Using Redux for State Management

Avoid unnecessary prop drilling by maintaining a global data store.

The first time I learned Redux… I didn’t like it. My projects were getting bigger and I could see the advantage of having a place to store data globally, but setting it all up felt a bit tedious and overcomplicated.

In a large way, this was because I was using Redux the only way I had been taught, using connect and mapStateToProps. With that method, objects from the store are called in a mapStateToProps function and then added as regular props for the component. It works, but every single time I would access the store I would have to write something that looked like this at the bottom of the component:

It seemed like more work than it was worth! Just to access a few state objects would significantly lengthen my code. Additionally, it’s not the most readable or clear for other developers.

This all changed when I learned about the useSelector() hook. At the time, I was working on a personal project that I had posted on Reddit asking for suggestions. I got lucky, someone saw the mapStateToProps method I was using and suggested an alternative.

With useSelector(), you can call props from the store on one line, like this:

It’s much cleaner, and a lot easier for others to understand as well. Immediately, I went back and refactored my entire project.

Additionally, instead of a complex connect method, you can use the hook useDispatch() hook to make changes to the state as well. Once imported, it works as easily as this:

If you’ve been using connect, this simplicity is remarkable.

And that’s it! With useSelector() and useDispatch() accessing and changing the Redux store is that simple. :)

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