Optimizing Server Requests With React Hooks

Technical writer

React

31.01.2025

Reading time: 13 min

In the world of modern web applications, efficient server request management is becoming an increasingly important task. The increased volume of requests can lead to slower performance, poor system responsiveness, and resource overuse. Developers aim to create applications that not only provide high-quality service to users but also make efficient use of available resources.

React Hooks are functions from the React library that allow interaction with functional components, including managing state, context, lifecycle, and other aspects. With the introduction of React Hooks, developers gained an effective and versatile tool for configuring server interactions, allowing them to determine the timing and frequency of network requests accurately.

In this React Hooks tutorial, we will thoroughly explore how the use of this tool contributes to the optimization of server requests. We will analyze various methods for managing application state that help reduce server load and enhance the user experience. By the end, you will learn how to integrate these methods into your React applications to create faster and more responsive interfaces.

To follow all the steps outlined in this guide, you will need the following skills and tools:

Basic knowledge of JavaScript and the ability to create a React application from scratch
Understanding the basics of React Hooks
Skills in performing server requests in JavaScript
A working development environment
A code editor

Don’t worry if you're unfamiliar with server request optimization — this guide is intended for developers of all skill levels. If some concepts are new to you, you may need to conduct additional research and experiments and invest extra time in learning new material.

Creating a New React Project

Before diving into React application development, let's begin with the fundamental step—creating a new project. This initial stage lays the foundation for all subsequent development, and setting up the project correctly can greatly simplify the process of building and maintaining your code in the future. React, as one of the most popular libraries for building user interfaces, offers a variety of tools and templates to streamline and simplify the early stages of development. By leveraging modern tools and approaches such as Create React App (CRA), you can quickly create a stable, ready-to-use base that allows you to focus on writing functionality rather than configuring the environment.

Before starting work on your project, ensure that your computer has all the necessary components for working with React, specifically Node.js and npm. Otherwise, download them from the official website. After installing these tools, open your terminal or command prompt, navigate to the directory where you want to create your application, and follow the instructions below based on the tool you prefer to work with: Create React App or Vite.

Create React App

Run the following command to initialize a new React project:

npx create-react-app hostman-app

Replace hostman-app with the actual name of your project. This command will download all the necessary dependencies and create a boilerplate project ready for development.

If the application is successfully created, the console will display output similar to the following:

Success! Created hostman-app at your_file_path/hostman-app
Inside that directory, you can run several commands:

npm start
Starts the development server.

npm run build
Bundles the app into static files for production.

npm test
Starts the test runner.

npm run eject
Removes this tool and copies build dependencies, configuration files and scripts into the app directory. If you do this, you can’t go back!

We suggest that you begin by typing:

cd hostman-app
npm start

Happy hacking!

This will create a new directory with the name of your project containing all the necessary files. After the setup process is complete, navigate to the newly created directory using the following command:

cd hostman-app

Then, run the following command as instructed in the welcome message to start the development server:

npm start

If everything is done correctly, the server will start, and you should see the following output on your screen:

Compiled successfully!
You can now view hostman-app in the browser.
http://localhost:3000
Note that the development build is not optimized.
To create a production build, use npm run build.

This will open your new React application in the default browser. You should see the React startup screen:

You can now begin working with hooks in the App.js file, located at /hostman-app/src/.

Vite

To initialize a new React project with Vite, run the following command:

npm create vite@latest hostman-app

Replace hostman-app with the actual name of your project. This command will download all the necessary dependencies and create a boilerplate project ready for development.

When prompted to install Vite, confirm by pressing -y. Select the React type of application.

After the setup process is complete, navigate to the newly created directory using the command:

cd hostman-app

Then execute the following commands to start the development server:

npm install
npm run dev

If everything is done correctly, the server will start, and the address of your application will be displayed, such as:

http://localhost:5173

Copy the address from the console and paste it into your browser's address bar. You should see the React welcome screen.

You can now begin working with hooks in the App.jsx file, located at /hostman-app/src/.

