React Native - Text

In this chapter, we will talk about Text component in React Native.

This component can be nested and it can inherit properties from parent to child. This can be useful in many ways. We will show you example of capitalizing the first letter, styling words or parts of the text, etc.

Step 1: Create File

The file we are going to create is text_example.js

Step 2: App.js

In this step, we will just create a simple container.

App.js

import React, { Component } from 'react'
import TextExample from './text_example.js'

const App = () => {
   return (
      <TextExample/>
   )
}
export default App

Step 3: Text

In this step, we will use the inheritance pattern. styles.text will be applied to all Text components.

You can also notice how we set other styling properties to some parts of the text. It is important to know that all child elements have parent styles passed to them.

text_example.js

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { View, Text, Image, StyleSheet } from 'react-native'

const TextExample = () => {
   return (
      <View style = {styles.container}>
         <Text style = {styles.text}>
            <Text style = {styles.capitalLetter}>
               L
            </Text>
            
            <Text>
               orem ipsum dolor sit amet, sed do eiusmod.
            </Text>
            
            <Text>
               Ut enim ad <Text style = {styles.wordBold}>minim </Text> veniam,
               quis aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
            </Text>
            
            <Text style = {styles.italicText}>
               Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum.
            </Text>
            
            <Text style = {styles.textShadow}>
               Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia
               deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
            </Text>
         </Text>
      
      </View>
   )
}
export default TextExample

const styles = StyleSheet.create ({
   container: {
      alignItems: 'center',
      marginTop: 100,
      padding: 20
   },
   text: {
      color: '#41cdf4',
   },
   capitalLetter: {
      color: 'red',
      fontSize: 20
   },
   wordBold: {
      fontWeight: 'bold',
      color: 'black'
   },
   italicText: {
      color: '#37859b',
      fontStyle: 'italic'
   },
   textShadow: {
      textShadowColor: 'red',
      textShadowOffset: { width: 2, height: 2 },
      textShadowRadius : 5
   }
})

You will receive the following output −

REACT NATIVE AND HOW TO CREATE ALERTS

In this chapter, we will understand how to create custom Alert component.

Step 1: App.js

import React from 'react'
import AlertExample from './alert_example.js'

const App = () => {
   return (
      <AlertExample />
   )
}
export default App

Step 2: alert_example.js

We will create a button for triggering the showAlert function.

import React from 'react'
import { Alert, Text, TouchableOpacity, StyleSheet } from 'react-native'

const AlertExample = () => {
   const showAlert = () =>{
      Alert.alert(
         'You need to...'
      )
   }
   return (
      <TouchableOpacity onPress = {showAlert} style = {styles.button}>
         <Text>Alert</Text>
      </TouchableOpacity>
   )
}
export default AlertExample

const styles = StyleSheet.create ({
   button: {
      backgroundColor: '#4ba37b',
      width: 100,
      borderRadius: 50,
      alignItems: 'center',
      marginTop: 100
   }
})

Output

When you click the button, you will see the following −

REACT NATIVE AND GEO LOCATION

In this chapter, we will show you how to use Geolocation.

Step 1: App.js

import React from 'react'
import GeolocationExample from './geolocation_example.js'

const App = () => {
   return (
      <GeolocationExample />
   )
}
export default App

Step 2: Geolocation

We will start by setting up the initial state for that will hold the initial and the last position.

Now, we need to get current position of the device when a component is mounted using the navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition. We will stringify the response so we can update the state.

navigator.geolocation.watchPosition is used for tracking the users’ position. We also clear the watchers in this step.

AsyncStorageExample.js

import React, { Component } from 'react'
import { View, Text, Switch, StyleSheet} from 'react-native'

class SwichExample extends Component {
   state = {
      initialPosition: 'unknown',
      lastPosition: 'unknown',
   }
   watchID: ?number = null;
   componentDidMount = () => {
      navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(
         (position) => {
            const initialPosition = JSON.stringify(position);
            this.setState({ initialPosition });
         },
         (error) => alert(error.message),
         { enableHighAccuracy: true, timeout: 20000, maximumAge: 1000 }
      );
      this.watchID = navigator.geolocation.watchPosition((position) => {
         const lastPosition = JSON.stringify(position);
         this.setState({ lastPosition });
      });
   }
   componentWillUnmount = () => {
      navigator.geolocation.clearWatch(this.watchID);
   }
   render() {
      return (
         <View style = {styles.container}>
            <Text style = {styles.boldText}>
               Initial position:
            </Text>
            
            <Text>
               {this.state.initialPosition}
            </Text>
            
            <Text style = {styles.boldText}>
               Current position:
            </Text>
            
            <Text>
               {this.state.lastPosition}
            </Text>
         </View>
      )
   }
}
export default SwichExample

const styles = StyleSheet.create ({
   container: {
      flex: 1,
      alignItems: 'center',
      marginTop: 50
   },
   boldText: {
      fontSize: 30,
      color: 'red',
   }
})

REACT NATIVE AND ASYN-STORAGE

In this chapter, we will show you how to persist your data using AsyncStorage.

Step 1: Presentation

In this step, we will create the App.js file.

import React from 'react'
import AsyncStorageExample from './async_storage_example.js'

const App = () => {
   return (
      <AsyncStorageExample />
   )
}
export default App

Step 2: Logic

Name from the initial state is empty string. We will update it from persistent storage when the component is mounted.

setName will take the text from our input field, save it using AsyncStorageand update the state.

async_storage_example.js

import React, { Component } from 'react'
import { StatusBar } from 'react-native'
import { AsyncStorage, Text, View, TextInput, StyleSheet } from 'react-native'

class AsyncStorageExample extends Component {
   state = {
      'name': ''
   }
   componentDidMount = () => AsyncStorage.getItem('name').then((value) => this.setState({ 'name': value }))
   
   setName = (value) => {
      AsyncStorage.setItem('name', value);
      this.setState({ 'name': value });
   }
   render() {
      return (
         <View style = {styles.container}>
            <TextInput style = {styles.textInput} autoCapitalize = 'none'
            onChangeText = {this.setName}/>
            <Text>
               {this.state.name}
            </Text>
         </View>
      )
   }
}
export default AsyncStorageExample

const styles = StyleSheet.create ({
   container: {
      flex: 1,
      alignItems: 'center',
      marginTop: 50
   },
   textInput: {
      margin: 5,
      height: 100,
      borderWidth: 1,
      backgroundColor: '#7685ed'
   }
})

When we run the app, we can update the text by typing into the input field.