Basic ReactNavigation Example App and Tutorial

This is a simple 3-page application that demonstrates the basic usage of React Navigation as a navigation tool. It is extremely easy to understand. This step-by-step tutorial will take you through the basic concepts. We are using NativeBase as the UI library to design our pages.

Find full code here


ReactNavigation Gif

1. Aim

We are creating a 3-page application with buttons on each page that takes us to the other page onPress.

2. Installation

  1. 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
  2. Installing Libraries
    With a React Native project SetUp, We can now install all required Libraries as follows.
    a. React Navigation
    Do this npm install --save react-navigation
    b. NativeBase
    npm install native-base --save
    Configure all dependencies by running the following command
    react-native link
    By the end of Installation, your package.json file should look something like this.

StackNavigation PackageJson

3. Lets Play

With our basic project setup we can now start building our App.
Make a folder at the project root by the name of src. Inside this folder we make 3 folders ChatScreen HomeScreen ProfileScreen.

4. HomeScreen

This is going to be the first landing screen of out App. We are going to implement the navigation logic here.
For our purpose here, we have used DrawerNavigator for navigation through the entire app.
Further screens will have nested navigators in them.
Go ahead and add the following file in your project.

Code HomeScreen/HomeScreen.js 

import React from "react";
import { StatusBar } from "react-native";
import {
  Button,
  Text,
  Container,
  Card,
  CardItem,
  Body,
  Content,
  Header,
  Title,
  Left,
  Icon,
  Right
} from "native-base";
export default class HomeScreen extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <Container>
        <Header>
          <Left>
            <Button
              transparent
              onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate("DrawerOpen")}>
              <Icon name="menu" />
            </Button>
          </Left>
          <Body>
            <Title>HomeScreen</Title>
          </Body>
          <Right />
        </Header>
        <Content padder>
          <Card>
            <CardItem>
              <Body>
                <Text>Chat App to talk some awesome people!</Text>
              </Body>
            </CardItem>
          </Card>
          <Button
            full
            rounded
            dark
            style={{ marginTop: 10 }}
            onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate("Chat")}>
            <Text>Chat With People</Text>
          </Button>
          <Button
            full
            rounded
            primary
            style={{ marginTop: 10 }}
            onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate("Profile")}>
            <Text>Goto Profiles</Text>
          </Button>
        </Content>
      </Container>
    );
  }
}

Explained

  1. Here we have simply added some buttons, each to openDrawer or navigate to other components.
  2. The navigation object is available as a prop to us as we declare this component inside a DrawerNavigator in index.js.

Code HomeScreen/index.js 

import React, { Component } from "react";
import HomeScreen from "./HomeScreen.js";
import MainScreenNavigator from "../ChatScreen/index.js";
import Profile from "../ProfileScreen/index.js";
import SideBar from "../SideBar/SideBar.js";
import { DrawerNavigator } from "react-navigation";
const HomeScreenRouter = DrawerNavigator(
  {
    Home: { screen: HomeScreen },
    Chat: { screen: MainScreenNavigator },
    Profile: { screen: Profile }
  },
  {
    contentComponent: props => <SideBar {...props} />
  }
);
export default HomeScreenRouter;

Explained

  1. Here we have simply imported all the screens we will be needing. We will be building these screens in the comming sections. These screens in fact are router components which themselves have multiple screens.
  2. We pass the screens to the DrawerNavigator as shown above.
  3. Note how we have used a custom NativeBase components using customComponent prop and we pass our custom drawer component.

This is going to be our custom drawer component where we put buttons to navigate to different screens available.
Navigation object is available as this.props.navigation since we passed the props in the HomeScreen component.

