componentDidMount equivalent on a React function/Hooks component?

Question

For the stable version of hooks (React Version 16.8.0+)

For componentDidMount

useEffect(() => {
  // Your code here
}, []);

For componentDidUpdate

useEffect(() => {
  // Your code here
}, [yourDependency]);

For componentWillUnmount

useEffect(() => {
  // componentWillUnmount
  return () => {
     // Your code here
  }
}, [yourDependency]);

So in this situation, you need to pass your dependency into this array. Let's assume you have a state like this

const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

And whenever count increases you want to re-render your function component. Then your useEffect should look like this

useEffect(() => {
  // <div>{count}</div>
}, [count]);

This way whenever your count updates your component will re-render. Hopefully this will help a bit.

There is no exact equivalent for componentDidMount in react hooks.

---

In my experience, react hooks requires a different mindset when developing it and generally speaking you should not compare it to the class methods like componentDidMount.

With that said, there are ways in which you can use hooks to produce a similar effect to componentDidMount.

Solution 1:

useEffect(() => {
  console.log("I have been mounted")
}, [])

Solution 2:

const num = 5

useEffect(() => {
  console.log("I will only run if my deps change: ", num)
}, [num])

Solution 3 (With function):

useEffect(() => {
  const someFunc = () => {
    console.log("Function being run after/on mount")
  }
  someFunc()
}, [])

Solution 4 (useCallback):

const msg = "some message"

const myFunc = useCallback(() => {
  console.log(msg)
}, [msg])

useEffect(() => {
  myFunc()
}, [myFunc])

Solution 5 (Getting creative):

export default function useDidMountHook(callback) {
  const didMount = useRef(null)

  useEffect(() => {
    if (callback && !didMount.current) {
      didMount.current = true
      callback()
    }
  })
}

It is worth noting that solution 5 should only really be used if none of the other solutions work for your use case. If you do decide you need solution 5 then I recommend using this pre-made hook use-did-mount.

Source (With more detail): Using componentDidMount in react hooks

There's no componentDidMount on functional components, but React Hooks provide a way you can emulate the behavior by using the useEffect hook.

Pass an empty array as the second argument to useEffect() to run only the callback on mount only.

Please read the documentation on useEffect.

function ComponentDidMount() {
  const [count, setCount] = React.useState(0);
  React.useEffect(() => {
    console.log('componentDidMount');
  }, []);

  return (
    <div>
      <p>componentDidMount: {count} times</p>
      <button
        onClick={() => {
          setCount(count + 1);
        }}
      >
        Click Me
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

ReactDOM.render(
  <div>
    <ComponentDidMount />
  </div>,
  document.querySelector("#app")
);

<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/umd/react.development.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/umd/react-dom.development.js"></script>

<div id="app"></div>

Although accepted answer works, it is not recommended. When you have more than one state and you use it with useEffect, it will give you warning about adding it to dependency array or not using it at all.

It sometimes causes the problem which might give you unpredictable output. So I suggest that you take a little effort to rewrite your function as class. There are very little changes, and you can have some components as class and some as function. You're not obligated to use only one convention.

Take this for example

function App() {
  const [appointments, setAppointments] = useState([]);
  const [aptId, setAptId] = useState(1);

  useEffect(() => {
    fetch('./data.json')
      .then(response => response.json())
      .then(result => {
        const apts = result.map(item => {
          item.aptId = aptId;
          console.log(aptId);
          setAptId(aptId + 1);
          return item;
        })
        setAppointments(apts);
      });
  }, []);

  return(...);
}

and

class App extends Component {
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.state = {
      appointments: [],
      aptId: 1,
    }
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    fetch('./data.json')
      .then(response => response.json())
      .then(result => {
        const apts = result.map(item => {
          item.aptId = this.state.aptId;
          this.setState({aptId: this.state.aptId + 1});
          console.log(this.state.aptId);
          return item;
        });
        this.setState({appointments: apts});
      });
  }

  render(...);
}

This is only for example. so lets not talk about best practices or potential issues with the code. Both of this has same logic but the later only works as expected. You might get componentDidMount functionality with useEffect running for this time, but as your app grows, there are chances that you MAY face some issues. So, rather than rewriting at that phase, it's better to do this at early stage.

Besides, OOP is not that bad, if Procedure-Oriented Programming was enough, we would never have had Object-Oriented Programming. It's painful sometimes, but better (technically. personal issues aside).