React Native, a JavaScript-based framework is utilized for developing mobile apps. To build an app, React framework is used with the support of a large number of inbuilt components and APIs. You must know React and JavaScript to have a good grip on React Native. It has the same design as React. While creating an app, it utilizes only JavaScript. Through its declarative components, you will be able to build a rich mobile UI.
Using React Native, you will be able to build a real mobile app that uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as the Android and iOS apps. JavaScript and React allow you to put these building blocks together to build a real app. React, Native, and Platforms are the three main terminologies that must be known thoroughly for you to understand React Native better. React framework is used for creating websites and apps with the help of JavaScript. Native refers to using the native components that JavaScript controls.
React Native supports both Android and iOS platforms. The use of JavaScript here helps you to use existing knowledge of it to create native mobile applications. Codesharing is one of the advantages that allow you to share the code on various platforms. React and React Native have extensive community support, which helps find any required answers regarding them. To run React Native on your OS building platform, you must first install NPM and NodeJS software.
React Native supports cross-platform. You code to build an application. This code can be executed on both iOS and Android platforms. This is achieved through class performance, through which the code written is compiled into native code. Hence, it enables the developer to use functions on iOS as well as Android platforms.
Hot Reloading is one of the best features in React Native. If you make changes in the code, it will be reflected immediately during development. If there are any changes in business logic, its reflection can be seen on the screen when it gets reloaded. It also enables the developers to evolve their apps according to new features of Android and iOS apps. Because of its considerable community support, you can always find improvement with time.
With all these features and advantages, React Native is highly popular among developers. React Native requires Python, JDK, React Native command line interface, NodeJS, and Android Studio for developing a mobile application. Once you set up the React Native environment on your system, you can look through App.js to understand the coding that leads to the development of the application.
For example, a simple React Native application is as follows:
import * as React from 'react';
import { Text, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import Constants from 'expo-constants';
export default function App() {
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Text style={styles.paragraph}>
Welcome! To the first application
</Text>
</View>
);
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
justifyContent: 'center',
paddingTop: Constants.statusBarHeight,
backgroundColor: '#ecf0f1',
padding: 8,
},
paragraph: {
margin: 24,
fontSize: 18,
fontWeight: 'bold',
textAlign: 'center',
},
});
Save the application and reload it. The above code, when executed, displays the text specified. In this case, “Welcome! To the first application” will be displayed on the screen. Some of the essential functions here are: render() and return(). “render()” allows the code to return a React element. “return()” is used for returning the result of UI components and their layout. The View and Text tags allow you to build the UI and display the required text, respectively.
To understand the mechanism of React Native and its code in-depth, enroll in Great Learning Academy’s free React Native courses. Earn the free React Native certificates on the successful completion of the enrolled courses.