React Router in Vite - DAV-1000/react-material GitHub Wiki

Created: 8/1/2025 10:27
Updated: 8/1/2025 16:20
Exported: 8/14/2025 11:21
Link: https://chatgpt.com/c/688c8889-9264-8001-87a0-af9578c3551b

Prompt:

Tell me about using React Router in a typescript vite app

Response:

Using React Router in a TypeScript + Vite app is a common and efficient setup for building modern single-page applications (SPAs). Here’s a complete guide to getting started and using it effectively:

🚀 1. Set Up a Vite + React + TypeScript App

First, create your app using Vite:

npm create vite@latest my-app -- --template react-ts
cd my-app
npm install

📦 2. Install React Router

Install react-router-dom and its types:

npm install react-router-dom
npm install -D @types/react-router-dom

Note: As of React Router v6+, the package is fully written in TypeScript, so @types/react-router-dom may not be strictly necessary anymore.

📁 3. Create Pages and Routes

Let’s create a simple folder structure:

src/
├── main.tsx
├── App.tsx
├── pages/
│   ├── Home.tsx
│   └── About.tsx

Example: pages/Home.tsx

const Home = () => <h1>Home Page</h1>;
export default Home;

Example: pages/About.tsx

const About = () => <h1>About Page</h1>;
export default About;

⚙️ 4. Set Up React Router in App.tsx 

import { BrowserRouter as Router, Routes, Route, Link } from "react-router-dom";
import Home from "./pages/Home";
import About from "./pages/About";

const App = () => (
  <Router>
    <nav>
      <Link to="/">Home</Link> | <Link to="/about">About</Link>
    </nav>
    <Routes>
      <Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
      <Route path="/about" element={<About />} />
    </Routes>
  </Router>
);

export default App;

🧠 5. TypeScript Tips

React Router v6+ uses a lot of generics and type inference. But here are some common tips:

  • Route Params:

If you have dynamic routes:

<Route path="/user/:id" element={<User />} />

Inside User.tsx, use:

import { useParams } from "react-router-dom";

const User = () => {
  const { id } = useParams<{ id: string }>();
  return <div>User ID: {id}</div>;
};
  • Navigate programmatically:
import { useNavigate } from "react-router-dom";

const MyComponent = () => {
  const navigate = useNavigate();
  return <button onClick={() => navigate("/about")}>Go to About</button>;
};

✅ 6. Type Safety for Route Components

If you're passing props or using context, ensure you type your components properly:

interface Props {
  message: string;
}

const Home: React.FC<Props> = ({ message }) => <h1>{message}</h1>;

🧪 7. Dev and Build

Start dev server:

npm run dev

Build:

npm run build

🔧 Optional Enhancements

  • Use createBrowserRouter and RouterProvider for data loaders/actions (React Router v6.4+).
  • Use code splitting via React.lazy + Suspense with routes.

Let me know if you want a more advanced setup (e.g., nested routes, route guards, loader-based routing with createBrowserRouter, etc.)

Prompt:

I am adapting the Material UI Blog template. This is what my App.tsx looks like: import CssBaseline from '@mui/material/CssBaseline'; import Container from '@mui/material/Container'; import AppTheme from './shared-theme/AppTheme'; import AppAppBar from './components/AppAppBar'; import MainContent from './components/MainContent'; import Latest from './components/Latest'; import Footer from './components/Footer';

export default function App() { return ( <Container maxWidth="lg" component="main" sx={{ display: 'flex', flexDirection: 'column', my: 16, gap: 4 }} >

); }

Response:

Great — you're adapting the Material UI Blog template and using a clean component structure. If you're integrating React Router into this setup (e.g., to navigate between different blog pages or sections like "Home", "Posts", "About", etc.), you'll want to wrap your routing logic around MainContent (or wherever your page-specific content should appear).

Here’s how to update your App.tsx to incorporate React Router v6+ properly:

✅ Step-by-Step: Integrate React Router

1. Install React Router

If you haven’t yet:

npm install react-router-dom

2. Update App.tsx

You’ll wrap the App content in a <BrowserRouter>, and replace <MainContent /> with <Routes>...</Routes> for routing.

import CssBaseline from '@mui/material/CssBaseline';
import Container from '@mui/material/Container';
import { BrowserRouter as Router, Routes, Route } from 'react-router-dom';

import AppTheme from './shared-theme/AppTheme';
import AppAppBar from './components/AppAppBar';
import Footer from './components/Footer';
import Latest from './components/Latest';