Code SideBar/SideBar.js 

import React from "react";
import { AppRegistry, Image, StatusBar } from "react-native";
import {
  Button,
  Text,
  Container,
  List,
  ListItem,
  Content,
  Icon
} from "native-base";
const routes = ["Home", "Chat", "Profile"];
export default class SideBar extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <Container>
        <Content>
          <Image
            source={{
              uri: "https://github.com/GeekyAnts/NativeBase-KitchenSink/raw/react-navigation/img/drawer-cover.png"
            }}
            style={{
              height: 120,
              alignSelf: "stretch",
              justifyContent: "center",
              alignItems: "center"
            }}>
            <Image
              square
              style={{ height: 80, width: 70 }}
              source={{
                uri: "https://github.com/GeekyAnts/NativeBase-KitchenSink/raw/react-navigation/img/logo.png"
              }}
            />
          </Image>
          <List
            dataArray={routes}
            renderRow={data => {
              return (
                <ListItem
                  button
                  onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate(data)}>
                  <Text>{data}</Text>
                </ListItem>
              );
            }}
          />
        </Content>
      </Container>
    );
  }
}

6. ChatScreen

This screen comprises of TabNavigator component. We are going to have three screens here to chat to three different people.
We will also create our own custom component for Tabs. Its done as follows.

Code ChatScreen/index.js 


import React, { Component } from "react";
import LucyChat from "./LucyChat.js";
import JadeChat from "./JadeChat.js";
import NineChat from "./NineChat.js";
import { TabNavigator } from "react-navigation";
import {
  Button,
  Text,
  Icon,
  Item,
  Footer,
  FooterTab,
  Label
} from "native-base";
export default (MainScreenNavigator = TabNavigator(
  {
    LucyChat: { screen: LucyChat },
    JadeChat: { screen: JadeChat },
    NineChat: { screen: NineChat }
  },
  {
    tabBarPosition: "bottom",
    tabBarComponent: props => {
      return (
        <Footer>
          <FooterTab>
            <Button
              vertical
              active={props.navigationState.index === 0}
              onPress={() => props.navigation.navigate("LucyChat")}>
              <Icon name="bowtie" />
              <Text>Lucy</Text>
            </Button>
            <Button
              vertical
              active={props.navigationState.index === 1}
              onPress={() => props.navigation.navigate("JadeChat")}>
              <Icon name="briefcase" />
              <Text>Nine</Text>
            </Button>
            <Button
              vertical
              active={props.navigationState.index === 2}
              onPress={() => props.navigation.navigate("NineChat")}>
              <Icon name="headset" />
              <Text>Jade</Text>
            </Button>
          </FooterTab>
        </Footer>
      );
    }
  }
));

Explained

  1. We have simply imported three screens to work as Tabs as shown above.
  2. We pass these screens to TabNavigator component.
  3. Notice how we pass our Tab component through tabBarComponent prop.
  4. Navigation is available as props.

6.0.1. Sample screen

Code ChatScreen/LucyChat.js 


import React from "react";
import { AppRegistry, View, StatusBar } from "react-native";
import {
  Button,
  Text,
  Container,
  Card,
  CardItem,
  Body,
  Content,
  Header,
  Left,
  Right,
  Icon,
  Title,
  Input,
  InputGroup,
  Item,
  Tab,
  Tabs,
  Footer,
  FooterTab,
  Label
} from "native-base";
import HomeScreen from "../HomeScreen";
export default class LucyChat extends React.Component {
  render() {
    const { navigate } = this.props.navigation;
    return (
      <Container>
        <Header>
          <Left>
            <Button
              transparent
              onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate("DrawerOpen")}>
              <Icon name="menu" />
            </Button>
          </Left>
          <Body>
            <Title>Lucy Chat</Title>
          </Body>
          <Right />
        </Header>
        <Content padder>
          <Item floatingLabel style={{ marginTop: 20 }}>
            <Label>Lucy Chat</Label>
            <Input />
          </Item>
          <Button
            rounded
            danger
            style={{ marginTop: 20, alignSelf: "center" }}
            onPress={() => navigate("Profile")}>
            <Text>Goto Lucy Profile</Text>
          </Button>
        </Content>
      </Container>
    );
  }
}

