Overview
- SSR (Server Side Rendering) as a view template engine
- Dynamic
props
- Passing the server data to the React client
props
- Suitable for dynamic routes like blogging
Head
component for better SEO
- Developer Experience
- HMR (Hot Module Replacement) when
process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production'
- Automatically reflect to the browser as soon as you save the scripts and even if styles
Usage
Install it:
$ npm install --save @react-ssr/core @react-ssr/express express react react-dom
And add a script to your package.json like this:
{
"scripts": {
"start": "node server.js"
}
}
Then, populate files below inside your project:
.babelrc
:
{
"presets": [
"@brendonjohn/react-ssr-express/babel"
]
}
server.js
:
const express = require('express');
const register = require('@react-ssr/express/register');
const app = express();
(async () => {
await register(app);
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
const message = 'Hello World!';
res.render('index', { message });
});
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('> Ready on http://localhost:3000');
});
})();
views/index.jsx
:
export default function Index({ message }) {
return <p>{message}</p>;
}
Finally, just run npm start
and go to http://localhost:3000
, and you'll see Hello World!
.
Configuration (ssr.config.js
)
Here is the default ssr.config.js
, which is used by react-ssr
when there are no valid values:
module.exports = {
id: 'default',
distDir: '.ssr',
viewsDir: 'views',
staticViews: [],
webpack: (config , env ) => {
return config;
},
};
ssr.config.js#id
The id of UI framework. (default: default
)
It can be ignored only when the project does not use any UI frameworks.
Supported UI frameworks are:
For example, if we want to use emotion
, ssr.config.js
is like this:
module.exports = {
id: 'emotion',
};
ssr.config.js#distDir
The place where react-ssr
generates production results. (default: .ssr
)
If we use TypeScript or any other library which must be compiled, the config below may be useful:
module.exports = {
distDir: 'dist/.ssr',
};
ssr.config.js#viewsDir
The place where we put views. (default: views
)
A function res.render('xxx')
will render views/xxx.jsx
or views/xxx.tsx
.
A working example is here: examples/basic-custom-views
ssr.config.js#staticViews
If specified, react-ssr
generates html cache when production:
module.exports = {
staticViews: [
'auth/login',
'auth/register',
'about',
],
};
ssr.config.js#webpack()
module.exports = {
webpack: (config , env ) => {
return config;
},
};
Custom Document
Just put _document.jsx
or _document.tsx
into the views root:
views/_document.jsx
:
import React from 'react';
import {
Document,
Head,
Main,
} from '@react-ssr/express';
export default class extends Document {
render() {
return (
<html lang="en">
<Head>
<title>Default Title</title>
<meta charSet="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="minimum-scale=1, initial-scale=1, width=device-width" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
</Head>
<body>
<Main />
</body>
</html>
);
}
};
Note:
- Please put
<Main />
component directly under <body>
tag and don't wrap <Main />
component with another components, because this is a hydration target for the client.
And then, use it as always:
views/index.jsx
:
const Index = (props) => {
return <p>Hello World!</p>;
};
export default Index;
A working example is here: examples/basic-custom-document
Dynamic Head
We can use the Head
component in any pages:
views/index.jsx
:
import React from 'react';
import { Head } from '@react-ssr/express';
const Index = (props) => {
return (
<React.Fragment>
<Head>
<title>Dynamic Title</title>
<meta name="description" content="Dynamic Description" />
</Head>
<p>Of course, SSR Ready!</p>
</React.Fragment>
);
};
export default Index;
A working example is here: examples/basic-dynamic-head
Supported UI Framework
Non CSS-in-JS framework
Like semantic-ui, non CSS-in-JS frameworks are supported without extra configuration.
All we have to do is to load global CSS in _document
or each page:
views/_document.jsx
:
import React from 'react';
import {
Document,
Head,
Main,
} from '@react-ssr/express';
export default class extends Document {
render() {
return (
<html lang="en">
<Head>
<title>A Sample of Semantic UI React</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/semantic-ui@2.4.2/dist/semantic.min.css" />
</Head>
<body>
<Main />
</body>
</html>
);
}
}
With Ant Design
In order to enable SSR, we must install babel-plugin-import
as devDependencies.
And then, populate .babelrc
in your project root:
{
"presets": [
"@brendonjohn/react-ssr-express/babel"
],
"plugins": [
[
"import",
{
"libraryName": "antd",
"style": "css"
}
]
]
}
A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-antd
With Emotion
In order to enable SSR, we must install these packages:
And then, populate .babelrc
in your project root:
{
"presets": [
"@brendonjohn/react-ssr-express/babel"
],
"plugins": [
"emotion"
]
}
A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-emotion
With Material UI
We can use material-ui without extra configuration.
A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-material-ui
With styled-components
In order to enable SSR, we must install babel-plugin-styled-components
as devDependencies.
And then, populate .babelrc
in your project root:
{
"presets": [
"@brendonjohn/react-ssr-express/babel"
],
"plugins": [
"styled-components"
]
}
A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-styled-components
TypeScript Support
To enable TypeScript engine (.tsx
), just put tsconfig.json
in your project root directory.
The code of TypeScript will be like this:
package.json
:
{
"scripts": {
"start": "ts-node server.ts"
}
}
server.ts
:
import express, { Request, Response } from '@react-ssr/express';
const app = express();
app.get('/', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
const message = 'Hello World!';
res.render('index', { message });
});
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('> Ready on http://localhost:3000');
});
views/index.tsx
:
interface IndexProps {
message: string;
}
export default function Index({ message }: IndexProps) {
return <p>{message}</p>;
}
Examples
- @react-ssr/express
- @react-ssr/nestjs-express
- @react-ssr/static
Starters
Articles
Introducing an Alternative to NEXT.js
[Express] React as a View Template Engine?
Related
reactjs/express-react-views