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Lab 20: Router Basics

Objectives​

  • Create another Page (container component)
  • Add Basic Routes (install, configure)
  • Create a Navigation Menu

Steps​

Create another Page (container component)​

  1. Create a HomePage component.

    You will need to create a home directory.

    src\home\HomePage.js​

    import React from 'react';

    function HomePage() {
      return <h2>Home</h2>;
    }

    export default HomePage;

Add Basic Routes (install, configure)​

  1. Open a command prompt (Windows) or terminal (Mac).

  2. Change the current directory to code\keeptrack.

    If the top level directory you have open in VS Code is keeptrack and you are using the integrated terminal you will already be in this directory.

  3. Run one of the following commands to install React Router:

    npm​

    npm install react-router-dom@6.3

    Yarn​

    yarn add react-router-dom@6.3

  4. Configure the routes.

    src/App.js​

    import React from 'react';
    import './App.css';
    import ProjectsPage from './projects/ProjectsPage';

    + import { BrowserRouter as Router, Routes, Route, NavLink} from 'react-router-dom';
    + import HomePage from './home/HomePage';

      function App() {
    -  return (
    -    <div className="container">
    -      <ProjectsPage />
    -    </div>
    - );

    +  return (
    +    <Router>
    +      <div className="container">
    +        <Routes>
    +          <Route path="/" element={<HomePage />} />
    +          <Route path="/projects" element={<ProjectsPage />} />
    +        </Routes>
    +      </div>
    +    </Router>
    +  );
    };

    export default App;

Create a Navigation Menu​

  1. Modify your CSS styles to include some customizations for the navigation menu.

    src/App.css​

    header {
      height: 5.1875rem;
    }

    a.button.active {
      border: 1px solid var(--fore-color);
    }

    ...

  2. Add two <NavLink> components (which are provided by the React Router) and set them to visit the configured routes.

    src/app.js​

    function App() {
      return (
        <Router>
    +      <header className="sticky">
    +        <span className="logo">
    +          <img src="/assets/logo-3.svg" alt="logo" width="49" height="99" />
    +        </span>
    +        <NavLink to="/"  className="button rounded">
    +          <span className="icon-home"></span>
    +          Home
    +        </NavLink>
    +        <NavLink to="/projects" className="button rounded">
    +          Projects
    +        </NavLink>
    +      </header>
           <div className="container">
             ...
           </div>
        </Router>
      );
    };
    ...

    You can make any <a> tag a <NavLink> and add the to property to set the href.

  3. Verify the routes are working by the following these steps:

    1. Visit the root of the site: http://localhost:3000/ and refresh the page in your browser.
    2. Click on Projects in the navigation.
    3. Verify you are taken to the /projects route and the ProjectsPage displays. image
    4. Click on Home in the navigation.
    5. Verify you are taken to the / route and the HomePage displays. image

✔ You have completed Lab 20​