React useContext Hook

The useContext hook allows you to access React’s Context API more easily in functional components. Instead of manually wrapping components with a Consumer, useContext lets you consume the context directly, improving code readability and simplicity.

1 Basic Example for useContext Hook: Theme Context

In this example, we create a theme context to manage light and dark modes in an application. The useContext hook is used to retrieve the current theme.

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import React, { createContext, useContext } from 'react';

const ThemeContext = createContext('light');

function ThemeDisplay() {
  const theme = useContext(ThemeContext); // Access the current theme
  return <p>The current theme is: {theme}</p>;
}

function App() {
  return (
    <ThemeContext.Provider value="dark">
      <ThemeDisplay />
    </ThemeContext.Provider>
  );
}

export default App;

Explanation:

ThemeContext: A context created using createContext with a default value of 'light'.
useContext: Retrieves the current context value (in this case, 'dark').
The context value is set in the ThemeContext.Provider and consumed in the ThemeDisplay component.

Output:

2 Example: User Authentication Context using useContext Hook

This example demonstrates how to use useContext to manage user authentication. The context provides information about whether a user is logged in.

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import React, { createContext, useContext, useState } from 'react';

const AuthContext = createContext();

function AuthDisplay() {
  const { isLoggedIn, toggleLogin } = useContext(AuthContext);
  return (
    <div>
      <p>User is {isLoggedIn ? 'logged in' : 'logged out'}.</p>
      <button onClick={toggleLogin}>{isLoggedIn ? 'Log Out' : 'Log In'}</button>
    </div>
  );
}

function App() {
  const [isLoggedIn, setIsLoggedIn] = useState(false);

  const toggleLogin = () => {
    setIsLoggedIn(!isLoggedIn);
  };

  return (
    <AuthContext.Provider value={{ isLoggedIn, toggleLogin }}>
      <AuthDisplay />
    </AuthContext.Provider>
  );
}

export default App;

Explanation:

AuthContext: Provides authentication state and actions to child components.
useContext: Accesses the isLoggedIn state and toggleLogin function in the AuthDisplay component.
The AuthDisplay component dynamically updates the UI based on the user’s login status.

Output:

3 Example: Language Selector Context using useContext Hook

In this example, a language context is used to manage the application’s current language. The useContext hook allows components to access and change the language dynamically.

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import React, { createContext, useContext, useState } from 'react';

const LanguageContext = createContext();

function LanguageSelector() {
  const { language, setLanguage } = useContext(LanguageContext);
  return (
    <div>
      <p>Current Language: {language}</p>
      <button onClick={() => setLanguage('English')}>English</button>
      <button onClick={() => setLanguage('Spanish')}>Spanish</button>
    </div>
  );
}

function App() {
  const [language, setLanguage] = useState('English');

  return (
    <LanguageContext.Provider value={{ language, setLanguage }}>
      <LanguageSelector />
    </LanguageContext.Provider>
  );
}

export default App;

Explanation:

LanguageContext: Provides the current language and a function to update it.
useContext: Accesses the language value and setLanguage function in the LanguageSelector component.
The UI updates dynamically as the user selects different languages.

Output:

Conclusion

The useContext hook simplifies the process of consuming context in React applications. It eliminates the need for nested Consumer components, resulting in cleaner and more readable code. Use useContext whenever you need to share state or functionality across multiple components without prop drilling.

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React useContext Hook