the power of React Query in React Native, unlocking a new level of simplicity and efficiency in managing your application's data layer. Let's dive in!

Installation: Getting Started with React Query in React Native

To begin using React Query in your React Native project, you'll need to install the library. Refer to the (https://tanstack.com/query/v3/docs/react/installation) for detailed information on installation and usage. You can install React Query with NPM, Yarn,

yarn add react-query

or

npm i react-query

React Query is compatible with React v16.8+ and works with ReactDOM and React Native.

Using Mutations with useApi and useLogin

When interacting with APIs in a React Native application, handling data mutations—such as creating, updating, or deleting resources—is a fundamental aspect of the development process. To simplify this workflow, we leverage the concept of mutations in the context of React Query and our custom useApi and useLogin hooks.

What are Mutations?

In the realm of React Query, a mutation is an operation that involves sending data to a server to create, update, or delete a resource. Mutations are powerful, asynchronous functions that manage the entire lifecycle of an API request, from initiation to completion.

The useApi hook, at its core, is a generic utility for making API requests, but it becomes even more potent when coupled with the concept of mutations. Whether you're sending a login request, updating user preferences, or modifying any other resource, mutations provide a clear and efficient pattern for managing these actions.

How to Use Mutations in Your React Native App

Our custom hooks, useApi and useLogin, seamlessly integrate React Query's mutation capabilities, making it straightforward to handle API interactions in a clean and declarative manner.

• useApi Hook: General-purpose hook for making API requests. It encapsulates the complexity of handling different types of API calls, allowing you to focus on your application logic.

• useLogin Hook: A specialized instance of useApi tailored for login-related API calls. It inherits the mutation capabilities of useApi and provides a convenient interface for handling login requests.

In the following examples, we'll walk through practical use cases and demonstrate how mutations streamline the process of sending data to your server, handling loading states, and reacting to success or error outcomes.

Let's dive into the code examples to see how easy it is to harness the power of mutations in your React Native application.

Full Code Example: useApi Hook

Introduction

Before we delve into the examples, let's take a closer look at the implementation of the useApi hook. This hook serves as a foundational utility for making API requests in your React Native application.

import axios from 'axios';
import {BASE_URL} from '@env';
import {useMutation} from 'react-query';
import {Messages} from '../../libs';

const useApi = (urlWithOutBase, customConfig = {}) => {
  const defaultConfig = {
    method: 'post', // or 'get', 'put', 'delete', etc.
    baseURL: BASE_URL,
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      // Add any other common headers here
    },
  };

  const config = {
    ...defaultConfig,
    ...customConfig,
  };

  const fetchData = async body => {
    try {
      const response = await axios.request({
        url: urlWithOutBase,
        data: body,
        ...config,
      });

      return response.data;
    } catch (error) {
      // Handle network errors, failed requests, etc.
      const message =
        error?.response?.data?.message ||
        error?.message ||
        Messages.apiMessages.generalPostMessage;
      throw new Error(message);
    }
  };

  return useMutation(body => fetchData(body));
};

export default useApi;

Explanation

In this snippet, the useApi hook is defined as a function that takes an API endpoint (urlWithoutBase) and an optional custom configuration (customConfig). The key feature here is the integration with React Query's useMutation function, which transforms our API fetching logic into a mutation, allowing for easier state management.

Now, let's move on to the next piece of the puzzle.

Full Code Example: useLogin Hook

Introduction

Building upon the useApi hook, the useLogin hook is a specialized instance tailored for handling login-related API calls. It inherits the mutation capabilities of useApi while providing a clean interface for login requests.

import useApi from './index';

const useLogin = () => {
  return useApi('/v1/login', {
    // Optional: Customize headers or other configurations specific to this API call
  });
};

export default useLogin;

Explanation

In this file, we import the generic useApi hook and use it to create a specific instance for login-related API calls. By providing the endpoint /v1/login, we configure the useLogin hook to be focused on handling login requests.

Now, let's see how these hooks can be utilized in a React component.

React Component: Using useLogin

Introduction

Now that we have our utility hooks defined, let's explore how to seamlessly integrate them into a React Native component. The following example demonstrates how to use the useLogin hook to handle a login request.

import React from 'react';
import useLogin from './path-to-useLogin';

const YourReactComponent = () => {
  const { mutate, isLoading, error, isSuccess, data, reset } = useLogin();

  if (error) {
    // Handle error
    console.error(error.message);
    reset();
  }

  if (isSuccess) {
    // Handle success
    console.log(data);
    reset();
  }

  // ... (trigger the login API call when needed)
     // mutate({
      //    email: "",
      //     password:"",
    //  });
};

export default YourReactComponent;

Explanation

In this React component, we import the useLogin hook and destructure its properties (mutate, isLoading, error, isSuccess, data, reset) for managing the state of the API call. The component demonstrates how to handle loading states, errors, and success outcomes based on the response from the login API.