// Route views
import Home from './pages/Home';
import BlogPost from './pages/BlogPost';
import About from './pages/About';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <AppTheme disableCustomTheme={false}>
      <CssBaseline enableColorScheme />
      <Router>
        <AppAppBar />
        <Container
          maxWidth="lg"
          component="main"
          sx={{ display: 'flex', flexDirection: 'column', my: 16, gap: 4 }}
        >
          <Routes>
            <Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
            <Route path="/post/:id" element={<BlogPost />} />
            <Route path="/about" element={<About />} />
            {/* Add more routes here as needed */}
          </Routes>
          <Latest />
        </Container>
        <Footer />
      </Router>
    </AppTheme>
  );
}

3. Create Page Components (pages/)

Example: pages/Home.tsx

const Home = () => {
  return <div>Welcome to the blog homepage!</div>;
};

export default Home;

Example: pages/BlogPost.tsx

import { useParams } from 'react-router-dom';

const BlogPost = () => {
  const { id } = useParams<{ id: string }>();
  return <div>Viewing blog post with ID: {id}</div>;
};

export default BlogPost;

Example: pages/About.tsx

const About = () => {
  return <div>About this blog</div>;
};

export default About;

4. Update Navigation (AppAppBar)

If AppAppBar has links, ensure they use react-router-dom's <Link> or NavLink:

import { Link as RouterLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Link from '@mui/material/Link';

// Inside your AppAppBar component
<Link component={RouterLink} to="/">Home</Link>
<Link component={RouterLink} to="/about">About</Link>

💡 Notes

  • Latest stays outside <Routes> because it seems to be a persistent component.
  • You can make AppAppBar context-aware by highlighting active routes using NavLink.
  • For advanced routing, you could use createBrowserRouter and loaders, but basic Routes will suffice for most blog cases.

Would you like help adapting AppAppBar or converting the blog posts into dynamic routes with real content?

Prompt:

Help adapting AppAppBar. I want it to retain its current look and feel: import * as React from 'react'; import { alpha, styled } from '@mui/material/styles'; import Box from '@mui/material/Box'; import AppBar from '@mui/material/AppBar'; import Toolbar from '@mui/material/Toolbar'; import Button from '@mui/material/Button'; import IconButton from '@mui/material/IconButton'; import Container from '@mui/material/Container'; import Divider from '@mui/material/Divider'; import MenuItem from '@mui/material/MenuItem'; import Drawer from '@mui/material/Drawer'; import MenuIcon from '@mui/icons-material/Menu'; import CloseRoundedIcon from '@mui/icons-material/CloseRounded'; import ColorModeIconDropdown from '../shared-theme/ColorModeIconDropdown'; import Sitemark from './SitemarkIcon';

const StyledToolbar = styled(Toolbar)(({ theme }) => ({ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'space-between', flexShrink: 0, borderRadius: calc(${theme.shape.borderRadius}px + 8px), backdropFilter: 'blur(24px)', border: '1px solid', borderColor: (theme.vars || theme).palette.divider, backgroundColor: theme.vars ? rgba(${theme.vars.palette.background.defaultChannel} / 0.4) : alpha(theme.palette.background.default, 0.4), boxShadow: (theme.vars || theme).shadows[1], padding: '8px 12px', }));

export default function AppAppBar() { const [open, setOpen] = React.useState(false);

const onFeaturesClick = () => { console.info('You clicked the features button.'); };

const toggleDrawer = (newOpen: boolean) => () => { setOpen(newOpen); };

return ( <AppBar position="fixed" enableColorOnDark sx={{ boxShadow: 0, bgcolor: 'transparent', backgroundImage: 'none', mt: 'calc(var(--template-frame-height, 0px) + 28px)', }} > <Box sx={{ flexGrow: 1, display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', px: 0 }}> <Box sx={{ display: { xs: 'none', md: 'flex' } }}> Features Testimonials Highlights Pricing <Button variant="text" color="info" size="small" sx={{ minWidth: 0 }}> FAQ <Button variant="text" color="info" size="small" sx={{ minWidth: 0 }}> Blog <Box sx={{ display: { xs: 'none', md: 'flex' }, gap: 1, alignItems: 'center', }} > Sign in Sign up <Box sx={{ display: { xs: 'flex', md: 'none' }, gap: 1 }}> <Drawer anchor="top" open={open} onClose={toggleDrawer(false)} PaperProps={{ sx: { top: 'var(--template-frame-height, 0px)', }, }} > <Box sx={{ p: 2, backgroundColor: 'background.default' }}> <Box sx={{ display: 'flex', justifyContent: 'flex-end', }} > Features Testimonials Highlights Pricing FAQ Blog <Divider sx={{ my: 3 }} /> Sign up Sign in ); }

Response:

To adapt your AppAppBar component for React Router while preserving the look and feel of the original MUI template, you'll replace buttons that currently do nothing with react-router-dom's Link components, while maintaining MUI styling.

