Create a useRenderInfo Custom React Hook

This challenge involves creating a custom React hook called useRenderInfo that tracks and exposes information about a component's render cycles. This is useful for debugging performance, understanding component lifecycle, and optimizing rendering behavior in React applications.

Problem Description

You need to develop a TypeScript custom React hook, useRenderInfo, that, when used within a component, will track and return an object containing information about each render of that component. The hook should provide the current render count and the timestamp of the last render.

Key Requirements:

• The hook must be named useRenderInfo.
• It should return an object with the following properties:
  • renderCount: A number representing how many times the component has rendered.
  • lastRenderTimestamp: A number representing the Unix timestamp (milliseconds since epoch) of the component's last render.
• The renderCount should increment with every render cycle of the component using the hook.
• The lastRenderTimestamp should be updated to the current time whenever a render occurs.
• The hook should work correctly with functional components in React.

Expected Behavior:

When a component uses useRenderInfo, the renderCount should start at 1 and increase by 1 with each subsequent render (e.g., due to state changes, prop changes, or parent re-renders). The lastRenderTimestamp should reflect the time the render process completed.

Edge Cases:

• Initial Render: The renderCount should be 1 on the first render.
• No Re-renders: If a component using the hook never re-renders, the renderCount should remain 1.

Examples

Example 1: Basic Usage

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { useRenderInfo } from './useRenderInfo'; // Assuming your hook is in this file

function MyComponent() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  const { renderCount, lastRenderTimestamp } = useRenderInfo();

  const handleIncrement = () => {
    setCount(prevCount => prevCount + 1);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Render Information</h1>
      <p>Render Count: {renderCount}</p>
      <p>Last Render Timestamp: {lastRenderTimestamp}</p>
      <button onClick={handleIncrement}>Increment State</button>
    </div>
  );
}

// In App.js or similar:
// function App() {
//   return <MyComponent />;
// }

Input: (Initial render of MyComponent) Output:

Render Count: 1
Last Render Timestamp: [current timestamp in ms]

Explanation: On the initial render, renderCount is 1, and lastRenderTimestamp is set to the current time.

Example 2: After State Update

Input: (After clicking the "Increment State" button once in Example 1) Output:

Render Count: 2
Last Render Timestamp: [new timestamp in ms]

Explanation: Clicking the button triggers a state update, causing MyComponent to re-render. The renderCount increments to 2, and lastRenderTimestamp is updated to the current time of this second render.

Example 3: Multiple Renders

Input: (After clicking the "Increment State" button three more times in Example 1, for a total of 4 state updates) Output:

Render Count: 5
Last Render Timestamp: [timestamp from the 5th render]

Explanation: Each state update causes a re-render. The renderCount will accurately reflect the total number of renders, including the initial one.

Constraints

• The hook must be implemented in TypeScript.
• The hook should not introduce significant performance overhead.
• The hook should not require any external libraries beyond React.

Notes

• Consider using useRef to persist the renderCount and lastRenderTimestamp across renders without causing additional re-renders themselves.
• Think about when useEffect or useLayoutEffect might be appropriate for updating the render information, depending on the desired timing. For this challenge, updating directly within the render cycle or via useEffect is acceptable.
• The lastRenderTimestamp should be a standard Unix timestamp in milliseconds.