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What is StrictMode in React? Masterclass on StrictMode

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05th Sep, 2023
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    What is StrictMode in React? Masterclass on StrictMode

    StrictMode is a React Developer Tool, primarily used to identify potential issues in a web application. For its descendant components, it activates additional deprecation checks and warnings. The fact that it gives visual feedback (warning/error messages) whenever the React rules and suggested practices are not followed is one of the reasons for its popularity. The React StrictMode Component, like the React Fragment, does not render any visible UI. 

    If you are interested in exploring React StrictMode in-depth, we encourage you to sign up for React full course and upskill yourself. 

    React StrictMode shows the application's potential flaws. As a result, you'll be able to develop more understandable and secure programmes. You don't need to import this functionality separately because it's part of the React package. Wrap any suspect code with the StrictMode helper component, and that's all there is to it. Here's how to utilise it with React components that are functional: 

     import React, { Component } from 'react'; 
    function SuspiciousComponent() { 
    return ( 
    <div>Let's say this is suspicious</div> 
    ) 
    } 
    function App() { 
    return ( 
    <div> 
    <React.StrictMode> 
    <SuspiciousComponent></SuspiciousComponent> 
    </React.StrictMode> 
    </div> 
    ) 
    } 

    What is React StrictMode and How to Use It?

    React.StrictMode is a tool that highlights potential issues in a programme. It works by encapsulating a portion of your full application as a component. StrictMode does not render any visible elements in the DOM in development mode, but it enables checks and gives warnings. 

    StrictMode does not perform any checks or display any warnings in production mode. 

    import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
    import React from 'react;
    import App from './App';
    
    ReactDOM.render(
       <React.StrictMode>
          <App />
       <React.StrictMode>,
       document.getElementById("app")
    );

    You may also use React.StrictMode> to activate it in a section of your application. 

    As of React v17, the following functionalities are supported in StrictMode: 

    • Identifying string refs from the past. 
    • The findDOMNode function has been deprecated. 
    • The use of the legacy Context API is being detected. 
    • Detecting dangerous lifecycle methods that React has deprecated. 
    • Unexpected side effects in React components are detected. 

    What Does Strict Mode Help With?

    Identifying Unsafe Lifecycles

    The React APIs saw several significant modifications in version 16.3.0. Fall of lifecycle methods like componentWillMount, componentWillReceiveProps, and componentWillUpdate was one of such changes. New lifecycles, such as getDerivedStateFromProps and getSnapShotBeforeUpdate, were also included. 

    Although these lifecycle functions have been renamed with the prefix UNSAFE_ and are still available in future versions of React, they may be removed entirely in future releases. 

    What were the reasons for the deprecation of these lifecycle methods? 

    To grasp this, we must first understand that React works in two stages: 

    Render Phase: React verifies what changes to the DOM are required during the render phase. During this phase, React calls a render function and compares the given result to the previous one.  

    Commit Phase: During this phase, React applies the changes to the DOM and calls commit phase lifecycles like componentDidMount and componentDidUpdate. 

    While the commit phase is quick, the render phase can be lengthy. React decided to partition the rendering into chunks and pause and restart work to avoid blocking the browser to optimise it with the goal of Concurrent Mode. 

    As a result, the render phase lifecycles may be invoked several times, causing the application to behave inconsistently if they contain side effects or inappropriate practices. Furthermore, several of these lifecycles foster poor developer behaviour. These are some of them: 

    • componentWillMount 
    • componentWillReceiveProps 
    • componentWillUpdate 

    A code-mod will rename all unsafe lifecycles and add the UNSAFE_ prefix to help rework your code but bear in mind that this eliminates the warning, not the use of an unsafe lifecycle. 

    npx react-codemod rename-unsafe-lifecycles <path> 

    Warning About Legacy String ref API Usage

    Strings were used to allocate refs in the early versions of React. However, as Dan Abramov pointed out, there were other issues. 

    "It's necessary for React to keep track of the currently rendering component (because it can't guess)." React becomes a little slower because of this. 

    The "render callback" pattern (e.g. List renderRow=this.renderRow />) does not operate as most people would assume because the ref is placed on List for the same reason. 

    It is not composable, which means that if a library adds a ref to the passed child, the user cannot add another. Callback referees are easily replaceable." 

    For this and other reasons, such as the difficulties with typing refs in TypeScript where they must be cast, better solutions for class components were introduced: 

    • Callback refs 
    • React.createRef 

    Warning About Deprecated findDOMNode Usage 

    FindDOMNode was a feature in React that allowed you to search the tree for a DOM node given a class instance. 