Using Queries with useQueryApi and useMainData

When it comes to retrieving data from APIs in a React Native application, queries play a crucial role in managing and fetching that data. This documentation will walk you through the implementation of the useQueryApi hook, a versatile utility for handling queries with React Query. Additionally, we'll explore the specialized useMainData hook, which simplifies the process of fetching main data in your application.

What are Queries?

Queries in React Query are functions responsible for fetching and caching data. They automatically handle caching, re-fetching, and other intricacies related to data fetching, providing a clean and efficient way to interact with APIs.

useQueryApi Hook

Introduction

The useQueryApi hook is designed to streamline the process of creating queries with React Query. It abstracts away the complexity of managing query configurations, allowing you to focus on fetching data.

import axios from 'axios';
import {BASE_URL} from '@env';
import {useQuery} from 'react-query';
import {Messages} from '../../libs';

const useQueryApi = (
  queryKey,
  urlWithOutBase,
  userToken,
  customConfig = {},
) => {
  const defaultConfig = {
    method: 'get', // or 'post', 'put', 'delete', etc., depending on your API
    baseURL: BASE_URL,
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      Authorization: userToken ? `Bearer ${userToken}` : '', // Include user token if available
      // Add any other common headers here
    },
  };

  const config = {
    ...defaultConfig,
    ...customConfig,
  };

  const fetchData = async () => {
    try {
      const response = await axios.request({
        url: urlWithOutBase,
        ...config,
      });

      return response.data;
    } catch (error) {
      // Handle network errors, failed requests, etc.
      const message =
        error?.response?.data?.message ||
        error?.message ||
        Messages.apiMessages.generalGetMessage;
      throw new Error(message);
    }
  };

  return useQuery(queryKey, fetchData);
};

export default useQueryApi;

Explanation

The useQueryApi hook takes parameters such as queryKey, urlWithoutBase, userToken, and customConfig to construct and execute a query using React Query. It handles API requests with the specified configurations, including headers and authentication.

useMainData Hook

Introduction

The useMainData hook is a specialized instance of the useQueryApi hook. It is tailored to handle queries specifically for fetching main data in your application.

import useQueryApi from './index';

const useMainData = (userToken) => {
  return useQueryApi('mainData', '/v1/data', userToken, {
    // Optional: Customize headers or other configurations specific to this query
  });
};

export default useMainData;

Explanation

The useMainData hook leverages the general-purpose useQueryApi hook, focusing on the /v1/data endpoint with the mainData query key. It provides a clean and specific interface for fetching main data in your React Native application.

React Component: Using useMainData

Introduction

Now that we have our query hooks defined, let's explore how to seamlessly integrate them into a React Native component. The following example demonstrates how to use the useMainData hook to handle a query for main data.

import React from 'react';
import useMainData from './path-to-useMainData';

const YourReactComponent = () => {
  const { data, isLoading, error } = useMainData(/* pass userToken if needed */);

  if (isLoading) {
    // Display loading state
    return <ActivityIndicator />;
  }

  if (error) {
    // Handle error
    console.error(error.message);
  }

  // Use the fetched data in your component
  return (
    <View>
      {/* Render your component with the fetched data */}
    </View>
  );
};

export default YourReactComponent;

Explanation

In this React component, we import the useMainData hook and destructure its properties (data, isLoading, error) for managing the state of the query. The component demonstrates how to handle loading states, and errors, and utilize the fetched data in your React Native application.

Tips for Effective Integration

1. Customization and Configuration

Both useQueryApi and useMainData hooks support customization through the customConfig parameter. This allows you to tailor the headers, methods, and other configurations specific to your API calls. Explore the Axios documentation for additional configuration options: Axios Request Config.

2. Authentication

Ensure that you pass the necessary authentication token, if required, when using these hooks. The Authorization header is automatically handled in the useQueryApi hook, allowing for secure and authenticated API requests.

3. Handling Loading States

Leverage the isLoading property returned by the hooks to manage loading states in your components. Display loading indicators or adjust your UI to inform users that data is being fetched.

4. Error Handling

Be prepared to handle errors gracefully by checking the error property. Display meaningful error messages to users or log them for debugging purposes.

5. Optimizing Performance with React Query

Explore the React Query documentation for advanced features and optimizations. React Query provides powerful tools for managing caching, refetching, and other performance-related concerns.

6. DevTools Integration

Integrate React Query DevTools into your project for enhanced debugging capabilities. The DevTools offer insights into query states, cache details, and overall performance. Follow the instructions in the React Query DevTools documentation to get started.

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Next Steps

Now that you've learned how to use useQueryApi and useMainData hooks, consider applying them to other parts of your application where data fetching is required. Experiment with different configurations, explore React Query features, and gradually integrate these hooks into your broader project.

Remember to stay updated on the latest versions of React Query and Axios for any new features or improvements. Additionally, share your experiences and feedback with the community, whether it's on forums, social media, or contributing to open-source projects.

Happy coding!