koa-react-views
v0.0.1
Published
This is a Koa view engine that renders React components on the server. It renders static markup and *does not* support mounting those views on the client.
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koa-react-views
This is a Koa view engine that renders React components on the server. It renders static markup and does not support mounting those views on the client.
This is intended to be used as a replacement for existing server-side view solutions.
This is an adaptation of express-react-views, and this README cribs that project's README heavily.
Usage
install
npm install koa-react-views react react-domAdd it to your app
// app.js
var app = koa();
require('koa-react-views')(app, {
viewExt: '.jsx'
});Settings
setting | values | default
--------|--------|--------:
doctype | any string that can be used as a doctype, this will be prepended to your document | "<!DOCTYPE html>"
beautify | true: beautify markup before outputting (note, this can affect rendering due to additional whitespace) | false
transformViews | true: use babel to apply JSX, ESNext transforms to views.Note: if already using babel-core/register in your project, you should set this to false | true
root | path to your views | path.resolve(process.cwd, './views')
viewExt | file extension | .jsx
Views
Under the hood, Babel is used to compile your views into ES5 friendly code, using the default Babel options. Only the files in your views directory will be compiled.
Your views should be node modules that export a React component. Let's assume you have this file in views/index.jsx:
var React = require('react');
var HelloMessage = React.createClass({
render: function() {
return <div>Hello {this.props.name}</div>;
}
});
module.exports = HelloMessage;Routes
In your route handlers, you gain a helpful render method:
// app.js
var route = require('koa-route');
app.use(route.get('/', index));
function* index () {
this.render('index');
}Layouts
Your views are really just React components. If you want a "layout", just require it:
views/layouts/default.jsx:
var React = require('react');
var DefaultLayout = React.createClass({
render: function() {
return (
<html>
<head><title>{this.props.title}</title></head>
<body>{this.props.children}</body>
</html>
);
}
});
module.exports = DefaultLayout;views/index.jsx:
var React = require('react');
var DefaultLayout = require('./layouts/default');
var HelloMessage = React.createClass({
render: function() {
return (
<DefaultLayout title={this.props.title}>
<div>Hello {this.props.name}</div>
</DefaultLayout>
);
}
});
module.exports = HelloMessage;Caveats
- This uses
requireto access your views. This means that contents are cached for the lifetime of the server process. You need to restart your server when making changes to your views. In development, we clear your view files from the cache so you can simply refresh your browser to see changes. - React & JSX have their own rendering caveats. For example, inline
<script>s and<style>s will need to usedangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: 'script content'}}. You can take advantage of ES6 template strings here.
<script dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: `
// google analtyics
// is a common use
`}} />- It's not possible to specify a doctype in JSX. You can override the default HTML5 doctype in the settings.