ReactJS Tutorial Tutorial Centre

Reactjs

For Beginners To Experts


ReactJS Advanced

What is Redux?

  • Redux is a dependable state container for JavaScript applications,
    It is adaptable to various frameworks.
  • It is to facilitate the management of the application's global state (within a unified store).
    It ensures predictability in state alterations(through the use of actions and reducers).

The fundamental principles in Redux include:

  • All state information for the entire application resides in a store (a single object tree).
  • Changes to the state can only occur by dispatching actions (Immutable State).
  • State transformations in response to actions are done by reducers (ensure predictability and reliability).

Key Components:

  • Actions:
    These are JavaScript objects that define events within the application. Actions must possess a type property specifying the action's nature.
  • Reducers:
    These are pure functions, taking the current state and an action (as inputs), and producing the subsequent state of the application (as output).
  • Store:
    It is a repository for the application's state,
    Store provides mechanisms for accessing the state, dispatching actions, and managing listeners' registration and removal.

Syntax:

Action with example


Reducer with example

Reducers (function) specify how the application's state changes in response to actions sent to the store.

Store with example:


Example:

Todo App

Demonstrating in a todo application context in a place:
create actions, reducers, and a store .


Note:

Action versus Reducer:

Actions

  • It is the only method for introducing data into the store
  • Each action is required to have a type property (a string that identifies the type of action being executed). Actions may include additional data in properties other than type.
  • Actions tell us what occurred, not the changes that occur in the application’s state.
  • They are sent to the Redux store
  • Actions communicate data to the store.
  • Actions initiate changes in state.
  • Actions, are static and carry information.
  • Within a Redux framework, actions tell us something has occurred, prompting reducers to adjust the state in response to these announcements

Reducers

  • A reducer is a function that display how the state of the application changes in response to actions dispatched to the store.
  • It ensures that state transitions are implemented correctly and uniformly.
  • Reducers accept two parameters: the current state and an action.
  • They produce the new state and must be pure functions—that is, they should consistently return the same output for the same inputs and not have side effects.
  • Reducers define the changes in the application's state following the actions it receives. This function is where the logic for state updates is formulated.
  • Reducers process this data to update the state based on the logic defined within them.
  • Reducers establish how these changes occur.
  • Reducers create a new state from the existing one without altering it directly.

Integrating Redux with React

How to use Redux with React:

  • Use the react-redux library, which provides a component to pass the Redux store to your React application.
  • Use a connect() function to connect your React components to the Redux store.

A Basic react-redux Setup

Redux provides a robust solution for managing global state in complex applications.

It makes state mutations predictable and easier to manage.

React Patterns

In React, patterns are commonly used approaches or strategies for structuring code, managing state, handling data flow, and improving code organization and reusability.

Some common patterns in React:

  1. Container-Component Pattern:
  2. Also known as the "Smart-Dumb Component" pattern, this pattern separates components into two categories: container components and presentational components. Container components are responsible for data fetching, state management, and business logic. Presentational components are concerned only with UI rendering and receive data via props.

    Syntax

    Explanation:

    Container components handle data fetching and state management using hooks like useState and useEffect.

    Presentational components receive data via props and are focused solely on rendering UI based on the provided data.


  3. Render Props Pattern:
  4. The Render Props pattern involves passing a function as a prop to a component, allowing the component to render content using the function's return value.

    It promotes code reuse by enabling components to share behavior and logic through a common interface.

    Syntax:

    Explanation:

    The MyComponentWithRenderProp component receives a render prop, which is a function that returns the content to be rendered.

    By passing different functions to the render prop, you can control what content is rendered by the component, allowing for flexible and reusable components.


  5. Higher-Order Component (HOC) Pattern:
  6. Higher-Order Components are functions that accept a component as input and return a new component with enhanced functionality.

    They enable code reuse and cross-cutting concerns such as logging, authentication, or data fetching.

    Syntax:

    Explanation:

    The withHOC function takes a component as input and returns a new component that enhances the functionality of the input component.

