I am looking to add a timer to my app which is built using react native.

I have looked at the link to the timer mixin in the documentation however I have built the rest of the app using es6 so this won't be compatible.

I have tried the below.

In my Main class I have a function called getTimerCountDown

getTimerCountDown() {
    setTimeout(() => {
      this.setTimeRemaining(this.getTimeRem()-1);
    }, 1000);
}

getTimeRem() {
    return this.state.timeRemaining;
}

I have tried calling this in componentDidUpdate as shown below. This works as I want it to if I don't make any other interactions with the UI.

If I do (eg I have a button I can click on the view.) as `componentDidUpdate gets called again the conunter gets really quick (as it is getting called x number of times)

componentDidUpdate(){
    this.getTimerCountDown();
}

I am not sure if I am completly on the wrong track here or a small change to what I have done can get me what I want. What is the best way to get a countdown timer working in react native using es6?

Timer Class on main page

<Timer timeRem={this.getTimeRem()} />

returns

render(){
    return (
        <View style={styles.container}>
            <Text> This is the Timer : {this.props.setTimer}  - {this.props.timeRem} </Text>
        </View>
    )
}

I am looking to add a timer to my app which is built using react native.

I have looked at the link to the timer mixin in the documentation however I have built the rest of the app using es6 so this won't be compatible.

I have tried the below.

In my Main class I have a function called getTimerCountDown

getTimerCountDown() {
    setTimeout(() => {
      this.setTimeRemaining(this.getTimeRem()-1);
    }, 1000);
}

getTimeRem() {
    return this.state.timeRemaining;
}

I have tried calling this in componentDidUpdate as shown below. This works as I want it to if I don't make any other interactions with the UI.

If I do (eg I have a button I can click on the view.) as `componentDidUpdate gets called again the conunter gets really quick (as it is getting called x number of times)

componentDidUpdate(){
    this.getTimerCountDown();
}

I am not sure if I am completly on the wrong track here or a small change to what I have done can get me what I want. What is the best way to get a countdown timer working in react native using es6?

Timer Class on main page

<Timer timeRem={this.getTimeRem()} />

returns

render(){
    return (
        <View style={styles.container}>
            <Text> This is the Timer : {this.props.setTimer}  - {this.props.timeRem} </Text>
        </View>
    )
}

• javascript
• ios
• facebook
• reactjs
• react-native

• try to change your getTimerCountdown and make it return setState() – Rei Dien Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 13:03
• What part of the TimerMixin isn't compatible? The docs for it even use an es6 example – Matthew Herbst Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 17:50

4 Answers 4

I'm not really sure how that would work even without any other UI interactions. componentDidUpdate is called every time the component is re-rendered, something that happens when the internal state or passed down props have changed. Not something you can count on to happen exactly every second.

How about moving the getTimerCountDown to your componentDidMount method (which is only called once), and then using setInterval instead of setTimeout to make sure the counter is decremented continuously?

Kinda late, but you can try out this component I made for dealing with timers and es6 components in react-native:

https://github.com/fractaltech/react-native-timer

Idea is simple, maintaining and clearing timer variables on the components is a pain, so simply, maintain them in a separate module. Example:

// not using ES6 modules as babel has broken interop with commonjs for defaults 
const timer = require('react-native-timer');

// timers maintained in the Map timer.timeouts 
timer.setTimeout(name, fn, interval);
timer.clearTimeout(name);

// timers maintained in the Map timer.intervals 
timer.setInterval(name, fn, interval);
timer.clearInterval(name);

// timers maintained in the Map timer.immediates 
timer.setImmediate(name, fn);
timer.clearImmediate(name);

// timers maintained in the Map timer.animationFrames 
timer.requestAnimationFrame(name, fn);
timer.cancelAnimationFrame(name);

Try this

Timer.js

import React, { Component } from "react";
import { View,Text,Button,StyleSheet } from "react-native";
const timer = () => {};
class Timer extends Component {
    constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      remainingTime: 10
     };
    }

 countdownTimer(){
   this.setState({remainingTime:10 });
   clearInterval(timer);
   timer = setInterval(() =>{
        if(!this.state.remainingTime){
          clearInterval(timer);
          return false;
        }
        this.setState(prevState =>{
        return {remainingTime: prevState.remainingTime - 1}});
        },1000);
    }

    render() {
      return (
       <View style={styles.container}>
         <Text>Remaining time :{this.state.remainingTime}</Text>
          <Button title ="Start timer" onPress={()=>this.countdownTimer()}/>
       </View>
     );
   }
  }


  const styles = StyleSheet.create({
    container:{
     flex:1,
     justifyContent:'center',
     alignItems:'center',
   } 
});

  export default Timer;

