In the above example, `componentWillUpdate` is used to read the DOM property. However with async rendering, there may be delays between "render" phase lifecycles (like `componentWillUpdate` and `render`) and "commit" phase lifecycles (like `componentDidUpdate`). A user might continue scrolling during the delay, in which case the position value read from `componentWillUpdate` will be stale.
In the above example, `componentWillUpdate` is used to read the DOM property. However with async rendering, there may be delays between "render" phase lifecycles (like `componentWillUpdate` and `render`) and "commit" phase lifecycles (like `componentDidUpdate`). A user might continue scrolling during this delay, in which case the position value read from `componentWillUpdate` will be stale.
The solution to this problem is to use the new "commit" phase lifecycle, `getSnapshotBeforeUpdate`. This method gets called _immediately before_ mutations are made (e.g. before the DOM is updated). It can return a value for React to pass as a parameter to `componentDidUpdate`, which gets called _immediately after_ mutations.
The two lifecycles can be used together like this: