Octokit issue in React environment with typescript

Octokit issue in React environment with TypeScript

When working with React and TypeScript, you may encounter issues when using Octokit, a popular GitHub API client library. This blog post will explore the common problems faced and provide solutions to overcome them.

Problem: Type errors when using Octokit in a React component

One common issue is type errors that occur when using Octokit in a React component. This can happen when the types provided by Octokit do not match the expected types in your component.
Solution:
To resolve this issue, you can create custom type definitions for Octokit to ensure compatibility with your React component. Here’s an example:

    import { Octokit } from "@octokit/rest";

    interface CustomOctokit extends Octokit {
      // Add custom methods or override existing ones
      customMethod: () => void;
    }

    const octokit = new Octokit() as CustomOctokit;

    // Usage in a React component
    octokit.customMethod();
  

This solution involves creating a new interface, CustomOctokit, which extends the original Octokit interface from the @octokit/rest package. You can then add custom methods or override existing ones as needed. By casting the Octokit instance as CustomOctokit, you can access these custom methods in your React component without type errors.

Problem: Async/await not working with Octokit in a React component

Another issue you may encounter is async/await not working as expected when using Octokit in a React component. This can lead to unexpected behavior or errors in your application.
Solution:
To fix this problem, you can use a helper function to wrap the async/await calls and handle any potential errors. Here’s an example:

    import { Octokit } from "@octokit/rest";

    const octokit = new Octokit();

    const fetchData = async () => {
      try {
        const response = await octokit.request("GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}", {
          owner: "octocat",
          repo: "hello-world"
        });
        console.log(response.data);
      } catch (error) {
        console.error(error);
      }
    };

    // Usage in a React component
    useEffect(() => {
      fetchData();
    }, []);
  

In this solution, we define a helper function, fetchData, which uses async/await to make the Octokit API call. Any errors that occur during the API call are caught and logged to the console. In your React component, you can then call this function within a useEffect hook to fetch the data when the component mounts.

Conclusion

When using Octokit in a React environment with TypeScript, you may encounter type errors and issues with async/await. By creating custom type definitions and using helper functions, you can overcome these problems and ensure smooth integration of Octokit in your React components.