React Native Cookbook: Bringing the Web to Native Platforms

by Jonathan Lebensold

Overview

Tackling an app development project on multiple platforms is usually an arduous task, but with React Native, you can build cross-platform mobile apps that look and behave just like native apps built with Swift or Java. If you’re familiar with JavaScript, the recipes in this cookbook will help you understand the React Native ecosystem, deal with design and hardware issues, take on the deployment process, and write maintainable code.

How do you organize a project? Or design an app that can access a device’s camera? Based on author Jonathan Lebensold’s personal journey through the app development process, the recipes in this cookbook will not only provide you with quick answers, they can also inspire you to come up with your own solutions.

• Examine the software tools you’ll use to build a React Native app
• Leverage components and JavaScript libraries in the React ecosystem
• Design cross-platform apps that balance UX, platform conventions, and technical complexity
• Get common use cases and advice for taking advantage of device hardware
• Automate app publishing, share your iOS App with beta testers, and configure app settings
• Learn strategies for ensuring your code is well factored, easily maintained, and correct

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781491993842
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/11/2018
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Lebensold is a software architect and a contributor to several open source projects whose online courses have reached thousands of students thanks to O’Reilly Media, Udemy, StudioWeb, and his YouTube channel. He works with startups and NGOs and on open source projects, taking ideas to production and helping teams adopt Agile development processes. Currently, Jonathan spends his time working with Ruby, React, React Native, and .NET Core and baking the occasional apple pie.

Table of Contents

Preface v

1 The React Native Toolchain 1

1.1 Setting Up Your Development Environment 1

1.2 Writing ES6 with Babel 4

1.3 Organizing Project Files 7

1.4 Dealing with Catastrophic Failure 14

2 Living in the React Native Ecosystem 19

2.1 Stop Repeating Yourself: Implement Custom Components 19

2.2 Adding an Open Source Progress Bar 23

2.3 Sharing Custom Components 30

2.4 Routing Between Login Screens 37

2.5 Using Redux for Global State Management in Redux 47

3 Style and Design 63

3.1 Composing Stylesheets 63

3.2 Building Flexible Layouts with Flexbox 66

3.3 Importing Image Vectors and Icons 69

3.4 Looping Animations 76

4 Managing Hardware Platforms 79

4.1 Asking for Permission to Use Device Hardware (iOS) 79

4.2 Fetching Paginated Requests 88

4.3 Save Application State with Redux and Local Storage 93

4.4 Using the Filesystem 95

5 Lift Off! Sharing Your App 105

5.1 Automate Publishing Your App 105

5.2 Sharing Your iOS App with Beta Testers 110

5.3 Configuring Application Settings 112

6 Making Your App Maintainable 121

6.1 Protect Your Components with PropTypes 121

6.2 Check Runtime Errors with Flow 126

6.3 Automate Your Component Tests 132

6.4 Maintain Coding Standards with ESLint 138

6.5 Write Your App with Reason 147

Index 159