There have been a lot of changes and improvements coming through the pipeline recently with react-native-elements. So in preparing for a version 3, there are some planned deprecations that will be added into version 2.3 and then removed in version 3.

The reason for these changes is that react-native-elements regularly gets requests for new features and enhancements quite frequently. The fast and easy method of adding these new features is usually to add another prop into the component that then injects some change into a child component. Unfortunately, this ends up leading to the components having a lot of props, lots of conditional code, and additional code complexity. The solution going forward and into version 3 will be to break down large components into smaller pieces so that it is easier to inject your own code without having to wait for an additional prop to be added.

As we continue to build up to version 3, this post will continue to be updated with new step-by-step directions on how to upgrade your code to work around these changes. The RNE team thanks you for your patience, and we hope that you see the value in the upcoming changes.

Avatar#

accessory, showAccessory, and accessoryProps are all being dprecated. There is now a child component Avatar.Accessory that you insert as a child component instead.

ListItem#

ListItem has a large number of deprecated props. ListItem has been somewhat of a kitchen sink. All the props can be replaced by inserting them as children in the order of left to right as they appear on the screen.

leftElement, leftIcon, leftAvatar, rightElement, rightIcon, rightAvatar#

These can be replaced by using Text, Icon, and Avatar components respectively.

title, titleStyle, titleProps, subtitle, subtitleProps, subtitleStyle#

These props can be replaced by ListItem.Content, ListItem.Title and ListItem.Subtitle

contentContainerStyle, rightContentContainerStyle#

These props should be placed in the style prop of ListItem.Content.

rightTitle, rightTitleStyle, rightTitleProps, rightSubtitle, rightSubtitleStyle, rightSubtitleProps#

These props also use ListItem.Content, ListItem.Title, and ListItem.Subtitle. Simply add the prop right to each one.

input, buttonGroup, switchProps, checkBox, badge, chevron, checkmark#

The input prop can be replaced with ListItem.Input.

The buttonGroup prop can be replaced with ListItem.ButtonGroup.

The switchProps prop can be replaced with react-native's Switch.

The checkBox prop can be replaced with ListItem.CheckBox.

The badge prop can be replaced with Badge.

The chevron prop can be replaced with ListItem.Chevron.

The checkmark prop can be replaced with :

Card#

For Card the following props have all been deprecated: title, titleStyle, titleNumberOfLines, dividerStyle, image, imageStyle, imageProps, imageWrapperStyle, featuredTitle, featuredTitleStyle, featuredSubtitle, featuredSubtitleStyle

title, titleStyle, titleNumberOfLines#

Move these props into Card.Title

dividerStyle#

The divider and the dividerStyle itself were moved into Card.Divider

image, imageStyle, imageProps, imageWrapperStyle#

These can be replaced with Card.Image which accepts all Image props. imageWrapperStyle can be attached to a View that wraps the Image

featuredTitle, featuredTitleStyle, featuredSubtitle, featuredSubtitleStyle#

These were both replaced with Card.FeaturedTitle and Card.FeaturedSubtitle

BottomSheet#

BottomSheet was added in version 2.2, and it was noted that it had some strict dependencies that weren't so well liked. So BottomSheet has changed completely and it is encouraged that you checkout the docs page on it again.

Dark Mode#

Make sure to checkout the customization page. We added a dark mode configuration to the ThemeProvider that should help out in bootstraping your app's dark mode.

React Native Elements has UI elements that are easy to use & really customizable. It also has theming, platform specific search bars, React Native Web support, and much more.

It's finally here! Let's put our hands together and welcome React Native Elements 1.0 🎉

This release is centered around making RNE components that everyone loves more intuitive to use & stable. This is not to say that all the work is done, but this is definitely a giant leap in the right direction and one that we have been working on for over a year.

I want like to say thank you to our users for using RNE and giving us feedback through issues on the repo and also the contributors who have the taken time to contribute and help improve RNE together. Finally, I'd like to say a big thanks to Kyle Roach and Xavier Villelégier without whom this project would not have been as awesome as it is today!!

This blog post is meant to serve as a migration guide for upgrading to react-native-elements: "^1.0.0" from 0.19.1 and also a way to document and share all the breaking changes, new features and other improvements in this release. For those updating from 1.0.0-beta7 you can view those release notes here.

The wait is over!! Get excited, cause we certainly are. 14K 🌟 and counting...

Installation#

First, install the library using your favorite package manager: yarn add react-native-elements

Also if you are using an older version, just update the react-native-elements version in package.json to ^1.0.0

Breaking changes#

• Updated all components that have the component prop to Component prop as per convention (#1479)

• Some colors have been removed from the colors file and some changed. Here's the list of colors from 0.19.1.