    The enhanced component can include additional props, state, or behavior provided by the HOC.

    Applying patterns can improve code organization, reusability, and maintainability in your React applications.

React Performance Optimization

React performance optimization is crucial for ensuring smooth and efficient rendering of your applications, especially as they grow in complexity.

Techniques that optimize React applications:

  1. Memoization:
  2. Memoization involves caching the outcomes of costly function invocations and retrieving them when identical inputs reappear.

    In React, you have the option to employ either the React.memo Higher-Order Component or the useMemo hook for memoizing components or values, respectively.

    useMemo

    useMemo is a React hook that returns a memoized version of a function.

    It reduces unnecessary re-renders of components or recomputation of values.

    It improves rendering performance by avoiding redundant work.


  3. Virtualization:
  4. Virtualization is a technique for rendering large lists or grids efficiently by only rendering the items that are currently visible on the screen.

    Libraries like React Virtualized or React Window provide components for virtualizing lists and grids.

    It improves performance and reduces memory consumption when rendering large datasets

    It enables smooth scrolling and interaction with large lists or grids.

    Example: React Virtualized


  5. Code Splitting:
  6. Code splitting involves breaking down your application into smaller bundles or chunks that are loaded asynchronously.

    React.lazy and Suspense enable you to load components lazily, improving initial loading time and reducing the size of the main bundle.

    It reduces initial load time by loading only the necessary code for the current view.

    It improves perceived performance by displaying loading indicators during component loading.

    Syntax (React.lazy and Suspense):


  7. PureComponent and shouldComponentUpdate:
  8. PureComponent and shouldComponentUpdate are strategies aimed at enhancing rendering performance by avoiding unnecessary re-renders of components.

    PureComponent conducts a shallow examination of props and state to ascertain if a component necessitates an update.

    shouldComponentUpdate affords the flexibility to tailor the criteria dictating when a component should undergo an update.

    It reduces unnecessary re-renders of components, improving rendering performance.

    It enhances overall application performance by minimizing unnecessary work in the render cycle.

    Syntax (PureComponent):

    Syntax (shouldComponentUpdate):


  9. . Use Performance Tools:
  10. React provides various performance tools for measuring and optimizing the performance of your applications.

    Tools like React DevTools, Chrome DevTools, and performance monitoring libraries help identify performance bottlenecks and optimize rendering performance.

    Use React DevTools to inspect component hierarchies, measure component render times, and identify wasted renders.

    Provides insights into component performance and rendering bottlenecks.

    Enables targeted optimizations to improve overall application performance.

    These techniques and tools, you can optimize the performance of your React applications, ensuring smooth rendering and improved user experience, even as your application grows in complexity.

    Remember to measure performance regularly and prioritize optimizations based on profiling data and user feedback.

Server-Side Rendering (SSR):

  1. Server-side rendering (SSR) involves the procedure of generating web pages on the server and transmitting the fully rendered HTML to the client.
  2. This method enables search engines and social media crawlers to view a fully rendered page, thereby potentially enhancing SEO and initial page load performance.
  3. It enhances SEO (Complete pages can be crawled and indexed by search engines, resulting in improved search engine rankings).
  4. It Accelerates initial page load (Users receive a fully rendered page directly from the server, reducing the time required for rendering within the browser).
  5. It enhances performance on low-powered devices(SSR has the potential to boost performance on low-powered devices by shifting rendering tasks to the server).
  6. One challenge it is facing is increased Server Load(SSR can increase server load since the server needs to render pages for each request).
  7. Other challenge it is facing is Complex Setup (Implementing SSR requires additional configuration and infrastructure compared to client-side rendering).

What is Next.js?

