React Application Development Step by Step Process
React is a open-source, front-end Javascript library for building user interfaces. React is used to build single page applications in both web portals and mobile applications.
React also allows to load the data for a specific section of a page without loading complete page again. React also offers fast and interactive user experience by segmenting the code into reusable small libraries.
Also, React developers often use JSX (Javascript XML) to write HTML code directly in your JSX files. JSX code is transpired into regular Javascript by tools like Babel before its being rendered into browser.
The process of developing a React application typically involves the following steps:
1. Project Setup:
Set up a development environment with Node.js and a Visual Studio Code editor or any other editor of your choice.
Download and install npm. For details refer https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm#checking-your-version-of-npm-and-nodejs
Download Node.js from this link (https://nodejs.org/en/download)
Verify the npm, Node.js are installed correctly using the below commands separately in command prompt
node -v
npm -v
The above commands should return the version installed in your computer. You’ll need to have Node >= 14.0.0 and npm >= 5.6 on your machine.
To create a project, run the below comments in command prompt.
npx create-react-app my-app
cd my-app
npm start
The ‘npm start’ command will launch browser to run the project you have just created.
2. Component Planning and Design:
The next step is to identify the components required for your project. The components may be style component or code snippet or UI design or input controls.
Generally, creating separate component is easy to manage in the longer run. Keeping stying and UI components separately, will save you lot of time while redesigning.
Utilize React props to pass data from parent to child components.
Manage component state using React’s state management or additional libraries like Redux or MobX, if needed.
Test each component independently to ensure they work as expected.
3. Data Management:
Connect your application to backend APIs or services to fetch and update data.
Use libraries like Axios to get the data from REST API’s using http/https get/post requests.
Receive responses and present the data in the screen as required.
4. Testing:
Write test cases for all components and application logic with the help of third-party testing tools or using own approach.
Test different scenarios, including different props, state changes, and user interactions.
Ensure that your components render correctly and behave as expected.
5. Deployment:
Build your React application for production using the appropriate build scripts or tools. React App makes it quite simple to build in production.
Run the below command.
npm run build
This will create a build directory with production build of the app. Your JavaScript and CSS files will be inside the build/static directory. A number of .js files are generated and placed inside the build/static/js directory. These are called chunks.
Now the files are ready for deployment, Copy the files and update it the server.
Browse to the server and verify the deployment is successful.
Remember that this is a general overview, and the specific steps and tools may vary depending on your project requirements and personal preferences.