CodeQL documentation

Unsupported state update in lifecycle method

ID: js/react/unsupported-state-update-in-lifecycle-method
Kind: problem
Security severity: 
Severity: warning
Precision: high
Tags:
   - reliability
   - frameworks/react
Query suites:
   - javascript-security-and-quality.qls

Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository

The three builtin React component methods setState, replaceState, and forceUpdate can update the state of a component asynchronously. It is, however, not recommended to invoke these methods at certain points in the lifecycle of the component.

For instance, invoking one of the state update methods during a call to render will cause React to throw an exception because the render method must be pure. Invoking one of the state update methods from the constructor of a component is also forbidden because the component is not mounted at that point in time. The three component methods componentDidUpdate, componentWillUpdate, and shouldComponentUpdate do allow calls to the state update methods, but only if the calls are conditional.

Recommendation

Only invoke a state update method on a React component when its lifecycle allows it.

Example

The following example uses setState to update the counter property of this.state, from the constructor of a React component:

class MyComponent extends React.Component {

    constructor(props) {
        super(props)
        this.setState({
            counter: 0
        })

    }

    render() {
        return <div>{this.state.counter}</div>
    }

}

Instead, replace the call to setState with an assignment:

class MyComponent extends React.Component {

    constructor(props) {
        super(props)
        this.state.counter = 0;
    }

    render() {
        return <div>{this.state.counter}</div>
    }

}

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