Exploring useRef Hook in React Native Applications

Exploring useRef Hook in React Native Applications

React's useRef hook lets you make a reference to a specific DOM element or component instance. Several scenarios can benefit from this, such as:

Using this hook, you can focus an input field or measure a component's size by accessing the underlying DOM element, storing a value, such as a timer ID or an instance of a third-party library, that keep to remain constant across multiple renders of a component.

Use useRef to make a reference to a text input and use it to focus the input when a button is clicked, as shown in the following example:

A ref object with only one property, current, is returned by useRef. The initial value passed as an argument, if any, will be used to initialize this property, and its value can be changed by using ref.current = newValue.

It is essential to keep in mind that useRef is distinct from useState, where component re-rendering is triggered by state updates. useRef only alters the current property and does not trigger re-rendering.