App.js

import React, { Component } from "react";
  import { View,Text,Button,StyleSheet } from "react-native";
  import Timer from './timer';

  export default class App extends Component{
   render(
    return (<Timer />)
   );
 }

Here is full code how you can create a timer (pomodoro Timer) in react-native;

Timer.js

import React from 'react'
import {Vibration, View, Button, Text, TextInput, StyleSheet} from 'react-native'


let pomInterval;

export default class Timer extends React.Component {
    constructor() {
        super();
        this.state = {
            minutes: 5,
            seconds: 0,
            workmins: 5,
            worksecs: 0,
            breakMins: 2,
            breakSecs: 0,
            timerState: 'WORK TIMER',
            btnState: 'Start'
        }
    }

    vibrate = () => {
        Vibration.vibrate([500, 500, 500])
    }

    pomTimer = () => {
        pomInterval = setInterval(() => {
            let newSec = this.state.seconds;
            newSec--;
            if(newSec < 0) {
                newSec = 59;
                this.state.minutes--;
            }
            this.setState({
                seconds: newSec,
            })

            if(newSec <= 0 && this.state.minutes <= 0) {
                this.vibrate();
                if(this.state.timerState == 'WORK TIMER') {
                    this.setState({
                        timerState: 'BREAK TIMER',
                        minutes: this.state.breakMins,
                        seconds: this.state.breakSecs
                        
                    })
                }else {
                    this.setState({
                        timerState: 'WORK TIMER',
                        minutes: this.state.workmins,
                        seconds: this.state.worksecs
                    })
                }
            }
        }, 1000);
    }


    changeWorkMin = mins => {
        clearInterval(pomInterval);
        this.setState({
            minutes: mins || 0,
            workmins: mins || 0,
            btnState: 'Start'
        })
    }

    changeWorkSec = secs => {
        clearInterval(pomInterval);
        this.setState({
            seconds: secs || 0,
            worksecs: secs || 0,
            btnState: 'Start'
        })
    }

    changeBreakMin = mins => {
        clearInterval(pomInterval);
        this.setState({
            breakMins: mins || 0,
            btnState: 'Start'
        })
    }

    changeBreakSec = secs => {
        clearInterval(pomInterval);
        this.setState({
            breakSecs: secs || 0,
            btnState: 'Start'
        })
    }

    // Creating the functionality for the pause/start button
    chnageBtnState = () => {
        if(this.state.btnState == 'Start') {
            this.pomTimer();
            this.setState({
                btnState: 'Pause'
            })

        }else {
            clearInterval(pomInterval);
            this.setState({
                btnState: 'Start'
            })
        }
    }

    // Creating the functionality for the reset button
    reset = () => {
        clearInterval(pomInterval);
        if(this.state.timerState == 'WORK TIMER') {
            this.setState({
                minutes: this.state.workmins,
                seconds: this.state.worksecs,
                btnState: 'Start'
            })
        }else {
            this.setState({
                minutes: this.state.breakMins,
                seconds: this.state.breakSecs,
                btnState: 'Start'
            })
        }
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <View style={styles.viewStyles}>
                <Text style={styles.textStyles}>{this.state.timerState}</Text>
                <Text style={styles.textStyles}>{this.state.minutes}:{this.state.seconds}</Text>
                <Text>
                    <Button title={this.state.btnState} onPress={this.chnageBtnState} />
                    <Button title='Reset' onPress={this.reset} />
                </Text>
                <Text>Work Time:</Text>
                <TextInput style={styles.inputStyles} value={this.state.workmins.toString()} placeholder='Work Minutes' onChangeText={this.changeWorkMin} keyboardType='numeric' />
                <TextInput style={styles.inputStyles} value={this.state.worksecs.toString()} placeholder='Work Seconds' onChangeText={this.changeWorkSec} keyboardType='numeric' />
                <Text>Break Time:</Text>
                <TextInput style={styles.inputStyles} value={this.state.breakMins.toString()} placeholder='Break Minutes' onChangeText={this.changeBreakMin} keyboardType='numeric' />
                <TextInput style={styles.inputStyles} value={this.state.breakSecs.toString()} placeholder='Break Seconds' onChangeText={this.changeBreakSec} keyboardType='numeric' />
            </View>
        )
    }
}

// Creating a style sheet to write some styles
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
    viewStyles: {
        alignItems: 'center'
    },

    textStyles: {
        fontSize: 48
    },

    inputStyles: {
        paddingHorizontal: 50,
        borderColor: 'black',
        borderWidth: 1
    }
})

App.js

import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';
import Timer from './timer';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Timer />
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
});

This is how we can create a pomodoro timer, a timer which has both WORK TIMER and BREAK TIMER and it vibrates the phone as one of the timer reaches its end. I also added the input functionality i.e, you can dynamically change the value of the minutes and seconds (whether work timer or break timer is going on). I also added a start/pause button and a reset button.