I'm building a photo gallery in react js. Obviously it's going to have to be responsive and I've tackled this by setting values like so in the component's render method:

let thumbWidth = window.innerWidth >= 480 ? 75 : 100;

The problem is that I need the const value to change when the window is resized. My my first attempts was to build a function like so and bind it in the constructor:

getThumbWidth = (vpWidth) => {
    if(vpWidth >= 480 ) {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 120}); 
     } else {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 50}); 
     }
}

This worked in terms of setting the variable's initial value but how do I trigger the function when the window resizes?

Have tried adding a resize function:

resize = () => this.getThumbWidth()

...and then changing getThumbWidth so that it sets the value in the component's sate - the idea being that when state is updated the component automatically rerenders:

getThumbWidth = (vpWidth) => {
    if(vpWidth >= 480 ) {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 120}); 
     } else {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 50}); 
     }
}

And then calling it via lifecycle methods as suggested in several other solutions but the event listener does not appear to be firing:

componentDidMount() {
    window.addEventListener('resize', this.resize)
}

componentWillUnmount() {
    window.removeEventListener('resize', this.resize)
}  

Still not working though... any ideas?

I'm building a photo gallery in react js. Obviously it's going to have to be responsive and I've tackled this by setting values like so in the component's render method:

let thumbWidth = window.innerWidth >= 480 ? 75 : 100;

The problem is that I need the const value to change when the window is resized. My my first attempts was to build a function like so and bind it in the constructor:

getThumbWidth = (vpWidth) => {
    if(vpWidth >= 480 ) {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 120}); 
     } else {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 50}); 
     }
}

This worked in terms of setting the variable's initial value but how do I trigger the function when the window resizes?

Have tried adding a resize function:

resize = () => this.getThumbWidth()

...and then changing getThumbWidth so that it sets the value in the component's sate - the idea being that when state is updated the component automatically rerenders:

getThumbWidth = (vpWidth) => {
    if(vpWidth >= 480 ) {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 120}); 
     } else {
        this.setState({thumbSize: 50}); 
     }
}

And then calling it via lifecycle methods as suggested in several other solutions but the event listener does not appear to be firing:

componentDidMount() {
    window.addEventListener('resize', this.resize)
}

componentWillUnmount() {
    window.removeEventListener('resize', this.resize)
}  

Still not working though... any ideas?

• javascript
• css
• reactjs
• responsive-design
• lifecycle

• 1 This alone won't solve the question, but, if you want to change value of a variable, why is it defined as a constant in the first place? Hint is in the name, const is constant - in other words, constant things do not change, they stay the same. Why not use let instead - acts as a same block-scoped variable like const does, only the values can change. – Samuel Hulla Commented Aug 27, 2018 at 11:11
• 1 better change const to another type – charan kumar Commented Aug 27, 2018 at 11:15
• Thanks - I spotted that and have changed it - will edit question to reflect this. – Stef Commented Aug 27, 2018 at 11:15
• In getThumbWidth there's a parameter but when you call it you don't pass this parameter resize = () => this.getThumbWidth() – mcssym Commented Aug 27, 2018 at 11:19

3 Answers 3

@Jousi, try this below code works fine of window resize

class App extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      windowSize: "",
      thumbWidth: 75
    };
  }

  handleResize = e => {
    const windowSize = window.innerWidth;
    const thumbWidth = (windowSize >= 480 && 100) || 75;
    this.setState(prevState => {
      return {
        windowSize,
        thumbWidth
      };
    });
  };

  componentDidMount() {
    window.addEventListener("resize", this.handleResize);
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
    window.removeEventListener("resize", this.handleResize);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div>
        <h2>window size: {this.state.windowSize}</h2>
        <h3>thumbnail width: {this.state.thumbWidth}</h3>
      </div>
    );
  }
}

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

U can add ref attribute to container of your component:

return (
    <div
       className={mainClass}
       ref={(elem) => { this.elem = elem; }}
    >
        your gallery here
   </div>

Then in your componentDidMount u have access to all events connected to your container. Then u can invoke your function depending on changes on these events. For example:

componentDidMount() {
   const parent = this.elem.parentNode;
       if (parent.scrollHeight > parent.clientHeight) {
         parent.onscroll = (() => this.yourMethod(parent));
       } 
}

I think you might need to initialise the this.resize function.

like so: window.removeEventListener('resize', this.resize())