@cher-ami/router

🚃
cher-ami router

A fresh react router designed for flexible route transitions

cher-ami router API is inspired by wouter, solidify router and vue router API. This repository started from a copy of willybrauner/react-router.

Why another react router?

Because managing route transitions with React is always complicated, this router is designed to allow flexible transitions. It provides Stack component who render previous and current page component when route change.

This router loads history , path-parser and debug as dependencies.

Summary

• Installation
• Simple usage
• Dynamic routes
• Nested routes
• Manage Transitions
  • Default sequential transitions
  • Custom transitions
• Debug
• Example

API

Components:

• <Router /> Wrap Link and stack component
• <Link /> Trig current stack
• <Stack /> Wrap previous and current page

Hooks:

• useRouter Get current router informations like currentRoute and previousRoute
• useLocation Get current location and set new location
• useStack Allow to the parent Stack to handle page transitions and refs
• useRouteCounter Get global history route counter
• useHistory Get global router history and handle history changes

Middlewares:

• langMiddleware Patch all routes with :lang params

Services:

• LangService Manage :lang params
• Translate Path

Installation

$ npm i @cher-ami/router -s

Simple usage

import React from "react";
import { Router, Link, Stack } from "@cher-ami/router";
import { createBrowserHistory } from "history";

const routesList = [
  {
    path: "/",
    component: HomePage,
  },
  {
    path: "/foo",
    component: FooPage,
  },
];

const history = createBrowserHistory();

function App() {
  return (
    <Router routes={routesList} history={history} base={"/"}>
      <nav>
        <Link to={"/"} />
        <Link to={"/foo"} />
      </nav>
      <Stack />
    </Router>
  );
}

Page component need to be wrapped by React.forwardRef. The handleRef lets hold transitions, and ref used by <Stack /> component.

import React from "react";
import { useStack } from "@cher-ami/router";

const FooPage = forwardRef((props, handleRef) => {
  const componentName = "FooPage";
  const rootRef = useRef(null);

  // create custom page transitions (example with GSAP)
  const playIn = () => {
    return new Promise((resolve) => {
      gsap.from(rootRef.current, { autoAlpha: 0, onComplete: resolve });
    });
  };
  const playOut = () => {
    return new Promise((resolve) => {
      gsap.to(rootRef.current, { autoAlpha: 0, onComplete: resolve });
    });
  };

  // register page transition properties used by Stack component
  useStack({ componentName, handleRef, rootRef, playIn, playOut });

  return (
    <div className={componentName} ref={rootRef}>
      {componentName}
    </div>
  );
});

Demo codesandbox: simple usage

Dynamic routes

cher-ami router use path-parser which accept path parameters. (check this documentation). For example, URL /blog/my-article will match with this route object:

const routesList = [
  {
    path: "/blog/:id",
    component: ArticlePage,
  },
];

You can access route parameters by page component props or by useRouter() hook.

import React, { useEffect, forwardRef } from "react";
import { useRoute } from "@cher-ami/router";

const ArticlePage = forwardRef((props, handleRef) => {
  useEffect(() => {
    console.log(props.params); // { id: "my-article" }
  }, [props]);

  // or from any nested components
  const { currentRoute } = useRouter();
  useEffect(() => {
    console.log(currentRoute.props.params); // { id: "my-article" }
  }, [currentRoute]);

  // ...
});

Demo codesandbox: simple usage

Also, it is possible to match a specific route by a simple dynamic route parameter for the "not found route" case. In this case, the routes object order declaration is important. /:rest path route need to be the last of the routesList array.

const routesList = [
  {
    path: "/",
    component: HomePage,
  },
  {
    path: "/foo",
    component: FooPage,
  },
  // if "/" and "/foo" doesn't match with the current URL, this route will be rendered
  {
    path: "/:rest",
    component: NotFoundPage,
  },
];

Demo codesandbox: not found route

Nested Routes

cher-ami router supports nested routes 🙏🏽

• Define children routes in initial routes list with children key;

const routesList = [
  {
    path: "/",
    component: HomePage,
  },
  {
    path: "/foo",
    component: FooPage,

    // define children routes here
    children: [
      {
        path: "/people",
        component: PeoplePage,
      },
      {
        path: "/yolo",
        component: YoloPage,
      },
    ],
  },
];

• Children were defined within the route that render FooPage component, so you can then create a new router instance in this component.

Only if it's a nested router, you must not pass routes Router props again. The previous routes array, passed to the root component, will be used by Router.

Router props base need to be the same than the path who contains children routes. In this case, /foo will be the new nested router base. The stack will then be able to render /foo/people and /foo/yolo.

import React from "react";
import { Router, useStack, Stack } from "@cher-ami/router";

const FooPage = forwardRef((props, handleRef) => {
  // ...
  return (
    <div
      className="FooPage"
      // ...
    >
      <Router base={"/foo"}>
        <Stack />
      </Router>
    </div>
  );
});

Demo codesandbox: nested router

Manage transitions

ManageTransitions function allows to define, "when" and "in what conditions", routes transitions will be exectued.

