React: Avoid Redirect to First Step Wizard When Pressing Back Button in Wizard

When building a wizard in React, it’s common to have multiple steps that users can navigate through. However, one issue that often arises is that when users press the back button in the browser, they are redirected back to the first step of the wizard. This can be frustrating for users who want to go back to the previous step they were on.

In this blog post, we will explore two solutions to avoid this redirect behavior and allow users to go back to the previous step in the wizard.

Solution 1: Using React Router

If you are using React Router in your project, you can leverage its history object to control the navigation behavior when the back button is pressed. Here’s how you can implement this solution:

{`
  import { useHistory } from 'react-router-dom';
  
  const WizardStep = () => {
    const history = useHistory();
    
    const handleGoBack = () => {
      history.goBack();
    };
    
    return (
      

        {/* Step content goes here */}
        
        Go Back
      
    );
  };
  `}

In the above code snippet, we import the `useHistory` hook from React Router and use it to access the history object. We then define a `handleGoBack` function that calls the `goBack` method on the history object when the back button is clicked. This will navigate the user back to the previous step in the wizard.

Solution 2: Using State Management

If you are not using React Router or prefer a different approach, you can use state management to keep track of the current step in the wizard. Here’s an example using React’s built-in state management:

{`
  import React, { useState } from 'react';
  
  const WizardStep = () => {
    const [currentStep, setCurrentStep] = useState(1);
    
    const handleGoBack = () => {
      setCurrentStep(currentStep - 1);
    };
    
    return (
      

        {/* Step content goes here */}
        
        Go Back
      
    );
  };
  `}

In the above code snippet, we use the `useState` hook to create a `currentStep` state variable and a `setCurrentStep` function to update it. When the back button is clicked, we simply decrement the `currentStep` value by 1, effectively going back to the previous step in the wizard.

Conclusion

By implementing either of these solutions, you can prevent the redirect to the first step of the wizard when users press the back button. This provides a smoother and more intuitive user experience, allowing users to easily navigate back to the previous step in the wizard.

Remember to choose the solution that best fits your project’s requirements and existing architecture. Both solutions are effective and can be easily implemented in your React application.