ReferenceError: Cannot access 'UserContext' before initialization - React

Question

I am trying to create a UserContext to be accessible to all class components in the React app. I am receiving the following error.

ReferenceError: Cannot access 'UserContext' before initialization

App.js

import React, { createContext } from 'react';
export const UserContext = createContext(null);
function App() {
  return (

    <div className="App">
      <UserContext.Provider value={null}>
        <PageRoutes />
      </UserContext.Provider>
    </div>

  );
}

export default App;

LoginPage.js

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { UserContext } from './App';

class MasterLoginPage extends Component {
    static contextType = UserContext;
    constructor(props) {
        super(props);
        this.state = {
            username: null,
            loggedIn: false
        }

// logic to work with username, password authentication

  render() {

    return (
        <div>
            // logic for rendering login page
          {
            this.state.loggedIn &&
            <UserContext.Provider value={this.state.username} />
          }
        </div>
  }
}

MasterLoginPage.contextType = UserContext;

export default MasterLoginPage;

PageRoutes.js

import React from 'react';

export default () => (
<BrowserRouter>
    <Switch>
      <Route exact path="/login" component={LoginPage} />
      <Route exact path="/home" component={Home}/>
    </Switch>
</BrowserRouter>
);

Home.js

import React from 'react';

export default class Home extends React.Component {
  // I want to put this user in a state variable in this component  
}

1. Why am I getting reference error as I have already defined it in App.js ?
2. If I have to store the userContext value in a state variable in some other class component say Home.js then how do I do that ?

Answer 1

That error seems to be caused by a circular dependency. What I did to solve that error was to create the Context outside the Provider file. Try to do this:

UserContext.js

import React from 'react';
export const UserContext = React.createContext();

LoginPage.js

static contextType = UserContext;

or

MasterLoginPage.contextType = UserContext;

not both.

The only thing you need to do is to import UserContext.js

Answer 2

Call the UserContext within the render block. Let me know if that works