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?

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 />? maintains history stack, keeps UI in sync with URLs

4. Why would we use <BrowserRouter /> in our apps? to have the ability to route the components.

Route Matchers

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

6. How does the <Route /> component check whether it should render something? if the path matches the current URL.

7. What does the <Switch /> component do? Renders the first child or that matches the location

8. How does it decide what to render? switch is looking for a match and then renders the location exclusively

Route Changers

9. What does the <Link /> component do? How does a user interact with it? Provides declarative, simple accessible navigation around your application. User interacts by clicking, the property that is responsible for redirection is to: function

10. What does the <NavLink /> component do? How does a user interact with it? Similar to but has styling attributes and Aria to the rendered element when it matches the current URL. User interacts by clicking, the property that is responsible for redirection is isActive: function

11. What does the <Redirect /> component do? redirect Users, usually used when the user is redirected to a separate location like page 404