Using suspense with push notifications in React applications

16 Oct 2023

React’s Suspense feature allows us to show fallback content while waiting for data to load. It’s commonly used with data fetching libraries like Axios or Apollo Client. However, Suspense can also be leveraged to handle push notifications in React applications.

Push notifications are a great way to engage users and keep them updated with real-time information. Implementing push notifications in a React application usually involves handling subscriptions and displaying the incoming messages. With Suspense, we can improve the user experience by seamlessly showing a fallback UI while the notification content is being loaded.

Setting up Push Notifications

Before diving into the Suspense implementation, let’s briefly cover the setup required for push notifications in a React application.

Sign up for a push notification service like Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) or OneSignal.
Register your application with the chosen service provider and obtain the necessary credentials and API keys.
Install the appropriate package(s) to enable push notifications in your React application. For example, if using Firebase, you would install firebase package and configure it with your Firebase credentials.
Implement the logic for handling push notifications, such as subscribing to a notification topic, receiving incoming messages, and displaying notifications to the user.

Using Suspense with Push Notifications

To make use of Suspense for handling push notifications, we need to combine it with the power of React’s Context API. Here’s a high-level overview of the steps involved:

Create a NotificationContext using React’s createContext hook. This context will hold the notification data and loading state.
```
import React from 'react';

export const NotificationContext = React.createContext();
```

Wrap your top-level component or a relevant parent component with the NotificationProvider, which will provide the notification data to its child components.

import React from 'react';
import { NotificationContext } from './NotificationContext';

const NotificationProvider = ({ children }) => {
  const [notification, setNotification] = React.useState(null);
  const [loading, setLoading] = React.useState(true);

  React.useEffect(() => {
    // Fetch or handle incoming push notification here
    // Update the notification and loading state accordingly
  }, []);

  return (
    <NotificationContext.Provider value=>
      {children}
    </NotificationContext.Provider>
  );
};

export default NotificationProvider;

In the component where you want to display the push notification content, wrap it with the Suspense component and provide the fallback UI that will be shown while the notification data is loading.

import React from 'react';
import { NotificationContext } from './NotificationContext';

const NotificationContent = () => {
  const { notification, loading } = React.useContext(NotificationContext);

  if (loading) {
    // Show a loading indicator or fallback UI
    return <div>Loading...</div>;
  }

  if (notification) {
    // Render the notification content
    return <div>{notification.message}</div>;
  }

  return null; // No notification to show
};

const App = () => {
  return (
    <Suspense fallback={<div>Loading...</div>}>
      <NotificationContent />
    </Suspense>
  );
};

export default App;

By combining Suspense and the Context API, we can seamlessly handle push notifications in React applications. The NotificationProvider component fetches the notification data and updates the context, while the NotificationContent component displays the content or fallback UI depending on the loading state.

Remember to handle the appropriate lifecycle hooks for handling subscriptions, fetching notification data, and updating the context accordingly. This approach ensures a smooth user experience while waiting for push notifications to load.

With Suspense, we can create high-performing and responsive React applications that handle push notifications gracefully. Utilize this powerful feature to enhance user engagement and keep your app’s content up-to-date in real-time.

#References

Suspense in React: https://reactjs.org/docs/react-api.html#reactsuspense
Firebase Cloud Messaging: https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging