To the best of my knowledge, React components don't keep a copy of the initial state, so you'll just have to do it yourself.
const initialState = {
/* etc */
};
class MyComponent extends Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props)
this.state = initialState;
}
reset() {
this.setState(initialState);
}
/* etc */
}
Beware that the line this.state = initialState; requires you never to mutate your state, otherwise you'll pollute initialState and make a reset impossible. If you can't avoid mutations, then you'll need to create a copy of initialState in the constructor. (Or make initialState a function, as per getInitialState().)
Finally, I'd recommend you use setState() and not replaceState().
This is the method I use. I do want to comment that
replaceStateis perfectly fine in this scenario, as it ensures that the entirety of the state object returns to a known set of values.Actually it turns out that
replaceState()isn't even available when using ES6 classes. I've only become aware of this in the time since I posted this answer.Be aware that
setStatemerges the state. If component adds fields to state that are not ininitialState, those will not be cleared.If you're adding fields to state that weren't defined in your initial state, then you're doing it wrong.
this doesn't work properly, because if you change
statethen it also changesinitialStatebecause it was assigned by reference. So when you call reset it actually doesn't reset toinitialState. Nothing changes, you have to deep copyinitialStatetostate