How to use setState() in React to blank/clear the value of an array

Question

I am trying to clear an array, but I'm having trouble. this.setState({warnErrorTypes:[]})

I'm not sure if I am dealing with a race condition, or what the specific issue is, but I can see that the value of my array is consistently wrong in the case that I need to reset its value to [].

How does one replace an array that contains [1,2] with [] then subsequently [3] where the following are true:

1. this.state.warnErrorTypes is an Array which starts out with []
2. Based on condition, 2 is pushed in Array
3. Based on condition, 1 is pushed in Array.
4. Based on condition, 3 is NOT pushed in Array
5. Pause. User interacts with UI
6. Array is blanked: this.setState({warnErrorTypes:[]})
7. Based on condition, 2 is NOT pushed in Array
8. Based on condition, 1 is NOT pushed in Array
9. Based on condition, 3 is pushed in Array.

The result of the logic above is always [2,1,3], when I expect it to be [3].

Answer 1

setState gets aggregated and scheduled, it does not run atomic and immediate, so you can't just issue multiple setState() calls and expect things to work, you either have to wait for the state to update before updating it again, or use an instance variable.

Option 1:

moo: function() {
  this.setState({
    myarr: []
  }, function() { // called by React after the state is updated
    this.setState({
      myarr: [3]
    });
  });
}

This is fairly cumbersome and depending on what you're doing, mostly just bad code. The other option is to use a "real" instance variable that you send over as state at moments when you need to.

Option 2:

getInitialState: function() {
  this.mylist = [];
  return {
    myarr: this.mylist
  };
},
...
moo: function() {
  this.mylist = [];
  for(var i=0; i<10; i++) {
    this.mylist.push(i);
  }
  this.setState({ myarr: this.mylist });
}

Remember that updating the state means you have changed an aspect of your component that warrants a rerender, so don't use setState if you don't intend the component to rerender, like between clearing the array and refilling it. Do that stuff separately, and only update the state once you're done.

Option 3:

You could also do this by taking out the state values, running your updates, and then rebinding, without ever building a persistant instance variable:

moo: function() {
  var list = this.state.myarr;
  while(list.length > 0) { list.splice(0,1); }
  for(var i=0; i<10; i++) { list.push(i); }
  this.setState({ myarr: list });
}

The net effect is the same: you only update your UI when your data is in some stable configuration, so if you think you're calling setState() more than once between renders, that's a problem: every setState() call may trigger a render "eventually", and consecutive setState() calls before that happens will "override" same-named-key value updates if you don't wait for them to bind first.