next-data-hooks

next-data-hooks ·

Use getStaticProps as react hooks

Why?

Writing one large query per page doesn't organize well. Asynchronous data fetching frameworks like apollo, relay, and react-query already allow you to write the queries closer to the component.

Why can't static data queries be written closer to the component too?

next-data-hooks is a small and simple lib that lets you write React hooks for static data queries in next.js by lifting static props into React Context.

Example

See the example in this repo for some ideas on how to organize your static data call using this hook.

Installation

1. Install

npm i next-data-hooks

or

yarn add next-data-hooks

1. Add Provider to _app.tsx or _app.js

import { AppProps } from 'next/app';
import { NextDataHooksProvider } from 'next-data-hooks';

function App({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
  const { children, ...rest } = pageProps;

  return (
    <NextDataHooksProvider {...rest}>
      <Component {...rest}>{children}</Component>
    </NextDataHooksProvider>
  );
}

1. Add the babel plugin

At the root, add a .babelrc file that contains the following:

{
  "presets": ["next/babel"],
  "plugins": ["next-data-hooks/babel"]
}

⚠️ Don't forget this step. This enables code elimination to eliminate server-side code in client code.

Usage

1. Create a data hook. This can be in the same file as the component you're using it in or anywhere else.

import { createDataHook } from 'next-data-hooks';

// this context is the GetStaticPropsContext from 'next'
//                                                             👇
export const useBlogPost = createDataHook('BlogPost', async (context) => {
  const slug = context.params?.slug as string;

  // do something async to grab the data your component needs
  const blogPost = /* ... */;

  return blogPost;
});

1. Get the data hooks props and pass it down in getStaticProps. Import all data hooks.

import { getDataHooksProps } from 'next-data-hooks';
import { GetStaticPaths, GetStaticProps } from 'next';
import { useBlogPost } from '..';
import BlogPostComponent from '..';

export const getStaticPaths: GetStaticPaths = async (context) => {
  // return static paths...
};

export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async (context) => {
  const dataHooksProps = await getDataHooksProps({
    context,
    // you can add more than one here
    //         👇👇👇
    hooks: [useBlogPost],
  });

  return {
    props: {
      // spread the props required by next-data-hooks
      ...dataHooksProps,
    },
  };
};

export default function BlogPostEntry() {
  return (
    <>
      {/* Note: this component doesn't have to be a direct child of BlogPostEntry */}
      <BlogPostComponent />
    </>
  );
}

1. Use the data hook in any component under that page.

import { useBlogPost } from '..';

function BlogPostComponent() {
  const { title, content } = useBlogPost();

  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{title}</h1>
      <p>{content}</p>
    </article>
  );
}

Useful Patterns

A separate routes directory

Next.js has a very opinionated file-based routing mechanism that doesn't allow you to put a file in the /pages folder without it being considered a page.

Simply put, this doesn't allow for much organization.

With next-data-hooks, you can treat the /pages folder as a folder of entry points and organize files elsewhere.

my-project
# think of the pages folder as entry points to your routes
├── pages
│   ├── blog
│   │   ├── [slug].ts
│   │   └── index.ts
│   └── shop
│       ├── category
│       │   └── [slug].ts
│       ├── index.ts
│       └── product
│           └── [slug].ts
|
# think of each route folder as its own app with it's own components and helpers
└── routes
    ├── blog
    │   ├── components
    │   │   ├── blog-index.tsx
    │   │   ├── blog-post-card.tsx
    │   │   └── blog-post.tsx
    │   └── helpers
    │       └── example-blog-helper.ts
    └── shop
        ├── components
        │   ├── category.tsx
        │   ├── product-description.tsx
        │   └── product.tsx
        └── helpers
            └── example-shop-helper.ts

/routes/blog/components/blog-post.tsx

import { createDataHook } from 'next-data-hooks';

// write your data hook in a co-located place
export const useBlogPostData = createDataHook('BlogPost', async (context) => {
  const blogPostData = // get blog post data…
  return blogPostData;
});

function BlogPost() {
  // use it in the component
  const { title, content } = useBlogPostData();

  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{title}</h1>
      <p>{content}</p>
    </article>
  );
}

export default BlogPost;

/pages/blog/[slug].ts

import { GetStaticProps, GetStaticPaths } from 'next';
import { getDataHooksProps } from 'next-data-hooks';
import BlogPost, { useBlogPost } from 'routes/blog/components/blog-post';

export const getStaticPaths: GetStaticPaths = {}; /* ... */

export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async (context) => {
  const dataHooksProps = getDataHooksProps({ context, hooks: [useBlogPost] });
  return { props: dataHooksProps };
};

// re-export your component. this file is just an entry point
export default BlogPost;

👋 Note: the above is just an example of how you can use next-data-hooks to organize your project. The main takeaway is that you can re-export page components to change the structure and next-data-hooks works well with this pattern.

Co-located queries

This pattern can be particularly useful if you're writing a component that requires dynamic data but you don't want to worry about how that data gets to your component.

For example, let's say you have a Header component that's nested in a Layout component.

With next-data-hooks, you write the query closer to the component.

header.tsx

import { createDataHook } from 'next-data-hooks';

// Write a query closer to the component
export const useHeaderData = createDataHook('Header', async (context) => {
  // pull header data...
});

function Header() {
  const headerData = useHeaderData();

  return <>{/* use `headerData` */}</>;
}

export default Header;

layout.tsx

Then you can use the component anywhere else in your component tree. Note how this component is unaware of the header data.

import Header from './header';

interface Props {
  // ...
}

function Layout({ children }: Props) {
  return (
    <>
      <Header />
      <main>{children}</main>
    </>
  );
}

export default Layout;

my-page.tsx

Finally, wire-up the hooks in one place.

// my-page.tsx
import { GetStaticProps } from 'next';
import { useHeaderData } from 'components/header';
import MyPage from 'routes/my-page';

export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps = async (context) => {
  const dataHooksProps = await getDataHooksProps({
    context,
    // include it once here and it'll wire up the data hook wherever it's used
    hooks: [useHeaderData],
  });

  return {
    props: { ...dataHooksProps },
  };
};

export default MyPage;

Code elimination

For smaller bundles, Next.js eliminates code that is only intended to run inside getStaticProps.

next-data-hooks does the same by a babel plugin that prefixes your data hook definition with typeof window !== 'undefined' ? <stub> : <real data hook>.

This works because Next.js pre-evaluates the expression typeof window to 'object' in browsers. This will make the above ternary always evaluate to the <stub> in the browser. Terser then shakes away the <real data hook> expression eliminating it from the browser bundle.

If you saw the error Create data hook was run in the browser. then something may have went wrong with the code elimination. Please open an issue.

👋 Note. There may be differences in Next.js's default code elimination and next-data-hooks code elimination. Double check your bundle.