React Native is a mobile app framework, popular for creating cross-platform. React Native is based on JavaScript library React for creating native apps for iOS and Android. It is a great choice if want to build cross-platform apps quickly and easily. The reason why React Native is quick and easy because it uses same code base for Android and iOS app. But, to have a great application that gives near native experience there are a few best practices that you should follow.
React Native Best Practices
React Native best practices are there to help you build high-quality applications. Reasons like React native security is top notch, it is used by top companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Uber, it is maintained regularly, and saves a lot of money & time among many others is the core behind its popularity.
React Native is fast, based on React, highly responsive, and greatly user-friendly. There are many resources online for learning. Having a large community means having support of experts to help you if you get stuck.
On top, React Native is easy to learn for those who are familiar with JavaScript coding format. You can even start building React Native apps right away if you have previous experience with other JS frameworks.
Overall, React Native is a great choice for cross-platform mobile app development. Now that you know all the reasons to choose this as the language for your next project, let’s discuss best practices to follow.
DRY Coding
DRY coding means Don’t Repeat Yourself, the basic principle of programming. This refers to not writing the same code more than once. If the same code is being used more than once you should refactor it into reusable code adhering to React Native style best practices.
NO In-line Stylings
In-line styling is not a good practice, mainly because of reasons like it is difficult to maintain and promotes repetitive code. A separate style sheet can be included into all the files that need styling. This way the styles can b easily maintained and updated whenever. Additionally, one style definition can be used multiple times, thus no repetitive code.
Exception Handling
Exception handling is important to rollout a bug free and seamless app. A well designed app that crashes and works weirdly is the worst. The try…catch statement block is a great method of exception handling.
The “try block” contains one or more code pieces while the “catch block” contains statements specifying what to do in case an exception is thrown by the try block. Here is an example:
try {
throw new Error(“Error”);
} catch (error) {
// handle Error
}
There are other methods for exception handling and React Native debug network requests that you can checkout.
API Calls in componentDidMount()
To have correct order of rendering components and data flow it is important to put all API calls within the componentDidMount() life cycle method. Placing your code inside the method ensures data load after first render. Hence, the app speeds up loading its initial state quicker without any errors ensuring React Native security.
For those who use React Native hooks, go for useEffect instead. Following is a sample code.
useEffect(()=>{
//Your Api Call
},[])
Validations Performance
Implementing validations on both ends i.e. Local and Server side is important wherever possible. While there are some validations that can only be validated on the server side and vice versa. Thus, it is best to perform validations on both ends ensuring right React Native app structure.
Responsive App
Ensuring responsiveness of the applications is very important. Responsiveness includes, running smoothly for each Android and iOS device that you plan on releasing the app for with right React Native styling. Running smoothly and giving almost similar visuals on different devices and screen sizes.
Loading Spinners
Use loading spinners while fetching the data or waiting for an API response, so that the users know that they are waiting for something. Elsewise the users think that the app has stopped working. It is important to let them know that their interactions is recorded and the app is working on the request. This includes both React Native performance and react best practices.
Safe Area View
The look and feel on an app is very important. When it comes to iOS using SafeAreaView, it uses auto padding when a view intersects with a safe area (notch, status bar, home indicator).
Keyboard Avoiding View
The most annoying thing when using an app is when the keyboard is blocking the view. If and when the app requires the use of keyboard the view port should be moved out of the way with auto height adjustment.
Differentiating between Creen Pushing & Navigating
Some application actions require pushing to a new screen to app stack, while others require going to a screen you’ve loaded before. React native app development is not just about writing code, but writing code that works well creating an app that performs well.
Editing External Libraries
It is not just React Native best practices but whenever you use some external libraries it is best not to modify it directly. Specially, when working with a team through version control, it will be ignored and your team will not know of the changes. Probably the modified code will be overwritten by an NPM update.
React native project structure guides to work on the original repository linking it with your’s.
Lock Dependencies
Does your React Native app has dependencies looking something like:
“some-cool-library”: “^0.4.2”
If yes then you should remove the “^” sign to lock the dependency on that specific version. This ensures that your project does not get errors and broken code when importing changes from a newer version.
There are many other React Native guide and best practices that you will learn along the way. Try writing better code and implement what you learn, eventually you will catch up with the trends and React Native best practices. The best way a marvel of an app then hiring react native developer is the best approach to it.
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