react-one-louder

This is a simple React library for customising components. It is typically used for theming UI components, but more generally it can be used to provide sensible "global" defaults for any components in a web site or other application.

If you can see... the numbers all go to eleven. Look... right across the board. Eleven... eleven... eleven. You see, most blokes will be playing at ten. You're on ten here... all the way up, all the way up. You're on ten on your guitar... where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Put it up to eleven. Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

Documentation

Read the full documentation for full details. The abridged version is included below.

Getting Started

Add the @abw/react-one-louder module to your project using your favourite package manager.

1## using npm
2$ npm add @abw/one-louder
3
4## using yarn
5$ yarn add @abw/one-louder
6
7## using pnpm
8$ pnpm add @abw/one-louder

You can then import the modules and start using them.

1import { Theme, Themed } from '@abw/react-one-louder'

Themed Components

Consider a simple React component like this Amplifier.

1const Amplifier = ({ volume=10 }) =>
2  <div>Amplifier volume is {volume}</div>
3
4export default Amplifier

If you don't explicitly provide a volume property when you use it then it defaults to 10.

1import Amplifier from './Amplifier.jsx'
2
3const AmplifierExample = () =>
4  <Amplifier/>

The output would be:

Amplifier volume is 10

Of course you can always provide a volume property to override the default value.

1import Amplifier from './Amplifier.jsx'
2
3const AmplifierExample = () =>
4  <Amplifier volume={9}/>

Now the output is:

Amplifier volume is 9

That's all very well as long as you remember to set the volume explicitly every time. Apart from being easy to forget, it's also hard to change. If you've got lots of places where you're using this component and one day someone decides to change the volume across the whole site then you've got lots of code you need to change.

This is where the Themed function can be used. Instead of exporting your bare component, wrap it up in a call to Themed and provide a name that you can reference it by. In most cases, this will be the same name as the component, but it doesn't have to be.

1import { Themed } from '@abw/react-one-louder'
2
3const Amplifier = ({ volume=10 }) =>
4  <div>Amplifier volume is {volume}</div>
5
6export default Themed(Amplifier, 'Amplifier')

You can still use it just like you did before.

1import Amplifier from './Amplifier.jsx'
2
3const AmplifierExample = () =>
4  <>
5    <Amplifier/>
6    <Amplifier volume={9}/>
7  </>

The output is:

Amplifier volume is 10
Amplifier volume is 9

When you need that extra push over the cliff, you can define a Theme.Provider. This can be anywhere in your code but it's usually best to put it somewhere near the "top" of your application so that it encloses all the components that want to use it.

You provide it with a new set of defaults for any components that you're using and they will automatically be applied to your Themed components matching the name. You can still provide an explicit volume when you use the component if you need to.

1import Amplifier from './Amplifier.jsx'
2import { Theme } from '@abw/react-one-louder'
3
4const MyTheme = {
5  Amplifier: {
6    volume: 11
7  }
8}
9
10const AmplifierExample = () =>
11  <Theme.Provider {...MyTheme}>
12    <Amplifier/>
13    <Amplifier volume={9}/>
14  </Theme.Provider>

The output is now:

Amplifier volume is 11
Amplifier volume is 9

Defining Themes

We've already seen the typical case where you define your theme using default properties. You can include theming options for as many components as you need to.

1import { Theme } from '@abw/react-one-louder'
2
3const MyTheme = {
4  Guitar: {
5    volume: 11,
6  },
7  Amplifier: {
8    volume: 11
9  },
10  Drummer: {
11    lifeInsurance: true,
12    fireExtinguisher: true,
13    gardeningAccident: false,
14  }
15}
16
17const YourApplication = () =>
18  <Theme.Provider {...MyTheme}>
19    {/* ...your site code... */}
20  </Theme.Provider>

You can also theme a component using a function. The function will be passed any properties that have been specified with the component. It should return a set of properties that will be used as defaults. Note that these are only the defaults. In the third case below, the quiet property sets the default volume to 5 and color to black, but we can still provide an explicit volume property which will take precedence.

1import { Theme } from '@abw/react-one-louder'
2
3const MyTheme = {
4  Amplifier: props => props.quiet
5    ? { volume: 5,  color: 'black' }
6    : { volume: 11, color: 'none more black' }
7}
8
9const YourApplication = () =>
10  <Theme.Provider {...MyTheme}>
11    <Amplifier/>
12    <Amplifier quiet/>
13    <Amplifier quiet volume={6}/>
14  </Theme.Provider>

The output is:

Amplifier volume is 11
Amplifier volume is 5
Amplifier volume is 6

Author

Andy Wardley https://github.com/abw