STOP using useState, instead put state in URL (in React & Next.js)

Hi, I'm Wesley. I'm a brand ambassador for Kinde. I'll help you master the latest tech here:
👉 NEW React & Next.js Course: bytegrad.com/courses/professi...
👉 Professional JavaScript Course: bytegrad.com/courses/professi...
👉 Professional CSS Course: bytegrad.com/courses/professi...
👉 Discord: all my courses have a private Discord where I actively participate
🔔 Email newsletter (BIG update soon): email.bytegrad.com
⏱️ Timestamps:
0:00 Examples
0:41 Benefits
2:38 Example overview
4:24 useState
6:56 Synchronize URL with useEffect
7:30 History API
7:54 Query string definitions
8:58 Next.js useRouter
10:20 location.search
11:18 Problems with useState approach
11:58 Switch to URL for state
12:26 useSearchParams
13:35 Link component
16:11 Server component (searchParams)
17:13 Caveat 1: replace vs push
17:57 Caveat 2: unknown values
18:18 Caveat 3: no values
18:32 Caveat 4: url-encoded values (URLSearchParams)
20:47 Real-world use cases
#webdevelopment #programming #coding

[@samyakpiya]

You are so good at teaching web dev. I love that you show how something can be done with just JS and then proceed to show how a framework like Next.js makes it much simpler! Also, I really appreciate that you cover the edge cases and best practices. I'm learning a lot from watching your videos!

[@alexnelson2119]

A note about replace vs push, the Link component takes a `replace` prop that you can set to true (default is false) if you want the replace behaviour. It also has a `scroll` prop that you should set to false (default is true) if you don't want to scroll to the top of the page each time you click on an option.

[@ByteGrad]

Yeah, good points

[@kamehameha38]

Arigato

[@developerpranav]

This is awesome with server components! Very detailed video that includes URL encoding and search params. Waiting for your nextjs course :D

[@ByteGrad]

Thanks! 😃

[@dimitrisborbotsialos]

We’ve actually used this technique 4 years ago on a react application, worked great and still does. We’ve also made a search component to listen for changes on the url and update a context. Our app was complex and many components had to be updated so using a context was the way to go. It’s funny though that no matter what we do we always coming back to 00’s concepts. It’s like php back in the days.

[@Diegps]

it's php with a mint flavor and I'm here for it

[@spicynoodle7419]

Modern PHP with HTMX is the dream and I'm living it

[@billypentester]

It depends on the requirements. If you're developing apps that don't share data like admin panels, use states and react. But if you're developing sites that do share data like e-commerce websites, use params and next js.

[@saadelfadil]

I stumbled upon your KZbin channel just today and had to reach out immediately to express my gratitude for the incredible content you’re sharing. Even though it's only been a day, I've already spent hours soaking in your insights. The way you explain concepts is nothing short of amazing 🔥🔥

[@webdev_telugu]

Such a niche concept and he teaches us for free even though he has paid courses. Kudos my man!!

[@ByteGrad]

Thanks

[@RealRatchet]

It's not a niche concept putting stuff in query parameters was how Web1.0 did things because there was no client state, we've officially come full circle.

[@shrin210]

​@@RealRatchetNow we write in components and not in pages. That's the only thing changed from Web 1.0

[@webdev_telugu]

@@RealRatchet yeah true, but I'm a new developer so new thing to me

[@henriquematias1986]

What you mean niche concept? That’s how the internet works and always worked 😊 It’s just that some websites are broken so he’s teaching how to fix it 😅

[@lets_see_777]

somehow your teaching method resonates best with me. There are several popular youtubers on JS but you explain why we are doing things with alternatives. Thank you.

[@coffeefps]

This is actually clean and good. Just need to handle the magic strings gracefully and it's perfect. You earned my sub.

[@LePhenixGD]

Amazing tutorial man! Never had that idea to use URL parameters not for a search but for products until now, thank you!