Avatar#

• Props small, medium, large, xlarge have been removed. Usage is now size="small" etc. #1098

Badge#

• wrapperStyle prop has been removed - use containerStyle prop instead (#1545)
• badgeStyle prop replaces previous behaviour of containerStyle prop (#1545)
• element prop which was undocumented is removed - use value prop instead (#1545)
• can no longer render children - instead use value prop which now supports rendering react components (#1545)

Button#

• By default on Android there's no more elevation (#1538). To get elevation, use the raised prop.
• Renamed textStyle to titleStyle
• Renamed containerViewStyle to containerStyle
• Removed props transparent and outline (#1540). Instead use the type prop.

• Removed props secondary, secondary2, secondary3, primary1, primary2, backgroundColor. Use the buttonStyle prop to set the background color.
• Removed iconComponent prop. If you want to use a different Icon component - the icon prop supports custom elements.
• Removed loadingRight prop. Loading indicator displays without title. May re-add in future.
• Removed borderRadius prop. To control the border radius use the buttonStyle prop.
• Removed props color, fontSize, fontWeight, and fontFamily. Instead use the titleStyle prop to set attributes for the title.
• Removed large prop. May re-add in future.

ButtonGroup#

• disableSelected prop has been removed (#1587)

Card#

• fontFamily prop is deprecated - instead use titleStyle prop (#1659)
• flexDirection prop is deprecated - instead use wrapperStyle prop (#1659)

Form#

• FormInput been renamed to Input (#497)

  • clearText method renamed to clear
  • textInputRef and containerRef props removed
  • normalizeFontSize prop removed. You can use the normalize helper along with the inputStyle prop to normalize font sizes.

• FormLabel has been removed. This is now built into the Input component by use of label prop. Props labelStyle and labelProps can be used to customize it.

• FormValidationMessage has been removed. This is now built into the Input component by use of errorMessage prop. Props errorStyle and errorProps can be used to customize it.

Header#

• Props innerContainerStyles, outerContainerStyles removed #1221. Instead use the containerStyle prop for main styling, along with props leftContainerStyle, centerContainerStyle, and rightContainerStyle when needed.

SearchBar#

SearchBar now supports different platform styles! To get an iOS or Android themed SearchBar, use the platform prop. platform="ios" or platform="android"

• noIcon prop removed. Instead to remove the search icon use the searchIcon prop. E.g searchIcon={null}
• showLoadingIcon prop renamed to showLoading #837
• containerRef prop removed

List#

• List component has been removed! List was just a regular React Native View with some small margin styles. It wasn't actually needed to use the ListItem component. Instead we recommend using the FlatList or SectionList components from React Native which function both as Views and also displaying items, pull to refresh and more.
• If you want to apply the same styles that the List component provided prior to 1.0, see this comment.

ListItem#

• leftIconOnPress, leftIconOnLongPress, leftIconUnderlayColor, and leftIconContainerStyle, removed. The leftIcon prop can accept props.

• avatar, avatarStyle, avatarContainerStyle, roundAvatar, and avatarOverlayContainerStyle removed. Avatars can now be customized using the rightAvatar and leftAvatar props which can either render a custom element or an object that describes the props from Avatar.

• wrapperStyle prop removed. Use the containerStyle prop instead.
• titleNumberOfLines, subtitleNumberOfLines, and rightTitleNumberOfLines props removed. Use the titleProps, rightTitleProps, and subtitleProps props to pass props for each..

• hideChevron removed. Use the chevron prop instead. However, the behaviour is swapped hideChevron={true} behaves like chevron={false}
• chevronColor removed. The chevron prop now can accept an object describing it's appearance.

• fontFamily removed. Use the titleStyle and subTitleStyle props to set change the text styling
• titleContainerStyle removed. Use the titleStyle prop instead.
• rightTitleContainerStyle removed. Use the rightTitleStyle prop instead.
• subtitleContainerStyle removed. Use the subtitleStyle prop instead.
• label prop removed.
• switchButton, onSwitch, switchDisabled, switchOnTintColor, switchThumbTintColor, switchTintColor, and switched removed. Instead use the switch prop wich accepts an object describing its props.
• textInput,textInputAutoCapitalize,textInputAutoCorrect,textInputAutoFocus,textInputEditable,textInputKeyboardType,textInputMaxLength,textInputMultiline,textInputOnChangeText,textInputOnFocus,textInputOnBlur,textInputSelectTextOnFocus,textInputReturnKeyType,textInputValue,textInputSecure,textInputStyle,textInputContainerStyle,textInputPlaceholder removed. We now expose a single input prop which accepts an object describing its props.
• onPressRightIcon removed. Use the rightIcon prop which can accept an object now describing its props.

