Mobx Counter Example

This is a simple example Counter App made with Mobx, NativeBase and Create React Native App tool. Detailed Setup instructions can be found below.

Find Full Code here

1. Aim

We aim to create a simple App that has a counter with increment and decrement functionality. The logic is implemented in Mobx.

2. Installation

Create React Native App: Use CRNA tool to create an App like this
$ npm install -g create-react-native-app
$ create-react-native-app my-app
$ cd my-app/
$ npm start
Install Mobx:
npm i mobx mobx-react --save
Install babel plugins:
npm i babel-plugin-transform-decorators-legacy babel-preset-react-native-stage-0 --save-dev

Now, let’s create a .babelrc file to configure our babel plugins:

{
'presets': ['react-native'],
'plugins': ['transform-decorators-legacy']
}

NativeBase
npm install native-base --save
Important: additional steps are required to import fonts from native base. Refer to this Configure all dependencies by running the following command
react-native link

3. Setting Things Up

With all required Libraries installed, we can start with some real coding. In the root of your project create a folder src. Inside this folder we create two files, counterStore.js(The Mobx Store) and counter.js(Counter Component).
By the end of all this your project structure and package.json file should look something like this.

4. Mobx Store Setup

We need to create a Mobx store as follows.
Code src/counterStore.js

import {observable} from 'mobx';
class CounterStore {
  @observable counter = 0;
  increment() { this.counter++;
  console.log("increment", this.counter); }
  decrement() { this.counter--;
  console.log("decrement", this.counter); }
}
export default new CounterStore();

Explained:

We import observable from mobs. Inside our Store class we create an observable sore variable counter.
We create two methods increment() and decrement() that will be called from out component to update the store.
Lastly, we export a new object of our store class.

5. Mobx Component

We create a counter Component and import it in our main App file.
Code src/conter.js

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import Expo from 'expo';
import { Container, Content, Text, Card, Header, Body, Button, Title, CardItem } from 'native-base';
import CounterStore from './counterStore.js';
import {observer} from 'mobx-react';
import {View} from 'react-native';
@observer
export default class Counter extends Component{
  constructor(){
    super();
    this.state={
      isReady: false
    }
  }
  async componentWillMount() {
      await Expo.Font.loadAsync({
        'Roboto': require('native-base/Fonts/Roboto.ttf'),
        'Roboto_medium': require('native-base/Fonts/Roboto_medium.ttf'),
      });
      this.setState({isReady: true});
    }
  render(){
    if (!this.state.isReady) {
      return ;
    }
    return(
      <Container>
                <Header>
                    <Body>
                        <Title>Mobx Counter</Title>
                    </Body>
                </Header>
                <Card>
                <CardItem>
                            <Text>
                                {CounterStore.counter}
                            </Text>
                </CardItem>
                </Card>
                        <Button primary block onPress= {() => CounterStore.increment()}>
                             <Text>Increment</Text>
                         </Button>
                         <Button primary block onPress= {() => CounterStore.decrement()}>
                              <Text>Decrement</Text>
                          </Button>
                          <View>
                          </View>
            </Container>
    );
  }
}

Explained

We import observer from mobx-react and make our Class observer by pre-fixing @observer.
async componentWillMount() method is used to load fonts as described here.
state.isReady is used to find out if fonts are loaded. In the meanwhile,we display Expo.AppLoading screen.
We import our counterStore and display the observable store value counter in a Card. Buttons will fire respective functions from the Store Class.

6. Finishing Up

Lastly we import our counter component in our App.js file.
Build project and run.

Mobx