[@maisamafshar]

Excellent presentation and explanation. Loved the pace of the video, not slow, not fast. Subscribed.🤩

[@ebratz]

This tip saved me a lot of time today! Thank you so much! Eager waiting for your Next.js course!

[@silentlyow]

I recently started a project on a brand new framework recently (Next.js) with TypeScript as well (first typescript experience as well) and discovered this method of handling something like "state" in server components. Basically I had a product page and needed to do pagination and filtering, I did it using the query string.

[@weebdeveloper]

True, derived state makes some features so much simpler to build, thanks for sharing

[@foreverl01]

I found your videos last week and I've seen more than 10 hours of your content. The way you explain things is amazing. Thanks, Wesley! I'm making an e-commerce myself to practice react and next.js, using app router. This solution to avoid using state and making components CC is great! I can't wait for the next js course!! 🥳

[@ByteGrad]

Awesome, thank you!

[@guilhermeferreirabr]

Dziękuję bardzo za tutoriale, właśnie kupiłem dwa twoje kursy, niesamowita treść! 🚀👏🎬

[@ByteGrad]

Thanks Guilherme! Appreciate it

[@filipniklas]

Great video! Super helpful and well presented!

[@saitharunreddya2046]

An awesome video with great details and explanation, loved it!!! Keep Up the good work

[@seg_fault]

Thanks for the video. I heard of this and needed to see an example of how to go about it and this went above and beyond with even the pitfalls to watch out for.

[@kevin-ty7it]

I have a short attention span, but you shared information continuously, which kept me engaged throughout.

[@Olga-id1qy]

Beautiful, it made me smile for a sec as I would write it exactly as you mentioned at the beginning via useEffect(). Now while transitioning to Next.js, I like definitely this one-way approach

[@James-rd1sb]

I never thought of it like this. I'm sure it'll be useful to know in the future! Many thanks

[@Scrappycoco]

Great content man. Keep it up!

[@mu_yaser]

wanted to use this concept in my latest next project and you just explained things i needed to know, good info and explanation

[@pi3ni0]

Thanks, very good content. A lot of real world cases, can't wait for your course! :)

[@veedjohnson]

Definitely one of the best out there!

[@simoncunningham2964]

Thank you for this video - I've watched a lot of tutorials lately that go down the route of useState and useEffect but they never felt like the best way - glad I came across this video!

[@Anonymousssss368]

The content was amazing. I used this approach in my project.

[@i.j.5513]

Very nicely explained and demonstrated 👍

[@jou3883]

I love you. You’re an awesome teacher. I’m grateful to have found your channel 🙏🏻

[@vikasni95]

Im very lucky to find your channel on random search.. Tq god for suggesting this gem channel... Tqss dude keep adding more videos 😍👍

[@ganumba11]

amazing content from you like always 🔥🔥

[@MOURADSLIM]

I'm doing a search function and was gonna use a state manager to manage this problem, perfect timing XD Thank you

[@user-ge2vc3rl1n]

This is a very cool and unique example, looking forward to more. GJ

[@NOTHING-en2ue]

very well tutorial, you finally teach me how to think the next-js way ❤

[@igboanugwocollins4452]

Neat approach, you just gained another sub

[@juanhedderich]

That was awsome, ty man!!

[@mohammadmo9290]

Amazing, thanks mate 👌👌

[@nomadshiba]

not using react or next, or tsx but this is so true! especially for modals, i like to keep my active modal info on the hash part of the url that way both page data and modal data can be placed on the url but of course you can use url params too i mean you realize that your site/app needs this the moment you refresh the page

[@kumardeepam]

This is so insightful and useful

[@JosephMaramba]

Pretty well explained. I didn't know server components get the searchParams as props by default!

[@rubelhossain8517]

amazing content ! Keep up the good work sir

[@ByteGrad]

Thanks, will do!

[@arinium]

You make absolutely great tutorials, thank you for sharing!

[@loydcose2780]

Amazing, super helpful!

