How to use the useSubmit hook in the React Router

The useSubmit hook is part of the react-router-dom package that executes a request when a triggered submit() function is returned. It employs dependency tracking to minimize rerendering and enhance performance. This hook facilitates data mutation on the server and enables request control. It employs the Submit Dispatcher for handling requests and utilizes the Cache to manage the data’s overall state effectively.

How does it work?

It uses the same process that <Form> uses internally that is used to submit a <Form> to the server (or some raw FormData), which is returned by a function.

Internally, communication with core systems is achieved through event emitters. Numerous helper hooks are returned, like onSubmitSuccess, onSubmitError, onSubmitFinished, and others, to aid in managing the request flow and lifecycle. This approach prevents overwhelming the base hook with callback logic, improving code readability, reducing code complexity, and promoting more organized code.

When do we use useSubmit ?

The useSubmit hook is used whenever we need to submit a form programmatically. For example, there are instances where we might want to save a user preferences form each time any field is modified.

This can also be useful if we wish to implement an automatic sign-out feature for users who have been inactive on the website for a particular duration. In this scenario, we define inactivity as the user not navigating to other pages for 5 minutes.

Note: This feature only works using a data router; see Picking a Router for further information.

Example

Here’s an example implementation of a useSubmit hook where we are saving the form data as soon as the user changes the input:

Explanation

In the App.js file:

• Line 1: The necessary dependencies are imported: useSubmit and Form from the "react-router-dom" package.

• Line 3: This line declares a function component called SearchField that will be exported as the default export of the module.

• Line 4: This line declares a variable called submit and assigns the value returned from the useSubmit hook to it. It indicates that the useSubmit hook is being utilized in this component.

• Line 5: The return keyword signals the start of the JSX (JavaScript XML) content that will be rendered by this component.

• Lines 6–11: These lines represents the opening of a Form component. It’s likely a custom component or one provided by a UI library that encapsulates form-related functionalities.

  • Here an onChange event handler for the Form component is submitted. It is triggered whenever the form's content changes.

  • When the form content changes, console.log("Form changed:", event.currentTarget); logs a message to the console, indicating that the form has changed. It also logs the event.currentTarget which is a reference to the form element.

  • submit(event.currentTarget); calls the submit function that was assigned to the submit variable. It passes the event.currentTarget as an argument to the submit function, presumably to handle the form submission or further processing.

• Lines 12–19: These lines contains an HTML input element of type text with the name attribute set to search which allows users to input text. It includes an onChange event handler that logs a message to the console whenever the input value changes. This allows developers to monitor user input in real time. Additionally, there is a button element with the type attribute set to submit which typically triggers form submission. However, to fully function, this input and button should be within a form element.

In the index.js file:

• Lines 1–9: Import Statements:

  • The import statements that bring in specific functions and components from the react-router-dom library. These include createBrowserRouter, createRoutesFromElements, Route, and RouterProvider. Additionally, it imports React and ReactDOM from their respective modules, as well as the main App component from ./App.

• Lines 11–16: This sets up the routing configuration. It creates a router using createBrowserRouter and defines a single route using createRoutesFromElements. The route is associated with the path / and points to the App component. This means that when the application URL matches /, the App component will be rendered.

In the package.json file:

To use the React Router we need to add the dependency "react-router-dom":"^6.13.0". As the useSubmit hook was introduced in React Router v6.4.0, which was released on March 10, 2022.

Note: We need to be using React >= 16.8 in order to use any of the React-Router hooks!

Conclusion

Overall, the useSubmit hook provides a reusable way to handle form submission in React Router. It encapsulates the logic for form submission and navigation, making it easier to manage and maintain form functionality in your React applications.