Simple “selector” library for Redux inspired by getters in NuclearJS, subscriptions in re-frame and this proposal from speedskater.
- Selectors can compute derived data, allowing Redux to store the minimal possible state.
- Selectors are efficient. A selector is not recomputed unless one of its arguments change.
- Selectors are composable. They can be used as input to other selectors.
1 | import { createSelector } from 'reselect' |
Table of Contents
- Installation
- Example
- API
-
- Why isn’t my selector recomputing when the input state changes?
- Why is my selector recomputing when the input state stays the same?
- Can I use Reselect without Redux?
- The default memoization function is no good, can I use a different one?
- How do I test a selector?
- How do I create a selector that takes an argument?
- How do I use Reselect with Immutable.js?
- Can I share a selector across multiple components?
- Are there TypeScript typings?
- How can I make a curried selector?
- License
Installation
npm install reselect
Example
Motivation for Memoized Selectors
The examples in this section are based on the Redux Todos List example.
containers/VisibleTodoList.js
1 | import { connect } from 'react-redux' |
In the above example, mapStateToProps
calls getVisibleTodos
to calculate todos
. This works great, but there is a drawback: todos
is calculated every time the component is updated. If the state tree is large, or the calculation expensive, repeating the calculation on every update may cause performance problems. Reselect can help to avoid these unnecessary recalculations.
Creating a Memoized Selector
We would like to replace getVisibleTodos
with a memoized selector that recalculates todos
when the value of state.todos
or state.visibilityFilter
changes, but not when changes occur in other (unrelated) parts of the state tree.
Reselect provides a function createSelector
for creating memoized selectors. createSelector
takes an array of input-selectors and a transform function as its arguments. If the Redux state tree is mutated in a way that causes the value of an input-selector to change, the selector will call its transform function with the values of the input-selectors as arguments and return the result. If the values of the input-selectors are the same as the previous call to the selector, it will return the previously computed value instead of calling the transform function.
Let’s define a memoized selector named getVisibleTodos
to replace the non-memoized version above:
selectors/index.js
1 | import { createSelector } from 'reselect' |
In the example above, getVisibilityFilter
and getTodos
are input-selectors. They are created as ordinary non-memoized selector functions because they do not transform the data they select. getVisibleTodos
on the other hand is a memoized selector. It takes getVisibilityFilter
and getTodos
as input-selectors, and a transform function that calculates the filtered todos list.
Composing Selectors
A memoized selector can itself be an input-selector to another memoized selector. Here is getVisibleTodos
being used as an input-selector to a selector that further filters the todos by keyword:
1 | const getKeyword = (state) => state.keyword |
Connecting a Selector to the Redux Store
If you are using React Redux, you can call selectors as regular functions inside mapStateToProps()
:
containers/VisibleTodoList.js
1 | import { connect } from 'react-redux' |
Accessing React Props in Selectors
This section introduces a hypothetical extension to our app that allows it to support multiple Todo Lists. Please note that a full implementation of this extension requires changes to the reducers, components, actions etc. that aren’t directly relevant to the topics discussed and have been omitted for brevity.
So far we have only seen selectors receive the Redux store state as an argument, but a selector can receive props too.
Here is an App
component that renders three VisibleTodoList
components, each of which has a listId
prop:
components/App.js
1 | import React from 'react' |
Each VisibleTodoList
container should select a different slice of the state depending on the value of the listId
prop, so let’s modify getVisibilityFilter
and getTodos
to accept a props argument:
selectors/todoSelectors.js
1 | import { createSelector } from 'reselect' |
props
can be passed to getVisibleTodos
from mapStateToProps
:
1 | const mapStateToProps = (state, props) => { |
So now getVisibleTodos
has access to props
, and everything seems to be working fine.
But there is a problem!
Using the getVisibleTodos
selector with multiple instances of the VisibleTodoList
container will not correctly memoize:
containers/VisibleTodoList.js
1 | import { connect } from 'react-redux' |
A selector created with createSelector
only returns the cached value when its set of arguments is the same as its previous set of arguments. If we alternate between rendering <VisibleTodoList listId="1" />
and <VisibleTodoList listId="2" />
, the shared selector will alternate between receiving {listId: 1}
and {listId: 2}
as its props
argument. This will cause the arguments to be different on each call, so the selector will always recompute instead of returning the cached value. We’ll see how to overcome this limitation in the next section.
Sharing Selectors with Props Across Multiple Components
The examples in this section require React Redux v4.3.0 or greater
To share a selector across multiple VisibleTodoList
components while passing in props
and retaining memoization, each instance of the component needs its own private copy of the selector.