PricingCard#

• titleFont removed. Use the titleStyle prop instead to customize the title. #1231
• pricingFont removed. Use the pricingStyle prop instead to customize the price. #1231
• infoFont removed. Use the infoStyle prop instead to customize the info. #1231
• buttonFont removed. Use the button prop with a buttonStyle key to set this.

Text#

• fontFamily prop is removed - instead use style prop (#1659)

New features#

• Support for React Native Web - read more on it here (#1664)
• Theming support across components - easily build light & dark modes and theme your components from one place (#1454)
• New <Image /> Component - displays images with a placeholder and smooth image load transitioning (#1582)
• New <Input /> Component - a branch new and improved replacement for <FormInput /> (#497)
• New withBadge HOC allows you to easily add badges to icons and other components (#1604)
• New "mini badge" with the <Badge /> component - Perfect for status indicators and notifications #1545
• New Tap Rating <AirbnbRating /> component - powered by react-native-ratings (#1671)
• Platform-specific <SearchBar /> component - drop-in usage with native look and feel (#837)
• <Slider /> Component - supports vertical orientation (#1698)
• Button types! Easily have solid, clear, and outline buttons with one prop. (#1540)
• Background image support in the <Header /> (#1556)
• Add support for AntDesign icons (#1529)

Assorted fixes & improvements#

• Updated react-native-vector-icons peerDependency to >4.2.0
• Expose helpers methods that are used internally
• Close to 100% types coverage
• Docs
  • Add descriptions for every Component (#1527)
  • Add central place to show supported icon sets (#1532)
  • Added Showcase section to display apps using RNE (#1704)

Ecosystem and web support#

Independent Projects#

• Mock iOS Settings Screen - Check it out on the RNE-App here

Web Support#

• Follow this detailed Blog Post to use RNElements with RNWeb

Lastly, here is the RNE v1 release in numbers:

• 470 commits (with over 272 PR's)
• 371 files changes (52,920 additions and 32,737 deletions)
• Over 80 contributors
• Over \$1500 awarded to contributors

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share this post if you enjoyed reading it.

If you run into any trouble using RNE, please open a new issue here. Also if you want to support us, you can contribute to our Open Collective here.

Comprehensive Guide to create simple app using React Native Web and React Native Elements

Case study: gitphone, GitHub repository checker for your smartphone.

ToC#

• Initialize the project using CRNWA
• Make sure everything works: Android, iOS and Web
• Add RNE latest ( 1.0.0-beta7 ) to the project
• Add 2 screens

Screen 1 RNE components:

1. Input
2. Button with Icon

Screen 2 RNE components:

1. Header
2. ListItem
3. Avatar
4. Text

gitphone should have:

• routing, react-router. It works great both on Native and Web.
• calls to GitHub API. See https://developer.github.com/v3/.

0️⃣ Initial Step#

Install create-react-native-web-app

1️⃣ First Step#

Create gitphone project.

Change to gitphone directory and test the web app by running yarn web.

Now, test the gitphone android app by running yarn android.

If the build successful, you'll see the app installed on your Android (emulator) device.

But if you got an error when run yarn android, please see Troubleshooting section below.

The last part for First Step, make sure it can be run on iOS without any problem. Run yarn ios and voila!

2️⃣ Step Two#

Installing React Native Elements (RNE).

Installing React Native Vector Icons (RNVI).

Linking:

Both RNE and RNVI are written using es6. If you run yarn web at this point, you'll got an error.

We need to tell webpack to transpile them.

1. Open config/webpack.config.dev.js
2. On line 141 Process JS with babel, add RNE and RNVI to include
3. Do the same for config/webpack.config.prod.js as well 👌

If you get lost, see this gist or commit 8c0e603.

3️⃣ Give it a try#

Now, let's grasp the idea how RNE works.

1. Open src/App.js

2. Import Button from RNE

   Copy

   import { Button } from 'react-native-elements';

3. On render, change TouchableHighlight to use RNE's Button

4. Run yarn ios, yarn android and yarn web to see it in action! 👏

Note: If you got an error Could not find com.android.tools.build.appt2 when running yarn android, add google on the gradle repositories.

See this gist or commit for the details: a2ebba1.

4️⃣ Add Home component#

Our first component will be Home. On this component, there are two input fields and one Submit button.

