shallow-utils

Utilities for shallow comparisons, particularly for React optimisation

Installation

Install the package with npm:

npm install shallow-utils

Usage

Use the shallow comparison as an auto-typing wrapper for shallow-equal's shallowEqualArray and shallowEqualObject.

import { shallowEqual } from 'shallow-utils'
 
let a = {title: 'The Wizard of Oz',}
let b = {title: 'The Wizard of Oz',}
 
console.log(shallowEqual(a, b))
// true
 
let c = [5]
let d = [5]
console.log(shallowEqual(c, d))
// true

When you want to compare an object minus a set of attributes, use shallowEqualExcept.

Then, for debugging purposes, use shallowItemsDifferExcept as a helper to let you know what changed.

import { shallowEqual, shallowEqualExcept, shallowItemsDifferExcept } from 'shallow-utils'
 
let a = {title: 'The Wizard of Oz', showing: false}
let b = {title: 'The Wizard of Oz', showing: true}
 
console.log(shallowEqual(a, b))
// false
 
console.log(shallowEqualExcept(a, b, ['showing',]))
// true
 
b.title = 'The Matrix'
console.log(shallowItemsDifferExcept(a, b, ['showing',]))
// ['title',]

All together in one shouldComponentUpdate:

import React from 'react'
import { shallowEqual, shallowEqualExcept, shallowItemsDifferExcept } from 'shallow-utils'
 
class Example extends React.Component {
  shouldComponentUpdate(nextProps, nextState) {
    if (!shallowEqual(this.props.arrayOfStuff, nextProps.arrayOfStuff)) {
      // console.log('arrayOfStuff changed')
      return true
    }
 
    let checkedProps = [
      'arrayOfStuff',
    ]
    if (!shallowEqualExcept(this.props, nextProps, checkedProps)) {
      // console.log('misc props changed', shallowItemsDifferExcept(this.props, nextProps, checkedProps))
      return true
    }
    return false
  }
}