Person API

This is very basic React App I will use as a starter app to investigate and explain these points and others:

1. Adding a eslint file
2. Debugging in VSCode
3. Adding Typescript
4. Setting up Prettier and formatting code
5. Adding tests

This project was bootstrapped with Create React App.

(I've kept the following from the original Create React App for future reference)

Table of Contents

• Displaying Lint Output in the Editor
• Debugging in the Editor
• Formatting Code Automatically
• Adding a Stylesheet
• Post-Processing CSS
• Adding a CSS Preprocessor (Sass, Less etc.)
• Adding Bootstrap
  • Using a Custom Theme

Available Scripts

In the project directory, you can run:

npm start

Runs the app in the development mode.
Open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.

The page will reload if you make edits.
You will also see any lint errors in the console.

npm test

Launches the test runner in the interactive watch mode.
See the section about running tests for more information.

Syntax Highlighting in the Editor

To configure the syntax highlighting in your favorite text editor, head to the relevant Babel documentation page and follow the instructions. Some of the most popular editors are covered.

Displaying Lint Output in the Editor

Note: this feature is available with [email protected] and higher.
It also only works with npm 3 or higher.

Some editors, including Sublime Text, Atom, and Visual Studio Code, provide plugins for ESLint.

They are not required for linting. You should see the linter output right in your terminal as well as the browser console. However, if you prefer the lint results to appear right in your editor, there are some extra steps you can do.

You would need to install an ESLint plugin for your editor first. Then, add a file called .eslintrc to the project root:

{
  "extends": "react-app"
}

Now your editor should report the linting warnings.

Note that even if you edit your .eslintrc file further, these changes will only affect the editor integration. They won’t affect the terminal and in-browser lint output. This is because Create React App intentionally provides a minimal set of rules that find common mistakes.

If you want to enforce a coding style for your project, consider using Prettier instead of ESLint style rules.

Debugging in the Editor

This feature is currently only supported by Visual Studio Code and WebStorm.

Visual Studio Code and WebStorm support debugging out of the box with Create React App. This enables you as a developer to write and debug your React code without leaving the editor, and most importantly it enables you to have a continuous development workflow, where context switching is minimal, as you don’t have to switch between tools.

Visual Studio Code

You would need to have the latest version of VS Code and VS Code Chrome Debugger Extension installed.

Then add the block below to your launch.json file and put it inside the .vscode folder in your app’s root directory.

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [{
    "name": "Chrome",
    "type": "chrome",
    "request": "launch",
    "url": "http://localhost:3000",
    "webRoot": "${workspaceRoot}/src",
    "sourceMapPathOverrides": {
      "webpack:///src/*": "${webRoot}/*"
    }
  }]
}

Note: the URL may be different if you've made adjustments via the HOST or PORT environment variables.

Start your app by running npm start, and start debugging in VS Code by pressing F5 or by clicking the green debug icon. You can now write code, set breakpoints, make changes to the code, and debug your newly modified code—all from your editor.

Having problems with VS Code Debugging? Please see their troubleshooting guide.

Formatting Code Automatically

Prettier is an opinionated code formatter with support for JavaScript, CSS and JSON. With Prettier you can format the code you write automatically to ensure a code style within your project. See the Prettier's GitHub page for more information, and look at this page to see it in action.

To format our code whenever we make a commit in git, we need to install the following dependencies:

npm install --save husky lint-staged prettier

Alternatively you may use yarn:

yarn add husky lint-staged prettier

• husky makes it easy to use githooks as if they are npm scripts.
• lint-staged allows us to run scripts on staged files in git. See this blog post about lint-staged to learn more about it.
• prettier is the JavaScript formatter we will run before commits.

Now we can make sure every file is formatted correctly by adding a few lines to the package.json in the project root.

Add the following line to scripts section:

  "scripts": {
+   "precommit": "lint-staged",
    "start": "react-scripts start",
    "build": "react-scripts build",

Next we add a 'lint-staged' field to the package.json, for example:

  "dependencies": {
    // ...
  },
+ "lint-staged": {
+   "src/**/*.{js,jsx,json,css}": [
+     "prettier --single-quote --write",
+     "git add"
+   ]
+ },
  "scripts": {

Now, whenever you make a commit, Prettier will format the changed files automatically. You can also run ./node_modules/.bin/prettier --single-quote --write "src/**/*.{js,jsx,json,css}" to format your entire project for the first time.

Next you might want to integrate Prettier in your favorite editor. Read the section on Editor Integration on the Prettier GitHub page.

Post-Processing CSS

This project setup minifies your CSS and adds vendor prefixes to it automatically through Autoprefixer so you don’t need to worry about it.

