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Best practices to write React MUI applications

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  • avatar
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    Yinhuan Yuan
    Twitter

Introduction

When developing React applications with Material-UI (MUI), following best practices helps ensure your application is maintainable, performant, and aligned with industry standards. Below are some key best practices to follow when working with MUI in React:

1. Proper Component Structure and Reusability

  • Break Down Components: Divide the UI into smaller, reusable components. This makes your code more modular and easier to maintain.
  • Use MUI Components as Building Blocks: Leverage MUI’s prebuilt components like Box, Grid, Typography, and Button for consistency and rapid development.
  • Custom Component Abstraction: Create custom wrapper components around MUI elements if you need repetitive styles or behavior to promote reusability.

2. Consistent Styling

  • Use MUI’s Theme Customization: Define a custom MUI theme using createTheme() to maintain consistency across components (e.g., typography, color palettes, spacing).
  • Avoid Inline Styles: Stick to MUI’s sx prop or styled() utility instead of inline styles for better maintainability and theme integration.
  • CSS-in-JS with Styled Components: Utilize MUI’s styled API for more complex styling logic and reusable styled components.

3. Responsive Design

  • Responsive Layouts with Grid and Box: Use MUI’s Grid and Box components for building responsive layouts with ease.
  • Breakpoints: Utilize MUI’s breakpoints feature to create responsive behaviors for different screen sizes.
  • Hidden Component: Use MUI’s Hidden component or sx prop with display for conditionally rendering elements based on screen size.

4. Accessibility

  • ARIA Attributes: Ensure that components are accessible by adding appropriate ARIA attributes and using semantic HTML.
  • Focus Management: Use the autoFocus prop or React ref with focus management logic to help with keyboard navigation.
  • Labels and Input Fields: Use label props or InputLabel components to ensure input elements have associated labels for accessibility.

5. Theming and Customization

  • Theme Provider: Wrap your application with ThemeProvider and pass your custom theme to ensure consistent theming.
  • Custom Palette and Typography: Customize your theme’s palette and typography to align with your brand guidelines.
  • Global CSS Overrides: Use the MuiCssBaseline component within ThemeProvider to apply global styles and override default MUI styles.

6. Consistent Naming Conventions

  • Component File Naming: Follow the PascalCase naming convention for component files (e.g., UserCard.jsx).
  • Class and ID Naming: Use BEM (Block, Element, Modifier) naming or camelCase for CSS classes if needed for custom styles.
  • Consistent Prop Names: Use clear and descriptive prop names for readability and maintenance.

7. Performance Optimization

  • Lazy Loading: Use React’s React.lazy() and Suspense to load components asynchronously, reducing initial load time.
  • Memoization: Use React.memo() and useMemo() for expensive computations or components that don’t need to re-render on every change.
  • Minimize Re-renders: Use hooks like useCallback() to memoize functions and prevent unnecessary re-renders.

8. Form Handling

  • MUI Form Components: Use MUI’s TextField, Checkbox, Radio, and Select components for consistent form handling.
  • Validation: Integrate form libraries like Formik or react-hook-form with MUI components for better form handling and validation.
  • Error Handling: Use MUI’s FormHelperText for displaying validation errors.

9. Icons and SVGs

  • Use MUI Icons: Import icons from @mui/icons-material for a consistent look.
  • SVG Customization: If using custom SVGs, ensure they match the size and style of MUI icons for consistency.

10. Testing

  • Component Testing: Use React Testing Library and Jest for unit testing your MUI components.
  • Snapshot Testing: Ensure that MUI components render as expected using snapshot tests.
  • Interaction Testing: Test user interactions such as clicks, form submissions, and input changes using RTL’s fireEvent or userEvent.

11. Documentation and Comments

  • Comment Complex Logic: Add comments to explain complex styling or component logic.
  • PropTypes or TypeScript: Use prop-types or TypeScript to enforce type checking and document expected props.
  • Storybook: Implement Storybook to document your MUI components visually and showcase their different states.

12. State Management

  • Use React Context: For simple global states, use React’s Context API in combination with MUI components.
  • State Libraries: For larger applications, integrate state management libraries like Zustand, Redux, or Recoil.

13. Animation and Transitions

  • MUI Transitions: Use MUI’s built-in transition components like Fade, Grow, and Slide for consistent animations.
  • External Libraries: For more complex animations, libraries like Framer Motion can be integrated seamlessly with MUI.

14. Modular Imports

  • Tree Shaking: Import only the necessary MUI components (e.g., import { Button } from '@mui/material') to reduce bundle size.
  • Optimize Imports: Avoid importing everything from the main package (e.g., import * as MUI from '@mui/material') as it increases the bundle size.

15. Best Practices for sx Prop

  • Use for Quick Styles: The sx prop is ideal for applying styles directly within JSX for one-off styling needs.
  • Avoid Complex Logic in sx: Move complex styling logic to styled() components or use theme overrides for better maintainability.

By adhering to these best practices, you can ensure your React applications built with Material-UI are efficient, maintainable, and user-friendly.

