calling method on sub component in React functional component via ref

Question

I'm using syncfusion react controls to add some functionality to my app. I want to call a method on the control in my functional component, but I haven't been able to get the ref set properly:

import React, {createRef, useEffect, useState} from "react";
import {AutoCompleteComponent} from "@syncfusion/ej2-react-dropdowns";
import "@syncfusion/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap.css";
import "@syncfusion/ej2-react-inputs/styles/bootstrap.css";
import "@syncfusion/ej2-react-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap.css";

const UserLookup = ({userSelected}) => {
    const [searchString, setSearchString] = useState('');
    const [items, setItems] = useState([]);
    const helper = new QueryHelper();
    let listObj = createRef();

    const searchStringChanged = (args) => {
        console.log(args.text);
        if (args.text.length > 3) {
            setSearchString(args.text);
        }
    }

    const optionSelected = (event) => {
        memberSelected(event.item.id);
    }

    useEffect(() => {
        fetch('http://example.com/myendpoint')
          .then(response.map((result) => {
                            listObj.current.showPopup(); // <-- this method should be called on the autocomplete component
                            return {
                                id: result.contactId,
                                label: result.firstName + ' ' + result.lastName
                            }
                        }))
          .then(data => console.log(data));
    }, [searchString]);

    return (
        <AutoCompleteComponent
            id="user_search"
            autofill={true}
            dataSource={items}
            fields={
                {
                    value: 'label'
                }
            }
            filtering={searchStringChanged}
            select={optionSelected}
            popupHeight="250px"
            popupWidth="300px"
            placeholder="Find a contact (optional)"
            ref={listObj}
        />
    );
};

export default UserLookup;

this always throws an error that Cannot read property 'showPopup' of null -- how do you set the ref for the instance of the AutoCompleteComponent so that you can call methods on it?

Answer 1

We can get the reference for the AutoComplete when it's rendered as a functional component with help of using useRef method instead of createRef method. Please find the modified sample from below.

Sample Link : https://codesandbox.io/s/throbbing-shadow-ddsmf

Regards,

Berly BC