How can I navigate to a nested stack screen inside a sibling tab while preserving its initial screen? (React Navigation) - react-navigation

Question

The Code:
I'm using React Navigation 6 with the following hierarchy:
MainTabNavigator
HomeStack
HomeScreen (HomeStack initial screen, contains a "Pay" button)
OtherScreen
MembershipStack
MembershipHomeScreen (MembershipStack initial screen)
PayMembershipScreen (should always navigate back to MembershipHomeScreen)
The App launches into HomeScreen (inside HomeStack), so the MembershipStack tab won't be loaded yet.
There is a "Pay" button inside HomeScreen that redirects to PayMembershipScreen inside MembershipStack.
Code of the HomeScreen with the "Pay" button press handler:
const HomeScreen = ({navigation}) => {
const payPressHandler = useCallback(() => {
// The parent navigator here is MainTabNavigator
navigation.getParent().navigate("MembershipStack", { screen: "PayMembershipScreen" })
}, [navigation])
return (
<TouchableOpacity onPress={payPressHandler}>
<Text>Go to Pay screen!</Text>
</TouchableOpacity>
)
}
The "Pay" button inside HomeScreen does navigate to PayMembershipScreen with this code.
The Problem:
When the MembershipStack tab has not yet been loaded (i.e. when the App just launched), the following happens:
User clicks the "Pay" button on HomeScreen.
App navigates to PayMembershipScreen.
PayMembershipScreen becomes the initial screen on MembershipStack.
User can't go back to MembershipHomeScreen from PayMembershipScreen.
The question is: how can I navigate from HomeScreen directly to PayMembershipScreen and after that be able to go back to MembershipHomeScreen (i.e. have it available as the initial screen in the MembershipStack history)?
What I've tried so far:
1. Setting lazy: false on the MainTabNavigator options.
This approach does make sure that MembershipHomeScreen is always the initial screen on MembershipStack, since all stacks (and their initial screens) will be loaded when the App launches. However this comes with a noticeable drawback in performance, since there's at least 5 tabs in the actual project.
Also, since MembershipHomeScreen is already focused inside MembershipStack, there's a weird MembershipHomeScreen to PayMembershipScreen transition animation when the "Pay" button on HomeScreen is pressed. I just want the user to see a transition from HomeScreen to PayMembershipScreen at most, nothing flashing inbetween.
2. Define a param on MembershipHomeScreen to indicate when I want to redirect to PayMembershipScreen.
On this approach, I'm using a boolean param on MembershipHomeScreen called redirectToPayment:
Code inside MembershipHomeScreen:
const MembershipHomeScreen = ({navigation, route}) => {
const { redirectToPayment = false } = route.params
const redirectIfNeeded = useCallback(() => {
if (redirectToPayment) {
// reset the param
navigation.setParams({ redirectToPayment: false })
// redirect to the desired screen
navigation.navigate("PayMembershipScreen")
}
}, [redirectToPayment, navigation])
// Using layout effect to avoid rendering MembershipHomeScreen when redirecting.
useLayoutEffect(redirectIfNeeded)
return (
<Text>
This is just the membership home screen,
not the target screen of the "Pay" button.
</Text>
)
}
And on the HomeScreen:
const payPressHandler = useCallback(() => {
navigation
.getParent()
.navigate(
"MembershipStack",
{ screen: "MembershipHomeScreen", params: { redirectToPayment: true } }
)
}, [navigation])
The use of React's useLayoutEffect comes with the known drawback of freezing the screen since it will leave any rendering tasks on hold while it's running. I'm able to notice a 2 seconds freeze in the HomeScreen when I press the "Pay" button on a 4GB RAM Moto G7...
...and even after using useLayoutEffect, the MembershipHomeScreen still renders nonetheless to show a transition animation between MembershipHomeScreen and PayMembershipScreen.
Same behavior with useEffect, except it renders the MembershipHomeScreen instead of a 2 seconds freeze.
3. Using React Navigation's dispatch function to customize the route history.
On this approach, I intend to dispatch a custom action that does the following to the navigation state of MainTabNavigator:
Before:
index: 0
routes: [
0: {
name: "HomeStack",
state: {
index: 0,
routes: [
0: {
name: "Home" // <-- currently active screen
}
]
}
},
1: {
name: "MembershipStack",
state: undefined // <-- this is an unloaded tab
}
]
After:
index: 1
routes: [
0: {
name: "HomeStack",
state: {
index: 0,
routes: [
0: {
name: "Home"
}
]
}
},
1: {
name: "MembershipStack",
state: {
index: 1,
routes: [
0: {
name: "MembershipHomeScreen"
},
1: {
name: "PayMembershipScreen" // <-- currently active screen
}
]
}
},
]
Here's the code I'm using inside the HomeScreen for that:
const payPressHandler = useCallback(() => {
navigation.getParent().dispatch(state => {
const membershipTabIndex = state.routes.findIndex(r => r.name === "MembershipStack")
// get the current navigation state inside the MembershipStack
let membershipTabState = state.routes[membershipTabIndex].state
// point to PayMembershipScreen without overriding the initial screen on that tab
if (!membershipTabState) {
// tab is unloaded, so just set the ideal state
membershipTabState = { index: 1, routes: [{ name: "MembershipHomeScreen" }, { name: "PayMembershipScreen" }] }
} else {
// tab already has a navigation state, so we'll point to PayMembershipScreen
// if it's loaded in the stack. Otherwise, we'll add it and point to it.
let payMembershipScreenIndex = membershipTabState.routes.findIndex(r => r.name === "PayMembershipScreen")
if (payMembershipScreenIndex === -1) {
payMembershipScreenIndex = membershipTabState.routes.push({ name: "PayMembershipScreen" }) - 1
}
membershipTabState.index = payMembershipScreenIndex
}
// update the MembershipStack tab with the new state
const routes = state.routes.map((r, i) => i === membershipTabIndex ? { ...r, state: membershipTabState} : r)
// update the MainTabNavigator state
return CommonActions.reset({
...state,
routes,
index: membershipTabIndex
})
})
}, [navigation])
That code almost accomplishes the expected outcome:
It navigates from HomeScreen to PayMembershipScreen successfuly.
The user can go back to MembershipHomeScreen from PayMembershipScreen.
MembershipHomeScreen does not render in-between during the transition.
However:
It won't work a second time if you do go back to MembershipHomeScreen from PayMembershipScreen.
Turns out, if I go back to MembershipHomeScreen once I'm inside PayMembershipScreen, then go back to the HomeStack and press the "Pay" button again, it will now navigate to MembershipHomeScreen instead of PayMembershipScreen.
Additionally, the MembershipHomeScreen will now display a disabled back button in the header (probably a bug).
This last approach is so far the closest to getting the desired outcome, so I really hope that it only needs a fix in the logic and it's not really a bug.
Summary:
Is anyone able find a solution that achieves the expected outcome? To sum up:
It should make the "Pay" button navigate from HomeScreen to PayMembershipScreen.
The user should be able to go back to MembershipHomeScreen once they're in PayMembershipScreen.
The MembershipHomeScreen should not flash in the transition from HomeScreen to PayMembershipScreen.
The screen should not freeze inbetween the transitions (no use of useLayoutEffect).
Don't load all tabs on App launch (it's too much burden on the actual 5-tab project).
If the user navigates back to MembershipHomeScreen once they're inPayMembershipScreen, pressing the "Pay" button on HomeScreen again should open the PayMembershipScreen again (no buggy behavior).
Minimal reproducible example:
Here's a snack with all of the approaches mentioned. Please check it out and use it as a playground for your solution!
https://snack.expo.dev/#ger88555/tabs-with-stacks-and-a-button

Answer 1

Solution
I got the expected outcome with the following approach:
Navigate directly to PayMembershipScreen when the "Pay" button is pressed.
Inside PayMembershipScreen, add MembershipHomeScreen to the top of MembershipStack history if not already present.
The Code
Code inside HomeScreen (no changes):
const HomeScreen = ({navigation}) => {
const payPressHandler = useCallback(() => {
navigation.getParent().navigate("MembershipStack", { screen: "PayMembershipScreen" })
}, [navigation])
return (
<TouchableOpacity onPress={payPressHandler}>
<Text>Go to Pay screen!</Text>
</TouchableOpacity>
)
}
New useAssertInitialScreen hook:
const useAssertInitialScreen = ({ navigation, name }) => {
useEffect(() => {
if (navigation.canGoBack() === false) {
navigation.dispatch((state) => {
const routes = [{ name }, ...state.routes]
return CommonActions.reset({
...state,
routes,
index: state.index + 1
})
})
}
}, [navigation])
}
Note: I'm passing the navigation prop down the hook since it's also used in the screen, but it could also be obtained from React Navigation's useNavigation hook.
Code inside PayMembershipScreen:
const PayMembershipScreen = ({navigation}) => {
useAssertInitialScreen({ navigation, name: "MembershipHomeScreen" })
return (
<View>
<Text>
This is the PayMembershipScreen AKA the target
</Text>
</View>
)
}
Demo
Here's a snack with the code of this answer:
https://snack.expo.dev/#ger88555/tabs-with-stacks-and-a-button---a-solution
I still want to see whether there's a cleaner solution than handling the "Pay" button's functionality inside its target screen.
I'll mark as the accepted answer any other solution that gets the expected outcome :)