Integrating suspense with authentication providers in React

16 Oct 2023

Introduction

React’s Suspense and Error Boundary APIs are powerful tools that simplify handling asynchronous operations and error handling in React applications. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to integrate the Suspense API with authentication providers to enhance the user experience when dealing with authentication-related asynchronous operations.

The Problem

When working with authentication providers in React, it is common to have asynchronous operations like logging in or fetching user data. These operations can introduce loading states, error handling, and the need to wait for data before rendering the relevant components. Implementing this logic can quickly become complex and cumbersome.

The Solution: Suspense + Authentication Providers

By combining the Suspense API with authentication providers, we can simplify the code and provide a seamless user experience. Here’s how:

Step 1: Create an AuthProvider Component

Create a reusable AuthProvider component that encapsulates the authentication logic, such as login, logout, and fetching user data.

const AuthProvider = () => {
  const [user, setUser] = useState(null);
  const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(true);
  const [error, setError] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Fetch user data from API
    fetchUserData()
      .then((userData) => setUser(userData))
      .catch((error) => setError(error))
      .finally(() => setIsLoading(false));
  }, []);

  const login = async (credentials) => {
    // Login logic
  };

  const logout = async () => {
    // Logout logic
  };

  return (
    <AuthContext.Provider value=>
      {isLoading ? <Loader /> : props.children}
    </AuthContext.Provider>
  );
};

Step 2: Wrap your App with Suspense

Wrap your application with the Suspense component and pass in a fallback component, which will be rendered while waiting for asynchronous operations to complete.

ReactDOM.render(
  <React.StrictMode>
    <Suspense fallback={<Loader />}>
      <AuthProvider>
        <App />
      </AuthProvider>
    </Suspense>
  </React.StrictMode>,
  document.getElementById("root")
);

Step 3: Use the AuthContext in your Components

Consuming the AuthContext in your components allows you to access user data, loading states, and auth-related functions with ease. You can use this information to conditionally render components or handle errors.

const UserProfile = () => {
  const { user, isLoading, error } = useContext(AuthContext);

  if (isLoading) {
    return <Loader />;
  }

  if (error) {
    return <ErrorMessage>{error.message}</ErrorMessage>;
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Welcome, {user.name}</h1>
      <p>Email: {user.email}</p>
      {/* Render user profile */}
    </div>
  );
};

Conclusion

By integrating the Suspense API with authentication providers in React, we can simplify the handling of asynchronous operations and error handling related to authentication. This approach enhances the user experience by providing loading states and error handling with minimal boilerplate code. Start using Suspense and authentication providers in your React applications today for a smoother authentication experience.

References: