Handling WebSocket reconnections in a React app without losing message history
I'm building a chat application using React and WebSockets, and I'm running into issues with reconnections. When the WebSocket connection drops (e.g., due to network issues), I want to automatically reconnect, but I also want to make sure that the user's message history isn't lost in the process. Currently, when I try to reconnect, I'm facing a situation where the message history isn't retained, and users see a 'Connection lost' message without previous messages appearing after the reconnection. Here's a simplified version of my code: ```javascript import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react'; const ChatApp = () => { const [messages, setMessages] = useState([]); const [socket, setSocket] = useState(null); useEffect(() => { const newSocket = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:4000'); setSocket(newSocket); newSocket.onmessage = (event) => { const newMessage = JSON.parse(event.data); setMessages((prevMessages) => [...prevMessages, newMessage]); }; newSocket.onclose = () => { console.log('WebSocket closed. Attempting to reconnect...'); setTimeout(() => connectWebSocket(), 3000); }; return () => newSocket.close(); }, []); const connectWebSocket = () => { const newSocket = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:4000'); setSocket(newSocket); // Repeat onmessage and onclose handlers... }; const sendMessage = (message) => { if (socket && socket.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) { socket.send(JSON.stringify(message)); } }; return ( <div> <div>{messages.map((msg, index) => <div key={index}>{msg.text}</div>)}</div> <button onClick={() => sendMessage({ text: 'Hello!' })}>Send</button> </div> ); }; ``` I've tried saving the messages in local storage so that when a reconnection happens, I can retrieve them; however, it feels like an inefficient hack. Is there a better way to handle this scenario while ensuring minimal disruption to the user experience? Any advice on maintaining state across WebSocket reconnections would be greatly appreciated!