reactjs - Removing object from array using hooks (useState)

Question

I have an array of objects. I need to add a function to remove an object from my array without using the "this" keyword.

I tried using updateList(list.slice(list.indexOf(e.target.name, 1))). This removes everything but the last item in the array and I'm not certain why.

const defaultList = [
{ name: "ItemOne" },
{ name: "ItemTwo" },
{ name: "ItemThree" }]

const [list, updateList] = useState(defaultList);

const handleRemoveItem = e => {
    updateList(list.slice(list.indexOf(e.target.name, 1)))
}

return (
    {list.map(item => {
        return ( 
            <>
            <span onClick={handleRemoveItem}>x </span>
            <span>{item.name}</span>
            </>
        )}
    }

)

EXPECTED: The clicked item will be removed from the list.
ACTUAL: The entire list gets removed, minus the last item in the array.

Thanks in advance for any input!

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57341541/removing-object-from-array-using-hooks-usestate

Answer 1

First of all, the span element with the click event needs to have a name property otherwise, there will be no name to find within the e.target. With that said, e.target.name is reserved for form elements (input, select, etc). So to actually tap into the name property you'll have to use e.target.getAttribute("name")

Additionally, because you have an array of objects, it would not be effective to use list.indexOf(e.target.name) since that is looking for a string when you are iterating over objects. That's like saying find "dog" within [{}, {}, {}]

Lastly, array.slice() returns a new array starting with the item at the index you passed to it. So if you clicked the last-item, you would only be getting back the last item.

Try something like this instead using .filter(): codesandbox

import React, { useState } from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";

import "./styles.css";

const App = () => {
  const defaultList = [
    { name: "ItemOne" },
    { name: "ItemTwo" },
    { name: "ItemThree" }
  ];

  const [list, updateList] = useState(defaultList);

  const handleRemoveItem = (e) => {
   const name = e.target.getAttribute("name")
    updateList(list.filter(item => item.name !== name));
  };

  return (
    <div>
      {list.map(item => {
        return (
          <>
            <span name={item.name} onClick={handleRemoveItem}>
              x
            </span>
            <span>{item.name}</span>
          </>
        );
      })}
    </div>
  );
};

const rootElement = document.getElementById("root");
ReactDOM.render(<App />, rootElement);