What is React Loader? React Loader Spinner

If you are a front-end developer, you might have often encountered scenarios where there is a need to provide feedback to users while fetching data . This is where a React Loader is used. It helps to enhance the user experience by displaying a loading indicator until the required data or the UI components are rendered.

In this blog, we will explain to you regarding React Loader, its importance, and how it can be used effectively in a React application.

Table of Contents

What is React Loader?
Custom vs. Prebuilt Loaders in React
Loader in React JS – Managing Loading State
React Content Loader- Creating Customized Loading Skeletons
React Native Loader – Loading Indicators for Mobile Apps
Prop Types
React Bootstrap Loader – Integrating Loaders with React Bootstrap
Styling in React Loader
Loader for React – Choosing the Right Library
Best Practices for Using React Loaders
Conclusion

What is React Loader?

React Loader is a general term used to describe a visual indicator that communicates to users that the application is fetching or processing data. It’s often a spinner, progress bar, or other visual cues that keeps users informed of the app’s status, preventing them from becoming impatient or frustrated with unresponsive interfaces.

In the context of React, loaders are implemented using various libraries and techniques, which we’ll explore in this post. These libraries make it easy for developers to integrate loaders into their applications, ensuring a more streamlined and enjoyable user experience.

A popular choice among developers is the react-loader-spinner library. This library provides a collection of pre-built spinner components that can be easily imported and used in your React projects. With minimal configuration, you can add a sleek and visually-appealing loader to your application, signaling to users that the application is working in the background.

To get started with react-loader-spinner, simply install the package using npm or yarn:

npm install react-loader-spinner

Next, import the Loader component, and use it in your application like any other React component

Example Usage

import React from 'react';
import Loader from 'react-loader-spinner';
const App = () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Loading data...</h1>
      <Loader type="Puff" color="#00BFFF" height={100} width={100} />
    </div>
  );
};
export default App;

Explanation

This simple example demonstrates how to add a loader in react js using the react-loader-spinner library. With a wide range of spinner types and customization options, react-loader-spinner is an excellent choice for developers seeking an easy-to-implement solution.

Custom vs. Prebuilt Loaders in React

While working on React projects, it is important to choose between a custom loader and a prebuilt loader because all the requirements of the project depend on your decision.

Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, which can significantly impact the development workflow and user experience.

1. Custom Loaders

Custom Loaders are built from scratch or heavily modified to match the exact look, feel, and behavior you want.

Custom Loaders are used:

When you want to have control over the behavior and responsiveness of the loader.
When you need to match the color scheme, fonts, and overall visual identity of the brand.
When the user experience needs to have a unique animation or transition.

1.1. Creating a simple Custom Loader

app.js

import React from 'react';
import './CustomLoader.css'; // Importing custom CSS for animation

const CustomLoader = () => {
  return (
    <div className="loader-container">
      <div className="spinner"></div>
      <p>Loading, please wait...</p>
    </div>
  );
};

export default CustomLoader;

CustomLoader.css

.loader-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  align-items: center;
  margin-top: 100px;
}

.spinner {
  border: 6px solid #f3f3f3;
  border-top: 6px solid #3498db;
  border-radius: 50%;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  animation: spin 1s linear infinite;
}

@keyframes spin {
  0% { transform: rotate(0deg); }
  100% { transform: rotate(360deg); }
}

p {
  margin-top: 10px;
  font-size: 16px;
  color: #555;
}

In the above example, you have full control over the animation speed, size, color, and the accompanying text of the loader.

1.2. Advantages of Custom Loaders

You have full control over the appearance and animation.
It provides seamless integration with the design system of the project.
It provides greater flexibility while adjusting for different devices and screen sizes.

1.3. Disadvantages of Custom Loaders

It requires extra effort to optimize the performance.
It takes more time for development and testing.

2. Prebuilt Loader

Prebuilt loaders are the components that are provided by third-party libraries. It is often used when there is a quick, reliable, and polished loading solution, because they are already optimized for providing better performance and responsiveness.

Some of the popular prebuilt loaders are given below:

react-loader-spinner
react-content-loader
react-spinners

The built-in loader components of material-ui

2.1. Using a Prebuilt Loader from react-loader-spinner

import React from 'react';
import { Rings } from 'react-loader-spinner';

const PrebuiltLoader = () => {
  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', marginTop: '50px' }}>
      <Rings
        height="100"
        width="100"
        color="#00BFFF"
        radius="6"
        wrapperStyle={{}}
        visible={true}
        ariaLabel="rings-loading"
      />
      <p>Fetching data...</p>
    </div>
  );
};

export default PrebuiltLoader;

2.2. Advantages of Prebuilt Loaders

It helps you save development time.
It consists of highly polished and accessible components.
It is easy to customize through props and settings.
It is optimized for various screen sizes and devices by default.

