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React Native Academy · レッスン

DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef

useRefでTextInputへの参照を保持してプログラムからフォーカスし、再レンダリングを発生させずにレンダリング間で保持される可変値を保存します

「DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef」はCoddyKit上の無料React Native Academyレッスンです。 これはレッスン1/4です。 下記で完全なレッスンを無料で読むことができます。その後、ブラウザ内の組み込みコードエディタと24時間対応のAIチューターでハンズオン演習できます。 これはReact Native Academy学習パスの一部であり、ウェブとCoddyKitアプリ全体で進捗が同期されます。 React Native Academyコースには全4レッスンが含まれています。

このレッスンの一部はまだ翻訳されておらず、英語で表示されています。

What is useRef?

useRef is a React hook that returns a mutable ref object whose .current property persists across renders. Unlike state variables, updating ref.current does not trigger a re-render. This makes useRef perfect for storing values that change frequently but should not cause the component to update.

import { useRef } from 'react';

function MyComponent() {
  const myRef = useRef(null);
  // myRef.current starts as null
  // myRef.current persists across re-renders without triggering them
}

Attaching a Ref to a Native Component

Pass a ref to a native component via its ref prop. React Native then populates ref.current with the underlying native component instance. This gives you access to methods like focus(), blur(), and measure() that are defined on the native component.

import { TextInput, Button, View } from 'react-native';
import { useRef } from 'react';

function SearchForm() {
  const inputRef = useRef(null);

  return (
    <View>
      <TextInput ref={inputRef} placeholder='Search...' />
      <Button
        title='Focus Input'
        onPress={() => inputRef.current?.focus()}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Programmatically Focusing a TextInput

A common use case is automatically focusing the next input when the user presses Return on the keyboard. Attach refs to each TextInput and in the onSubmitEditing handler of the first input, call secondInputRef.current.focus(). This creates a smooth form keyboard flow on mobile.

function LoginForm() {
  const emailRef = useRef(null);
  const passwordRef = useRef(null);

  return (
    <View>
      <TextInput
        ref={emailRef}
        placeholder='Email'
        returnKeyType='next'
        onSubmitEditing={() => passwordRef.current?.focus()}
      />
      <TextInput
        ref={passwordRef}
        placeholder='Password'
        returnKeyType='done'
        secureTextEntry
      />
    </View>
  );
}

useRef for Mutable Values

The second major use of useRef is storing mutable values that should not trigger re-renders. Store a timer ID, an animation frame handle, a previous prop value, or any other value that changes frequently. Reading or writing ref.current is synchronous and has no render cost.

function Timer() {
  const intervalRef = useRef(null);

  const start = () => {
    intervalRef.current = setInterval(() => {
      console.log('tick');
    }, 1000);
  };

  const stop = () => {
    clearInterval(intervalRef.current);
  };

  return <Button title='Start' onPress={start} />;
}

Storing Previous State Values

A useful pattern is storing the previous value of a prop or state variable using a ref. In a useEffect that runs after every render, copy the current value into the ref. During the next render, prevRef.current holds the value from the previous render cycle, allowing you to compare old and new values.

function Counter({ count }) {
  const prevCountRef = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    prevCountRef.current = count;
  });

  const prevCount = prevCountRef.current;

  return (
    <Text>
      Now: {count} — Before: {prevCount}
    </Text>
  );
}

Avoiding Stale Closures with Refs

Event handlers and callbacks that are set up once (e.g., inside a timer or event listener) can capture a stale version of state. Store the latest value in a ref and read from the ref inside the callback to always access the most recent value, even if the callback was created many renders ago.

function MessageHandler({ onMessage }) {
  const onMessageRef = useRef(onMessage);

  useEffect(() => {
    onMessageRef.current = onMessage; // always up to date
  }, [onMessage]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const subscription = subscribe((msg) => {
      onMessageRef.current(msg); // uses latest callback
    });
    return () => subscription.unsubscribe();
  }, []); // only runs once
}

The Difference Between useRef and useState

The key difference: useState triggers a re-render when updated; useRef does not. Use useState when the value must be visible in the UI. Use useRef when the value is used for logic or side effects but its change should not cause the component to repaint. Choosing the wrong one leads to either missed UI updates or unnecessary re-renders.

