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React Router Basic Notes

Router and Route​

parent routes are active when child routes are active

Basic Usage​

import {
  Redirect,
  Route,
  BrowserRouter as Router,
  Switch,
} from 'react-router-dom'

class App extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <Router>
        <Switch>
          <Route exact path="/" component={Home} />
          <Route
            exact
            path="/tags"
            render={() => {
              return <Redirect to="/tags/all" />
            }}
          />
          <Route path="/tags/:tagName" component={Tags} />
          <Route path="/posts/:mdFile" component={Post} />
          <Route path="/book" component={Book} />
          <Route component={NotFound} />
        </Switch>
      </Router>
    )
  }
}

Nested Route​

Key Notes: In component of parent route, should render {this.props.children}.

import {
  Redirect,
  Route,
  BrowserRouter as Router,
  Switch,
} from 'react-router-dom'

render(
  <Router>
    <Route path="/" component={App}>
      <Route path="/repos" component={Repos}>
        <Route path="/repos/:userName/:repoName" component={Repo} />
      </Route>
    </Route>
  </Router>,
  document.getElementById('app')
)
  • In App.js: render() { return (<div>... {this.props.children}</ div>); }.
  • In Repos.js: render() { return (<div>... {this.props.children}</ div>); }.

Private Route​

import { Redirect, Route } from 'react-router-dom'

interface Props {
  location: string
}

export default function PrivateRoute({
  component,
  toAuth,
  ...rest
}: {
  component: React.Component<Props>
  toAuth: string
}) {
  return (
    <Route
      {...rest}
      render={(props: Props) => (
        auth.isAuthenticated() === true
          ? (<Component {...props} />)
          : (
              <Redirect
                to={{
                  pathname: toAuth,
                  state: {
                    from: props.location,
                  },
                }}
              />
            ))}
    />
  )
}

URL Params​

import { Route } from 'react-router-dom'

export default function App() {
  return <Route path="/repos/:userName/:repoName" component={Repo} />
}
// In Repo.js
export default function Repo() {
  return (
    <div>
      <div>{this.props.params.userName}</div>
      <div>{this.props.params.repoName}</div>
    </div>
  )
}

Component Props​

  • subRoutes.
  • id/size.
  • etc....
import { Route } from 'react-router-dom'

interface Props {}

export default function RenderRoute({
  component,
}: {
  component: React.Component<Props>
}) {
  return <Route render={props => <Component {...props} />} />
}
import Component from './Component'

export default function App() {
  const { ...state } = this.props.location.state

  return (
    <Component
      to={{
        pathname: url,
        state,
      }}
    />
  )
}

Clean URLs​

Switch from hashHistory to browserHistory.

Change Route​

  • onEnter = { () => store.dispatch(createRouteAction(params))}.
  • Return <Redirect /> conditionally and withRouter wrapper (this.props.history.push('nextURL')).
import { Redirect } from 'react-router-dom'

class Login {
  login = () => {
    // 1. login
    // 2. setState and pushHistory (500ms delay)
    auth.login(() => {
      const { from } = this.props.location.state || { from: { pathname: '/' } }
      this.setState({ redirect: true })
      this.props.history.push(from)
    }, 500)
  }

  render() {
    const { redirect } = this.state
    const { from } = this.props.location.state || { from: { pathname: '/' } }

    if (redirect)
      return <Redirect to={from} />

    return (
      <div>
        <button type="button" onClick={this.login}>Login</button>
      </div>
    )
  }
}

// apply `history` object to props of `Login` component
const LoginWithRouter = withRouter(Login)
export default LoginWithRouter

Deployment​

Relative Path​

export default function App() {
  const history = useHistory()
  return (
    <ConnectedRouter history={history} basename="/react-boilerplate">
      <Switch>
        <Route exact path={`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/`} component={Home} />
        <Route path={`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/about`} component={About} />
        <Route
          path={`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/404`}
          render={() => <Redirect to={`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/`} />}
        />
      </Switch>
    </ConnectedRouter>
  )
}

function Header() {
  return (
    <div>
      <NavLink to={`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/`}>Home</NavLink>
      <NavLink to={`${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/about`}>About</NavLink>
    </div>
  )
}

Webpack Dev Server​

  • publicPath: '/'
  • historyApiFallback: true
const path = require('node:path')
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin')

module.exports = {
  entry: './app/index.js',
  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'dist'),
    filename: 'index_bundle.js',
    publicPath: '/',
  },
  module: {
    rules: [
      { test: /\.(js)$/, use: 'babel-loader' },
      { test: /\.css$/, use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader'] },
    ],
  },
  devServer: {
    historyApiFallback: true,
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: 'app/index.html',
    }),
  ],
}

