Dynamic Layout Switching in React: Elevating User Experience
Imagine being able to seamlessly switch between different layouts in your React application, providing users with a tailored experience that meets their unique needs. In this article, we’ll explore how to create a LayoutSwitch component that allows users to dynamically toggle between a table and grid layout, and discuss the benefits of incorporating this feature into your product.
Getting Started
To begin, let’s create a new React app using the Create React App boilerplate. Replace the styles in App.css and index.css with the styles from this Gist file.
Component Overview
Our LayoutSwitch component will consist of several key components:
- App: The root component, which in this case would be an AdminDashboard.
- UsersTable: The JSX for rendering a table layout.
- UsersGrid: The JSX for generating a grid layout.
- LayoutSwitch: The parent component that holds the layout state and controls rendering of children.
- Options: A wrapper component for layout option buttons.
- Button: An individual button for each layout option.
- Content: A wrapper component for all layout components, including grids, tables, and more.
Fetching Data and Initial Layout Setup
Let’s set up the App component to display the Users list fetched from JSON Placeholder API. We’ll use a custom Hook called useFetch to fetch data from the API. Create a new file named useFetch.js under src/hooks and copy the code from this GitHub Gist.
LayoutSwitch and Its Children
By leveraging the compound components pattern, we can abstract the switching logic to the dedicated LayoutSwitch component. We’ll add a state for activeLayout that renders children wrapped under this root component. To share this state with child components and allow state updates from a child, we’ll use React’s Context API.
Creating the Content Component
The Content component will render the child component that matches the activeLayout state. We’ll add a prop layout to let the Content component compare against the state and render a matching one.
Switching Between Layouts
To switch between layouts, we’ll add the Button component, which gets the setActiveLayout from context and updates the state accordingly. We’ll also add the Options component for styling purposes and to get more control over buttons.
Ensuring Component Integrity
To ensure that only related components are rendered with the LayoutSwitch, we’ll use React’s isValidElement and child.type.name to validate each child. If it’s a valid element, we’ll render it. Otherwise, we’ll ignore it or throw an error.
Exporting and Importing Components
We can export all components individually and import each of them, or namespace all components under LayoutSwitch and import one component.
Finishing Up
With all the components written, we can wire everything together. We’ll use Object.freeze to ensure that the layout options object can’t be mutated. The updated App component should look like the code below:
Conclusion
By incorporating the LayoutSwitch component into your React application, you can provide users with a more personalized experience, increasing user satisfaction and engagement. Try out the completed code in my GitHub repo and explore how users can switch between a table and grid layout.