Optimized Infinite Scroll with Next.js 14 Server Actions and React Query

Pagination is crucial when dealing with large datasets in web applications, ensuring a smoother user experience and optimal performance.

While many tutorials/blogs focus on state management to handle pagination, a more scalable and production-ready approach involves leveraging React Query within a Next.js application. The useInfiniteQuery hook from React Query streamlines our workflow by allowing us to fetch data incrementally from the server while keeping track of whether there’s more to load.

The approach we will be using involves fetching the initial data promptly from the server to ensure a swift initial load, followed by subsequent data fetching on the client side triggered by scrolling.

Let’s dive into it :)

Fetching initial data from the server

To fetch the initial post data on the server, start by creating an action called getPosts. This action will take a parameter called pageParam, which will initially be set to 1. This means that the first page of results will be fetched, with a limit of 18 posts per page. When integrating with React Query, this pageParam will dynamically update as the user scrolls

// page.tsx
import PostsWrapper from "@/components/PostsWrapper";
import getPosts from "@/lib/action";

export default async function Home() {
  const posts = await getPosts({ pageParam: 1 });

  return <PostsWrapper posts={posts} />;
}

// actions.ts
import { FETCH_POSTS_LIMIT } from "./contants";

export default async function getPosts({
  pageParam = 1,
}: {
  pageParam: unknown;
}) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts?_page=${pageParam}&_limit=${FETCH_POSTS_LIMIT}`
  );
  return res.json();
}


// constants.ts
export const FETCH_POSTS_LIMIT = 18;

Additionally, you can show a loading state when data is fetching from the server.

// loading.tsx
export default function loading() {
  return (
   <p>Loading posts...</p>
  );
}

Displaying initial data

// components/PostWrapper.tsx
import React from "react";

import { IPost } from "@/types";
import Post from "./Post";

type Props = {
  posts: IPost[];
};

const PostsWrapper = ({ posts }: Props) => {
  return (
    <div className="space-y-6">
      <h1 className="text-2xl">Personalised Post for you</h1>
      <div className="grid gap-x-4 gap-y-8 grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-3">
        {posts.map((post, i) => (
          <React.Fragment key={i}>
            <Post post={post} key={post.id} />
          </React.Fragment>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default PostsWrapper;

// compoenents/Post.tsx
import { IPost } from "@/types";
import { Card, CardHeader, CardTitle, CardContent } from "./ui/card";

type Props = { post: IPost };

const Post = ({ post }: Props) => {
  return (
    <Card>
      <CardHeader>
        <CardTitle className="truncate break-words">{post?.title}</CardTitle>
      </CardHeader>
      <CardContent>{post?.body}</CardContent>
    </Card>
  );
};

export default Post;

// types/index.ts
export type IPost = {
  userId: number;
  id: number;
  title: string;
  body: string;
};

Integrating React Query

Ensure you set up React Query in your project. We will be using the useInfiniteQueryhook from React Query to handle infinite scrolling and data fetching.

// hooks/useGetPosts.ts
"use client";

import { useInfiniteQuery } from "@tanstack/react-query";

import { IPost } from "@/types";
import getPosts from "@/lib/action";

export default function useGetPosts(initialData: IPost[]) {
  return useInfiniteQuery<IPost[]>({
    queryKey: ["posts"],
    queryFn: getPosts,
    initialData: { pages: [initialData], pageParams: [1] },
    initialPageParam: 1,
    getNextPageParam(lastPage, allPages) {
      return lastPage.length > 0 ? allPages.length + 1 : undefined;
    },
    refetchOnWindowFocus: false,
    staleTime: Infinity,
  });
}

Here,

• queryFn The function returns a promise used to request the post's data. It contains a parameter, pageParam, which specifies the current page to be fetched, which we have integrated with the getPosts action above.

• initial data The initial data comes from the server and is passed as props so that the first page of data is pre-loaded. This eliminates the need for an initial client-side call.

• initialPageParam The initial page number.

• getNextPageParam Used to calculate the next page, it receives both the last page of the infinite list of data and the full array of all pages as the two arguments.
  lastPage An array of posts from the last fetched page (IPost[])
  allPages A 2D array of posts, representing all fetched pages (IPost[][])

If lastPage contains posts, it returns the next page number allPages.length + 1. If lastPage is empty, it returns undefined to signal that there are no more pages.

The return data from the useInfiniteQuery hook is similar to the useQuery hook with some differences.

{
  pages: [ // contains data for allPages
    [
      // posts 1- 18
    ],
    [
      // posts 19-36
    ],
    [
      ///post 37-44
    ],
  ],
  pageParams: [1, 2, 3], //Array of all page params
};

In the PostWrapper component, we use the data returned by the useInfiniteQuery hook. By mapping over the pages (a 2D array of posts), we can render the posts.

useInfiniteQuery has a function called fetchNextPage. As the user scrolls we will call the function, and with each invocation fetchNextPage updates the pages—a 2D array of posts—by appending more arrays of posts.

// components/PostWrapper.tsx
"use client";

import React from "react";

import { IPost } from "@/types";
import Post from "./Post";
import useGetPosts from "@/hook/useGetPosts";

type Props = {
  posts: IPost[];
};

const PostsWrapper = ({ posts }: Props) => {
  const { data } = useGetPosts(posts); //posts -> Initial posts data

  return (
    <div className="space-y-6">
      <h1 className="text-2xl">Personalised Post for you</h1>
      <div className="grid gap-x-4 gap-y-8 grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-3">
        {data?.pages.map((group, i) => (
          <React.Fragment key={i}>
            {group?.map((post) => (
              <Post post={post} key={post.id} />
            ))}
          </React.Fragment>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default PostsWrapper;

Fetching more posts as you scroll

To determine if the user has reached the end of the current post's list, we can utilize the react-intersection-observer package. By integrating this package, we can use the useInView() hook and detect when the user reaches the end of the current post's list. Upon detecting this event, we can trigger the function fetchNextPage.

Moreover, to provide users with clearer feedback and enhance the overall UX, we can utilize two additional functions offered by the useInfiniteQuery hook: isFetchingNextPage and hasNextPage. These properties allow us to indicate to users whether additional content is being loaded (isFetchingNextPage) and whether there are more pages available to fetch (hasNextPage).

// components/PostWrapper.tsx
"use client";

import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import { useInView } from "react-intersection-observer";

import { IPost } from "@/types";
import Post from "./Post";
import useGetPosts from "@/hook/useGetPosts";

type Props = {
  posts: IPost[];
};

const PostsWrapper = ({ posts }: Props) => {
  const { ref, inView } = useInView();
  const { data, fetchNextPage, isFetchingNextPage, hasNextPage } =
    useGetPosts(posts);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (inView) {
      fetchNextPage();
    }
  }, [inView]);

  return (
    <div className="space-y-6">
      <h1 className="text-2xl">Personalised Post for you</h1>
      <div className="grid gap-x-4 gap-y-8 grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-3">
        {data?.pages.map((group, i) => (
          <React.Fragment key={i}>
            {group?.map((post) => (
              <Post post={post} key={post.id} />
            ))}
          </React.Fragment>
        ))}
      </div>
      {isFetchingNextPage && hasNextPage ? (
        <p className="text-center">Loading more posts...</p>
      ) : (
        <p className="text-center">No more posts found</p>
      )}

      <div ref={ref} />
    </div>
  );
};

export default PostsWrapper

---

• Code: Github repo
• For more reference: React Query Docs

Thank you!