react-techniques.md

React Tips and Techniques

• Get your React.js application translated with style
  https://medium.com/@jamuhl/get-your-react-js-application-translated-with-style-4ad090aefc2c
  A short opinionated intro to several aspects of handling translation in a React app, by the author of a React internationalization library.

• Adding Drag and Drop to React
  https://www.dailydrip.com/blog/adding-drag-and-drop-to-react.html
  An example of using react-dnd to add drag-and-drop behavior, in conjunction with Redux.

• Climbing Up the React Component Tree
  https://www.ynonperek.com/2017/08/05/react-parent-hirearchy/
  https://www.reddit.com/r/reactjs/comments/6s4czp/traversing_react_tree_in_the_opposite_direction/
  Gives examples for calculating an array describing a component's parents, including using a HOC and using context. Not a recommended thing to try, but the exploration of the idea is interesting. The Reddit comments have a bit more useful discussion.

• SVG Patterns in React - Build a Twitter Wall
  https://www.robinwieruch.de/react-svg-patterns/
  A tutorial that covers several aspects of using SVG in React, and demonstrates how to use the svg-patterns library to generate patterend backgrounds.

• Translating React Apps
  https://tech.gadventures.com/translating-react-apps-99dede52d924
  Discusses how to use the React-Intl library to add translations to a React app

• Lessons from migrating a large codebase to React 16
  https://blog.discordapp.com/lessons-from-migrating-a-large-codebase-to-react-16-e60e49102aa6
  An excellent post from the Discord team recapping how they migrated an older React codebase to work with React 16, including use of codemods, replacing private API usage, upgrading dependencies, and other issues they ran into.

• React UI Frameworks, Compared
  https://gather.engineering/react-ui-frameworks-compared-dd631eb5c982
  A list of available React UI frameworks, with reviews and comparisons on breadth of components, quality, project health, and more. Includes Ant Design, PrimeReact, Office UI Fabric, Blueprint, React UI, Semantic UI React, ExtReact, and Kendo React UI.

• Creating react-editables: How to build a set of reusable React components
  https://medium.com/@niwaa/creating-react-editables-how-to-build-a-set-of-reusable-react-components-with-an-hoc-and-write-7a685947a992
  Looks at the steps needed to create a set of reusable React components and publish them to NPM. Includes extended thoughts on component design for reusability.

• Robust React User Interfaces with Finite State Machines
  https://css-tricks.com/robust-react-user-interfaces-with-finite-state-machines/
  An excellent article that describes the concepts of state machines, how they relate to applications, and how they can be applied to help manage React component behavior.

• Adventures in creating a React component library with Create React App and TypeScript
  https://medium.com/@stokedbits/adventures-in-creating-a-react-component-library-with-create-react-app-and-typescript-26d1116a7d87
  Walks through the process of using the TS+CRA starter kit as a baseline for building and publishing a component library.

Security

• Exploiting Script Injection Flaws in ReactJS Apps
  https://medium.com/dailyjs/exploiting-script-injection-flaws-in-reactjs-883fb1fe36c1
  Describes how React is safe by design as long as it's used as intended, and looks at several possible attack vectors that can result from wrong use of React.

• How can I securely use CSS-in-JS with React?
  https://reactarmory.com/answers/how-can-i-use-css-in-js-securely
  Covers several potential security holes that can result from allowing user input into CSS-in-JS libraries, with examples.

JSX and Events

• Is JSX Still Relevant? Are there other options?
  https://goshakkk.name/jsx-relevancy-options/
  Gosha Arinich addresses complaints about using JSX and "mixing HTML into JS" by discussing how JSX is syntax sugar for React.createElement() calls, and how JSX is really optional.

• React Without JSX
  https://mockbrian.com/blog/2017/08/11/react-without-jsx/
  Describes how to add React to an existing page with no build tools, and a couple approaches to writing render functions that don't use JSX.

• Integrating React and Redux Into an Existing Backbone App
  http://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2017/07/react-redux-backbone-integration/ A look at ways to show React components inside of Backbone views, and some discussion of how to simplify React rendering when JSX isn't available by using libraries like react-hyperscript-helpers.

• How I learned to stop worrying and love the JSX
  http://jamesknelson.com/learned-stop-worrying-love-jsx/
  Discusses several aspects of JSX, including "separation of concerns", how JSX translates into function calls, that JSX is optional, when to avoid using JSX, and more.

• React without a build step
  https://medium.com/@alexkrolick/writing-react-components-for-3rd-party-embedding-50331c18e26
  Describes how using React.createElement instead of JSX eliminates the need for a compile step, compares examples of equivalent JSX and createElement usage, and shows how to write a small embeddable widget using React/Preact that doesn't need any build step at all.

• 9 Things You Should Know About JSX
  https://dev.to/sarah_chima/9-things-you-should-know-about-jsx-3bm
  A useful explanation of what JSX syntax is, how it works, and and how to use it.

• How the JSX Transform Works
  https://jaketrent.com/post/how-jsx-transform-works/
  A helpful explanation of how JSX tags are transformed into React elements, with example snippets

• JSX In Depth - an interactive tutorial
  http://blog.klipse.tech/javascript/2016/12/14/jsx.html
  An interactive version of the "JSX in Depth" tutorial from the React docs

• Events in React
  https://www.kirupa.com/react/events_in_react.htm
  An introduction to React's event handling system, including useful tips and some gotchas

• React events in depth
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRo_egw7tBc
  A video chat between Kent C Dodds, Dan Abramov, and Ben Alpert, discussing how events work in React

Debugging and Error Handling

• Intro to Debugging React Applications
  https://medium.com/@baphemot/intro-to-debugging-reactjs-applications-67cf7a50b3dd
  An excellent introduction to the basic tools, concepts, and approaches for debugging React apps, including the browser's DevTools console, network tab, and source debugger, as well as the React DevTools.

• React v16 beta is out, suddenly everyone needs to catch UI errors
  https://medium.com/shiftgig-blog/react-v16-beta-is-out-suddenly-everyone-needs-to-catch-ui-errors-37c8c4b527e9
  Discussion and examples of using the new componentDidCatch and ErrorBoundary features in React 16, including a demo of what errors they will and won't catch.

• Catching exceptions using Higher Order Components in React 16
  https://codeburst.io/catching-exceptions-using-higher-order-components-in-react-16-b8a401853a10
  https://twitter.com/dan_abramov/status/890716011133100032
  Examples of how to write a Higher-Order-Component that adds error boundaries. ALso worth contrasting with Dan's tweet, where he suggests that you shouldn't need to use HOCs to make use of error boundaries.