React Higher-Order Components vs React Hook

Since the introduction of the React hooks API, there have been many debates regarding whether React hooks would eventually replace other prevalent libraries and patterns in the React+Redux ecosystem. The aim of React Hooks is to replace the classes and provide another excellent way to add behavior to your components for your web app. Composing behavior with Higher Order Components is also a good idea. Do React hooks replace Higher-Order Components because there is some clear overlap? However, there are several issues with HOCs that React js developers should never overlook. In fact, React Hooks fix these issues. It is apparent that they can take the place of some HOCs. So, if you want to replace your HOCs with React Hook, engage with React js application development company.

Everyone uses function components with React Hooks in today's React environment. Higher-Order Components (HOC) are still valuable in the modern React environment because they use class and function components. As a result, they're the ideal bridge between historical and new React components when it is too reusable abstractions. In fact, in this article, we will discuss the difference between React Hook and HOCs.

What are Higher Order Components and React Hooks?

A Higher-Order Component (HOC) is a component that takes one input and outputs another. Also, the professionals can use declarative, point-free function composition to create HOCs. When React community launches a new update of React 16.8, they also introduce React Hooks. You can use state and other React capabilities without writing a class. React Hooks are state and lifecycle features from function components that "hook into" hooks. It does not work in a classroom setting. Hooks are backward-compatible, which means they don't provide any new features. It also doesn't take the place of your understanding of React ideas.

Difference Between React Hooks and HOCs

The React Hooks and HOCs have their own features. The main benefit of HOCs is not what they enable but how they compose them together at the page root level. However, we have discussed the fundamental difference between HOCs and React Hooks.

PROP CONFUSION

Do you know HOCs are used for rendering? If there is a problem, an error message is displayed. It generates the specified component if there are no errors:

import * as React from 'react';

const withError = (Component) => (props) => {
  if (props.error) {
    return <div>Something went wrong ...</div>;
  }

  return <Component {...props} />;
};

export default withError;

If there are no errors, the HOC passes all of the props to the provided component. However, Everything should be alright when too many props deliver to the next component, which has no concern.

Everything is laid out for us when we use React Hooks: All the props (here URL) that go into our "blackbox" (here useFetch) and all the props that come out of it (here data, isLoading, error) are visible. We can plainly see which input goes in and which output comes out, even though we don't know the technical details of **useFetch**. Even while **useFetch**, like withFetch and the other HOCs, can be viewed as a blackbox, we can examine the entire API contract with this React Hook in only one line of code.

const App = () => {
  const url = 'https://api.mydomain/mydata';
  const { data, isLoading, error } = useFetch(url);

  if (error) {
    return <div>Something went wrong ...</div>;
  }

  if (isLoading) {
    return <div>Loading ...</div>;
  }

  return (
    <DataTable
      columns={columns}
      data={data}
    />
  );
};

READABILITY

HOC is difficult to read and understand. Although the way of developing HOC appears to be simple, developers are unable to determine the function of the method by reading the HOC call: they are unable to observe the structure of receiving and returning data, which increases the cost of debugging and repairing errors. When numerous HOCs join, it is impossible to establish the sequence they use, and there is a possibility of namespace conflict. Also, when you hire react js developer, it is essential they should understand the exact implementation of HOC while maintaining. Excessive usage of HOC is not suggested, although it is better suited to situations when no personalized development or customization is required: third-party libraries frequently provide HOC APIs for developers to expand their functions.

DEPENDENCIES

HOCs have a lot of power, maybe too much authority? When HOCs accept props from the parent component and when they enhance a component, are two ways of receiving arguments in two ways.

Check how this is solved by React Hooks again.

const App = () => {
  const userId = '1';

  const {
    data: userData,
    isLoading: userIsLoading,
    error: userError
  } = useFetch(`https://api.mydomain/user/${userId}`);

  const profileId = userData?.profileId;

  const {
    data: userProfileData,
    isLoading: userProfileIsLoading,
    error: userProfileError
  } = useFetch(`https://api.mydomain/user/${profileId}/profile`);

  if (userError || userProfileError) {
    return <div>Something went wrong ...</div>;
  }

  if (userIsLoading || userProfileIsLoading) {
    return <div>Is loading ...</div>;
  }

  return (
    <User
      user={userData}>
      userProfile={userProfileData}
    />
  );
};

On the contrary, the professionals can use React Hooks directly in a function component, where they stack on top of each other, and it's simple to send data from one hook to another if they're dependent. Moreover, the experts can see which information gets passed to the custom to react hooks and what is its output to make sure there is no real blackbox here. The dependencies are more obvious when utilizing React Hooks that are dependent on each other than when using HOCs.

Closing Thoughts

Hence, we have come to a point where we have to decide which is better. HOCs are used for masking the component complexity like conditional rendering. But, it is not always the best option. So, you can engage with the React js application development company to use React Hooks for your custom apps.