  1. Next.js stands as a widely-used React framework, offering integrated assistance for server-side rendering, static site generation, and other advanced functionalities.
  2. It streamlines the development of React applications by incorporating server-side rendering capabilities.
  3. Next.js(Server-Side Rendering (SSR)) features inherent support for SSR, enabling the rendering of React components on the server and transmission of HTML to the client.
  4. Next.js ( File-based Routing)employs file-based routing, associating each page with a corresponding file in the pages directory.
  5. Next.js( API Routes) permits the definition of API routes within the pages/api directory, facilitating the development of backend APIs alongside frontend code.
  6. Next.js (Automatic Code Splitting) automatically divides code into smaller segments, diminishing the initial load duration of your application.
  7. Next.js (Built-in CSS and Sass Support) integrates built-in support for CSS and Sass, enabling the direct importation of stylesheets into your components.
  8. Next.js is widely used for building React applications that require server-side rendering, static site generation, or other advanced features.
  9. It's particularly popular for building e-commerce websites, blogs, and content-heavy applications where SEO and performance are critical.
  10. By leveraging Next.js, developers can build powerful React applications with enhanced performance, SEO, and developer experience out of the box.
  11. It abstracts away much of the complexity involved in setting up server-side rendering and provides a streamlined development
  12. Next.js (as Static Site Generation (SSG)) facilitates static site generation, wherein pages are pre-rendered during build time, resulting in accelerated page loads and enhanced SEO.

Syntax: bash

Example

GraphQL

  1. GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for executing those queries with your existing data.
  2. GraphQL is commonly used to fetch and manage data from a server efficiently in React.
  3. In a single request get or fetch exactly the data, you asked for your component in GraphQL and reduce over-fetching and under-fetching of data(Efficient Data Fetching).
  4. GraphQLis good for building efficient and scalable web applications, particularly in data fetching and management that are complex or dynamic.
  5. GraphQL API is defined by a schema, providing clear and predictable data structures, which can be beneficial for frontend developers working with complex data models(Strongly Typed Schema).
  6. GraphQL queries are declarative (not telling you the step by step procedures to get the output - tell you as a whole how the UI will be), making it easier to express data requirements.
  7. GraphQL APIs provide a single endpoint (Centralized Data Management) for data fetching and updating which simplifies data management.
  8. It enables developers to fetch and manage data declaratively, efficiently, and with strong typing, improving both development speed and application performance.

When to use GraphQL in React?

  1. When your React application needs to fetch data from multiple endpoints or various sources(Complex Data), GraphQL can simplify data fetching by providing a single endpoint for all data requirements .
  2. For large-scale React applications with complex data models and numerous data requirements, GraphQL can improve performance, scalability, and maintainability by reducing over-fetching and under-fetching of data(in a large-scale applications).
  3. If your application requires real-time data updates or subscriptions, GraphQL can efficiently handle real-time data streaming and push updates to connected clients(Real-time Data Updates).
  4. When frontend and backend teams work collaboratively on a project, GraphQL's strongly typed schema and introspection capabilities (ability to examine and understand the structure, behavior, and state of React components during runtime) can facilitate communication and alignment between frontend and backend developers(Collaborative Development).

Syntax:GraphQL Query

Syntax: GraphQL Mutation(modify data on the server includes creating deleting and updating data. )

Example: A simple React application using GraphQL to fetch and display user data

React Animation Libraries

  1. React animation libraries create interactive user interfaces with animations.
  2. These libraries animate components on enter, exit, mount, unmount, and during state changes.

What are some popular React animation libraries?

  1. Framer Motion
  2. Offers advanced features like shared element transitions for layout animations, motion values for coordinating and managing multiple animations across components.
  3. Simple and powerful syntax for creating animations.
  4. Supports gesture animations (like drag and swipe).
  5. If you want to implement simple animations quickly, Framer Motion offers a simple and intuitive API.

Example:


React Spring

  1. Spring-physics based animation library, great for natural and fluid motion.
  2. Supports animating styles, SVG properties, and more.
  3. Works well with a wide range of UI elements and use cases, from simple animations to complex interactive UIs.
  4. React Spring are optimized for performance, even for complex animations.

Example:

React Motion

  1. Ir provides a simple declarative syntax for defining animations.
  2. Utilizes spring configurations for creating physics-based animations().
  3. Focuses on robust and natural motion transitions.
  4. If your project requires complex and unique animations, you might prefer a library that offers more control and customization, like React Spring or React Motion.