Synchronizing Components with the useEffect Hook

Developing modern web applications with React requires special attention to managing side effects. These effects can include sending server requests, subscribing to data updates, modifying document headers, setting timers, and other actions beyond merely displaying information. The useEffect hook in React provides developers with a powerful tool to control these side effects in functional components, improving performance and making processes more transparent.

One of the key and widely used applications of useEffect is making server requests and subsequently updating the component's state.

An example of using the useEffect hook for server requests involves calling a function that performs the request inside this hook. The function can use the Fetch API or the Axios library to make the request and then update the component's state using the setState hook.

Below is an example of using the useEffect hook to fetch data from the JSON Placeholder API and update the component's state.

Navigate to the App.js or App.jsx file inside the src folder of your project. Delete the default code and replace it with the following example:

import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

function MyComponent() {
  const [data, setData] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    async function fetchData() {
      const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts');
      const data = await response.json();
      setData(data);
    }
    fetchData();
  }, []);

  return (
    <div>
      {data.map((item) => (
        <div key={item.id}>
          <h2>- {item.title}</h2>
          <p>{item.body}</p>
        </div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

export default MyComponent;

After importing standard hooks and declaring the functional component, we use the useState hook to create the data state and the setData function, which will be used to update this state.

The initial state is an empty array since we expect a list of data. The useEffect hook performs an asynchronous API request during the component's initial render using the fetchData function.

Using the .map method, we render each element from the updated data state as separate components. Each element includes a title and body. We assign item.id as a unique key for each <div> to enable React to identify and manage these components in the DOM efficiently. Finally, the MyComponent component is exported so it can be used in other parts of the application.

If you refresh the browser or the application, you should see the result of the request displayed based on the provided code.

An important aspect is minimizing unnecessary re-renders, which can negatively impact performance.

Proper error handling when performing server requests is also critically important to prevent component failures. You can implement error handling by adding a try-catch block inside the fetchData function and using the setError hook to update the component's state with an error message. This way, the application can display an error message to the user if something goes wrong.

Optimizing Server Request Performance with the useMemo Hook

The useMemo hook in React is a performance optimization tool that allows developers to memoize data, storing the result of computations for reuse without repeating the process itself. useMemo returns a cached value that is recalculated only when specified dependencies change. This prevents costly computations on every component render.

One effective way to use the useMemo hook in the context of server requests is to memoize data fetched from the server and then use it to update the component's state. To achieve this, you can call the useMemo hook inside a useEffect hook, passing the server data as the first argument and a dependency array as the second. The dependency array should include all props or state variables that affect the calculation of the memoized data.

Below is an example of using the useMemo hook to memoize data from the JSON Placeholder API and update the component's state. Replace the code in the App.js / App.jsx file with the provided snippet.

import { useEffect, useState, useMemo } from 'react';

function MyComponent({ postId }) {
  const [data, setData] = useState({});
  useEffect(() => {
    async function fetchData() {
      const response = await fetch(`https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1`);
      const data = await response.json();
      setData(data);
    }
    fetchData();
  }, [postId]);

  const title = useMemo(() => data.title, [data]);

  return (
    <div>
      <h2>{title}</h2>
    </div>
  );
}

export default MyComponent

First, we import the useEffect, useState, and useMemo hooks to manage the component's state. We use useState to create the data state and the setData function to update it. The initial state is an empty object, which will later hold the post information fetched from the server.

Using the fetchData function, we make an API request, passing the postId parameter in the dependency array. This ensures that the effect is executed only when postId changes.

Within the component, we use the useMemo hook to memoize the title by passing data.title as the first argument and [data] as the second argument, so the memoized value updates only when the data state changes. The subsequent steps are similar to the previous useEffect example.

It is important to note that useMemo is not always necessary. You should use it only when the component depends on frequently changing props or state and when the value computation is expensive. Improper use of useMemo can lead to memory leaks and other performance issues.

Managing Server Request State with the useReducer Hook

The useReducer hook in React is similar to the useState hook but provides a more structured and predictable way of managing state. Instead of updating the state directly, useReducer allows you to dispatch actions that describe the state update and use a reducer function to update the state based on the dispatched action.