1. Inside src, create new folder: Components
2. Add new file called Home.js gist
3. On App.js, import Home component gist
4. Run yarn ios, yarn android and yarn web to see it in action! 🎇

Styling for Home component#

You should notice that our Home doesn’t look good in term of UI. Let’s add styling for it.

1. Inside Components, create Shared.style.js file gist
2. Import the style and update Home component as below gist
3. Looks better now*, commit for adding Home component: 2e510c4.

Wait a minute… *Seems there is a problem with RNVI on the web version. You can check this Web (with webpack) article or just following steps bellow.

1. Open config/webpack.config.dev.js
2. Add url-loader on line 162 gist
3. Do the same for config/webpack.config.prod.js as well 👌
4. Open src/index.js file
5. Add iconFont and append style to document’s head gist

Our RNE x RNW progress so far~

5️⃣ Routing#

Next, let’s add second component: CommitList.

1. Create new folder inside Components named Commit
2. Add new file: CommitList.js gist

On our app, user goes to second screen by click on Submit button. How do we implement it?

“react-router comes to the rescue” - https://reacttraining.com/react-router/

Add react-router-dom and react-router-native

Web needs BrowserRouter while native NativeRouter. We need to separate it based on the platform.

1. On src, create Utils folder
2. Add two files on Utils: Routing.native.js and Routing.web.js gist

Those file’s content differ only on the second line. gist

Now, glue it together.

1. Open App.js, import CommitList component

2. Import Route, Router and Switch from Utils/Routing

3. Implement routing inside render method gist

4. Now for the action on Submit button, open Home.js

5. Import withRouter from Utils/Routing

   Copy

   import { withRouter } from '../Utils/Routing';

6. WithRouter is an HOC. Use it to wrap Home component

   Copy

   export default withRouter(Home);

7. Add onPress property for the button

   Copy

   onPress={this.onPressButton}

8. Implement the onPressButton event handler

   Copy

   onPressButton = () => this.props.history.push('/commit');

9. All Home together gist | commit

Test it on web and android, you should be able to go back and forth between screens using Submit and pressing Back button.

“How can I go back on iOS?” 😂

Implement withHeader#

We will create a withHeader HOC. Why HOC? We can reuse it easier if we add more screens later.

1. On src, create HOCs folder

2. Add withHeader.js file

3. Import Header from RNE and Icon from RNVI/FontAwesome

   Copy

   import { Header } from 'react-native-elements';

   import Icon from 'react-native-vector-icons/FontAwesome';

4. withHeader accepts one prop: title

   Copy

   const withHeader = ({ title = '' }) => (WrappedComponent) => {

5. Event handler to go back / go home

   Copy

   goBack = () => this.props.history.goBack();

   goHome = () => this.props.history.replace('/');

6. Import and use withHeader in CommitList component gist | commit

6️⃣ Fetch data from GitHub API#

Let’s fetch a real-live data: list commit on repository by GitHub and render it on our second screen, CommitList.

Ideally, the :owner and :repo are form values from our first screen. Since the objective of this article is RNE x RNW, talk about that form (and state-management) later on.

To fetch GitHub API, we will use fetch-hoc package and also need compose from redux, to handle multiple HOCs on the same component.

1. Open CommitList.js

2. Import { compose } from redux and fetch from fetch-hoc

3. Use it as below gist | commit

Now run yarn web, open network tab of DevTools and click Submit button, you’ll see bunch of commit data. By default GitHub API returning 30 commits.

Render commit data#

Commit data that will be displayed on the screen:

Let’s modify CommitList.js

1. Add new imports

   Copy

   import { ActivityIndicator, Dimensions, FlatList, Platform, View } from 'react-native';

   import { Avatar, ListItem } from 'react-native-elements';

2. On main render, modify it as below

   Copy

   <View style={styles.container}>

   {this.renderContent()}

   </View>

3. Create renderContent method

   Copy

   renderContent = () => (

   this.props.loading ?

   <ActivityIndicator color='#87ceeb' /> :

   <FlatList

   keyExtractor={this.keyExtractor}

   data={this.props.data}

   renderItem={this.renderItem}

   />

   )

4. Create renderItem method

   Copy

   renderItem = ({ item }) => (

   <ListItem

   title={item.commit.author.name}

   subtitle={item.commit.message}

   leftElement={this.renderLeftElement(item)

   />

   )

5. Create renderLeftElement method

   Copy

   renderLeftElement = (item) => (

   <View>

   <Avatar

   source={{ uri: item.author.avatar_url }}

   size='medium'

   rounded

   />

   </View>

   )

6. Here is our new CommitList including the styling to make it prettier gist | commit

Here they are!

awesome, eh?

