Storybook is a popular tool for developing and testing UI components in isolation. It provides a sandbox environment where you can create and view your components in different states. While Storybook supports various JavaScript libraries, you may want to add additional third-party libraries to enhance your development process. In this blog post, we will explore how to integrate third-party libraries with JavaScript Storybook.

Step 1: Installing Storybook

Before we begin, make sure you have Storybook installed in your project. If not, you can set it up by running the following commands:

npm install @storybook/react --save-dev
npx sb init

Step 2: Installing the Third-Party Library

To integrate a third-party library with Storybook, you first need to install it as a dependency in your project. For this example, let’s assume we want to integrate the moment.js library, which is widely used for date and time manipulation. Install the library using npm:

npm install moment

Step 3: Configuring Storybook

Once you have installed the library, you need to configure Storybook to recognize and load it. In your project’s .storybook directory, create a new file called main.js. This file allows you to configure various aspects of your Storybook setup. Open main.js and add the following code:

module.exports = {
  stories: ['../src/**/*.stories.js'],
  addons: ['@storybook/preset-create-react-app'],
  // Add the additional library here
};

Step 4: Creating a Story for the Third-Party Library

To create a story for the third-party library, you need to import and use it in your component stories. In your component’s story file, import the library at the top:

import Moment from 'moment';

Next, create a new story using the add function:

import React from 'react';
import { storiesOf } from '@storybook/react';

import Moment from 'moment';

storiesOf('Components/DatePicker', module).add('Default', () => {
  const currentDate = Moment().format('MMMM Do YYYY, h:mm:ss a');

  return <DatePicker value={currentDate} />;
});

Step 5: Running Storybook

Finally, start Storybook and view your component with the integrated third-party library:

npm run storybook

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:6006 to see the Storybook UI. You should be able to view your component using the third-party library in the rendered story.

Conclusion

Integrating third-party libraries with JavaScript Storybook allows you to enhance your component development and testing process. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you should be able to easily integrate any third-party library of your choice and utilize its functionality within your component stories in Storybook.

#javascript #storybook #thirdparty #libraries