One of the key benefits of using useReducer for managing server requests is improved organization of logic. Rather than spreading server request handling logic throughout the component, you can encapsulate it within the reducer. This makes the component's code cleaner, more readable, and easier to maintain.

To try this approach using the useReducer hook for managing data fetched from the JSON Placeholder API and updating the component's state, replace the code in the App.js / App.jsx file with the provided snippet.

import { useReducer } from 'react';

const initialState = { data: [], loading: false, error: '' };
const reducer = (state, action) => {
  switch (action.type) {
    case 'FETCH_DATA_REQUEST':
      return { ...state, loading: true };
    case 'FETCH_DATA_SUCCESS':
      return { ...state, data: action.payload, loading: false };
    case 'FETCH_DATA_FAILURE':
      return { ...state, error: action.payload, loading: false };
    default:
      return state;
  }
};

function MyComponent() {
  const [state, dispatch] = useReducer(reducer, initialState);

  const fetchData = async () => {
    dispatch({ type: 'FETCH_DATA_REQUEST' });
    try {
      const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts');
      const data = await response.json();
      dispatch({ type: 'FETCH_DATA_SUCCESS', payload: data });
    } catch (error) {
      dispatch({ type: 'FETCH_DATA_FAILURE', payload: error.message });
    }
  };

  return (
    <div>
      {state.loading ? (
        <p>Loading...</p>
      ) : state.error ? (
        <p>{state.error}</p>
      ) : (
        <div>
          {state.data.map((item) => (
            <div key={item.id}>
              <h2>{item.title}</h2>
              <p>{item.body}</p>
            </div>
          ))}
        </div>
      )}
      <button onClick={fetchData}>Load data</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default MyComponent;

In the code snippet above, we call the useReducer hook with a reducer function and an initial state passed as arguments. Initially, the component's state is set up as follows:

An empty array for storing data
A loading variable set to false
An empty string for displaying error messages

Clicking the "Load Data" button triggers the fetchData function. This function dispatches actions based on the result of the request: either a successful response or an error.

Additionally, the useReducer hook allows for more effective management of complex states. Using actions and reducers to update the state simplifies handling how different actions affect various parts of the state, making adding new features and debugging issues in the application easier.

Conclusion

This guide has covered the basics of optimizing server requests using React Hooks. Optimizing server requests is essential for improving the performance and usability of your web application. In this article, we explored key techniques for request optimization:

Caching results with useMemo
Centralized state management of requests with useReducer
Efficient use of useEffect for performing asynchronous operations dependent on your component's state parameters

Understanding and applying these optimization methods reduces response time, decreases server load, and enhances the overall user experience. Mastering these techniques will help you build more efficient and responsive applications ready to handle various loads and usage scenarios.

Once you’ve mastered the basic hooks, several advanced concepts are worth exploring for more sophisticated state and logic management in React applications. Here are some additional hooks to consider:

useContext. This hook allows access to a context created using React.createContext. It enables you to share information between components in a hierarchy without passing props at every level.
useCallback. This hook provides a memoized version of a callback function, which updates only when dependencies change. It's a tool for improving application performance.
useRef. This hook returns an object with a .current property, useful for persisting values across renders without triggering re-renders.
useImperativeHandle. Used with React.forwardRef to customize the instance value assigned to a parent component when using refs.
useLayoutEffect. Similar to useEffect, but it runs synchronously after all DOM changes. It's helpful when you need to measure and modify the DOM immediately after rendering.

These hooks provide powerful tools for managing component state and behavior in React, each with unique use cases and benefits. Exploring and incorporating them into your projects can help you create highly dynamic, efficient, and maintainable applications.

In addition, you can deploy React applications on our platform as a service.

React

31.01.2025

Reading time: 13 min

Similar

React

Optimizing Server Requests With React Hooks

Creating a New React Project

Create React App

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Synchronizing Components with the useEffect Hook

Optimizing Server Request Performance with the useMemo Hook

Managing Server Request State with the useReducer Hook

Conclusion

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