React Architecture Patterns: Best Practices for ReactJS Apps

Last Updated on January 23, 2024

Quick Summary:

The blog covers a comprehensive list of React Architecture Patterns to adhere to in 2024 to build efficient and robust ReactJS applications. Read further on how to optimize your React App with our brilliant edition of React Architecture Best Practices and discover its true potential.

Introduction

When it comes to building versatile and flexible user interfaces, React tops the charts surpassing every other JavaScript framework. It has redefined front-end development since its inception in 2013, with its fantastic component-based architecture and rendering capabilities. However, as the application grows and complexities kick in, it becomes essential to include proper architectural patterns and follow best practices for easy maintenance and scalability.
So let’s tour the world of React Architecture Patterns and explore best practices to build remarkable user interfaces that will be easy to maintain, modify and extend as your applications grow.

Role of React Architecture in Web Development

React architecture refers to how you structure and organize your web application using the React JavaScript library. It’s like a blueprint to build your projects. Here, you break down the code into smaller reusable parts called components, which can be simple as labels and buttons or as complex as user profiles or forms. These components can hold a “state,” which is storage space for the critical data that needs the app to function correctly.

But what sets React apart is that it allows you to decide how to organize and structure your code the way you want with your specific UI needs. It follows a component-oriented approach, meaning you can easily add new features, enhance and expand your app as it grows.

React architecture offers great benefits for web development, making it a popular choice among developers. Some of them are:

The component-based structure simplifies maintenance and encourages you to reuse the code.
Allows efficient data management across the components using libraries such as Redux through global state management.
Allows easy code expansion and scalability as your projects grow.
The component-based nature makes it easy for unit testing.

Also, read more about React State Management and how it helps you to build an enterprise app that is scalable, maintainable, and performant.

Now that we have understood the role of React architecture in Web development let’s look at React Architecture Patterns and the best practices you need to follow to build efficient and scalable web applications.

React Architecture Patterns and Best Practices To Follow In 2024

There are several React Architecture best practices that you should follow to harness the power of React Architecture truly. Below are some of the best ones we recommend following.

1. Directory Layout

Organizing files and folders in Project software management helps developers quickly organize their files and easily find what they need. Due to the folder structure, developers can see all the files related to a single feature simultaneously, making it easy to maintain and reuse the code whenever needed.

A “src” folder in React holds all the project’s source code files and folders. Here is a breakdown:

The “assets” folder holds static files like logos, fonts, and images.
The “components” folder contains UI codes, like buttons and forms.
The “views” folder has web images.
The “service” folder contains code for communicating with external APIs.
The “utils” folder simplifies reusable snippet functions.
The “ hooks” folder contains reusable code and new component logic.
The “store” folder holds state management like Redux.
The “App.js” folder serves as the primary component of the application.
“Index.js” The React app entry point starts here.
“Index.css” is the application’s global sheet style for styled-components.

However, it is to be noted that different names can be used depending on the personal choices of your projects. The goal here is to maintain a clean and organized structure that can be easily understood by everyone working on the codebase.

2. Common Modules

React lets you structure your codes as you wish; isn’t it amazing? However, creating modules that can be reused in your applications is always one of the advisable React Architecture Patterns. These modules can include things like reusable components, custom React hooks, utility functions, or even logic. Organizing your codes and making them reusable from the beginning can make the development process much more manageable. You can also share these modules with different components, views, and projects within your software, making it easier to update your React application.

3. Incorporate Custom Components with Designated Folders

Custom components are reusable blocks that can be used to create your app. Follow these sequential instruction steps to build your custom input component:

Under the “components directory,” establish a separate folder labeled “input.”
Now, create three new files inside the “Input” folder.

1. “Input.js”- This file usually contains all the functionalities and logic that are to be required for the custom input component.
2. “Input.css”- This file contains rules related explicitly to styling input components.
3. “Input.test.js”- This file contains the test cases that ensure all components behave as expected.

To simplify things, you can create the “index.js” file inside the “components” directory. It is the most important file, a center point for importing and exporting custom input components. With the help of this file, you can easily use your custom input component anywhere in your file without mentioning the full path each time. Organizing your components in different folders and utilizing an index file gives you a more manageable and accessible codebase.

Read more on how to further enhance your React architecture best practices by incorporating a carousel component. This feature allows for visually appealing content display, improving the overall user experience within your application.

4. Create Custom Hooks

While speaking of React architecture best practices, creating custom hooks can be highly beneficial. A custom hook is a function that starts with the prefix “use” to reuse certain functionality across various components. It helps reduce code duplication and complexity of the code by separating common logic into separate files.