Default sequential transitions

By default, a "sequential" transitions senario is used by Stack component: the previous page play out performs, then the new page play in.

const sequencialTransition = ({ previousPage, currentPage, unmountPreviousPage }) => {
  return new Promise(async (resolve) => {
    const $current = currentPage?.$element;

    // hide new page
    if ($current) $current.style.visibility = "hidden";

    // play out and unmount previous page
    if (previousPage) {
      await previousPage.playOut();
      unmountPreviousPage();
    }

    // wait page isReady promise
    await currentPage?.isReadyPromise?.();

    // show and play in new page
    if (currentPage) {
      if ($current) $current.style.visibility = "visible";
      await currentPage?.playIn?.();
    }

    resolve();
  });
};

Custom transitions

It's however possible to create a custom transitions senario function and pass it to the Stack manageTransitions props. In this example, we would like to create a "crossed" route senario: the previous page playOut performs at the same time than the new page playIn.

const App = (props, handleRef) => {
  const customSenario = ({ previousPage, currentPage, unmountPreviousPage }) => {
    return new Promise(async (resolve) => {
      // write a custom "crossed" senario...
      if (previousPage) previousPage?.playOut?.();
      if (currentPage) await currentPage?.playIn?.();

      resolve();
    });
  };

  return (
    // ...
    <Stack manageTransitions={customSenario} />
  );
};

Demo codesandbox: custom manage transitions

Debug

@wbe/debug is used on this project. It allows to easily get logs informations on development and production modes.

To use it, add this line in your browser console:

localStorage.debug = "router:*"

Example

A use case example is available on this repos.

Install dependencies

$ npm i

Start dev server

$ npm run dev

API

Router

Router component creates a new router instance.

<Router routes={} base={} history={} middlewares={}>
  {/* can now use <Link /> and <Stack /> component */}
</Router>

Props:

• routes TRoute[] Routes list
• base string Base URL - default: "/"
• history BrowserHistory | HashHistory | MemoryHistory (optional) create and set an history () - default : BrowserHistory History mode can be BROWSER , HASH , MEMORY . For more information, check the history library documentation
• middlewares [] add routes middleware function to patch each routes (check langMiddleware example)

Link

Trig new route.

<Link to={} className={} />

Props:

• to string | TOpenRouteParams Path ex: /foo or {name: "FooPage" params: { id: bar }}. "to" props accepts same params than setLocation.
• children ReactNode children link DOM element
• onClick ()=> void (optional) execute callback on the click event
• className string (optional) Class name added to component root DOM element

Stack

Render previous and current page component.

<Stack manageTransitions={} className={} />

Props:

• manageTransitions (T:TManageTransitions) => Promise<void> (optional) This function allows to create the transition scenario. If no props is filled, a sequential transition will be executed.
• className string (optional) className added to component root DOM element

type TManageTransitions = {
  previousPage: IRouteStack;
  currentPage: IRouteStack;
  unmountPreviousPage: () => void;
};

interface IRouteStack {
  componentName: string;
  playIn: () => Promise<any>;
  playOut: () => Promise<any>;
  isReady: boolean;
  $element: HTMLElement;
  isReadyPromise: () => Promise<void>;
}

useRouter

Get current router informations:

const router = useRouter();

Returns:

useRouter() returns an object with these public properties:

• currentRoute TRoute Current route object
• previousRoute TRoute Previous route object
• routeIndex number Current router index
• base string Formated base URL

// previousRoute and currentRoute
type TRoute = {
  path: string;
  component: React.ComponentType<any>;
  props?: { [x: string]: any };
  parser?: Path;
  children?: TRoute[];
  matchUrl?: string;
  fullUrl?: string;
};

useLocation

Allow the router to change location.

const [location, setLocation] = useLocation();
// give URL
setLocation("/bar");
// or an object
setLocation({ name: "FooPage", params: { id: "2" } });

Returns:

An array with these properties:

• location string Get current pathname location
• setLocation (path:string | TOpenRouteParams) => void Open new route

type TOpenRouteParams = {
  name: string;
  params?: { [x: string]: any };
};

useStack

useStack allows to the parent Stack to handle page transitions and refs.

usage:

import React from "react";
import { useStack } from "@cher-ami/router";

const FooPage = forwardRef((props, handleRef) => {
  const componentName = "FooPage";
  const rootRef = useRef(null);

  const playIn = () => new Promise((resolve) => {  ... });
  const playOut = () => new Promise((resolve) => {  ... });

  // "handleRef" will get properties via useImperativeHandle
  useStack({
    componentName,
    handleRef,
    rootRef,
    playIn,
    playOut
  });

  return (
    <div className={componentName} ref={rootRef}>
      {/* ... */}
    </div>
  );
});

useStack hook can also receive isReady state from the page component. This state allows for example to wait for fetching data before page playIn function is executed.