Express Config​

app.use(express.static(path.resolve(__dirname, 'build')))

// always serve index.html for any request
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
  res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, 'build', 'index.html'))
})

Nginx Config​

# always serve index.html for any request (react-router for single page application)
root /var/www/blog/html/build;
index index.html;
server_name blog.sabertazimi.cn;

location / {
   try_files $uri /index.html;
}

React Router Internals​

  • <Route> instances listen to popstate event to forceUpdate.
  • When click <Link>/<Redirect>, historyPush or historyReplace get called, <Route> instances re-match and re-render.
const instances = []

const register = comp => instances.push(comp)
const unregister = comp => instances.splice(instances.indexOf(comp), 1)

function historyPush(path) {
  window.history.pushState({}, null, path)
  instances.forEach(instance => instance.forceUpdate())
}

function historyReplace(path) {
  window.history.replaceState({}, null, path)
  instances.forEach(instance => instance.forceUpdate())
}

Route Component​

function matchPath(pathname, options) {
  const { exact = false, path } = options

  if (!path) {
    return {
      path: null,
      url: pathname,
      isExact: true,
    }
  }

  const match = new RegExp(`^${path}`).exec(pathname)

  if (!match) {
    // There wasn't a match.
    return null
  }

  const url = match[0]
  const isExact = pathname === url

  if (exact && !isExact) {
    // There was a match, but it wasn't
    // an exact match as specified by
    // the exact prop.

    return null
  }

  return {
    path,
    url,
    isExact,
  }
}

interface Props {
  path: string
  exact: boolean
  component: Function
  render: Function
}

class Route extends Component<Props> {
  UNSAFE_componentWillMount() {
    window.addEventListener('popstate', this.handlePop)
    register(this)
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
    window.removeEventListener('popstate', this.handlePop)
    unregister(this)
  }

  handlePop = () => {
    this.forceUpdate()
  }

  render() {
    const { path, exact, component, render } = this.props

    const match = matchPath(window.location.pathname, { path, exact })

    if (!match)
      return null

    if (component)
      return React.createElement(component, { match })

    if (render)
      return render({ match })

    return null
  }
}

Whenever a <Link> is clicked and the location changes, each <Route> will be aware of that and re-match and re-render with instances.

interface Props {
  to: string
  children: ReactElement
}

class Link extends Component<Props> {
  static propTypes = {
    to: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
    replace: PropTypes.bool,
  }

  handleClick = (event) => {
    const { replace, to } = this.props
    event.preventDefault()

    replace ? historyReplace(to) : historyPush(to)
  }

  render() {
    const { to, children } = this.props

    return (
      <a href={to} onClick={this.handleClick}>
        {children}
      </a>
    )
  }
}

Redirect Component​

class Redirect extends Component {
  static defaultProps = {
    push: false,
  }

  static propTypes = {
    to: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
    push: PropTypes.bool.isRequired,
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    const { to, push } = this.props

    push ? historyPush(to) : historyReplace(to)
  }

  render() {
    return null
  }
}

Router Hooks​

/**
 * @see https://github.com/ashok-khanna/react-snippets
 */

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'

export default function Router({ routes, defaultComponent }) {
  // state to track URL and force component to re-render on change
  const [currentPath, setCurrentPath] = useState(window.location.pathname)

  useEffect(() => {
    const onLocationChange = () => {
      // update path state to current window URL
      setCurrentPath(window.location.pathname)
    }

    // listen for popstate event
    window.addEventListener('popstate', onLocationChange)

    // clean up event listener
    return () => {
      window.removeEventListener('popstate', onLocationChange)
    }
  }, [])
  return (
    routes.find(({ path, component }) => path === currentPath)?.component
    || defaultComponent
  )
}

export function Link({ className, href, children }: {
  className: string
  href: string
  children: ReactElement
}) {
  const onClick = (event) => {
    // if ctrl or meta key are held on click,
    // allow default behavior of opening link in new tab
    if (event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey)
      return

    // prevent full page reload
    event.preventDefault()

    // update url
    window.history.pushState({}, '', href)

    // communicate to Routes that URL has changed
    const navEvent = new PopStateEvent('popstate')
    window.dispatchEvent(navEvent)
  }

  return (
    <a className={className} href={href} onClick={onClick}>
      {children}
    </a>
  )
}

function navigate(href) {
  // update url
  window.history.pushState({}, '', href)

  // communicate to Routes that URL has changed
  const navEvent = new PopStateEvent('popstate')
  window.dispatchEvent(navEvent)
}

Reference​