How to Populate a Table with React State Hook from Another Component

Discover how to efficiently structure your React application by separating form and table components while using state hooks to manage data flow, all without relying on Redux.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/68280463/ asked by the user 'Kyle' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/4593732/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/68280750/ provided by the user 'Alex Wayne' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/62076/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Populate table with React state hook from another component

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/l...
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
Effective Data Handling in React: Populating a Table from Another Component

In React development, managing the state and propagating data between components can sometimes pose a challenge. One common scenario is when you wish to separate a form for inputting data from a table that displays that data. This guide will guide you through the process of using React’s state hooks to populate a table with form data, all while keeping the application organized and efficient.

Understanding the Problem

Imagine you are building an application with a form that allows users to enter information about people (like name, birthday, etc.), and you want to display this information in a table once the form is submitted. Initially, you might start with everything in a single component (like the main App component), but as your application grows, separating the form and the table into different components becomes essential.

Key Questions Addressed:

How can we separate the components while ensuring that the table updates with new data?

Can this be accomplished without using external state management like Redux?

Solution Overview

To solve this problem, we'll break it down into three major components:

Form: Where users input their data.

Table: Where the submitted data is displayed.

Parent Component: The main component that manages the data flow between Form and Table.

Let’s delve into the implementation details.

1. Creating the Form Component

The Form component will accept a function (prop) that handles saving the data. This function will be invoked upon form submission with a complete object representing a person.

Example Form Component

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

2. Creating the Table Component

The Table component will simply display the data passed to it via props. Since it doesn’t manage any state, its implementation will be quite straightforward.

Example Table Component

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

3. The Parent Component

The parent component, often referred to as the controller, is where state is held. It defines functions for adding new people to the state, which are passed down to the Form and Table components.

Example Parent Component

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By separating your app into the Form, Table, and Parent components, you create a clean and maintainable structure that adheres to React's principles of component-based architecture. Each component has its own responsibility, reducing complexity and increasing reusability.

Overall, this approach allows the Form to update the state in the Parent component, which then re-renders the Table with the new data. This has been achieved entirely without the need for complex state management solutions like Redux, keeping your application lightweight and straightforward.

Takeaway

Embrace React's paradigm by managing local state in a parent component and passing necessary functions and data down to children via props. This creates a clear flow of data and actions, making your components less coupled and significantly easier to maintain!