The Newly Open Sourced React Framework’s Remix: A Guide
Author’s note Remix’s server-side rendering for React apps and more details about state management were added to this guide’s most recent update on November 3, 2022. This update also clarifies how to use Remix with Redux and other libraries as well as whether Remix is compatible with React Native.
There seems to be a new React framework released every day these days. Remix stands out even though each React framework has something unique to offer. Remix’s creators declared the framework would become open source in October 2021 after initially only being accessible through paid subscriptions.
Remix is a server-side rendering React framework (SSR). This indicates that a single Remix app can be used to create both the frontend and the backend. With the least amount of JavaScript possible, data is rendered on the server and delivered to the client. Remix fetches data on the backend and serves the HTML directly to the user, in contrast to vanilla React, which fetches data on the frontend and then renders it on the screen.
In this article, we’ll talk about some Remix cool features before using this new framework to build an SSR weather app. Finally, I’ll discuss my personal opinions of remix and whether or not I intend to use it in my upcoming projects.
Prerequisites
Let’s look at the prerequisites before continuing with the tutorial:
You have Node.js set up on your computer.
Whether you prefer Visual Studio Code or another code editor
The free OpenWeatherMap API key is sufficient.
working familiarity with React
Here is the GitHub repository in case you run into trouble while following the tutorial.
Go ahead:
Benefits of Remixing
stacked pages
Borders for errors
Transitions
conventional formats
Cons of utilising Remix
a modest community
Possibly perplexing routing system
What distinguishes Remix from Next.js?
Remix app development
improving the Remix app
Construction of a form and obtaining weather
React apps and server-side rendering in Remix
Do Remix and React Native coexist?
How Remix handles state management
Benefits of Remixing
Like other frameworks, Remix has some unique built-in features that are useful to developers. Some of my favourites are listed here:
stacked pages
Any page contained within a route folder is nested within the route rather than existing independently. Because of this, you can embed these elements into your parent page, which will speed up loading.
We can enforce error boundaries to these embedded pages, which will aid in error handling, which is another benefit of doing this.
Borders for errors
Let’s say a Remix component or nested route throws an error. The component will either render incorrectly or simply display an error due to the component-specific errors. In other frameworks, the entire page will break, and a sizable error screen will appear.
Remix has built-in error boundaries, which I think is a cool feature for production builds so that the user doesn’t get locked out of the entire page for a simple error, even though error boundaries can also be implemented in Next.js.
Transitions
All loading states are taken care of automatically by Remix; all you have to do is tell Remix what to display while the app is loading. You must use a state management library like Redux or Recoil to set the loading state in other frameworks, such as Next.js. Remix already has this built in, whereas libraries in other frameworks can assist you in carrying out the same task.
conventional formats
Now let’s go back to the days when PHP was used by developers. In the past, we would specify a form method and action along with a legitimate PHP URL.
Because we are used to onClick, onSubmit, and HTTP calls, I know this doesn’t sound like much fun. Remix, however, takes care of this circumstance in a completely different way by offering action and loader functions to carry out server-side operations. The functions in question have simple access to form data. This indicates that serving JavaScript to the frontend is not at all necessary to submit a form.
Let’s say your website is relatively straightforward and you don’t actually need to serve JavaScript to the front end. The best approach in these circumstances is to use the conventional form. For a fetch or an axios call, you might in some other frameworks need to serve JavaScript, but not in Remix. It keeps things straightforward.
Cons of utilising Remix
While using Remix has many advantages, the following points might make you think twice:
a modest community
Only recently was Remix made open-source. Due to this, Remix is still not widely utilised in production projects today.
Finding a solution online for a problem you run into while using Remix could be challenging, and you might have to post inquiries on forums and wait a while for a response.
Possibly perplexing routing system
When I first started using Remix, I had trouble figuring out the routing system. I had trouble understanding the idea of nested routes. That is because Remix has a slight learning curve for me because I’m used to other frameworks without this particular routing system.
What distinguishes Remix from Next.js?
Since both Remix and Next.js support SSR, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between them at first glance. However, Remix only focuses on SSR while Next.js supports SSG and other fantastic tools.
Remix app development
To start the Remix app installation, go to a secure directory and type the following command in the terminal:
the most recent weather app, npx create-remix
Of course, you can substitute any project name you like for “weather-app.” When you press Enter, an interactive menu will appear to guide you through creating a Remix app:
IDE picture After Remix installation
You will be questioned about where you want to deploy, just like in the image above. Remix App Server will be used because we are just experimenting and this tutorial won’t cover deployment:
Asking Where to Deploy Remix on the IDE
You will then be prompted to choose between TypeScript and JavaScript. For the sake of simplicity in this tutorial, I’ll be using JavaScript:
Mix up IDE Requesting the Use of TypeScript or JavaScript
You will then be asked whether Remix should make use of npm instal. Type y. This will set up the dependencies needed for Remix to function.
Then, enter the following commands to instal some dependencies you will need for this project in the project directory:
instal axios dotenv with npm
Axios is being set up so that our app can make HTTP requests to the OpenWeatherMap API. Our API key will be kept in an environment variable using dotenv.