Implementing server-side rendering (SSR) with Immer and React

28 Sep 2023

In this tutorial, we will explore how to implement server-side rendering using Immer and React. Immer is a powerful library that simplifies immutable state management in JavaScript applications.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding of React and Node.js. Make sure you have Node.js and npm installed on your machine.

Let’s get started!

Setting up the project

Create a new directory for your project and navigate to it in the terminal. Run the following commands to set up a new React project:

npx create-react-app ssr-app
cd ssr-app

Next, install the express and react-dom packages by running the following command:

npm install express react-dom

Implementing server-side rendering

Step 1: Create a server.js file

Create a new file called server.js at the root of your project. Open it in your code editor.

Step 2: Import the required modules

In the server.js, add the following code to import the necessary modules:

import express from 'express';
import React from 'react';
import { renderToString } from 'react-dom/server';
import App from './src/App';

Step 3: Set up the server

Below the import statements, add the following code to set up our Express server:

const app = express();
const port = 3000;

app.use(express.static('build'));

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  const html = renderToString(<App />);
  res.send(`
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
      <head>
        <title>Server-side Rendering</title>
      </head>
      <body>
        <div id="root">${html}</div>
        <script src="/bundle.js"></script>
      </body>
    </html>
  `);
});

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server is listening on port ${port}`);
});

Here, we set up a basic Express server that serves the static files from the build directory. The / route renders our React component (<App />) to a string using renderToString and sends the resulting markup to the client.

Step 4: Modify the package.json

Open the package.json file and replace the "scripts" section with the following code:

"scripts": {
  "start": "react-scripts build && node server.js",
  "build": "react-scripts build"
}

This script will build the React app using react-scripts and start the server simultaneously.

Step 5: Start the server

Run the following command to start the server:

npm start

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser, and you should see your React app rendered on the server.

That’s it! You have successfully implemented server-side rendering with Immer and React. SSR improves the initial loading speed and enhances SEO for your web application.

#webdevelopment #server #SSR #Immer #React