Intro 💨
PWAs are great for your apps because;
Short loading times and overall better performance in poor network conditions for your users.
No need for extra development time to make product a native app(iOS and Android).
Have native features like push notifications without the hassle of development.
Overall better user engagement
So it's a pretty handy thing to have in any react app.
Note:
If your are just starting your project the best thing would be to run the create-react-app command with the pwa template:
npx create-react-app my-app --template cra-template-pwa
It would save you the time. If you have already progressed into your project follow along ⏬⏬⏬
Details ✍
- First we create a service worker
Saving it as worker.js in our public folder: public/worker.js .
A service worker is a script that your browser runs in the background which in this case pre-caches key assets making your PWA to load faster, improving the interaction between your app and users.
var CACHE_NAME = "app name"
var urlsToCache = [
'/',
'/completed'
];
// Install a service worker
self.addEventListener('install', event => {
// Perform install steps
event.waitUntil(
caches.open(CACHE_NAME)
.then(function(cache) {
console.log('Opened cache');
return cache.addAll(urlsToCache);
})
);
});
// Cache and return requests
self.addEventListener('fetch', event => {
event.respondWith(
caches.match(event.request)
.then(function(response) {
// Cache hit - return response
if (response) {
return response;
}
return fetch(event.request);
}
)
);
});
// Update a service worker
self.addEventListener('activate', event => {
var cacheWhitelist = ['your-app-name'];
event.waitUntil(
caches.keys().then(cacheNames => {
return Promise.all(
cacheNames.map(cacheName => {
if (cacheWhitelist.indexOf(cacheName) === -1) {
return caches.delete(cacheName);
}
})
);
})
);
});
- Update your HTML file in your public folder: public/index.html
This confirms if the users browser supports service workers. The following script should be added to the body of the index:
<script>
if ('serviceWorker' in navigator) {
window.addEventListener('load', function() {
navigator.serviceWorker.register('worker.js').then(function(registration) {
console.log('Worker registration successful', registration.scope);
}, function(err) {
console.log('Worker registration failed', err);
}).catch(function(err) {
console.log(err);
});
});
} else {
console.log('Service Worker is not supported by browser.');
}
</script>
- Start the Service Worker
Firstly two files need to be added to the root of the project ;
- service-worker.js :
/* eslint-disable no-restricted-globals */
// This service worker can be customized!
// See https://developers.google.com/web/tools/workbox/modules
// for the list of available Workbox modules, or add any other
// code you'd like.
// You can also remove this file if you'd prefer not to use a
// service worker, and the Workbox build step will be skipped.
import { clientsClaim } from "workbox-core";
import { ExpirationPlugin } from "workbox-expiration";
import { precacheAndRoute, createHandlerBoundToURL } from "workbox-precaching";
import { registerRoute } from "workbox-routing";
import { StaleWhileRevalidate } from "workbox-strategies";
clientsClaim();
// Precache all of the assets generated by your build process.
// Their URLs are injected into the manifest variable below.
// This variable must be present somewhere in your service worker file,
// even if you decide not to use precaching. See https://cra.link/PWA
precacheAndRoute(self.__WB_MANIFEST);
// Set up App Shell-style routing, so that all navigation requests
// are fulfilled with your index.html shell. Learn more at
// https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/architecture/app-shell
const fileExtensionRegexp = new RegExp("/[^/?]+\\.[^/]+$");
registerRoute(
// Return false to exempt requests from being fulfilled by index.html.
({ request, url }) => {
// If this isn't a navigation, skip.
if (request.mode !== "navigate") {
return false;
} // If this is a URL that starts with /_, skip.
if (url.pathname.startsWith("/_")) {
return false;
} // If this looks like a URL for a resource, because it contains // a file extension, skip.
if (url.pathname.match(fileExtensionRegexp)) {
return false;
} // Return true to signal that we want to use the handler.
return true;
},
createHandlerBoundToURL(process.env.PUBLIC_URL + "/index.html")
);
// An example runtime caching route for requests that aren't handled by the
// precache, in this case same-origin .png requests like those from in public/
registerRoute(
// Add in any other file extensions or routing criteria as needed.
({ url }) =>
url.origin === self.location.origin && url.pathname.endsWith(".png"), // Customize this strategy as needed, e.g., by changing to CacheFirst.
new StaleWhileRevalidate({
cacheName: "images",
plugins: [
// Ensure that once this runtime cache reaches a maximum size the
// least-recently used images are removed.
new ExpirationPlugin({ maxEntries: 50 }),
],
})
);
// This allows the web app to trigger skipWaiting via
// registration.waiting.postMessage({type: 'SKIP_WAITING'})
self.addEventListener("message", (event) => {
if (event.data && event.data.type === "SKIP_WAITING") {
self.skipWaiting();
}
});
- serviceWorkerRegistration.js :
// This optional code is used to register a service worker.
// register() is not called by default.
// This lets the app load faster on subsequent visits in production, and gives
// it offline capabilities. However, it also means that developers (and users)
// will only see deployed updates on subsequent visits to a page, after all the
// existing tabs open on the page have been closed, since previously cached
// resources are updated in the background.
// To learn more about the benefits of this model and instructions on how to
// opt-in, read https://cra.link/PWA
const isLocalhost = Boolean(
window.location.hostname === "localhost" ||
// [::1] is the IPv6 localhost address.
window.location.hostname === "[::1]" ||
// 127.0.0.0/8 are considered localhost for IPv4.
window.location.hostname.match(
/^127(?:\.(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)){3}$/
)
);
export function register(config) {
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production" && "serviceWorker" in navigator) {
// The URL constructor is available in all browsers that support SW.
const publicUrl = new URL(process.env.PUBLIC_URL, window.location.href);
if (publicUrl.origin !== window.location.origin) {
// Our service worker won't work if PUBLIC_URL is on a different origin
// from what our page is served on. This might happen if a CDN is used to
// serve assets; see https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/2374
return;
}
window.addEventListener("load", () => {
const swUrl = `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/service-worker.js`;
if (isLocalhost) {
// This is running on localhost. Let's check if a service worker still exists or not.
checkValidServiceWorker(swUrl, config);
// Add some additional logging to localhost, pointing developers to the
// service worker/PWA documentation.
navigator.serviceWorker.ready.then(() => {
console.log(
"This web app is being served cache-first by a service " +
"worker. To learn more, visit https://cra.link/PWA"
);
});
} else {
// Is not localhost. Just register service worker
registerValidSW(swUrl, config);
}
});
}
}
function registerValidSW(swUrl, config) {
navigator.serviceWorker
.register(swUrl)
.then((registration) => {
registration.onupdatefound = () => {
const installingWorker = registration.installing;
if (installingWorker == null) {
return;
}
installingWorker.onstatechange = () => {
if (installingWorker.state === "installed") {
if (navigator.serviceWorker.controller) {
// At this point, the updated precached content has been fetched,
// but the previous service worker will still serve the older
// content until all client tabs are closed.
console.log(
"New content is available and will be used when all " +
"tabs for this page are closed. See https://cra.link/PWA."
);
// Execute callback
if (config && config.onUpdate) {
config.onUpdate(registration);
}
} else {
// At this point, everything has been precached.
// It's the perfect time to display a
// "Content is cached for offline use." message.
console.log("Content is cached for offline use.");
// Execute callback
if (config && config.onSuccess) {
config.onSuccess(registration);
}
}
}
};
};
})
.catch((error) => {
console.error("Error during service worker registration:", error);
});
}
function checkValidServiceWorker(swUrl, config) {
// Check if the service worker can be found. If it can't reload the page.
fetch(swUrl, {
headers: { "Service-Worker": "script" },
})
.then((response) => {
// Ensure service worker exists, and that we really are getting a JS file.
const contentType = response.headers.get("content-type");
if (
response.status === 404 ||
(contentType != null && contentType.indexOf("javascript") === -1)
) {
// No service worker found. Probably a different app. Reload the page.
navigator.serviceWorker.ready.then((registration) => {
registration.unregister().then(() => {
window.location.reload();
});
});
} else {
// Service worker found. Proceed as normal.
registerValidSW(swUrl, config);
}
})
.catch(() => {
console.log(
"No internet connection found. App is running in offline mode."
);
});
}
export function unregister() {
if ("serviceWorker" in navigator) {
navigator.serviceWorker.ready
.then((registration) => {
registration.unregister();
})
.catch((error) => {
console.error(error.message);
});
}
}
- Edit index.js
Go to to your app's index.js file in the src folder: src/index.js . Register the serviceworker as shown below:
import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
// import './index.css';
import './styles/main.scss'
import App from './App';
import * as serviceWorkerRegistration from "./serviceWorkerRegistration";
ReactDOM.render(
<React.StrictMode>
<App />
</React.StrictMode>,
document.getElementById('root')
);
// If you want your app to work offline and load faster, you can change
// unregister() to register() below. Note this comes with some pitfalls.
// Learn more about service workers: https://cra.link/PWA
serviceWorkerRegistration.register();
NB: If your restart the npm your console would log if the worker registration was successful or not
- manifest.json
You should have it in your project's public folder by default but in the case you don't, create it and add the following:
{
"short_name": "React App",
"name": "Create React App Sample",
"icons": [
{
"src": "favicon.ico",
"sizes": "64x64 32x32 24x24 16x16",
"type": "image/x-icon"
},
{
"src": "logo192.png",
"type": "image/png",
"sizes": "192x192"
},
{
"src": "logo512.png",
"type": "image/png",
"sizes": "512x512"
}
],
"start_url": ".",
"display": "standalone",
"theme_color": "#000000",
"background_color": "#ffffff"
}
NB: The manifest allows chrome browsers to show the add to homescreen prompt.
Congratulations 👏👏
Reaching this point you have successfully made your React App a PWA, great job 🔥
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