// ...

const [pageIsReady, setPageIsReady] = useState(false);

useEffect(() => {
  // simulate data fetching or whatever for 2 seconds
  setTimeout(() => {
    setPageIsReady(true);
  }, 2000);
}, []);

useStack({
  componentName,
  handleRef,
  rootRef,
  playIn,
  playOut,
  // add the state to useStack
  // playIn function wait for isReady to change to true
  isReady: pageIsReady,
});

// ...

How does it work? useStack hook registers isReady state and isReadyPromise in handleRef. manageTransitions can now use isReadyPromise in its own thread senario.

const customManageTransitions = ({ previousPage, currentPage, unmountPreviousPage }) => {
  return new Promise(async (resolve) => {
    // ...
    // waiting for page "isReady" state to change to continue...
    await currentPage?.isReadyPromise?.();
    // ...
    resolve();
  });
};

Demo codesandbox: wait-is-ready

Parameters:

• componentName string Name of current component
• handleRef MutableRefObject<any> Ref handled by parent component
• rootRef MutableRefObject<any> Ref on root component element
• playIn () => Promise<any> (optional) Play in transition - default: new Promise.resolve()
• playOut () => Promise<any> (optional) Play out transition - default: new Promise.resolve()
• isReady boolean (optional) Is ready state - default: true

Returns:

nothing

useRouteCounter

Returns route counter

const { routeCounter, isFirstRoute, resetCounter } = useRouteCounter();

Parameters:

nothing

Returns:

An object with these properties:

• routerCounter number Current route number - default: 1
• isFirstRoute boolean Check if it's first route - default: true
• resetCounter () => void Reset routerCounter & isFirstRoute states

useHistory

Allow to get the global router history and execute a callback each time history change.

const history = useHistory((e) => {
  // do something
});

Parameters:

• callback (event) => void Callback function to execute each time the history change

Returns:

• history location[] : Location array of history API

langMiddleware

Patch all first level routes with :lang params. For it to work, we need to initialize LangService first.

import { langMiddleware } from "@cher-ami/router";

<Router routes={routesList} base={"/"} middlewares={[langMiddleware]}>
  // ...
</Router>;

LangService

Manage :lang params from anywhere inside Router scope.

import { LangService, langMiddleware } from "@cher-ami/router";
import { Stack } from "./Stack";

const baseUrl = "/";
// first lang object is default lang
const locales = [{ key: "en" }, { key: "fr" }, { key: "de" }];
// optionally, default lang can be defined explicitly
// const locales = [{ key: "en" }, { key: "fr", default: true }, { key: "de" }];

// initialize LangService
LangService.init(locales, true, baseUrl);

<Router routes={routesList} base={baseUrl} middlewares={[langMiddleware]}>
  <App />
</Router>;

Inside the App

function App() {
  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={() => LangService.setLang({ key: "de" })}>
        switch to "de" lang
      </button>
      <nav>
        {/* will return /de */}
        <Link to={"/"} />
        {/* will return /de/foo */}
        <Link to={"/foo"} />
      </nav>
      <Stack />
    </div>
  );
}

Methods:

init(languages: TLanguage[], showDefaultLangInUrl = true, base = "/") void

Initialize LangService. Need to be call before first router instance

• languages: list on language objects
• showDefaultLangInUrl: choose if default language is visible in URL or not
• base: set the same than router base

LangService.init([{ key: "en" }, { key: "fr" }], true, "/base");

languages Tlanguage[]

Return languages list

const langages = LangService.languages;

currentLang TLanguage

Return current Language object.

const lang = LangService.currentLang;
// { key: "..." }

defaultLang TLanguage

Return default language object

const defaultLang = LangService.defaultLang;
// { key: "..." }

isInit boolean

Return LangService init state

const isInit = LangService.isInit;

setLang(toLang: TLanguage, forcePageReload = true) void

Switch to another available language. This method can be called in nested router component only.

• forcePageReload: choose if we reload the full application or using the internal router stack to change the language

LangService.setLang({ key: "de" });

redirect(forcePageReload = true) void

If URL is /, showDefaultLangInUrl is set to true and default lang is 'en', it will redirect to /en. This method can be called in nested router component only.

• forcePageReload: choose if we reload the full application or using the internal router stack to change the language

LangService.redirect();

Translate Path

Paths can be translated by lang in route path property:

  {
    path: { en: "/foo", fr: "/foo-fr", de: "/foo-de" },
    component: FooPage,
  }

Credits

Willy Brauner & cher-ami