React Query Params

Easy to use query param support for React.

Plays super nice with React:

- Semantically similar to setState()
- Get/set arrays and objects
- Clean URL's with default values
- Opt in to browser history
- Optionally read next query params from componentWillReceiveProps()

Installation

Install with npm:

npm install react-query-params

Setup

To be as seamless as possible ReactQueryParams is used as a base class were you would normally use Component. It inherits Component so you're not losing anything.
Ex. App.jsx:

import ReactQueryParams from 'react-query-params';

export default class MyApp extends ReactQueryParams {
/ Your code /
}

Usage

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const value = this.queryParams.lunch;

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Semantically similar to React setState():

this.setQueryParams({
game: 'chess',
algorithm: 'neural network'
});

When you set query param values an update is triggered just like setState().

setQueryParams() does not have or need an asynchronous variation.

Important

If a value is in a query param do not put it in state. The query param should own the value and be the source of truth for the value.

defaultQueryParams (optional)

Semantically similar to React defaultProps.

import ReactQueryParams from 'react-query-params';

export default class MyApp extends ReactQueryParams {
defaultQueryParams = {
game: 'go'
}
}

When you define a default value the query param can be omitted from the URL but it's value is available just like any other query param.

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By defining defaults for all your query params your app can load with a clean address having no explicit query string! If a query param is omitted from the URL query string it's default value is used. When you programmatically set a query param to its default value it will be removed from the URL query string. When you programmatically set a query param to a non-default value it will be added back to the URL.

Array and Object Values

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React-query-params does not use the repeating param approach for representing arrays on the URL, but instead stringifies arrays and objects for URL storage. Saves characters, more flexible, marvelous in every way.

const choices = ['chess', 'go'];
this.setQueryParams({ games: choices });
const first = this.queryParams.game[0];

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To set an empty array use array literal syntax []. Don't set to null or empty string. React-query-params detects arrays and objects based on enclosing "[]" or "{}" characters.

this.setQueryParams({ games: [] });

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ReactQueryParams has built in support for objects and arrays. However, there is one and only one case where you need to stringify the value yourself.
When setting values in defaultQueryParams you must stringify objects and arrays yourself. JSON.stringify() can be a less error prone way to do it.

defaultQueryParams = {
games: JSON.stringify(['chess','go'])
}

getQueryParam(name, source) (optional)

Method getQueryParam() reads one param value at a time but you can specify an alternate source. For instance you can read future query param values from React lifecycle hook componentWillReceiveProps().

componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
const myParamVal = this.getQueryParam('myparam', nextProps);
}

Support

Jeff Butsch

Software Engineer at Netflix

Email jbutsch@netflix.com

twitter @jeff3dx

License: MIT