Let’s create a function named makeGetVisibleTodos
that returns a new copy of the getVisibleTodos
selector each time it is called:
selectors/todoSelectors.js
1 | import { createSelector } from 'reselect' |
We also need a way to give each instance of a container access to its own private selector. The mapStateToProps
argument of connect
can help with this.
If the mapStateToProps
argument supplied to connect
returns a function instead of an object, it will be used to create an individual mapStateToProps
function for each instance of the container.
In the example below makeMapStateToProps
creates a new getVisibleTodos
selector, and returns a mapStateToProps
function that has exclusive access to the new selector:
1 | const makeMapStateToProps = () => { |
If we pass makeMapStateToProps
to connect
, each instance of the VisibleTodosList
container will get its own mapStateToProps
function with a private getVisibleTodos
selector. Memoization will now work correctly regardless of the render order of the VisibleTodoList
containers.
containers/VisibleTodoList.js
1 | import { connect } from 'react-redux' |
API
createSelector(…inputSelectors | [inputSelectors], resultFunc)
Takes one or more selectors, or an array of selectors, computes their values and passes them as arguments to resultFunc
.
createSelector
determines if the value returned by an input-selector has changed between calls using reference equality (===
). Inputs to selectors created with createSelector
should be immutable.
Selectors created with createSelector
have a cache size of 1. This means they always recalculate when the value of an input-selector changes, as a selector only stores the preceding value of each input-selector.
1 | const mySelector = createSelector( |
It can be useful to access the props of a component from within a selector. When a selector is connected to a component with connect
, the component props are passed as the second argument to the selector:
1 | const abSelector = (state, props) => state.a * props.b |
defaultMemoize(func, equalityCheck = defaultEqualityCheck)
defaultMemoize
memoizes the function passed in the func parameter. It is the memoize function used by createSelector
.
defaultMemoize
has a cache size of 1. This means it always recalculates when the value of an argument changes.
defaultMemoize
determines if an argument has changed by calling the equalityCheck
function. As defaultMemoize
is designed to be used with immutable data, the default equalityCheck
function checks for changes using reference equality:
1 | function defaultEqualityCheck(currentVal, previousVal) { |
defaultMemoize
can be used with createSelectorCreator
to customize the equalityCheck
function.
createSelectorCreator(memoize, …memoizeOptions)
createSelectorCreator
can be used to make a customized version of createSelector
.
The memoize
argument is a memoization function to replace defaultMemoize
.
The ...memoizeOptions
rest parameters are zero or more configuration options to be passed to memoizeFunc
. The selectors resultFunc
is passed as the first argument to memoize
and the memoizeOptions
are passed as the second argument onwards:
1 | const customSelectorCreator = createSelectorCreator( |
Internally customSelector
calls the memoize function as follows:
1 | customMemoize(resultFunc, option1, option2, option3) |
Here are some examples of how you might use createSelectorCreator
:
Customize equalityCheck
for defaultMemoize
1 | import { createSelectorCreator, defaultMemoize } from 'reselect' |
Use memoize function from lodash for an unbounded cache
1 | import { createSelectorCreator } from 'reselect' |
createStructuredSelector({inputSelectors}, selectorCreator = createSelector)
createStructuredSelector
is a convenience function for a common pattern that arises when using Reselect. The selector passed to a connect
decorator often just takes the values of its input-selectors and maps them to keys in an object:
1 | const mySelectorA = state => state.a |
createStructuredSelector
takes an object whose properties are input-selectors and returns a structured selector. The structured selector returns an object with the same keys as the inputSelectors
argument, but with the selectors replaced with their values.
1 | const mySelectorA = state => state.a |
Structured selectors can be nested:
1 | const nestedSelector = createStructuredSelector({ |
FAQ
Q: Why isn’t my selector recomputing when the input state changes?
A: Check that your memoization function is compatible with your state update function (i.e. the reducer if you are using Redux). For example, a selector created with createSelector
will not work with a state update function that mutates an existing object instead of creating a new one each time. createSelector
uses an identity check (===
) to detect that an input has changed, so mutating an existing object will not trigger the selector to recompute because mutating an object does not change its identity. Note that if you are using Redux, mutating the state object is almost certainly a mistake.
The following example defines a simple selector that determines if the first todo item in an array of todos has been completed:
1 | const isFirstTodoCompleteSelector = createSelector( |
The following state update function will not work with isFirstTodoCompleteSelector
:
1 | export default function todos(state = initialState, action) { |
The following state update function will work with isFirstTodoCompleteSelector
:
1 | export default function todos(state = initialState, action) { |
If you are not using Redux and have a requirement to work with mutable data, you can use createSelectorCreator
to replace the default memoization function and/or use a different equality check function. See here and here for examples.
