Using Window.localStorage with React

React doesn't remember anything.. localStorage does!

To make the Home component able to restore the last fetched matchday, I can use the localStorage object.

Window.localStorage is a small memory hosted by the clients' browser and it can be used to store some "helpers" values. To learn more about it, take a look at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/localStorage.

Fetching the last fetched matchday

So, in the Home.tsx

constructor(props: IProps) {
  super(props);

  /** localStorage **/
  let matchday;
  if (localStorage.getItem('lastFetchedMatchday')) {
    matchday = Number(localStorage.getItem('lastFetchedMatchday'));
  } else {
    matchday = 1;
    localStorage.setItem('lastFetchedMatchday', matchday.toString());
  }
  /** localStorage **/

  this.state = {
    matchday,
    matches: [],
    competition: null,
    error: false,
    totalMatchdays: 38,
  };
}

The code above, before setting the initial state, checks for a record in the localStorage. This record is a key, value pair with the key equal to lastFetchedMatchday.

At line 7 I used Number(...) because the value I got from localStorage is a string and it needed to be converted into a number (as defined with the interface).

Setting the last fetched matchday

The value I fetch from the localStorage needs to be set somewhere in the application. It makes sense to me setting it when I select a new matchday from the select element.

handleChange = (event: any) => {
  this.setState({ matchday: event.target.value }, () => {
    /** localStorage **/
    localStorage.setItem('lastFetchedMatchday', this.state.matchday.toString());
    /** localStorage **/
    this.fetch();
  });
};

As before, I used this.state.matchday.toString() because localStorage stores strings as I can see from the method definition

Storage.setItem(key: string, value: string): void

Conclusion

At this point, once picked a matchday from the select, I don't lose my last selection even if I reload the page or if I close the browser.