// Triggers re-render — shows updated value on screen
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

// No re-render — silent counter for internal use only
const renderCount = useRef(0);
renderCount.current += 1;

useRef with FlatList

Attaching a ref to a FlatList gives you access to imperative methods like scrollToIndex, scrollToOffset, and scrollToEnd. This is used for back-to-top buttons, alphabetic index navigation, or auto-scrolling to a newly added item at the bottom of the list.

function MessageList({ messages }) {
  const listRef = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Scroll to bottom when new message arrives
    listRef.current?.scrollToEnd({ animated: true });
  }, [messages.length]);

  return (
    <FlatList
      ref={listRef}
      data={messages}
      renderItem={({ item }) => <Text>{item.text}</Text>}
      keyExtractor={(item) => item.id}
    />
  );
}

Measuring a Component's Layout

Call ref.current.measure(callback) to read a component's position and size relative to the window. The callback receives x, y, width, height, pageX, and pageY. This is useful for positioning tooltips, popovers, or custom dropdown menus relative to the component that triggered them.

const buttonRef = useRef(null);

const showTooltip = () => {
  buttonRef.current?.measure((x, y, width, height, pageX, pageY) => {
    setTooltipPosition({ top: pageY + height, left: pageX });
    setTooltipVisible(true);
  });
};

<TouchableOpacity ref={buttonRef} onPress={showTooltip}>

Forwarding Refs to Custom Components

If you want to attach a ref to a custom component (not a built-in like TextInput), wrap it with React.forwardRef. The wrapper passes the ref down to the underlying native element. Without forwardRef, the ref would point to the custom component's host object, not its inner TextInput.

const CustomInput = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => (
  <TextInput
    ref={ref}
    style={styles.customInput}
    {...props}
  />
));

// Now you can use the ref on CustomInput
const inputRef = useRef(null);
<CustomInput ref={inputRef} />

useRef Initialization and Lazy Init

The argument passed to useRef(initialValue) sets ref.current only on the first render — just like useState's initial value. Unlike useState, there is no lazy initializer function form. If the initial value is expensive to compute, compute it conditionally: if (ref.current === null) ref.current = computeValue().

const cacheRef = useRef(null);

if (cacheRef.current === null) {
  // Expensive computation runs only once
  cacheRef.current = buildLargeDataStructure();
}

// Use cacheRef.current anywhere in the component

Quick Check

Test your understanding of the useRef hook from this lesson.

Lesson Recap

In this lesson you learned: useRef provides a mutable .current property that persists across renders without causing re-renders, attach refs to native components to call imperative methods like focus(), and store timer IDs, previous values, and stable callbacks in refs to avoid stale closures. Next up we explore useReducer for managing complex state logic.

よくある質問

「DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef」レッスンは無料ですか?

はい。「DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef」の完全なテキストはこのウェブで無料で読めます。インタラクティブに演習し(組み込みコードエディタと24時間対応のAIチューター)、React Native Academyコースの残りをアンロックするには、CoddyKit PROにアップグレードしてください。 React Native Academyコースには全4レッスンが含まれています。

「DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef」で何を学びますか?

useRefでTextInputへの参照を保持してプログラムからフォーカスし、再レンダリングを発生させずにレンダリング間で保持される可変値を保存します ブラウザで直接実行するハンズオンコードでReact Native Academyを演習し、24時間対応のAIチューターがレッスンを進める中での質問に答えます。

React Native Academyを始めるのに経験は必要ですか?

事前経験は必要ありません。CoddyKitのReact Native Academyは初級者から上級者向けに構成されているため、ここから始めるか最初から始めて、自分のペースで進むことができます。 これはレッスン1/4です。

「DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef」レッスンにはどのくらい時間がかかりますか?

ほとんどのCoddyKitレッスンは約5~10分かかります。各レッスンはコンパクトでインタラクティブなので、着実に進歩し、ウェブとアプリ全体で正確に前回の場所から再開できます。

このReact Native Academyレッスンでコードを書いて実行できますか?

はい。すべてのReact Native Academyレッスンに組み込みコードエディタが含まれているため、ブラウザでリアルコードを書いて実行し、即座のAIフィードバックを取得できます。ローカル設定は不要です。

このコースのすべてのレッスン

  1. DOMノードと可変値のためのuseRef
  2. 複雑な状態ロジックのためのuseReducer
  3. パフォーマンス向上のためのuseCallbackとuseMemo
  4. カスタムフックの作成
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