Simplifying Routing in React: Why You Don’t Need Redux
When building a React application, managing routing can be a complex task. While integrating routing state with Redux may seem like a good idea, it can lead to unnecessary complexity and verbosity. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why you don’t need to mix routing state with Redux and discuss alternative solutions.
Popular Routing State Libraries for React
There are several libraries available to integrate routing state with Redux, including:
- Connected-react-router (formerly react-router-redux)
- React-router-dom
- Redux-first-router
- Redux-first-history
Each library has its own strengths and weaknesses, but they all aim to simplify the routing process in React applications.
How Redux Routing Works
Redux is a state management tool that keeps the data or state within and across your application in sync. When a user navigates through the application, the location change is updated in both the browser history and the Redux Store. This may seem to go against the “single source of truth” principle of Redux, but as long as you can guarantee that the routing data stored in the browser history and the Redux Store are the same, you can configure your application to fetch data from the store only.
Navigating Through Your Application
There are two ways that the user can navigate through the application: internally and externally. Internal navigation occurs when the user clicks a link within the application, while external navigation occurs when the user visits a webpage from another website or accesses a webpage through the URL bar.
Implementing the Redux-First Routing Approach
To implement the Redux-first routing approach, you need to create a file where you configure the store that holds the state of the application. Then, you need to update the state with a reducer function and render the React components based on the navigation state.
Why You Don’t Need Redux for Routing
While storing routing state in Redux may be a good option in some scenarios, it can lead to complexity, verbosity, and code redundancy. Additionally, it can be difficult to manage and scale as your application grows.
Alternatives to Redux Routing
One popular alternative to Redux routing is react-router, a client-side router that solves most of the problems we face when developing React applications. React Router provides dynamic route-matching, browser history features, and lazy loading, making it a simpler and more efficient solution.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, all that matters is solving the problem simply and efficiently. While the Redux-first routing approach has its benefits, it’s not always necessary. By using libraries like React Router, you can simplify the routing process in your React application and avoid unnecessary complexity.