Introduction

In this tutorial, we will learn how to use Preact Hooks in a Vite project. Hooks are a powerful feature of Preact that allow you to use state and lifecycle features from functional components. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a solid understanding of how to use hooks in your Vite project, and how they can make your code cleaner and easier to maintain.

Prerequisites:
- Basic knowledge of JavaScript
- Basic understanding of the Preact library
- Vite installed on your local environment

Step-by-Step Guide

Preact Hooks are functions that let you "hook into" Preact state and lifecycle features from functional components. We will go through each step of setting up a new Vite project, creating a functional component, and using hooks within that component.

Setting up a new Vite project

We'll start by creating a new project with Vite. Open your terminal and run the following command:

npx create-vite my-app --template preact
cd my-app
npm install
npm run dev

This creates a new Vite project with the Preact template, installs the necessary dependencies, and starts the development server.

Creating a functional component

Next, let's create a simple functional component. In the src directory, create a new file named MyComponent.js and add the following code:

import { h } from 'preact';

function MyComponent() {
  return <h1>Hello, world!</h1>;
}

export default MyComponent;

This is a simple functional component that renders "Hello, world!".

Using hooks in the component

Now, we'll use the useState hook within our functional component. Modify your MyComponent.js file like so:

import { h } from 'preact';
import { useState } from 'preact/hooks';

function MyComponent() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  return (
    <div>
      <p>You clicked {count} times</p>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
        Click me
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default MyComponent;

In this component, we're using the useState hook to manage state for a counter. The useState hook returns a pair: the current state value and a function that lets you update it.

Code Examples

Let's take a closer look at the code snippet from the previous section:

import { h } from 'preact';
import { useState } from 'preact/hooks';

function MyComponent() {
  // Declare a new state variable, which we'll call "count"
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  return (
    <div>
      <p>You clicked {count} times</p>
      // Update the state variable when the button is clicked
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
        Click me
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default MyComponent;

Summary

In this tutorial, we've learned how to set up a new Vite project with a Preact template, create a functional component, and use the useState hook within our component.

For further learning, you might want to explore other hooks available in Preact, such as useEffect, useContext, and useReducer.

Practice Exercises

1. Create a Vite project and a functional component that uses the useState hook to manage the state of a text input field. The component should display the current value of the text field.

2. Modify the component from the first exercise to use the useEffect hook. The effect should log the current value of the text field whenever it changes.

3. Create a new component that uses the useContext hook to share state between multiple child components.

Remember to practice regularly and experiment with different hooks and components to get a feel for how they work and how they can make your code cleaner and more manageable.