Picture a web application that encompasses both Login and Registration pages. Both of these pages have input fields and require a password toggling feature. To avoid repetition code for password toggling on each page, create a reusable utility function called “usePasswordToggler.js” instead of writing the same code twice for each page. This hook contains the logic for toggling password visibility. You can easily centralize the password toggling logic in a single file with the help of this custom hook.

To create a hook, use the code below:

└── /src 
  ├── /hooks 
      ├──usePasswordToggler.js

Execute the code within the “usePasswordToggler” file and ensure to save the changes accordingly.

// ./src/hooks/usePasswordToggler.js 
import {useState} from 'react'; 
export const usePasswordToggler = () => { 
  const [passwordVisibility, setPasswordVisibility] = useState(true); 
  const [type, setType] = useState('password'); 
  const handlePasswordVisibility = () => { 
    if (type === 'password') { 
      setType('text'); 
      setPasswordVisibility(!passwordVisibility); 
    } else if (type === 'text') { 
      setType('password'); 
      setPasswordVisibility(!passwordVisibility); 
    } 
  }; 
  return { 
    type, 
    passwordVisibility, 
    handlePasswordVisibility 
  }; 
};

These custom hooks provide three objects as a result:

The type of input(text or password).
Visibility of the password, whether hidden or visible.
A function to toggle password visibility.

To utilize the hook in a standard React component, you can refer to the example provided below:

import React from 'react'; 
import { usePasswordToggler } from './hooks/usePasswordToggler'; 
import './App.css';  
function App() { 
  const { type, passwordVisibility, handlePasswordVisibility } = usePasswordToggler() 
  return ( 
    <main> 
      <div> 
        <input type={type} placeholder='Enter password...' /> 
        <button onClick={handlePasswordVisibility}>{passwordVisibility ? 'Show' : 'Hide'} Password</button> 
      </div> 
    </main> 
  ); 
}

Now export the default app, and you will see that the above codes will have the following output:

This is how you create and use a React custom hook.

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5. Use Absolute Imports

When you have a React app with multiple nested folders using relative paths like “../../components,” importing can be highly confusing and hard to manage. You can use absolute paths to make it easier instead. To achieve this, you can modify the ‘jsconfig.json’ file accordingly, a configuration file that helps the code editor understand the JavaScript code within your project.

Have a look at the example configuration that can enhance your import paths:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "src"
  },
  "include": ["src"]
}

Applying this modification, you can easily import the components located in the ‘/src/components’ directory using a simple import statement.

import { Button } from 'components';

You can further customize by using prefixes like ‘@components’ or ‘~components’ if your project includes a ‘webpack.config.js’ file in the root directory. By doing so, you can create a nickname or an alias for that particular folder. Have a look at this configuration:

module.exports = {
  resolve: {
    extensions: ['js'],
    alias: {
      '@': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src'),
      '@components': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src/components'),
      '@hooks': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src/hooks')
    }
  }
};

You can easily import the components you need with the help of specific prefixes using absolute paths with these configurations in place:

import { Button } from '@components';

6. Open Source Session Replay

Session Replay allows you to see exactly what happened in someone else’s browser at a later time. It is not a screen recording but a direct play of the real-time changes happening in the website’s elements. Out of all the session replay tools, OpenReplay is an open-source, fully functional version known for its user-friendly nature. When you sign up, you receive a JavaScript snippet that you can effortlessly add to your code. OpenPlay aligns with React architecture patterns and enables accurate bug production and troubleshooting with real-time monitoring enhancing your applications performance and user experience.

You Might Like To Read:

React Performance Optimization Techniques in 2024

7. Segregate Business logic from UI

To make maintenance and improve the quality of your code, it is always advisable to separate business logic from UI components. React components representing the UI structure should be organized and stored in the ‘/pages’ or ‘/views’ directory, while the business logic can be managed separately.
Imagine you are working on an application that fetches user data from an API endpoint. To do so, create a file called ‘api.js’ in the ‘/services’ folder to separate the logic from the UI from the codes below.

import axios from 'axios';
const api = { 
    fetchUsers: async () => { 
      const URL = 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users'; 
      return await axios.get(URL) 
        .then((res) => res) 
        .catch((err) => err) 
    } 
} 
export default api;

The code mentioned above will take care of the business logic; now let’s understand how to hook up the UI:

import './App.css' 
import api from './services/api' 
import { useState } from 'react' 
function App() { 
  const [users, setUsers] = useState([]) 
 const getUsers = () => { 
    api 
      .fetchUsers() 
      .then((res) => setUsers(res.data)) 
  } 
  return ( 
    <main> 
      <div> 
        <pre className="api__result">{ JSON.stringify(users, null, 2) }</pre> 
        <button onClick={getUsers}>Get Users</button> 
        <button onClick={() => setUsers([])}>Clear</button> 
      </div> 
    </main> 
  ); 
}
export default App;

This is what the final output looks like and how the business logic can be segregated from the UI.