Example:

React Transition Group

  1. Offers a way to perform animations when a React component enters or leaves the DOM.
  2. Provides components like Transition, CSSTransition, and SwitchTransition for managing complex animations.
  3. Great for animating lists, dialogs, and conditional rendered components.

Example:

What is D3.js?

  1. D3.js (Data-Driven Documents) is a JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers.
  2. It utilizes the full capabilities of modern browsers (like SVG, Canvas, and HTML) to create rich graphical representations of data.
  3. D3 is highly flexible, allowing you to bind arbitrary data to a Document Object Model (DOM), and then apply data-driven transformations to the document.
  4. D3 allows you to bind data to the DOM, creating a rich, interactive, and dynamic visual representation of that data(Data Binding).
  5. It uses web standards like HTML, SVG, and CSS to render visuals, which means you can create complex charts and graphs that are scalable and customizable(DOM Manipulations).
  6. D3 provides powerful transition capabilities, enabling you to animate changes to the data or the visualization(Transitions).
  7. It supports user interaction with the visual elements, allowing for interactive data visualizations that can respond to mouse events, touch events, and more(Interactivity and Events).
  8. D3's functionality is divided into modules. You can use individual components as needed, which keeps your projects and code lightweight(Modularity).
  9. D3 syntax is method-chained, which means you select an element, apply changes or bind data, and then apply further changes or transitions.
  10. When your project requires complex, interactive, or real-time data visualizations, D3.js shines by offering full control over the final visual output(complex data visualization).
  11. If you need custom charts or visualizations that go beyond standard charting libraries, D3.js provides the tools and flexibility to build these from scratch(custom visualization).
  12. Understanding D3.js can deepen your knowledge of how data can be manipulated and visualized in the browser, teaching you the fundamentals of SVG, transitions, scales, and data binding.

Example: create a bar chart:javascript

HTML file

JavaScript (chart.js):

What is PWA?

  1. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web applications that use modern web capabilities to provide a user experience similar to that of mobile apps.
  2. When building PWAs with React, you leverage React's component-based architecture along with service workers, web app manifests, and other modern web features to create fast, engaging, and reliable applications accessible through browsers.
  3. PWAs work on any device and fit any screen size(Responsiveness).
  4. They can work offline or on low-quality networks, thanks to service workers(Connectivity Independence).
  5. PWAs feel like native apps with smooth interactions and navigation(App-like Interaction).
  6. Always up-to-date due to the service worker update process(fresh).
  7. Served via HTTPS to prevent snooping and ensure content hasn't been tampered with(Safe).
  8. Identifiable as applications thanks to W3C manifests and service worker registration, allowing search engines to find them(Discoverable).
  9. Make re-engagement easy through features like push notifications(Re-engageable).
  10. Allow users to "keep" apps they find most useful on their home screen without the hassle of an app store(Installable).
  11. Easily shared via a URL and do not require complex installation(Linkable).

To create a PWA with React, you can start with Create React App (CRA), which includes a service worker and a web app manifest by default, providing a good starting point for developing PWAs.

Step 1: Set Up React App

Step 2: Make Your React App a PWA

Service Worker: The default service worker in CRA only works in production build. You can customize it for more advanced offline capabilities. Ensure the service worker is registered in your index.js:

Web App Manifest: Customize the public/manifest.json file with details about your app. This file defines how your app appears on the user's home screen and how it can be launched.

HTTPS is essential for PWAs to guarantee a secure connection. During development, the Create React App development server automatically utilizes HTTPS. When deploying to production, make sure your hosting provider offers support for HTTPS.

Add Offline Capabilities: This is where the power of service workers comes in. You can customize the service worker script to cache the application shell (HTML, CSS, JavaScript files) and app data for offline use.

Deploy Your App: When you're ready, build your app for production

Deploy your app to a secure web server that supports HTTPS. Many hosting platforms like Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages offer simple, secure hosting for PWAs.

Testing Your PWA

Lighthouse: Use Google's Lighthouse tool to audit your PWA. It provides insights into performance, accessibility, progressive web app metrics, SEO, and more.

