Do you want to build performant and progressive applications with a framework that offers cross-platform compatibility and intuitive UI? React Native framework is what you need! We have compiled a guide, which will help you discover everything that you need to know about React Native Development from a business perspective.
Mobile usage has seen spectacular growth in the past few years. Across the globe, web-enabled devices like tablets and smartphones have evolved into essential tools for entertainment, information, and communication.
This upward trend is specifically visible in the developing digital markets, with handhelds being the prime location of various applications.
As a result, tech companies wish to build user apps that offer cross-platform compatibility, smooth User Experience (UX), and a responsive User Interface. And that gives rise to the REACT Native Development.
This guide will cover everything about REACT Native Development, compare the ideas with React and see how it works with app development.
What is React Native?
React Native is an open-source UI software created by Meta Platforms, inc. It is used to develop applications for Android, Android TV, iOS and macOS, tvOS, Web Window, and more by allowing developers to use React framework with native capabilities.
How is React Developed?
ReactJs was announced by Facebook in 2015. Before developing React, Facebook was confronted with a major user experience task of building dynamic UI with high performance. The engineers want to integrate a feature in the app that allows users to open both news feed and chatbox simultaneously. To achieve this, Facebook had to optimize the development process; thus to do this, the team releases the ReactJs library on the basis of XHP and JavaScript symbiosis.
Later, Facebook realized that ReactJs works faster and thus released it as an open-source JavaScript tool. Thereafter, it released React Native, a hybrid mobile app development framework for Android and iOS.
Which Language Is Used In React Native?
React Native uses JavaScript, a programming language that helps mobile application developers develop apps that are compatible with both Android and iOS.
What is Reactjs?
Reactjs is a JavaScript library that supports both the server and front-end. It can be used to create a user interface for both websites as well as mobile apps.
Also Read - What are things I need to know to start learning ReactJS?
React Native Vs. ReactJs: What Is The Difference?
React Native Vs. ReactJs: What Is The Difference?
React Native uses the same native building blocks as you use when developing native apps with Java, Swift, or Kotlin. However, the only difference is that you use these building blogs together with JavaScript.
So, if this is just an API wrapper, why do developers like them? React Native is the better than other platforms because it gives developers a lot of impressive features that improve developers’ experience, like Live Reloading, which refreshes the app in a few seconds, and Hot Reloading, which makes changes in code without reloading the app.
What is Expo in React JS?
Expo is an SDK that offers features like OTA app updates, camera access, push notifications, social authentications, and more for free. Expo also has an online ground, Snacks, through which you can try other people’s code online or can work on bite-sized projects without creating new projects in CLI.
The prime concept behind Expo is to extend React-Native through pre-written features. Expo comes with impressive documentation with a long list of APIs in the sidebar.
Does react-native follow a different approach for the same concepts that are used for React?
No! For instance, props (used to pass data from one component to another) and states (a local data storage that is local for the components and is not passed to other components) work the same way, and components have the same idea of how to work in React.
React Native also allows you to access React APIs; however, you cannot implement some features the same way you use in React because of different logic implemented on the web as compared to the mobile.
Keep in mind that default components may behave and look differently on different platforms. So, you must test on all platforms before making the app.
What Are The Building Blocks Of UI If You Are Not Using HTML Elements?
There are some pre-written components that you can use with react-native. For instance, instead of <div>s, you can use <View>s, and for displaying texts, you use <Text>; for buttons, you use <Button> and more.
Creating Your React Native App:
This section will explain how you can create your first React Native app with the help of Android development to develop it, you need to set an environment using OSX as a building platform. Let's understand this step-by-step:
Step 1: Prerequisites and Dependencies Installation
This step is about installing the Watchman, React Native Command-line interface, Xcode & cocoa pods, and Node. And, if you already have a Node installed on your system, make sure it is Node 8.3 or the latest version. Also, install Xcode and other necessary tools that are required to build your iOS app.
