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React 17: scenarios 'how to read property of undefined' when accessing deep object properties in useEffect

๐Ÿ‘€ Views: 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ Answers: 1 ๐Ÿ“… Created: 2025-06-13
react useeffect api javascript

I'm experiencing an scenario in my React 17 application where I'm trying to access a deeply nested property of an object inside a `useEffect` hook. The object is populated via an API call, and despite the object being available, I keep running into the behavior `want to read property 'name' of undefined`. Hereโ€™s the relevant part of my code: ```javascript const MyComponent = () => { const [data, setData] = useState(null); useEffect(() => { const fetchData = async () => { const response = await fetch('/api/data'); const result = await response.json(); setData(result); }; fetchData(); }, []); useEffect(() => { if (data) { console.log(data.user.name); // This line throws the behavior } }, [data]); return <div>Check the console for the output.</div>; }; ``` In the first `useEffect`, I'm fetching the data and setting it to `data`. However, when I attempt to access `data.user.name` in the second `useEffect`, it throws the behavior if `data.user` is not defined at the time the effect runs. Iโ€™ve confirmed that the response from the API is structured as `{ user: { name: 'John Doe' } }` but sometimes it seems to be returning `null` or an empty object. I tried adding a check for `data && data.user`, but it doesnโ€™t seem to resolve the scenario. ```javascript useEffect(() => { if (data && data.user) { console.log(data.user.name); } }, [data]); ``` Despite this, I'm still seeing the behavior intermittently, which makes me think there might be something related to the timing of the state updates. Can anyone guide to understand how to avoid this behavior? What am I missing here?