7️⃣ Handle form submission#

Our app looks great so far. But we are not passing values from first to second screen. Let’s do it.

1. To handle form, we’ll use formik

   Copy

   $ yarn add formik

2. Open Home.js and import it

   Copy

   import { Formik } from 'formik';

3. Wrap main View with formik

   Copy

   <Formik initialValues={{ owner: '', repo: '' }}

   onSubmit={this.onPressButton}>

   {({ handleChange, handleSubmit, values }) => (

   <View style={styles.container}>

4. Add onChangeText handler to the Input

   Copy

   <Input ... onChangeText={handleChange('owner')} value={values.owner}

   <Input ... onChangeText={handleChange('repo')} value={values.repo}

5. Change Button onPress props to handleSubmit

   Copy

   <Button ... onPress={handleSubmit}

6. Don’t forget to close the main View

   Copy

   </View>

   )}

   </Formik>

Form submission: done 👌 Next question: How do we pass these values to second screen? Send them when we redirect to second screen!

1. Inside onPressButton method, send an object instead of pathname only.

   Copy

   this.props.history.push({

   pathname: '/commit',

   state: { owner, repo }

   });

2. Open CommitList, import withRouter

   Copy

   import { withRouter } from '../../Utils/Routing';

3. Add withRouter inside compose

4. Get the values passed down to withRouter and use it to fetch

   Copy

   withHeader({ title: 'Commits' }),

   withRouter,

   fetch(({ location: { state = {} } }) => (

   `https://api.github.com/repos/${state.owner}/${state.repo}/commits`

   ))

HOC’s order does matter. So, make sure it the same as snippet above. In case you lost, here is the commit: 1d83c5e.

Test the app. Now we should able to fetch any GitHub repository, with some caveats. 👀

8️⃣ Polishing the app#

What happens if we fetch repository which doesn’t exist? Red screen on native, blank screen on web! 😹

fetch-hoc returns an error if it has. Let’s use it.

1. On CommitList, modify renderContent

   Copy

   this.props.loading ?

   <ActivityIndicator color='#87ceeb' /> :

   this.renderFlatList()

2. Import Text from RNE

   Copy

   import { ..., Text } from 'react-native-elements';

3. Add renderFlatList method

   Copy

   this.props.error ?

   <Text h4>Error: {this.props.data.message || '😕'}</Text> :

   <FlatList ... />

Test it. Instead of red or blank screen, now Error: Not Found displayed.

What’s else? Try to fetch facebook/react-native. We got another error 🙀

Not all of author have avatar_url. We should do this for the Avatar source.

So, our app renders nothing if it has no url? It doesn’t look good. Solution: render author initial name.

With the help of RegEx and Avatar title props, renderLeftElement should look like this now:

Commit for Polishing the app section: 943974b.

When I wrote this, fetch facebook/react-native returning following:

Why no love for regex? Thanks to Sanoor.

Conclusion#

We have created a simple app using RNE + RNW 👏

• Works great on iOS, web and android? ✅

• Use components from react-native-elements? ✅

• Move between screens? ✅

• API calls? ✅

Some improvements for gitphone:

If you go back from Commits screen, input form on Home screen are empty. If you want preserve previous values, this can be fixed easily by introducing redux to the app. References here: 48108dd.

Can we fetch more commits data once we reach the most bottom of the list? Infinite scroll?

For web, we can use react-visibility-sensor. Check it out: 6c1f689.

For native, it’s easier. We can use FlatList onEndReached props. To give you an idea how, see this: 9d2e1f2.

Troubleshooting 💺#

#1 Build failed when running yarn android

Here is how to fix #1:

1. Open Android Studio.

2. Open android project under gitphone.

3. Click Update on this prompt.

Wait for Android Studio syncing the project.

4. It synced successfully with two errors.

5. At this stage, just click Update Build Tools version and sync project on the sync window.

6. Now, the remaining warning is the Configuration 'compile'...

7. To fix that, open app/build.gradle file, change dependencies section (line 139) to use implementation instead of compile.

   dependencies { implementation fileTree(dir: "libs", include: ["*.jar"]) implementation "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.0.1" implementation "com.facebook.react:react-native:+" }

8. Sync it again and close Android Studio.

Troubleshooting for android is done. Now, you should be able to run yarn android successfully.

#2 Build failed when running yarn ios

Here is how to fix #2:

Inside the project, run script below from your favourite terminal

If you run yarn ios again, and you got this error

Please run this script:

Troubleshooting for iOS is done. Now, you should be able to run yarn ios successfully.

Authors#

• haruelrovix
• andangrd