    There are a few issues with this approach. The first is that it may cause problems with refactoring. A parent component used to be aware of its children's implementation details if it used findDOMNode to get a child element. The second issue is that findDOMNode returns the first child found, but in the world of Fragments, multiple children are sometimes rendered by one component. 

    Because you can always build a ref straight to a DOM node (as shown previously), findDOMNode is usually unneeded. If you require something like findDOMNode, you can create a ref and utilise Ref Forwarding in your custom component to obtain the underlying DOM element. 

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    Detecting Unexpected Side Effects

    React opted to divide off the rendering step to optimise the rendering phase in the forthcoming Concurrent Mode, as we saw in the previous part. As a result, renderer stage specifications can be called multiple times, possibly resulting in unpredictable results if adverse effects are used. 

    These functionalities are included in the most recent version of React: 

    • constructor 
    • getDerivedStateFromProps 
    • shouldComponentUpdate 
    • render 
    • setState updater functions in both class and functional components 
    • functions passed to useMemo, useState, useReducer 

    While side effects are non-deterministic, StrictMode helps by double-invoking the routines above, making the developer a little more deterministic. As a result, if a side effect is mistakenly written in a rendering phase function, it can wind up in Development Mode due to the visible inconsistencies. 

    Suppose a WebSocket connection is made in a constructor function, for example. In that case, a double execution of the constructor function in Development Mode can assist to make it simpler to identify because two connections are established. 

    Detecting Legacy Context API 

    In React 16.3, a new Context API was introduced. Previously, the previous error-prone API was in use, which prevented consumers from updating if a component somewhere in the parent hierarchy implemented shouldComponentUpdate, which prevented re-renders of the children element. 

    Even though React v16.x continues to support the old Context API, StrictMode will highlight any usages of the old Context API with warnings so that they can be upgraded to the latest version. 

    Best Uses for React Strict Mode

    Suppose you're working with a codebase that you didn’t write. In that case, StrictMode in React can be a valuable tool for guaranteeing correct code structure, primarily if an inexperienced developer wrote the React application. 

    It can be challenging to find a bug in JavaScript code. On the other hand, wrapping the code in StrictMode can help you figure out what's wrong. 

    StrictMode is one of the most useful React features in general. It can help new developers get into the habit of producing code that follows React's best practices. The more you experiment with Strict Mode, the more at ease you will be with it. 

    How to Enable React Strict Mode

    To enable StrictMode (starting with version 16.3), simply encapsulate the part you want in your project with <React.StrictMode>. 

    You can wrap the entire programme or just a few nodes. 

    Here's an example of how to wrap the entire app: 

    import React from 'react'; 

    function StictModeDemo() { 
    return ( 
    <div> 
    <Component1 /> 
    <React.StrictMode> 
    <React.Fragment> 
    <Component2 /> 
    <Component3 /> 
    </React.Fragment> 
    </React.StrictMode> 
    <Component4 /> 
    </div> 
    ); 
    } 

    You'll get warnings in your development tools console as soon as you do that. 

    StrictMode now assists with a few particular issues; we'll hide these for now and check how the warnings appear. 

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    Conclusion

    React. StrictMode can be enabled for a portion of the app or the entire app. 

    It's exclusively used in Development Mode to warn about legacy refs. To make it simpler to notice unanticipated side effects implemented in these methods, StrictMode causes a deliberate double invocation of rendering phase lifecycles and functions. 

    Furthermore, you can check similar topics from Knowledgehut blogs. If you are new to React, enroll yourself in the knowledgeHut’s React full course  and get a competitive edge over your peers.   

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    1Should I use StrictMode React?

    StrictMode is a React Developer Tool that is primarily used to identify potential issues in a web application. For its descendant components, it activates additional deprecation checks and warnings.

    2Does React work in strict mode?

    The React StrictMode Component renders no visible UI. It can be thought of as a utility component that allows developers to code more efficiently while also alerting them to any questionable code added to the application by accident. 

    3Which method in the component class will provide a warning when using React StrictMode?

    Using the findDOMNode method, we will get the warning. 

    4What does React StrictMode do?

    StrictMode is a tool that highlights potential issues in a program. StrictMode, like Fragment, does not produce any visible UI. For its descendants, it activates extra tests and warnings. 

    Profile

    Abhresh Sugandhi

    Author

    Abhresh is specialized as a corporate trainer, He has a decade of experience in technical training blended with virtual webinars and instructor-led session created courses, tutorials, and articles for organizations. He is also the founder of Nikasio.com, which offers multiple services in technical training, project consulting, content development, etc.

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