For example, this:

.App {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  align-items: center;
}

becomes this:

.App {
  display: -webkit-box;
  display: -ms-flexbox;
  display: flex;
  -webkit-box-orient: horizontal;
  -webkit-box-direction: normal;
      -ms-flex-direction: row;
          flex-direction: row;
  -webkit-box-align: center;
      -ms-flex-align: center;
          align-items: center;
}

If you need to disable autoprefixing for some reason, follow this section.

Adding a CSS Preprocessor (Sass, Less etc.)

Generally, we recommend that you don’t reuse the same CSS classes across different components. For example, instead of using a .Button CSS class in <AcceptButton> and <RejectButton> components, we recommend creating a <Button> component with its own .Button styles, that both <AcceptButton> and <RejectButton> can render (but not inherit).

Following this rule often makes CSS preprocessors less useful, as features like mixins and nesting are replaced by component composition. You can, however, integrate a CSS preprocessor if you find it valuable. In this walkthrough, we will be using Sass, but you can also use Less, or another alternative.

First, let’s install the command-line interface for Sass:

npm install --save node-sass-chokidar

Alternatively you may use yarn:

yarn add node-sass-chokidar

Then in package.json, add the following lines to scripts:

   "scripts": {
+    "build-css": "node-sass-chokidar src/ -o src/",
+    "watch-css": "npm run build-css && node-sass-chokidar src/ -o src/ --watch --recursive",
     "start": "react-scripts start",
     "build": "react-scripts build",
     "test": "react-scripts test --env=jsdom",

Note: To use a different preprocessor, replace build-css and watch-css commands according to your preprocessor’s documentation.

Now you can rename src/App.css to src/App.scss and run npm run watch-css. The watcher will find every Sass file in src subdirectories, and create a corresponding CSS file next to it, in our case overwriting src/App.css. Since src/App.js still imports src/App.css, the styles become a part of your application. You can now edit src/App.scss, and src/App.css will be regenerated.

To share variables between Sass files, you can use Sass imports. For example, src/App.scss and other component style files could include @import "./shared.scss"; with variable definitions.

To enable importing files without using relative paths, you can add the --include-path option to the command in package.json.

"build-css": "node-sass-chokidar --include-path ./src --include-path ./node_modules src/ -o src/",
"watch-css": "npm run build-css && node-sass-chokidar --include-path ./src --include-path ./node_modules src/ -o src/ --watch --recursive",

This will allow you to do imports like

@import 'styles/_colors.scss'; // assuming a styles directory under src/
@import 'nprogress/nprogress'; // importing a css file from the nprogress node module

At this point you might want to remove all CSS files from the source control, and add src/**/*.css to your .gitignore file. It is generally a good practice to keep the build products outside of the source control.

As a final step, you may find it convenient to run watch-css automatically with npm start, and run build-css as a part of npm run build. You can use the && operator to execute two scripts sequentially. However, there is no cross-platform way to run two scripts in parallel, so we will install a package for this:

npm install --save npm-run-all

Alternatively you may use yarn:

yarn add npm-run-all

Then we can change start and build scripts to include the CSS preprocessor commands:

   "scripts": {
     "build-css": "node-sass-chokidar src/ -o src/",
     "watch-css": "npm run build-css && node-sass-chokidar src/ -o src/ --watch --recursive",
-    "start": "react-scripts start",
-    "build": "react-scripts build",
+    "start-js": "react-scripts start",
+    "start": "npm-run-all -p watch-css start-js",
+    "build-js": "react-scripts build",
+    "build": "npm-run-all build-css build-js",
     "test": "react-scripts test --env=jsdom",
     "eject": "react-scripts eject"
   }

Now running npm start and npm run build also builds Sass files.

Why node-sass-chokidar?

node-sass has been reported as having the following issues:

• node-sass --watch has been reported to have performance issues in certain conditions when used in a virtual machine or with docker.

• Infinite styles compiling #1939

• node-sass has been reported as having issues with detecting new files in a directory #1891

node-sass-chokidar is used here as it addresses these issues.

Adding Images, Fonts, and Files

With Webpack, using static assets like images and fonts works similarly to CSS.

You can import a file right in a JavaScript module. This tells Webpack to include that file in the bundle. Unlike CSS imports, importing a file gives you a string value. This value is the final path you can reference in your code, e.g. as the src attribute of an image or the href of a link to a PDF.

To reduce the number of requests to the server, importing images that are less than 10,000 bytes returns a data URI instead of a path. This applies to the following file extensions: bmp, gif, jpg, jpeg, and png. SVG files are excluded due to #1153.

Here is an example:

import React from 'react';
import logo from './logo.png'; // Tell Webpack this JS file uses this image

console.log(logo); // /logo.84287d09.png

function Header() {
  // Import result is the URL of your image
  return <img src={logo} alt="Logo" />;
}

export default Header;

This ensures that when the project is built, Webpack will correctly move the images into the build folder, and provide us with correct paths.

This works in CSS too:

.Logo {
  background-image: url(./logo.png);
}

Webpack finds all relative module references in CSS (they start with ./) and replaces them with the final paths from the compiled bundle. If you make a typo or accidentally delete an important file, you will see a compilation error, just like when you import a non-existent JavaScript module. The final filenames in the compiled bundle are generated by Webpack from content hashes. If the file content changes in the future, Webpack will give it a different name in production so you don’t need to worry about long-term caching of assets.

Please be advised that this is also a custom feature of Webpack.

It is not required for React but many people enjoy it (and React Native uses a similar mechanism for images).
An alternative way of handling static assets is described in the next section.

Using the public Folder

Note: this feature is available with [email protected] and higher.

Changing the HTML

The public folder contains the HTML file so you can tweak it, for example, to set the page title. The <script> tag with the compiled code will be added to it automatically during the build process.

Adding Assets Outside of the Module System

You can also add other assets to the public folder.

Note that we normally encourage you to import assets in JavaScript files instead. For example, see the sections on adding a stylesheet and adding images and fonts. This mechanism provides a number of benefits:

• Scripts and stylesheets get minified and bundled together to avoid extra network requests.
• Missing files cause compilation errors instead of 404 errors for your users.
• Result filenames include content hashes so you don’t need to worry about browsers caching their old versions.

However there is an escape hatch that you can use to add an asset outside of the module system.

If you put a file into the public folder, it will not be processed by Webpack. Instead it will be copied into the build folder untouched. To reference assets in the public folder, you need to use a special variable called PUBLIC_URL.

Inside index.html, you can use it like this:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="%PUBLIC_URL%/favicon.ico">

Only files inside the public folder will be accessible by %PUBLIC_URL% prefix. If you need to use a file from src or node_modules, you’ll have to copy it there to explicitly specify your intention to make this file a part of the build.

When you run npm run build, Create React App will substitute %PUBLIC_URL% with a correct absolute path so your project works even if you use client-side routing or host it at a non-root URL.

In JavaScript code, you can use process.env.PUBLIC_URL for similar purposes:

render() {
  // Note: this is an escape hatch and should be used sparingly!
  // Normally we recommend using `import` for getting asset URLs
  // as described in “Adding Images and Fonts” above this section.
  return <img src={process.env.PUBLIC_URL + '/img/logo.png'} />;
}

Keep in mind the downsides of this approach:

• None of the files in public folder get post-processed or minified.
• Missing files will not be called at compilation time, and will cause 404 errors for your users.
• Result filenames won’t include content hashes so you’ll need to add query arguments or rename them every time they change.

When to Use the public Folder

Normally we recommend importing stylesheets, images, and fonts from JavaScript. The public folder is useful as a workaround for a number of less common cases:

• You need a file with a specific name in the build output, such as manifest.webmanifest.
• You have thousands of images and need to dynamically reference their paths.
• You want to include a small script like pace.js outside of the bundled code.
• Some library may be incompatible with Webpack and you have no other option but to include it as a <script> tag.

Note that if you add a <script> that declares global variables, you also need to read the next section on using them.

Using Global Variables

When you include a script in the HTML file that defines global variables and try to use one of these variables in the code, the linter will complain because it cannot see the definition of the variable.

You can avoid this by reading the global variable explicitly from the window object, for example:

const $ = window.$;

This makes it obvious you are using a global variable intentionally rather than because of a typo.

Alternatively, you can force the linter to ignore any line by adding // eslint-disable-line after it.

Adding Bootstrap

You don’t have to use React Bootstrap together with React but it is a popular library for integrating Bootstrap with React apps. If you need it, you can integrate it with Create React App by following these steps:

Install React Bootstrap and Bootstrap from npm. React Bootstrap does not include Bootstrap CSS so this needs to be installed as well:

npm install --save react-bootstrap bootstrap@3

Alternatively you may use yarn:

yarn add react-bootstrap bootstrap@3

Import Bootstrap CSS and optionally Bootstrap theme CSS in the beginning of your src/index.js file:

import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.css';
import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap-theme.css';
// Put any other imports below so that CSS from your
// components takes precedence over default styles.

Import required React Bootstrap components within src/App.js file or your custom component files:

import { Navbar, Jumbotron, Button } from 'react-bootstrap';

Now you are ready to use the imported React Bootstrap components within your component hierarchy defined in the render method. Here is an example App.js redone using React Bootstrap.

Using a Custom Theme

Sometimes you might need to tweak the visual styles of Bootstrap (or equivalent package).
We suggest the following approach:

• Create a new package that depends on the package you wish to customize, e.g. Bootstrap.
• Add the necessary build steps to tweak the theme, and publish your package on npm.
• Install your own theme npm package as a dependency of your app.

Here is an example of adding a customized Bootstrap that follows these steps.