8. The Utils Directory

The Utils folder is where you can store the helper functions used throughout your application. It’s where you keep your code organized. You can place functions in this folder to provide common functionalities you may need in different parts of your app.

Here is how you can package a utility function:

const fileName = 'Helper' 
const truncate = (str, num) => { 
  if (str.length > num) { 
    return str.slice(0, num) + "..."; 
  } else { 
    return str; 
  } 
} 
const navigateTo = (route) => { 
  window.location.href = route; 
} 
const genStr = () => { 
  return (Math.random() + 1).toString(36).substring(2); 
} 
export { 
  fileName, 
  truncate, 
  navigateTo, 
  genStr 
}

9. Avoiding Creating a Single Context for Everything

Sharing data between different components can sometimes pose challenges. Problems arise when there are multiple components between a parent and a child component, making it difficult to pass data through props. React Context is a feature that helps us solve this problem. This React Architecture best practice allows you to share data between components without the hassle of passing props manually at every level.

For example, if you have a theme context alongwith an API context, you do not have to include the API-related code in the theme context. Each component will only wrap the child components that need that specific data.

Look at the example given below.

const App = () => { 
  return (   
  <ThemeProvider> 
    <QueryClientProvider> 
      <Routes /> 
    </QueryClientProvider> 
  </ThemeProvider> 
  ) 
}

10. CSS in JavaScript

Using CSS in JavaScript with libraries such as Styled Components, EmotionJS, or Linaria is always recommended in React architecture. It helps you with issues related to styling and theming, such as name collisions and the scalability of large CSS files. CSS-in-JS offers advantages over other approaches like CSS modules, providing better performance, easier CSS extraction, and reduced dependency on build tools like Webapck. By separating styles into JavaScript files, you can achieve better organization and collaboration. It helps improve component isolation and testing.

11. Function as Children Pattern

To create a collapsible table row, you must handle two main aspects: rendering the collapse button and displaying the row’s children when expanded. The “function as children pattern” available in JSX 2.0 can simplify this task. Take a look:

The ‘Table’ component is the functional component that renders a basic table structure. It receives the ‘children’ prop that represents the content of the table body.

export default function Table({ children }) {
  return (
    <table>
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th>Just a table</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      {children}
    </table>
  );
}

And a collapsible table body:

import { useState } from 'react';

export default function CollapsibleTableBody({ children }) {
  const [collapsed, setCollapsed] = useState(false);

  const toggleCollapse = () => {
    setCollapsed(!collapsed);
  };

  return (
    <tbody>
      {children(collapsed, toggleCollapse)}
    </tbody>
  );
}

The’CollapsibleTableBody’ renders the table body and manages the collapse state. It receives a ‘children’ prop representing the table body’s content. This prop function allows you to customize the rendering based on the collapse state.

You can use the component in the following way:

<Table>
  <CollapsibleTableBody>
    {(collapsed, toggleCollapse) => {
      if (collapsed) {
        return (
          <tr>
            <td>
              <button onClick={toggleCollapse}>Open</button>
            </td>
          </tr>
        );
      } else {
        return (
          <tr>
            <td>
              <button onClick={toggleCollapse}>Closed</button>
            </td>
            <td>CollapsedContent</td>
          </tr>
        );
      }
    }}
  </CollapsibleTableBody>
</Table>

The use of the ‘Table’ and ‘CollapsibleTableBody’ components is shown in the above example. It takes a function as a child and generates different JSX elements dependent on the ‘collapsed’ value. This approach is known as “function as children” or “render callback.” You can easily pass a function as a child prop to a component with the help of this function and then easily alter its rendering and behavior by invoking it directly from the component.

These were all the React architecture patterns you need to follow if you need an application to perform at its full potential. However, while React is a popular face in frontend development, exploring React alternative frameworks can also provide good options for developers seeking a different approach to building a robust application.

Conclusion

Utilizing React Architecture Patterns brings flexibility, control, and the adaptability required to expand your projects using the power of reusable components. Taking advantage of these React Architecture best practices is crucial to improve and refine your app’s performance. Although, it is always advisable to partner with a reliable React development company to build a strong foundation for your React application.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the benefits of using React architecture patterns?

Here are a few benefits of using React architecture patterns:

Increases code readability and maintainability
Improves performance
Scalability

How does React architecture handle state management?

React architecture uses the concept of “state” to control how the user interface looks and behaves. Some libraries, such as Redux, handle state management tasks.

Which architectural pattern does React use?

React allows developers to choose and use the best architecture that suits their needs.