Unlock the Power of React Native for Windows Desktop Apps
Are you ready to take your React Native skills to the next level and build high-quality Windows desktop applications? Look no further! In this article, we’ll explore the react-native-windows project, a powerful extension of React Native that allows you to create native Windows applications with a single codebase.
What is React Native?
React Native is a free and open-source JavaScript library developed by Facebook to create highly dynamic web UIs. Later, Facebook created React Native for developing cross-platform native mobile apps, allowing developers to build native mobile apps for Android and iOS with a single React syntax-based codebase.
Introducing React-Native-Windows
React-native-windows is Microsoft’s extension of React Native for Windows and macOS backends. This project makes it possible to natively render your React Native-based frontend on Windows and macOS with platform-specific UI elements. In this article, we’ll dive into how you can develop Windows desktop applications using react-native-windows.
Setting Up the Developer Environment
To get started, make sure your computer meets the following requirements:
- Windows 10.0.16299.0 (or higher)
- At least 8GB of physical memory (16GB recommended)
Once you’ve met these requirements, you can install the required dependencies using an elevated PowerShell window.
Creating a React Native Windows App
Creating a React Native Windows app is a breeze. First, create a new React Native project using the following command:
npx react-native init <projectName>
Next, enable the Windows backend by running the following command:
npx react-native windows
Finally, run your newly created React Native app as a truly native Windows app using the following command:
npx react-native run-windows
What’s Happening Behind the Scenes
The React Native core has several basic pre-defined React components like View, Text, Image, TextInput, and ScrollView. The official React Native runtime can render truly native UI building blocks for Android and iOS operating systems. The react-native-windows project adds Windows application target support, generating a Windows application with a truly native UWP GUI from your typical React Native project.
Developing a Simple Application
Let’s create a simple UWP app that shows a greeting message when you submit your first and last name. Add the following code to your App.js file:
“`jsx
import React, { useState } from ‘eact’;
import { View, Text, TextInput, Button } from ‘eact-native’;
const App = () => {
const [firstName, setFirstName] = useState(”);
const [lastName, setLastName] = useState(”);
const handleSubmit = () => {
alert(Hello, ${firstName} ${lastName}!);
};
return (
);
};
export default App;
“`
Reload the app via React Native Debugger, and you’ll see a native UWP UI element rendering your React Native components.
The Future of React Native
The react-native-windows project has opened up new possibilities for developers to build high-quality Windows desktop applications using React Native. With Microsoft’s recent work on react-native-macos, the future of React Native looks brighter than ever.
Take Your React Native Skills to the Next Level
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