Q: Why is my selector recomputing when the input state stays the same?
A: Check that your memoization function is compatible with your state update function (i.e. the reducer if you are using Redux). For example, a selector created with createSelector
that recomputes unexpectedly may be receiving a new object on each update whether the values it contains have changed or not. createSelector
uses an identity check (===
) to detect that an input has changed, so returning a new object on each update means that the selector will recompute on each update.
1 | import { REMOVE_OLD } from '../constants/ActionTypes' |
The following selector is going to recompute every time REMOVE_OLD is invoked because Array.filter always returns a new object. However, in the majority of cases the REMOVE_OLD action will not change the list of todos so the recomputation is unnecessary.
1 | import { createSelector } from 'reselect' |
You can eliminate unnecessary recomputations by returning a new object from the state update function only when a deep equality check has found that the list of todos has actually changed:
1 | import { REMOVE_OLD } from '../constants/ActionTypes' |
Alternatively, the default equalityCheck
function in the selector can be replaced by a deep equality check:
1 | import { createSelectorCreator, defaultMemoize } from 'reselect' |
Always check that the cost of an alternative equalityCheck
function or deep equality check in the state update function is not greater than the cost of recomputing every time. If recomputing every time does work out to be the cheaper option, it may be that for this case Reselect is not giving you any benefit over passing a plain mapStateToProps
function to connect
.
Q: Can I use Reselect without Redux?
A: Yes. Reselect has no dependencies on any other package, so although it was designed to be used with Redux it can be used independently. It is currently being used successfully in traditional Flux apps.
If you create selectors using
createSelector
make sure its arguments are immutable.
See here
Q: How do I create a selector that takes an argument?
A: Reselect doesn’t have built-in support for creating selectors that accepts arguments, but here are some suggestions for implementing similar functionality…
If the argument is not dynamic you can use a factory function:
1 | const expensiveItemSelectorFactory = minValue => { |
The general consensus here and over at nuclear-js is that if a selector needs a dynamic argument, then that argument should probably be state in the store. If you decide that you do require a selector with a dynamic argument, then a selector that returns a memoized function may be suitable:
1 | import { createSelector } from 'reselect' |
Q: The default memoization function is no good, can I use a different one?
A: We think it works great for a lot of use cases, but sure. See these examples.
Q: How do I test a selector?
A: For a given input, a selector should always produce the same output. For this reason they are simple to unit test.
1 | const selector = createSelector( |
It may also be useful to check that the memoization function for a selector works correctly with the state update function (i.e. the reducer if you are using Redux). Each selector has a recomputations
method that will return the number of times it has been recomputed:
1 | suite('selector', () => { |
Additionally, selectors keep a reference to the last result function as .resultFunc
. If you have selectors composed of many other selectors this can help you test each selector without coupling all of your tests to the shape of your state.
For example if you have a set of selectors like this:
selectors.js
1 | export const firstSelector = createSelector( ... ) |
And then a set of unit tests like this:
test/selectors.js
1 | // tests for the first three selectors... |
Finally, each selector has a resetRecomputations
method that sets
recomputations back to 0. The intended use is for a complex selector that may
have many independent tests and you don’t want to manually manage the
computation count or create a “dummy” selector for each test.
Q: How do I use Reselect with Immutable.js?
A: Selectors created with createSelector
should work just fine with Immutable.js data structures.
If your selector is recomputing and you don’t think the state has changed, make sure you are aware of which Immutable.js update methods always return a new object and which update methods only return a new object when the collection actually changes.
1 | import Immutable from 'immutable' |
If a selector’s input is updated by an operation that always returns a new object, it may be performing unnecessary recomputations. See here for a discussion on the pros and cons of using a deep equality check like Immutable.is
to eliminate unnecessary recomputations.
Q: Can I share a selector across multiple components?
A: Selectors created using createSelector
only have a cache size of one. This can make them unsuitable for sharing across multiple components if the arguments to the selector are different for each instance of the component. There are a couple of ways to get around this:
Create a factory function which returns a new selector for each instance of the component. There is built-in support for factory functions in React Redux v4.3 or higher. See here for an example.
Create a custom selector with a cache size greater than one.
Q: Are there TypeScript Typings?
A: Yes! They are included and referenced in package.json
. They should Just Work™.
Q: How can I make a curried selector?
A: Try these helper functions courtesy of MattSPalmer
Related Projects
###reselect-map
Can be useful when doing very expensive computations on elements of a collection because Reselect might not give you the granularity of caching that you need. Check out the reselect-maps README for examples.
The optimizations in reselect-map only apply in a small number of cases. If you are unsure whether you need it, you don’t!
License
MIT