2.3. Disadvantages of Prebuilt Loaders

It depends on external sources, which may increase the bundle.
It provides limited flexibility in the customization of designs.

Loader in React JS – Managing Loading State

When incorporating a loader into your application, it’s crucial to manage the loading state efficiently. This ensures that the loader is displayed only when necessary, preventing unnecessary renderings and maintaining a smooth user experience.

In this section, we’ll explore how to manage the loading state in a React application using hooks and state management libraries.

1. Using `useState` and `useEffect` Hooks

React hooks, introduced in version 16.8, provide a way to manage state and side effects in functional components. The useState and useEffect hooks are particularly useful for managing loading states.

1.1. How to use these hooks to display a loader while data is being fetched

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import Loader from 'react-loader-spinner';
const App = () => {
  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true);
  const [data, setData] = useState([]);
  useEffect(() => {
    fetchData().then((response) => {
      setData(response);
      setLoading(false);
    });
  }, []);
  return (
    <div>
      {loading ? (
        <Loader type="Puff" color="#00BFFF" height={100} width={100} />
      ) : (
        <div>{/* Render data here */}</div>
      )}
    </div>
  );
};
export default App;

1.2. Explanation

In this example, we use the useState hook to manage the loading state and the useEffect hook to fetch data and update the state accordingly. When the data is available, the loader is hidden, and the content is displayed.

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2. State Management Libraries

In more complex applications, managing loading states can become cumbersome. In these cases, state management libraries like Redux or MobX can help streamline the process. These libraries enable you to centralize your application’s state, making it easier to manage loading states and other app-wide concerns.

React Content Loader- Creating Customized Loading Skeletons

React Content Loader is a library that allows you to create customizable loading skeletons, which are animated placeholders that mimic the shape of the content being loaded. These skeletons provide a more engaging and visually appealing alternative to traditional loader spinners.

To get started with React Content Loader, install the package using npm or yarn:

npm install react-content-loader

Next, import the ContentLoader component and create a custom skeleton using SVG elements.

Code Usage

import React from 'react';
import ContentLoader from 'react-content-loader';
const MyLoader = () => (
  <ContentLoader viewBox="0 0 400 160" speed={2}>
    <rect x="10" y="10" rx="5" ry="5" width="380" height="20" />
    <rect x="10" y="60" rx="5" ry="5" width="380" height="20" />
    <rect x="10" y="110" rx="5" ry="5" width="380" height="20" />
  </ContentLoader>
);
export default MyLoader;

Explanation

This example demonstrates how to create a custom loading skeleton using React Content Loader. By adjusting the SVG elements and their attributes, you can create unique, engaging loading skeletons tailored to your application’s content.

React Native Loader – Loading Indicators for Mobile Apps

React Native is a popular framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using React. Just like in web applications, loaders play a crucial role in providing engaging user experiences in mobile apps. Fortunately, many of the libraries and techniques covered in this post can be applied to React Native projects as well.

The React Native community has developed a variety of libraries for implementing loaders, such as react-native-loading-spinner-overlay and react-native-indicators. These libraries offer a range of pre-built loader components that can be easily integrated into your React Native projects.

To implement a loader in your React Native app, you can follow these steps:

Install the required packages.

npm install react-native-loader --save

Import the necessary components in your JavaScript file.

import React from 'react';
import { View, Text } from 'react-native';
import Loader from 'react-native-loader';
Create a state variable to manage the loader's visibility.
const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = React.useState(false);

Render the loader conditionally based on the ` isLoading` state.

return (
  <View>
    {/* Your app content */}
    {isLoading && <Loader />}
  </View>
);

Whenever you need to display the loader, set ` isLoading` to ` true`. For example, you can show the loader while fetching data from an API.

const fetchData = async () => {
  setIsLoading(true);
  try {
    // Perform your data fetching logic
    // Await API requests, database queries, etc.
  } catch (error) {
    // Handle error
  } finally {
    setIsLoading(false);
  }
};

By following these steps, you can integrate a loading indicator into your React Native app using the React Native Loader component. This way, your app’s users will be aware of ongoing operations and stay engaged with your application.

Prop Types

In React and React Native, PropTypes is a helpful package that allows you to define the types of props passed to your components. By using PropTypes, you can ensure that the correct data types are passed to your components, which helps catch errors and improves the maintainability of your code.

To use PropTypes in your React Native components, you can follow these steps.

Install the prop-types package.

npm install prop-types --save

Import the PropTypes module in your JavaScript file.

import PropTypes from 'prop-types';

Define the propTypes for your component by creating a static propTypes object within your component’s class or function component.

