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Getting Started with React Native
Getting Started with React Native

Getting Started with React Native: Learn to build modern native iOS and Android applications using JavaScript and the incredible power of React

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Getting Started with React Native

Chapter 2. Understanding React Native Fundamentals

You might not be familiar with how React for Web works, so we are going to cover the fundamentals in this chapter. We will also explain the core principles of how React for Web works under the hood. Once you have a solid understanding of the basics, we will dive into how React for Web works and the subtle differences between mobile and web. By the end of this chapter, you will have the necessary skills to start building the example application.

In this chapter we will cover the following topics:

  • The Virtual DOM
  • Introducing components and JSX
  • Writing our first component
  • Props and state of components

The Virtual DOM

Do you know how to write a JavaScript function? If you do, that's great! You're well on your way to understand how React and React Native work under the hood. What do we mean exactly? Well, when you research how React works, you'll eventually encounter someone explaining it in the following manner:

UI = f(data)

You may say, Nerd alert! How is this helpful? Well, it's saying that your UI is a function of your data. To put it in more familiar terms, let's say that:

var todos = function(data) { return data.join( " -- " ) }

You can call the function with an array of data, such as:

var ui = todos( ["wake up", "get out of bed", "drag a comb across my head"] );
console.log(ui);

This is not a particularly earth-shattering code; however, you're now rendering some content, in this case to the console.

What if, all your UI rendering code could be this predictable? It can be! Let's start getting a little more advanced...

Components

Now here is an interesting problem; we have come across this great framework for making fast differences between the Virtual DOM and its native components. How do we tell React Native what UI to represent or when to change it? A React Native component is a simple, reusable, function-like object that enables us to describe the native mobile components we want to render. They will always contain properties, state, and a render method. Let's start really simple by creating our own component.

Creating your first component

Creating a new component in React Native will look similar to the following:

import React, {
  Text,
  View
  } from 'react-native';
class HelloComponent extends React.Component {
  render () {
    return (
    <View>
      <Text>Hello React</Text>
    <View>
  );
  }
}

Tip

Remember to import the React Native module. Here, we are using the ES6 import statement; it is similar to how the node require module works.

Wait a second…...

Summary

Now hopefully, you understand the radical new direction React has taken in achieving performance. The Virtual DOM handles all of the DOM manipulations for us behind the scenes. At the same time, it uses efficient diffing algorithms to minimize the number of calls to the DOM. We have also seen how JSX allows us to express our components declaratively and combine our application logic into a single file. By using props and state, we can pass the data through components and update them dynamically.

I hope you can now take the information you learned in this chapter and convince your boss to start using React Native right away!

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Key benefits

  • Learn to design and build a fully-featured application using the newest cutting-edge framework from Facebook
  • Leverage your JavaScript skills to become a native app developer
  • Develop custom UI components, implement smooth navigation, and access native features such as geolocation and local storage

Description

React Native is a game-changing approach to hybrid mobile development. Web developers can leverage their existing skills to write mobile applications in JavaScript that are truly native without using cross-compilation or web views. These applications have all of the advantages of those written in Objective-C or Java, combined with the rapid development cycle that JavaScript developers are accustomed to. Web developers who want to develop native mobile applications face a high barrier to entry, because they are forced to learn platform-specific languages and frameworks. Numerous hybrid technologies have tried to simplify this process, but have failed to achieve the performance and appearance that users expect. This book will show you all the advantages of true native development that React Native has without the steep learning curve, leveraging the knowledge you already have. We do this by getting you up and running quickly with a sample application. Next, we’ll introduce you to the fundamentals of creating components and explain how React Native works under the hood. Once you have established a solid foundation, you will dive headfirst into developing a real-world application from start to finish. Along the way, we will demonstrate how to create multiple screens and navigate between them,use layout and style native UI components, and access native APIs such as local storage and geolocation. Finally, we tackle the advanced topic of Native modules, which demonstrates that there are truly no limits to what you can do with React Native.

Who is this book for?

This book is for web developers who want to learn to build fast, good-looking, native mobile applications using the skills they already have. If you already have some JavaScript knowledge or are using React on the web, then you will be able to quickly get up and running with React Native for iOS and Android.

What you will learn

  • Set up the React Native environment on both devices and emulators
  • Gain an in-depth understanding of how React Native works behind the scenes
  • Write your own custom native UI components
  • Learn the ins and outs of screen navigation
  • Master the art of layout and styles
  • Work with device-exclusive data such as geolocation
  • Develop native modules in Objective-C and Java that interact with JavaScript
  • Test and deploy your application for a production-ready environment
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Length: 172 pages
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Language : English
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Length: 172 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785885181
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Facebook
Category :
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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. Exploring the Sample Application Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Understanding React Native Fundamentals Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Beginning with the Example Application Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Working with Styles and Layout Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Displaying and Saving Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Working with Geolocation and Maps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Integrating Native Modules Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Releasing the Application Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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CrescendoLife Sep 22, 2016
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The star rating is provisional--I wanted to post a timely answer/reply to those struggling to get book code functioning as previously noted. A solution was found for the issue I noted on the following url: [note: Amazon blocks all non-Amazon urls so looking for possible way to link the essential info to get code working] (title of page: RCTRootView.h' file not found #1) Steps are outlined on resolving issue. Sample code ran after this fix.
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