[@CuriousByte]

Always a super useful technique especially for UI's that you likely want to remember state when you copy and paste the link.

[@ardianhotii]

This video was very helpful, I'm learning so many new things from you that I didn't know that can cause problems in my apps. Thank you so much

[@oidualx]

Thank you so much! This way of handling state is nothing knew, but I personally never put much thought into it until this video, and always defaulted to client state, with all the issues you listed. Typical aha moment. From now on you convinced me to always default to query params to handle state, unless there is a serious reason not to do so.

[@OpenCoreX]

This is just amazing. Glad I discovered you - amazing teacher. #subscribed

[@peteregbujie]

I cant thank you enough for this tutorial.

[@lorsothy6263]

Thank you so much. Now I found a way to select filters without use client.

[@codewithguillaume]

Huge fan of this approach :)

[@DiogoLScarmagnani]

Wow! I didn't know about History API and its pushState method. Great! It can be used even in vanilla JavaScript projects. Thank you for the video.

[@aamiramin6112]

So informative. Thanks for sharing

[@user-qo6jf6jk2c]

many thanks for great content ❤

[@mohammadshariarparvez669]

watching your first video , became a fan of you broooooooo.. god bless you

[@WojciechBlachut]

That is an excellent video! Thanks so much.

[@johncaballero5463]

Exactly what I need right now.

[@mohammedelmoutaouakkil]

Great tutorial! you got a subscriber

[@ChrisHaupt]

That's a really cool trick using the Link component to append a query param. Didn't know that was a thing!

[@shubhojeetbera]

This was great & easy 👌🏻

[@TitoMitto]

Your tutorials are very informative

[@raymondmichael4987]

I had similar use case today, pulled my hair for hours; Thanks brother 😊

[@dero433]

Dzięki za porady!

[@ByteGrad]

Bez problemu!

[@bklynpeter]

Another amazing video. I do have a follow-up question: In your example, the page is a presumably dynamic route? How do we utilize those dynamic elements (again, in your example, 'product' and 't-shirt') at the same time we are accessing the query-params? Thanks as always!

[@ThugLifeModafocah]

Very good video. Thank you.

[@ammaralshathry9186]

really. incredible. keep up

[@mmaarafat]

thanks, mate. it was great explanation :)

[@billypentester]

It's really something great for me, actually, I'm looking for something similar to this concept and I got it. So much thanks sir

[@septiantonrezkirahmatulloh3837]

thank you, sir. from your knowledge. I am learned something new from this.

[@mohamedbelaouer1696]

I juste love your content. thank you for your useful videos

[@romeorel1679]

Never knew you have had a KZbin channel. I discovered you from your CSS udemy course. Quality work.

[@iBryanKops]

Thanks for this content broth

[@thevasupodcast4561]

I love your videos. Thank you!

[@ByteGrad]

Glad you like them!

[@darwin2642]

Thanks for this video, it helped me a lot.

[@BK-qx3qf]

You got subscriber. Nice tutorial.

[@glauberbispo8922]

mind blowing I always work with states, i'm looking foward to implement this solution in some of my works *-* and it works really good together with server side in next

[@marchugans]

Great approach

[@ByteGrad]

I agree, underused by many devs

[@geianmarkdenorte9874]

Just subscribed, I love your content man! I wish the audio can be improve soon.

[@ByteGrad]

Yes, will improve soon. 2-3 more videos with this haha

[@ByteGrad]

My Professional React & Next.js course is OUT NOW now! Find it here: bytegrad.com/courses/professional-react-nextjs -- this is the #1 resource to master the latest React & Next.js, my absolute best work.

[@brancode404]

Can't wait for it. I hope it'll be out this Month? 😮

[@ByteGrad]

@@brancode404 Sending the exact date to email subscribers :)

[@thevasupodcast4561]

Can you please also club react jobs that you find in your newsletter?

[@youneshenni5417]

What application will you build in the upcoming next js course? Looking forward to it :)

[@ByteGrad]

@@youneshenni5417 I''ll show screenshots of them soon in the newsletter

[@lukas.webdev]

Great video!! Thanks for sharing. 😉🔥

[@ByteGrad]

Thanks for watching!

[@runonce]

Really helpful, thanks for sharing! I think the main con is that it only works for buttons as links and not for other types of inputs, I guess in that case you will still need to resort to a client component (I tried to use Server Actions but couldn't come up with a working solution).

[@AndersonSousa33]

Your videos are awesome! Just need to raise the audio volume a little bit.

[@didarnawzad]

Keep going

[@ZacharyBetz]

In case you weren’t aware, your content is top notch 👌

[@ByteGrad]

Thanks Zachary, always good to hear :D

[@peterabouabsi8427]

Depends on your case. This is a great practice for searching and fetching tasks.

[@alexkey9372]

Great video! but what if the use case is to select something and change the api response? e.g a filter page. don't you need useEffect for that? you will need the filter params first from the actual api and then when url changes it needs to re-fetch the actual response from the api with the new variables via rest or graphql. like fetching products with an array of size selections and an array of colour selections. where the fetch function will need to be?

[@HerrThomasE]

thank you very much for this Great explanations,,!,,!!

[@lucasschoenardie123]

How would you handle the query params if they are dynamic? I mean, on this case you know that you have color and size. What if you got the product options from an api and you don't know what and how many they are. How would you go about generating the search params that you pass to the Link's href?

[@andreilucasgoncalves1416]

Query strings are usually a lot harder to work with than useState, you have to validade the input to avoid errors, specially if you change things and the query data becames stale, but anyways query strings provides a great UX

[@zettca]

If your data/endpoint inferred from the searchParams, it won't become stale. searchParams should be the SSOT (single source of truth). And as these are user-controlled, there should be some validation - yes. A small validation function is the trade-off for the greater UX

[@zettca]

Another thing: we shouldn't be building the searchParams by hand anyways. There's URLSearchParams for that

[@Kaioin]

You should be validating data that you use with useState, too, if it comes from userland.

[@wisdomelue]

everything has its tradeoffs

[@CottidaeSEA]

Validation is always an issue and honestly, in a case like this it is simply absurd to expect query parameters to exist immediately. For these things you should always have a fallback.

[@prajwalchoudhary4824]

I learned this when I was working with react router lifting state up to the url so even when user navigates around in app we can pass on this state so when they come back to same page the state doesn't get lost

[@amansarma417]

The good old PHP days

[@johnnyholiday1150]

Hi 👋 I was wondering if its possible to please make a little/medium project with the most important points you showed in your vids. Would really appriciate it! 😁

[@taicheeeee]

Best youtubers for beginngers: Lama Dev, and Net Ninja Best youtuber for junior and middle developers: YOU

[@ByteGrad]

Haha thanks

[@roby_codes]

Amazing feature for user experience and SEO

[@spacecowboyofficial]

This just feels right. UX is more than just visuals when designing a website.

[@MdNaimurRahmanHera]

An awesome technique 😍😍

[@matowang]

One of the problems with using this method on Next.js is that the UI does not update until page.tsx is finished rendered. So if you click "White", it will not update the UI until the client finishes fetching the next page. It will be better to maintain some client state and listen to updates so the client UI can update immediately. Let me know if I'm missing something.

[@404-not-found-service]

Thanks for the video, I liked it a lot, will you by any chance upload more material like this also using useOptimistic and so on? all the best

[@mohdsahil226]

Thank you! Great content! Would you please also make a video on how to use addtocart in nextjs without Redux/context api?

[@ChiragGoyal777]

Hi, Which extension do you use for code block auto-suggestion? it's awesome!

[@alirezagarshasbi6557]

i was looking to make a seperate context for a boolean value as a side effect of another context state change, but with the abuse of url its free state across the app😁 thank you