// Class component example
class MyComponent extends React.Component {
  static propTypes = {
    name: PropTypes.string,
    age: PropTypes.number,
    isOnline: PropTypes.bool,
    onClick: PropTypes.func,
  };
  // Component logic
}
// Function component example
function MyComponent(props) {
  // Component logic
}
MyComponent.propTypes = {
  name: PropTypes.string,
  age: PropTypes.number,
  isOnline: PropTypes.bool,
  onClick: PropTypes.func,
};

Props that are available in the react-loader-spinner library. Here’s a brief explanation of each prop

visible – A boolean value that defines whether the spinner should be visible or not. The default setting is false.
type – A string that defines the type of the spinner. For example, “Circles”, “Audio”, “Bars”, etc.
height – A number that defines the height of the spinner. The default value is 80.
width – A number that defines the width of the spinner. The default value is 80.
color – A string that defines the color of the spinner.
secondaryColor – This prop is available on the Plane and MutatingDots loaders. It defines the secondary color of the spinner.
timeout – A number that defines the effective periodic time of the spinner.
radius – A number that defines the radius of the spinner.

These props allow you to customize the appearance and behavior of the spinner in your React application. You can pass them to the Loader component to create a loading spinner that matches your application’s style and requirements.

React Bootstrap Loader – Integrating Loaders with React Bootstrap

Popular UI framework React Bootstrap offers a selection of pre-made, Bootstrap-themed components for usage in React projects. The Spinner component, which makes it simple to include loader spinners in your application, is one of the React Bootstrap components.

To get started with React Bootstrap Loader, first install the react-bootstrap package

npm install react-bootstrap

Next, import the Spinner component and use it in your application.

Code Usage

import React from 'react';
import { Spinner } from 'react-bootstrap';
const App = () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Loading data...</h1>
      <Spinner animation="border" role="status">
        <span className="sr-only">Loading...</span>
      </Spinner>
    </div>
  );
};
export default App;

Explanation

In this example, we show how to use the React Bootstrap Spinner component to add a loader to ReactJS. React Bootstrap Loader is a great alternative for developers creating applications with React Bootstrap since it offers a variety of customization choices.

Styling in React Loader

React Loader provides a simple and flexible way to customize the appearance of loading spinners or progress bars in your React applications. You can style the loader using CSS or inline styles. Here’s how

1. Set the size of the spinner

You can set the size of the spinner by passing the width and height styles to the style prop of the Loader component. For example

<Loader loaded={!loading} style={{ width: '50px', height: '50px' }}>
  <div>
    {/* your content goes here */}
  </div>
</Loader>

This will set the width and height of the spinner to 50 pixels.

2. Set the color of the spinner

You can set the color of the spinner by passing the color style to the style prop of the Loader component. For example

<Loader loaded={!loading} style={{ color: 'blue' }}>
  <div>
    {/* your content goes here */}
  </div>
</Loader>

This will set the color of the spinner to blue.

3. Center the spinner

You can center the spinner using flexbox by setting the display style of the parent container to flex, and the justifyContent and alignItems styles to center. For example

<div style={{ display: 'flex', justifyContent: 'center', alignItems: 'center', height: '100vh' }}>
  <Loader loaded={!loading} style={{ width: '50px', height: '50px' }}>
    <div>
      {/* your content goes here */}
    </div>
  </Loader>
</div>

This will center the spinner vertically and horizontally within the parent container.

In addition to these options, you can also customize the appearance of the loader by passing additional props to the Loader component. For example, you can use the type prop to specify the type of spinner you want to use, or the timeout prop to set the timeout before the fallback content is displayed.

Loader for React – Choosing the Right Library

With so many loader libraries and techniques available, it can be challenging to choose the right one for your project. When evaluating loader libraries, consider the following factors:

Ease of use – How simple is it to integrate the library into your project and customize the loader components?
Visual appeal – Does the library offer pre-built loader components that match the aesthetic of your application, or can you easily create custom loaders that align with your design?
Performance – Does the library have any known performance issues or limitations that could impact your application’s performance?

By considering these factors, you can select the loader library that best meets your project’s needs and ensures a seamless user experience.

Best Practices for Using React Loaders

Some of the best practices of using React Loaders are given below:

You should also provide contextual feedback when it is possible, such as “Fetching user data.”
Always ensure that the loaders are visually distinct and recognizable.
You can use skeleton loaders for better perceived performance.
You should keep a minimal loader duration. Hence, the users don’t have to wait unnecessarily.

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Conclusion

We’ve covered the idea of React Loader and its numerous implementations in this extensive guide, including react loader spinner, loader in react js, react content loader, react native loader, and react-bootstrap loader. You may develop interesting, user-friendly applications that keep users updated on the app’s progress and offer a seamless experience by utilizing these libraries and methodologies.

Keep in mind the value of user experience and the part loaders play in producing a fluid, pleasurable user journey as you continue to develop React applications. You are prepared to take on any job and produce top-notch outcomes with the information and resources in this post.