React Router: Overview
Using a URL or clicking an element inside an application, a user can travel between different program sections. Routing in React is made simple using the React Router module.
When used in conjunction with a React Application, it makes it possible to navigate between views of multiple components, change the URL in the browser, and maintain the UI up to date with the URL. When you hire React developers from Bosc Tech Labs like reputed companies, gives you smooth app completion experience along with proper maintain in coding standards. make sure he follows proper guidance React Router is made up of the following components:
- BrowserRouter
With the help of the HTML5 history API, BrowserRouter is a router architecture that keeps your UI in sync with the URL. Essentially, this is the container for all other components.
- Routes
It’s a brand-new feature in v6 as well as an improvement to an existing feature. Because routes are determined based on the best match rather than visited in order, Routes have an advantage over Switch.
- Route
When the current URL matches the route of the Route component, the UI is rendered.
- Link
Using the Link component, you may link to different parts of the application and make it easier to navigate. It has the same functionality as an anchor tag in HTML.
What’s Better: Using a Server or a Client?
The first thing to realize is that the URL is now being interpreted in two locations instead of just one in the previous. Once upon a time, when things were simpler, a user would type in http://example.com/about, and the server would provide the about page based on the path component of the URL.
Things get more complicated with React Router’s client-side routing. JavaScript code is not yet installed on the client. As a result, the server will always get the initial request. A page with all of the necessary script tags to load React and the like will be returned. Phase 2 can begin only when the required scripts have been loaded.
In phase 2, when the user hits, for instance, the ‘About us’ navigation link, the URL is modified locally to http://example.com/about, but no request is sent to the server. As a result of this, React Router produces the appropriate React view on the client-side. In the absence of any REST requests, your about page is complete. In the absence of a server request, you’ve gone from Home to About Us without a hitch.
By clicking a link, React Router triggers a client-side page transition using JavaScript to alter the URL in the address bar. This prevents the page from refreshing. The web domain of your server could formerly house a static HTML file, but it is no longer an option.
However, this would cause all other URLs to return 404 errors when queried by the server. On the client-side such URLs function just fine thanks to React Router, but on the server-side, unless you make your server comprehend them, they won’t work at all.
Merging server- and client-side Configuration
When using the http://example.com/about URL, it is necessary to set up routes on both the server and client-side in order for it to operate. It all makes sense, right?
This is the point at which you may begin to make decisions. From a catch-all route that returns bootstrap HTML to a full-on isomorphic method where both the server and client run the same JavaScript code, there are a variety of options for dealing with the issue.
Fixing The Problem: 4 Ways
- Hash History
This is what your about page’s URL would read like if you used Hash History instead of Browser History:
http://example.com/#/about
There is no need to send anything following the hash (#) sign. Since the server sees just http://example.com/, the index page is served. React Router will recognize the #/about portion and direct the user to the relevant page.
- Catch-all
Using this method, you utilize the Browser History, but set up a catch-all on the server that delivers /* to index.html, thereby achieving the same result as Hash History. Since your URLs are pristine, you may subsequently tweak this strategy without having to remove all of your user’s favorites from their bookmark list.
- Hybrid
Add customized scripts for specific routes to the catch-all scenario in a hybrid manner. Using PHP scripts, you may return the most essential pages of your site’s content, allowing Googlebot to at least view what’s on each of them.
- Isomorphic
In order to run the identical JavaScript code on both ends, we may utilize Node.js as the server. We no longer need to rewrite our rendering code because we have all of our routes declared in a single react-router configuration. The server transmits the exact identical markup that we would receive if the page transition had occurred on the client. In terms of Search Engine Optimization, this is the best option.
Conclusion: Which Method to Choose?
Decide on the one that will get you out of trouble. In our opinion, the catch-all is the ideal solution because it’s easy to set up. Using this setup, you’ll be able to make incremental improvements as time passes.
