React best practices and patterns to reduce code — Part 3

5 min readMar 21, 2022

React best practices and patterns to reduce code | Rahul Sharma(DevsMitra)

This is 3rd the article about React best practices, If you have not read my previous articles, please check them out.

React best practices and patterns to reduce code — Part 1
React best practices and patterns to reduce code — Part 2

React best practices and patterns to reduce code

let’s look at some more best practices and patterns to reduce code.

Store Tokens to an HTTP Cookie rather than localStorage

Bad code:

const token = localStorage.getItem("token");
if (token) {
  axios.defaults.headers.common["Authorization"] = token;
}

Good code:

import Cookies from "js-cookie"; //  use another library if you wantconst token = Cookies.get("token");
if (token) {
  axios.defaults.headers.common["Authorization"] = token;
}

Better code:

No Code 😉

Note:

Cookies are shared with all sites on the same domain. No need to pass the token to every request. If the backend is not on the same domain as the frontend, you have to use 2nd approach.
Use the HttpOnly attribute to prevent access to cookie values(token) via JavaScript. but you need some flags at React app for checking route access.

Use interceptors for auth token or any other common headers

Bad code:

axios.get("/api", {
  headers: {
    ts: new Date().getTime(),
  },
});

Good code:

// only once
axios.interceptors.request.use(
  (config) => {
    // Do something before request is sent
    config.headers["ts"] = new Date().getTime();
    return config;
  },
  (error) => {
    // Do something with request error
    return Promise.reject(error);
  }
);// Component
axios.get("/api");

Use context/redux for passing props to children

Bad code:

const auth = { name: "John", age: 30 };
return (
  <Router>
    <Route path="/" element={<App auth={auth} />} />
    <Route path="/home" element={<Home auth={auth} />} />
  </Router>
);

Good code:

return (
  <Provider store={store}>
    <Router>
      <Route
        path="/"
        element={<App />}
      />
      <Route
        path="/home"
        element={<Home />}
      />
    </Router>
);
// Inside child component
const { auth } = useContext(AuthContext); // For context
const { auth } = useSelector((state) => state.auth); // For redux

Use helper function for styled-components not bad code but difficult to read when you think in terms of px.

const Button = styled.button`
  margin: 1.31rem 1.43rem;
  padding: 1.25rem 1.5rem;
`;

Create helper function for px to rem conversion

const toRem = (value) => `${value / 16}rem`;
const Button = styled.button`
  margin: ${toRem(21)} ${toRem(23)};
  padding: ${toRem(20)} ${toRem(24)};
`;

Use a common function for input data changeBad code:

const onNameChange = (e) => setName(e.target.value);
const onEmailChange = (e) => setEmail(e.target.value);return (
  <form>
    <input type="text" name="name" onChange={onNameChange} />
    <input type="text" name="email" onChange={onEmailChange} />
  </form>
);

Good code:

const onInputChange = (e) => {
  const { name, value } = e.target;
  setFormData((prevState) => ({
    ...prevState,
    [name]: value,
  }));
};return (
  <form>
    <input type="text" name="name" onChange={onInputChange} />
    <input type="text" name="email" onChange={onInputChange} />
  </form>
);

Use intersection observer for lazy loading

Bad code:

element.addEventListener("scroll", function (e) {
  // do something
});

Good code:

const useScroll = (ele, options = {}): boolean => {
  const [isIntersecting, setIsIntersecting] = useState(false);
  useEffect(() => {
    const cb = (entry) => setIsIntersecting(() => entry.isIntersecting);
    const callback: IntersectionObserverCallback = (entries) => entries.forEach(cb);
    const observer = new IntersectionObserver(callback, options);
    if (ele) observer.observe(ele);
    return (): void => ele && observer.unobserve(ele);
  }, [ele]);
  return isIntersecting;
};
// Component
const ref = useRef<any>();
const isIntersecting = useScroll(ref?.current);useEffect(() => {
  if (isIntersecting) {
    // call an API
  }
}, [isIntersecting]);

Use HOC for authentication and private route

Bad code:

const Component = () => {
  if (!isAuthenticated()) {
    return <Redirect to="/login" />;
  }
  return <div></div>;
};

Good code:

const withAuth = (Component) => {
  return (props) => {
    if (!isAuthenticated()) {
      return <Redirect to="/login" />;
    }
    return <Component {...props} />;
  };
};// Route
<Route path="/home" component={withAuth(Home)} />;// Component
const Component = (props) => <div></div>;
export default withAuth(Component);

Use Array of route object to define the routes

Common approach:

return (
  <Router>
    <Route path="/" element={<App />} />
    <Route path="/about" element={<About />} />
    <Route path="/topics" element={<Topics />} />
  </Router>
);

Good code:

const routes = [
  {
    path: "/",
    role: ["ADMIN"],
    element: React.lazy(() => import("../pages/App")),
    children: [
      {
        path: "/child",
        element: React.lazy(() => import("../pages/Child")),
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    path: "/about",
    role: [],
    element: React.lazy(() => import("../pages/About")),
  },
  {
    path: "/topics",
    role: ["User"],
    element: React.lazy(() => import("../pages/Topics")),
  },
];const createRoute = ({ element, children, role, ...route }) => {
  const Component = role.length > 0 ? withAuth(element) : element;
  return (
    <Route key={route.path} {...route} element={<Component />}>
      {children && children.map(createRoute)}
    </Route>
  );
};return <Routes>{routes.map(createRoute)}</Routes>;

Note: This requires more code, but it is more flexible. If you want to use more HOC, you have to only update createRoute.

Use Typescript

Nothing wrong if you don’t use Typescript 😀, but it’ll help you to write better code

npx create-react-app my-app --template typescript

Use eslint, prettier for Formatting

npm install -D eslint prettier
npx eslint --init

Refer to this: Eslint setup, Prettier setup

😥 Not added complete steps, I want to keep this short and simple. If you find any difficulties, please leave a comment.

Use the pre-commit hook to run eslint and prettier

npx mrm@2 lint-staged // This will install and configure pre-commit hook// This script will be created at the root of your project
.husky/pre-commit// Package.json
"lint-staged": {
  "src/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}": [
    "npm run lint",
    "npm run prettier",
    "npm run unit-test",
    "git add"
  ]
}

Note:

You can update the config to run prettier and eslint on commit. You can add or remove the command in the project package.json.
Better to have CI & CD setup for this, Someone can comment out the pre-commit hook and push code to git.