Manual Testing: Test your PWA on various devices and browsers to ensure it meets your expectations in terms of performance, responsiveness, and functionality.

PWAs with React combine the best of web and mobile app features. With service workers for offline work and background syncing, a manifest file for add-to-home-screen and full-screen capabilities, and push notifications for user re-engagement, PWAs can provide a user experience comparable to native apps while remaining lightweight and accessible through a browser.

What are Micro Frontends in React?

  1. Micro Frontends are a way of organizing and broken down a website into small, semi-independent parts called 'microapps' that work together loosely.
  2. This means splitting a big website into smaller pieces that can be worked on, launched, and looked after separately.
  3. This setup allows different teams to handle different parts of the website using different tools or versions.
  4. Each micro frontend can operate independently of others(Decoupling).
  5. Teams can choose their technology stack and release cycle(Autonomy).
  6. Shared components can be used across different micro frontends(Reusable Components).
  7. Ensures consistent look and feel and user experience across the application, despite being built by different teams(Consistency).
  8. In React, micro frontends are like building blocks for big apps.
  9. They make it easier to handle large projects by splitting them into smaller parts.
  10. This makes development faster, helps the app grow smoothly, and lets different teams focus on their own tasks.
  11. But, it's crucial to think about how all these parts fit together and how it might affect how fast the app works.
  12. If done right, micro frontends can be a big help for big projects.

Implementation:

The choice of strategy depends on factors like your project's requirements, the size of your team, and how independently you want to deploy each part of your application.

  1. Build-Time Integration:
  2. In this approach, micro frontends are integrated during the build process. Webpack Module Federation is a popular choice for this, allowing a JavaScript application to dynamically load code from another application.

    Example:

    webpack.config.js in App 1:

    webpack.config.js in App 2:


  3. Run-Time Integration via iFrame or Web Components:
  4. Run-time integration involves loading micro frontends at runtime. iFrames and Web Components can encapsulate micro frontends, ensuring independence in terms of styling and JavaScript execution.

    Example with web components:

    index.html in the main app

    In micro frontend:


  5. Run-Time Integration via JavaScript:
  6. This method involves dynamically loading micro frontends as JavaScript applications at runtime. This could be done through script tags, SystemJS, or import maps.

    Example with dynamic script loading:

Note:

Styling Isolation: Avoiding CSS leaks and ensuring consistent styling across different micro frontends.

State Management: Managing application state across micro frontends can be challenging.

Performance: Extra care must be taken to manage the size of the application and loading times, especially with run-time integration.

Routing: Coordinating routing between micro frontends to provide a seamless user experience.

What is React Native?

React Native is an open-source framework for building native apps for iOS, Android, and the web. React Native is built on top of JavaScript, and runs on top of the React JavaScript library.

React Native is a tool made by Facebook using JavaScript. Even though it's related to React.js, it's a bit different.

React Native is a great tool for making apps that work on different types of phones using React's building blocks.

It's important for developers to know these differences if they want to build websites or mobile apps with React.

Even though React.js and React Native have similar ideas and ways of writing code, they're meant for different things and work in different ways.

React Native vs. React.js:

Platform Targeting:

>React.js (React): Targets web browsers and web applications.

React Native: Targets native mobile platforms like iOS and Android.

UI Components:

React.js: Uses HTML, CSS, and virtual DOM for rendering UI components in web browsers.

React Native: Uses native UI components provided by the respective mobile platforms (UIKit for iOS, Android SDK for Android).


Development Environment:

React.js: Developed and tested in web browsers.

React Native: Developed using React Native CLI or Expo CLI and tested on simulators/emulators or real devices.


Styling:

React.js: Uses CSS for styling web components.

React Native: Uses StyleSheet API for styling components with JavaScript, which gets converted into native styles.


API Access:

React.js: Accesses browser APIs like DOM, localStorage, etc.

React Native: Accesses native device APIs like Camera, Geolocation, etc., using JavaScript interfaces provided by React Native.