Step2: Install NodeJs Python Jdk8
Step3: Install React Native CLI ( this step is optional)
Step4: Create your react native project by using the following command:
Cd ~/Desktop react-native init Awesome Project
Step5: Run react native project on iOS with the following command Desktop $ cd AwesomeProject
SwesomeProject $ react-native run-iOS
Step6: Install Android Studio
Step7: Configure the AVD Manager to start the configuration
Step8: Select the device option and start the Android enumerator
Step9: Start Android
Using Expo CLI To Develop The App:
Expo CLI is the first choice of developers because of its simplicity. Apps developed using this is cross-platform and can easily run on most of the OS like iOS, Android, and Windows.
For this, create a new app by opening a terminal and following the below command:
Expo init expoDemoApp
How To Run React Native App:
Once your setup is complete, you will get a success message and details on how you can run your first React Native app. To start, type:
cd expoDemoApp
yarn start
Once entering the command, you will notice that the Expo Developer tool will load and start the default browser. You will also see a QR code on the terminal.
Scan the QR code from your phone camera and download the app in the App Store. From there, open the app and scan the QR code in the Expo developer tools and open the project in the Expo.
Here you will see your app:
Using React Native CLI (for Pros): To create a React Native mobile app using CLI, follow the below steps:
- Install the react-native-client by using the command- nm install- g react-native-CLI
- Start the project by creating the project structure with the Android and iOS folder.
- Use Simulator to run the project; in Android, use the following command:
Window+R->appdata->local->Android->sdk->emulator. Open this path and execute the below command:
Emulator –avd
To view the available emulator: emulator –list avds-react-native run-android
For iOS; follow the below command:
React-native run-iOS- simulator =”iPhone x”
Building the React app for Android
When building the React Native android app, follow the above steps:
Install Node, Watchman, and JDK (dependencies)
Set up the Android dev environment
To install the Android development environment, you need to start by installing Java:
Step1: Install Android Studio; make sure to download the latest version
Step2: Setting the Android Studio by following the above steps:
Use the Setup wizard to configure and then select the preferred settings and download the SDK components.
How You can Construct an app using React Js.
Let's construct a fun minigame 'Coloridentify. The main game screen is very simple; it is built from a few tiles that have different colors, except one. The player simply needs to tap on different tiles as fast as possible.
How to set up a React-Native development environment?
The first step in setting the React-native Development is having Node.Js, and Expo CLI installed. For this, follow this query:
npm I –g expo-cli
Now, let's initiate the game "Coloridentify" as said above, the idea is to identify the different colors.
This command will develop the project and open a new window with the Expo Devtools.
Structuring the game:
To structure the React-Native Game, let's explore the directory structure:
App.json: It’s a configuration file that contains the SDK version, logo/splash screen directions, name, platforms, GitHub URL, and many other things.
You can develop the game on your own by downloading the assets and copy-pasting them directly into the asset directory. Just make sure to overwrite the icon.png and splash.png. Once pasting, open the app, and you will notice that the size of the splash screen is not appropriate.
This means, before initializing the home screen, you must fix this; in the app.jason, under the splash property, change the background color to #0a0a0a.
Getting started with React Native:
The first step is to add react-navigation as a dependency to the project.
yarn add react-navigation
## if you don’t have yarn: npn install react-navigation
Create a components directory for the components and a screen directory for the screen you want to compose. Keep in mind that both the directories are at the root of the project, and create Home.js. in the screen directory. Copy-paste this code into the following code:
Initializing the Routing:
Now that Home.js is executing something, let’s initialize the routing in App.js:
Here, we are using react-navigation’s createStackNavigator; it initializes a new stack navigator that returns the React component; you can export it from App.js.
After running the code, you will see an empty navigation bar; an empty navigation bar will doesn’t make the game look good or impressive. So, to add more properties, follow the below code:
Adding custom fonts:
To add custom fonts, you first need to rewrite the App.js as followings:
In the above code, we are importing the font dogbyte. The state has isFontLoaded property, which is true when the font is loaded. While the font is not loaded, it will render the <AppLoading /> component, which comes from Expo SDK.
When the this.state.isFrontLoaded is true, it will render the Routs component, which is undefined. So, create a file under screen named Routes.js and copy-paste the navigator code.
At this point, you have basic navigation initialized and can custom font the design.