7. Profile

This screen includes example for StackNavigation.
Code ProfileScreen/index.js 


import React, { Component } from "react";
import Profile from "./Profile.js";
import EditScreenOne from "./EditScreenOne.js";
import EditScreenTwo from "./EditScreenTwo.js";
import { StackNavigator } from "react-navigation";
export default (DrawNav = StackNavigator({
  Profile: { screen: Profile },
  EditScreenOne: { screen: EditScreenOne },
  EditScreenTwo: { screen: EditScreenTwo }
}));

Code ProfileScreen/Profile.js 


import React from "react";
import { AppRegistry, Alert } from "react-native";
import {
  Text,
  Container,
  Card,
  CardItem,
  Body,
  Content,
  Header,
  Left,
  Right,
  Icon,
  Title,
  Button,
  H1
} from "native-base";
import { StackNavigator } from "react-navigation";
import EditScreenOne from "./EditScreenOne.js";
import EditScreenTwo from "./EditScreenTwo.js";
export default class Profile extends React.Component {
  componentDidMount() {
    Alert.alert("No Users Found", "Oops, Looks like you are not signed in");
  }
  render() {
    return (
      <Container>
        <Content padder>
          <Card>
            <CardItem>
              <Icon active name="paper-plane" />
              <Text>Show User profiles here</Text>
              <Right>
                <Icon name="close" />
              </Right>
            </CardItem>
          </Card>
          <Button
            full
            rounded
            primary
            style={{ marginTop: 10 }}
            onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate("EditScreenOne")}>
            <Text>Goto EditScreen One</Text>
          </Button>
        </Content>
      </Container>
    );
  }
}
Profile.navigationOptions = ({ navigation }) => ({
  header: (
    <Header>
      <Left>
        <Button transparent onPress={() => navigation.navigate("DrawerOpen")}>
          <Icon name="menu" />
        </Button>
      </Left>
      <Body>
        <Title>Profile</Title>
      </Body>
      <Right />
    </Header>
  )
});

Explained

  1. We have Navigation as a StackNavigation prop here. In the UI, we have different buttons to navigate to screens on stack. Notice how we imported screens above.
  2. Notice how we passed the DrawerNavigator prop inside our Profile screen header above.

Code ProfileScreen/EditScreenOne.js
This screen is a simple part of StackNavigation, we have a header with a back button as shown below. 


import React from "react";
import { AppRegistry, Alert } from "react-native";
import {
  Text,
  Container,
  Card,
  CardItem,
  Body,
  Content,
  Header,
  Left,
  Right,
  Icon,
  Title,
  Button,
  H1
} from "native-base";
export default class EditScreenOne extends React.Component {
  static navigationOptions = ({ navigation }) => ({
    header: (
      <Header>
        <Left>
          <Button transparent onPress={() => navigation.goBack()}>
            <Icon name="arrow-back" />
          </Button>
        </Left>
        <Body>
          <Title>EditScreenOne</Title>
        </Body>
        <Right />
      </Header>
    )
  });
  render() {
    return (
      <Container>
        <Content padder>
          <Card>
            <CardItem>
              <Icon active name="paper-plane" />
              <Text>Edit Screen 1</Text>
              <Right>
                <Icon name="close" />
              </Right>
            </CardItem>
          </Card>
          <Button
            full
            rounded
            primary
            style={{ marginTop: 10 }}
            onPress={() => this.props.navigation.navigate("EditScreenTwo")}>
            <Text>Goto EditScreenTwo</Text>
          </Button>
        </Content>
      </Container>
    );
  }
}

8. Finishing up

Lastly we import our routes component from HomeScreen to our App.js file as shown.
Note how we have loaded fonts for NativeBase since we have used expo here.

Code App.js


import React, { Component } from "react";
import { View } from "react-native";
import { Container, Content, Picker, Button, Text } from "native-base";
import Expo from "expo";
import HomeScreen from "./src/HomeScreen/index.js";
export default class AwesomeApp 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"),
      Ionicons: require("native-base/Fonts/Ionicons.ttf")
    });
    this.setState({ isReady: true });
  }
  render() {
    if (!this.state.isReady) {
      return <Expo.AppLoading />;
    }
    return <HomeScreen />;
  }
}

All has been taken care of now. Build and run.

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