Mastering Suspense and React Query: A Hands-on Tutorial

Unlocking the Power of React Query and Suspense

Introduction

React has revolutionized the way we build user interfaces, but managing states and caching data can still be a challenge. That’s where React Query comes in – a powerful tool that simplifies data fetching and caching in functional apps. In this article, we’ll explore how to use React Query alongside Suspense to build a simple recipe app that fetches data from an API and renders it to the DOM.

What is useQuery?

React Query’s useQuery Hook is a game-changer for managing states in functional apps. It fetches data based on a query passed to it and stores the data in its parent variable. A query consists of a unique key and an asynchronous function that is acted upon. The unique key is used for internal operations like fetching data, caching, and refetching data linked to the query.

Key Features of useQuery

• Fetching Data: useQuery simplifies data fetching by providing a straightforward way to fetch data from a source.
• Prefetching: Prefetching is a powerful feature that loads data in the background, so your app doesn’t have to send a new request to retrieve data each time a user needs it.
• Caching: Caching stores data for a period of time, allowing your app to retrieve data from memory without having to re-query.

Building the App

Let’s build a simple recipe app that fetches and renders data from an API using React Query’s useQuery Hook.

Setup

First, we set up a working directory by installing our required dependencies and creating the required files. We then install React Query in our React app.

API

Next, we build the backend API where we’ll fetch data. We create a simple route and static JSON data is filed into an array where it returns data from the static JSON upon using the GET method.

Components

We then build the frontend part of our app, where data will be displayed or rendered. We create several components, including index.jsx, queries.jsx, Recipe.jsx, Recipes.jsx, and Button.jsx.

Running the App

Finally, we run our app and see Suspense in action. When a recipe is being loaded, the Suspense fallback message is displayed when there’s a delay in data fetching. The fetched recipe data is stored in cache and is immediately displayed again if the same recipe is loaded again.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the power of React Query and Suspense by building a simple recipe app. We learned how to improve the user experience with Suspense by keeping the user informed during load times, and how to improve data fetching using React Query’s useQuery Hook. Happy coding!