2006 React-Router-Prework.md

React Router Prework

This gist contains a short assignment I'd like everyone to complete before our formal lesson. The prework involves reading some of the React Router documentation, and will allow us to keep the lesson more hands on.

Instructions

1. Fork this gist
2. On your own copy, go through the listed readings and answer associated questions
3. Comment a link to your forked copy on the original gist

Questions / Readings

Router Overview

React Router is a library that allows us to make our single page React applications mimic the behavior of multipage apps. It provides the ability to use browser history, allowing users to navigate with forward / back buttons and bookmark links to specific views of the app. Most modern sites use some form of routing. React Router exposes this functionality through a series of components. Let's start by looking at the overall structure of an app using router:

1. Take a look at the quick start page of the React Router docs. Take note of the syntax and organization of the page. No worries if this looks unclear right now! (nothing to answer here)

2. What package do we need to install to use React Router?

• npm install react-router-dom

Router Components

React Router provides a series of helpful components that allow our apps to use routing. These can be split into roughly 3 categories:

• Routers
• Route Matcher
• Route Changers

Routers

Any code that uses a React-Router-provided component must be wrapped in a router component. There are lots of router components we can use, but we'll focus on one in particular. Let's look into the docs to learn more.

3. What is a <BrowserRouter />?

• A router that keeps the UI in sync with the URL through the HTML5 history API

4. Why would we use <BrowserRouter /> in our apps?

• The back and forward buttons in the browser would need to use it to keep track.

Route Matchers

5. What does the <Route /> component do?

• It matches the route/path we try to assign to a component.

6. How does the <Route /> component check whether it should render something?

• If the URL matches the path prop

7. What does the <Switch /> component do?

• It renders a single <Route /> component nested within it, making sure it matches the current URL and rendering that component.

8. How does it decide what to render?

• It needs to go from most specific routes to least specific so that the Route component whose path matches the URL is rendered.

Route Changers

9. What does the <Link /> component do? How does a user interact with it?

• Creates links in the app to navigate through the app by changing the path of the URL

10. What does the <NavLink /> component do? How does a user interact with it?

• A <Link /> that adds styling attributes to the rendered element when URL is matched with to= prop

11. What does the <Redirect /> component do?

• Forces navigation to specific path without user choosing to do so.