Building a Blogging Platform SPA with ReactJS and Back4App

1\ introduction this tutorial will guide you through the process of building a complete single page application (spa) for a blogging platform using reactjs as the frontend and back4app as the backend we will cover everything from setting up your development environment, managing global state with redux, implementing routing and navigation, to performing crud operations with back4app objective create a fully functional blogging platform where users can create, edit, and delete blog posts, and readers can view and comment on posts this application will utilize reactjs for the frontend and back4app for backend operations key features user authentication post creation, editing, and deletion viewing posts and comments managing global state with redux routing and navigation using react router prerequisites basic knowledge of javascript, reactjs, and redux an active back4app account node js and npm installed on your local environment 2\ initial setup 2 1 setting up the reactjs project step 1 create a new react project using create react app step 2 start the development server 2 2 setting up back4app step 1 sign in to your back4app account and create a new application step 2 in the back4app dashboard, navigate to "core > browser" and create the following classes post (to store blog posts) comment (to store comments on posts) step 3 obtain your application id and javascript key from the "app settings > security & keys" section 2 3 installing necessary packages install the necessary dependencies for react, redux, and back4app integration npm install parse @reduxjs/toolkit react redux react router dom 2 4 configuring parse sdk step 1 create a file named parseconfig js in the src folder and configure the parse sdk import parse from 'parse'; parse initialize("your app id", "your javascript key"); parse serverurl = 'https //parseapi back4app com/'; export default parse; 3\ development of the blogging platform 3 1 project structure organize the project with the following structure src/ \| components/ \| | postlist js \| | postdetails js \| | postform js \| | commentlist js \| redux/ \| | store js \| | postslice js \| | commentslice js \| parseconfig js \| app js \| index js 3 2 implementing redux for global state management step 1 set up the redux store in redux/store js import { configurestore } from '@reduxjs/toolkit'; import postreducer from ' /postslice'; import commentreducer from ' /commentslice'; export const store = configurestore({ reducer { posts postreducer, comments commentreducer, }, }); step 2 create a slice for managing posts in redux/postslice js import { createslice, createasyncthunk } from '@reduxjs/toolkit'; import parse from ' /parseconfig'; export const fetchposts = createasyncthunk('posts/fetchposts', async () => { const query = new parse query('post'); const results = await query find(); return results map(post => ({ id post id, title post get('title'), content post get('content'), })); }); const postslice = createslice({ name 'posts', initialstate { list \[], status null, }, reducers {}, extrareducers { \[fetchposts fulfilled] (state, action) => { state list = action payload; state status = 'success'; }, }, }); export default postslice reducer; step 3 create a slice for managing comments in redux/commentslice js import { createslice, createasyncthunk } from '@reduxjs/toolkit'; import parse from ' /parseconfig'; export const fetchcomments = createasyncthunk('comments/fetchcomments', async (postid) => { const query = new parse query('comment'); query equalto('post', { type 'pointer', classname 'post', objectid postid }); const results = await query find(); return results map(comment => ({ id comment id, content comment get('content'), postid postid, })); }); const commentslice = createslice({ name 'comments', initialstate { list \[], status null, }, reducers {}, extrareducers { \[fetchcomments fulfilled] (state, action) => { state list = action payload; state status = 'success'; }, }, }); export default commentslice reducer; 3 3 implementing routing with react router step 1 set up routing in app js import { browserrouter as router, route, switch } from 'react router dom'; import postlist from ' /components/postlist'; import postdetails from ' /components/postdetails'; import postform from ' /components/postform'; function app() { return ( \<router> \<switch> \<route path="/" exact component={postlist} /> \<route path="/post/\ id" component={postdetails} /> \<route path="/new post" component={postform} /> \</switch> \</router> ); } export default app; 3 4 creating components step 1 create the postlist component to display all blog posts import react, { useeffect } from 'react'; import { usedispatch, useselector } from 'react redux'; import { fetchposts } from ' /redux/postslice'; import { link } from 'react router dom'; const postlist = () => { const dispatch = usedispatch(); const posts = useselector(state => state posts list); useeffect(() => { dispatch(fetchposts()); }, \[dispatch]); return ( \<div> \<h1>blog posts\</h1> \<link to="/new post">create new post\</link> \<ul> {posts map(post => ( \<li key={post id}> \<link to={`/post/${post id}`}>{post title}\</link> \</li> ))} \</ul> \</div> ); }; export default postlist; step 2 create the postdetails component to show the details of a specific post import react, { useeffect } from 'react'; import { useparams } from 'react router dom'; import { usedispatch, useselector } from 'react redux'; import { fetchcomments } from ' /redux/commentslice'; const postdetails = () => { const { id } = useparams(); const dispatch = usedispatch(); const comments = useselector(state => state comments list); useeffect(() => { dispatch(fetchcomments(id)); }, \[dispatch, id]); return ( \<div> \<h1>post details\</h1> \<p>comments \</p> \<ul> {comments map(comment => ( \<li key={comment id}>{comment content}\</li> ))} \</ul> \</div> ); }; export default postdetails; step 3 create the postform component for creating and editing posts import react, { usestate } from 'react'; import parse from ' /parseconfig'; import { usehistory } from 'react router dom'; const postform = () => { const \[title, settitle] = usestate(''); const \[content, setcontent] = usestate(''); const history = usehistory(); const handlesubmit = async (e) => { e preventdefault(); const post = parse object extend('post'); const post = new post(); post set('title', title); post set('content', content); try { await post save(); history push('/'); } catch (error) { console error('error creating post ', error); } }; return ( \<div> \<h1>create new post\</h1> \<form onsubmit={handlesubmit}> \<div> \<label>title\</label> \<input type="text" value={title} onchange={(e) => settitle(e target value)} /> \</div> \<div> \<label>content\</label> \<textarea value={content} onchange={(e) => setcontent(e target value)} /> \</div> \<button type="submit">submit\</button> \</form> \</div> ); }; export default postform; 4\ testing and deployment 4 1 testing the application step 1 test the application locally to ensure that all features are working test creating, editing, and deleting posts verify that comments are correctly displayed for each post test navigation between different routes 4 2 building the application for production step 1 build the application for production npm run build step 2 deploy the built application to a hosting service like back4app containers 4 3 configuring back4app for production back4app is already a production ready environment but you can give your code a look and update any necessary environment variables and keys 5\ conclusion summary this tutorial guided you through the creation of a complete blogging platform spa using reactjs and back4app you learned how to set up and configure a backend on back4app, manage global state with redux, implement routing with react router, and perform crud operations this platform can now be expanded with additional features such as user authentication, advanced commenting systems, and more next steps explore adding user authentication with back4app enhance the commenting system with real time updates implement seo features to improve search engine visibility 6\ source code and additional resources github repository provide a link to the full source code for the application on github additional resources reactjs documentation https //reactjs org/docs/getting started html redux documentation https //redux js org/ react router documentation https //reactrouter com/ back4app documentation https //www back4app com/docs 7\ faq / troubleshooting common issues error connecting to back4app double check your application id and javascript key redux state not updating ensure your actions and reducers are correctly configured support if you encounter any issues, you can reach out to back4app support or ask questions in relevant developer communities