In React, how do I detect if my component is rendering from the client or the server?

Question

I\'m building a isomorphic application, but I\'m using a third-party component that only renders on the client. So, particularly for this component, I need to only render it

Answer 1

You can use reacts lifecyle events (e.g.: componentDidMount) to detect server/client side rendering.

Examples

As Hook

import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'

function useIsServer () {
  const [isServer, setIsServer] = useState(true)
  useEffect(() => {
    setIsServer(false)
  }, [])
  return isServer
}

Usage

See below (Functional Component)

As Functional Component

import useIsServer from './above'

function ServerOnly ({ children = null, onClient = null }) {
  const isServer = useIsServer()
  return isServer
    ? children
    : onClient
}

Usage

As Class Component

class ServerOnly extends React.Component {
  constructor (props) {
    super(props)
    this.state = {
      isServer: true
    }
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    this.setState({
      isServer: false
    })
  }

  render () {
    const { isServer } = this.state
    const { children, onClient } = this.props
    return isServer
      ? children
      : onClient
  }
}

Usage