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JavaScript React Components (2018) Managing State and Data Flow Adding Items to State

Posted by Saud Tauqeer
Saud Tauqeer
Courses Plus Student 8,099 Points

on 7:25 timestamp.

is it a bad practice to directly mutate state like for something like this?

this.state.value = ""
//whereas what guil does is 
this.setState({ value: "" });

1 Answer

Michael Hulet
Michael Hulet
47,912 Points
Michael Hulet
Michael Hulet
47,912 Points

In React, you should never modify the state directly, and you should always call setState instead. This is so that React knows the state has changed, and React can re-render the DOM how it likes, using whatever optimizations it can make

Saud Tauqeer
Saud Tauqeer
Courses Plus Student 8,099 Points

Thank you

Gari Merrifield
Gari Merrifield
9,597 Points
Gari Merrifield
Gari Merrifield
9,597 Points

That being a general principle in OOP, keep your data encapsulated/private and use set/get methods for writing and reading the values.

Seokhyun Wie
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Seokhyun Wie
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 21,606 Points
Seokhyun Wie
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Seokhyun Wie
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 21,606 Points

Michael Hulet I also tried to write the code myself first, and I ended up writing as him.

this.state.value = ""

However, it didn't have any problem running the app, so my question is that the core reason using setState to modify any state is only because to let React know about the change, not because any possibility of errors? Just want to know the conceptual reasons. Thanks.