1. Theme Configuration and Customization

Create a Custom Theme

import { createTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material'

const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    primary: {
      main: '#1976d2',
      light: '#42a5f5',
      dark: '#1565c0',
    },
    secondary: {
      main: '#9c27b0',
    },
  },
  typography: {
    fontFamily: "'Roboto', 'Helvetica', 'Arial', sans-serif",
    h1: {
      fontSize: '2.5rem',
      fontWeight: 500,
    },
    // Add other typography variants
  },
  components: {
    MuiButton: {
      styleOverrides: {
        root: {
          borderRadius: 8,
        },
      },
    },
  },
})

function App() {
  return (
    <ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
      <YourApp />
    </ThemeProvider>
  )
}

2. Component Organization

Create Reusable Layout Components

// components/Layout/MainLayout.jsx
import { Box, Container } from '@mui/material'

function MainLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <Box sx={{ display: 'flex', flexDirection: 'column', minHeight: '100vh' }}>
      <Header />
      <Container component="main" sx={{ flexGrow: 1, py: 3 }}>
        {children}
      </Container>
      <Footer />
    </Box>
  )
}

Implement Common Component Patterns

// components/common/LoadingButton.jsx
import { Button, CircularProgress } from '@mui/material'

function LoadingButton({ loading, children, ...props }) {
  return (
    <Button
      disabled={loading}
      startIcon={loading ? <CircularProgress size={20} /> : null}
      {...props}
    >
      {children}
    </Button>
  )
}

3. Styling Best Practices

Use sx Prop for One-off Styles

<Box
  sx={{
    display: 'flex',
    alignItems: 'center',
    gap: 2,
    p: 2,
    backgroundColor: 'background.paper',
    borderRadius: 1,
  }}
>
  {/* Content */}
</Box>

Create Reusable Style Objects

const commonStyles = {
  card: {
    height: '100%',
    display: 'flex',
    flexDirection: 'column',
    p: 2,
  },
  actionArea: {
    mt: 'auto',
    pt: 2,
  },
}

function ProductCard() {
  return (
    <Card sx={commonStyles.card}>
      <CardContent>{/* Content */}</CardContent>
      <Box sx={commonStyles.actionArea}>{/* Actions */}</Box>
    </Card>
  )
}

4. Forms and Validation

Use Controlled Components with Form Libraries

import { TextField } from '@mui/material'
import { useFormik } from 'formik'
import * as yup from 'yup'

const validationSchema = yup.object({
  email: yup.string().email('Enter a valid email').required('Email is required'),
  password: yup
    .string()
    .min(8, 'Password should be at least 8 characters')
    .required('Password is required'),
})

function LoginForm() {
  const formik = useFormik({
    initialValues: {
      email: '',
      password: '',
    },
    validationSchema: validationSchema,
    onSubmit: (values) => {
      // Handle submission
    },
  })

  return (
    <form onSubmit={formik.handleSubmit}>
      <TextField
        fullWidth
        id="email"
        name="email"
        label="Email"
        value={formik.values.email}
        onChange={formik.handleChange}
        error={formik.touched.email && Boolean(formik.errors.email)}
        helperText={formik.touched.email && formik.errors.email}
      />
      {/* Other form fields */}
    </form>
  )
}

5. Performance Optimization

Implement Code Splitting

import { lazy, Suspense } from 'react'
import { CircularProgress } from '@mui/material'

const HeavyComponent = lazy(() => import('./HeavyComponent'))

function App() {
  return (
    <Suspense fallback={<CircularProgress />}>
      <HeavyComponent />
    </Suspense>
  )
}

Memoize Complex Components

import { memo } from 'react';

const ExpensiveComponent = memo(function ExpensiveComponent({ data }) {
  return (
    // Complex rendering logic
  );
});

6. Responsive Design

Use Breakpoint Utilities

import { useTheme, useMediaQuery } from '@mui/material'

function ResponsiveComponent() {
  const theme = useTheme()
  const isMobile = useMediaQuery(theme.breakpoints.down('sm'))

  return (
    <Grid container spacing={isMobile ? 1 : 3}>
      {/* Responsive grid items */}
    </Grid>
  )
}

Implement Responsive Styles

<Box
  sx={{
    width: {
      xs: '100%',
      sm: '50%',
      md: '33.33%',
    },
    p: {
      xs: 1,
      sm: 2,
      md: 3,
    },
  }}
>
  {/* Content */}
</Box>

7. Error Boundaries and Error Handling

Create Custom Error Boundary

import { Component } from 'react'
import { Alert, Button } from '@mui/material'

class ErrorBoundary extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props)
    this.state = { hasError: false }
  }

  static getDerivedStateFromError(error) {
    return { hasError: true }
  }

  render() {
    if (this.state.hasError) {
      return (
        <Alert
          severity="error"
          action={
            <Button color="inherit" onClick={() => window.location.reload()}>
              Reload Page
            </Button>
          }
        >
          Something went wrong. Please try again.
        </Alert>
      )
    }

    return this.props.children
  }
}

8. Testing

Write Component Tests

import { render, screen, fireEvent } from '@testing-library/react'
import { ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material'
import theme from './theme'

function renderWithTheme(component) {
  return render(<ThemeProvider theme={theme}>{component}</ThemeProvider>)
}

test('button triggers action on click', () => {
  const handleClick = jest.fn()
  renderWithTheme(<Button onClick={handleClick}>Click Me</Button>)

  fireEvent.click(screen.getByText('Click Me'))
  expect(handleClick).toHaveBeenCalled()
})
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