Highlight a selected item in React-Native FlatList

Question

I put together a simple React-native application to gets data from a remote service, loads it in a FlatList. When a user taps on an item, it should be highlighted and selection should be retained. I am sure such a trivial operation should not be difficult. I am not sure what I am missing.

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import {
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  View,
  FlatList,
  ActivityIndicator,
  Image,
  TouchableOpacity,
} from 'react-native';

export default class BasicFlatList extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      loading: false,
      data: [],
      page: 1,
      seed: 1,
      error: null,
      refreshing: false,
      selectedItem:'null',
    };
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    this.makeRemoteRequest();
  }

  makeRemoteRequest = () => {
    const {page, seed} = this.state;
    const url = `https://randomuser.me/api/?seed=${seed}&page=${page}&results=20`;
    this.setState({loading: true});
    fetch(url)
      .then(res => res.json())
      .then(res => {
        this.setState({
          data: page === 1 ? res.results : [...this.state.data, ...res.results],
          error: res.error || null,
          loading: false,
          refreshing: false
        });
      })
      .catch(error => {
        this.setState({error, loading: false});
      });
  };

  onPressAction = (rowItem) => {
    console.log('ListItem was selected');
    console.dir(rowItem);
    this.setState({
      selectedItem: rowItem.id.value
    });
  }

  renderRow = (item) => {
    const isSelectedUser = this.state.selectedItem === item.id.value;
    console.log(`Rendered item - ${item.id.value} for ${isSelectedUser}`);
    const viewStyle = isSelectedUser ? styles.selectedButton : styles.normalButton;
    return(
        <TouchableOpacity style={viewStyle} onPress={() => this.onPressAction(item)} underlayColor='#dddddd'>
          <View style={styles.listItemContainer}>
            <View>
              <Image source={{ uri: item.picture.large}} style={styles.photo} />
            </View>
            <View style={{flexDirection: 'column'}}>
              <View style={{flexDirection: 'row', alignItems: 'flex-start',}}>
                {isSelectedUser ?
                  <Text style={styles.selectedText}>{item.name.first} {item.name.last}</Text>
                  : <Text style={styles.text}>{item.name.first} {item.name.last}</Text>
                }
              </View>
              <View style={{flexDirection: 'row', alignItems: 'flex-start',}}>
                <Text style={styles.text}>{item.email}</Text>
              </View>
            </View>
          </View>
        </TouchableOpacity>
    );
  }

  render() {
    return(
      <FlatList style={styles.container}
        data={this.state.data}
        renderItem={({ item }) => (
          this.renderRow(item)
        )}
      />
    );
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    marginTop: 50,
  },
  selectedButton: {
    backgroundColor: 'lightgray',
  },
  normalButton: {
    backgroundColor: 'white',
  },
  listItemContainer: {
    flex: 1,
    padding: 12,
    flexDirection: 'row',
    alignItems: 'flex-start',
  },
  text: {
    marginLeft: 12,
    fontSize: 16,
  },
  selectedText: {
    marginLeft: 12,
    fontSize: 20,
  },
  photo: {
    height: 40,
    width: 40,
    borderRadius: 20,
  },
});

When user taps on an item in the list, "onPress" method is invoked with the information on selected item. But the next step of highlight item in Flatlist does not happen. 'UnderlayColor' is of no help either.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

You can do something like:

1. For the renderItem, use something like a TouchableOpacity with an onPress event passing the index or id of the renderedItem;

2. Function to add the selected item to a state:

   handleSelection = (id) => {
      var selectedId = this.state.selectedId
   
      if(selectedId === id)
        this.setState({selectedItem: null})
      else 
        this.setState({selectedItem: id})
   }
   
   handleSelectionMultiple = (id) => {
      var selectedIds = [...this.state.selectedIds] // clone state
   
      if(selectedIds.includes(id))
        selectedIds = selectedIds.filter(_id => _id !== id)
      else 
        selectedIds.push(id)
   
      this.setState({selectedIds})
   }
   

3. FlatList:

   <FlatList
     data={data}
     extraData={
       this.state.selectedId     // for single item
       this.state.selectedIds    // for multiple items
     }
     renderItem={(item) => 
        <TouchableOpacity 
   
          // for single item
          onPress={() => this.handleSelection(item.id)}
          style={item.id === this.state.selectedId ? styles.selected : null} 
   
          // for multiple items
          onPress={() => this.handleSelectionMultiple(item.id)}
          style={this.state.selectedIds.includes(item.id) ? styles.selected : null} 
        >
           <Text>{item.name}</Text>
        </TouchableOpacity>
     }
   

   />

4. Make a style for the selected item and that's it!