Development Tools:

React.js: Developers use browser-based developer tools like React DevTools for debugging and inspecting components.

React Native: Developers use platform-specific debugging tools like Xcode for iOS and Android Studio for Android.


Syntax:

The syntax in React Native is similar to React.js, with some platform-specific components and APIs for mobile development. Here's a simple example of a React Native component:

While React.js and React Native share some common concepts, there are also topics specific to each:

React.js Topics:

  1. Virtual DOM
  2. JSX syntax
  3. Components and Props
  4. State and Lifecycle
  5. Hooks (useState, useEffect, etc.)
  6. Context API
  7. Forms and handling user input
  8. Router (React Router)
  9. Redux and state management
  10. Testing (Jest, React Testing Library)

React Native Topics:

  1. Native components (View, Text, Image, etc.)
  2. StyleSheet API for styling
  3. Navigation (React Navigation)
  4. Device APIs (Camera, Geolocation, etc.)
  5. Handling platform-specific code
  6. Performance optimization for mobile devices
  7. Debugging on mobile simulators/emulators and real devices
  8. Publishing and distribution of mobile apps

Contributing to React open source means getting involved in making React and its related projects better.

Here's how you can help out how you can contribute to React open source:

  1. Find Where to Help:

    1. Core React libraries: Fix bugs, add new features, make it faster, or improve the documentation.
    2. React Ecosystem: Work on projects like React Router, Redux, React Native, or Next.js.
    3. Documentation: Make the official docs clearer and fix any mistakes.
    4. Community Projects: Help out with projects made by the React community.
  2. Understand How to Help with Contribution Guidelines:

    1. Read the guidelines: Learn about how to contribute, what rules to follow, and what's planned.
    2. Setup Development Environment: Set up a development environment for contributing to React by following the instructions provided in the repository's README file.
    3. Learn Git: Understand how to use Git and GitHub to manage and share your work(for version control and collaboration).
  3. Pick What to Work On:

    1. Fix Bugs: Find and solve problems that people have reported(reported in the issue tracker).
    2. Add Features: Make new things or improve existing ones based on requests(Implement new features or enhancements).
    3. Speed Up: Make React work faster by improving the way it does things(Better performance:by improving algorithms, reducing overhead, or optimizing code).
    4. Help with Docs(Enhance Documentation): Make the documentation better by adding examples or making it easier to understand.
    5. Review Code: Check other people's work and give feedback.
    6. Test: Make sure everything works by writing and improving tests.
  4. Send Your Changes(Contribute Code):

    1. Copy the Project(Fork the Repository): Make your own copy of React on GitHub.
    2. Make a Branch: Create a new branch for your changes(preferably named after the feature or bug you're working on).
    3. Make Changes(Commit Changes): Write your code, explain what you did, and put it in your copy(commit them with descriptive commit messages, and push them to your forked repository).
    4. Ask for Review(Submit a Pull Request): Tell the main React team (the main React repository) about your changes by making a pull request (detailing the changes you've made and addressing any related issues.).
  5. Be Part of the Community:

    1. Talk with Others: Join conversations about React on GitHub or in forums.
    2. Join Events: Go to meetups or online events to meet other React developers.
    3. Help Others: Answer questions and give advice to other people who are contributing.
  6. Keep Things Good(Maintain Code Quality):

    1. Follow Rules(coding Standards): Adhere to the coding standards, style guides, and best practices( maintain code consistency and readability).
    2. Test Your Code: Make sure everything works before you send it(Write unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests to ensure code reliability).
    3. Stay Informed: Know what's happening with React and the people working on it(Keep up-to-date with the latest changes, updates, and announcements).
  7. Get Noticed(Receive Recognition):

    1. Get Credit: Your work will be mentioned in the project's notes and documentation.
    2. Build Your Resume or portfolio: Contributing to React looks great on your resume or portfolio and shows you're skilled.
    3. Meet People: Working on React means meeting lots of other developers and learning from them.

By helping with React, you can make it even better, connect with other developers, and be part of a big community.