Here’s how to do it cleanly and incrementally:

✅ Step 1: Import Link from React Router + MUI

import { Link as RouterLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Link from '@mui/material/Link';

✅ Step 2: Replace Buttons That Navigate With Link or Button + component={RouterLink}

You'll replace the static buttons like "Blog", "Features", etc. with either:

  • MUI's <Button component={RouterLink} to="/your-route" /> if it should look like a button, or
  • MUI <Link component={RouterLink} ... /> if you want hyperlink-style nav

Here’s the updated version for just the nav buttons:

✨ Modified Nav Buttons (Desktop)

<Box sx={{ display: { xs: 'none', md: 'flex' } }}>
  <Button component={RouterLink} to="/features" variant="text" color="info" size="small">
    Features
  </Button>
  <Button component={RouterLink} to="/testimonials" variant="text" color="info" size="small">
    Testimonials
  </Button>
  <Button component={RouterLink} to="/highlights" variant="text" color="info" size="small">
    Highlights
  </Button>
  <Button component={RouterLink} to="/pricing" variant="text" color="info" size="small">
    Pricing
  </Button>
  <Button component={RouterLink} to="/faq" variant="text" color="info" size="small" sx={{ minWidth: 0 }}>
    FAQ
  </Button>
  <Button component={RouterLink} to="/blog" variant="text" color="info" size="small" sx={{ minWidth: 0 }}>
    Blog
  </Button>
</Box>

✨ Modified Drawer Menu (Mobile)

<Drawer ... >
  <Box sx={{ p: 2, backgroundColor: 'background.default' }}>
    <Box sx={{ display: 'flex', justifyContent: 'flex-end' }}>
      <IconButton onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>
        <CloseRoundedIcon />
      </IconButton>
    </Box>
    <MenuItem component={RouterLink} to="/features" onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>Features</MenuItem>
    <MenuItem component={RouterLink} to="/testimonials" onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>Testimonials</MenuItem>
    <MenuItem component={RouterLink} to="/highlights" onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>Highlights</MenuItem>
    <MenuItem component={RouterLink} to="/pricing" onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>Pricing</MenuItem>
    <MenuItem component={RouterLink} to="/faq" onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>FAQ</MenuItem>
    <MenuItem component={RouterLink} to="/blog" onClick={toggleDrawer(false)}>Blog</MenuItem>

    <Divider sx={{ my: 3 }} />

    <MenuItem>
      <Button component={RouterLink} to="/signup" color="primary" variant="contained" fullWidth>
        Sign up
      </Button>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
      <Button component={RouterLink} to="/signin" color="primary" variant="outlined" fullWidth>
        Sign in
      </Button>
    </MenuItem>
  </Box>
</Drawer>

✅ Optional: Highlight Active Route

To highlight the active route (e.g., with a different color or underline), use NavLink from react-router-dom instead of Link, which allows you to apply active styles based on isActive.

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';

// Example with styling
<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  style={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? '#1976d2' : undefined,
    textDecoration: isActive ? 'underline' : 'none',
  })}
  variant="text"
  color="info"
  size="small"
>
  Blog
</Button>

🧠 Summary

You are:

  • Using component={RouterLink} or component={NavLink} in your MUI Button and MenuItem elements.
  • Preserving your layout and design.
  • Allowing React Router to handle navigation seamlessly.

Would you like help setting up placeholder route components for /features, /pricing, etc., or integrating route guards or scroll-to-top behavior?

Prompt:

amend the active route hilite solution above such that a different value for color is assigned depending on the value of isActive

Response:

Absolutely — to assign a different color depending on isActive, you can dynamically set the color prop based on the isActive value.

Since MUI's Button uses a theme-based color system (like primary, info, inherit, etc.), you'll conditionally return those values rather than raw color codes.

✅ Updated Button with Conditional color Based on isActive 

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Button from '@mui/material/Button';

// Inside your JSX:
<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  color={({ isActive }) => (isActive ? 'primary' : 'info')}
>
  Blog
</Button>

✅ Alternative: Using sx for More Customization

If you want more control (e.g., change both color and textDecoration, or apply a bold font), use sx with a function:

<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  sx={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? 'primary.main' : 'info.main',
    fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
    textDecoration: isActive ? 'underline' : 'none',
  })}
>
  Blog
</Button>

📌 Note

If you're using this inside a MUI MenuItem or mobile drawer as well, the same logic applies:

<MenuItem
  component={NavLink}
  to="/features"
  sx={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? 'primary.main' : 'text.primary',
    fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
  })}
>
  Features
</MenuItem>

Let me know if you'd like to abstract this into a NavButton component for reuse!

Prompt:

Type '({ isActive }: { isActive: any; }) => "primary" | "info"' is not assignable to type 'OverridableStringUnion<"inherit" | "primary" | "secondary" | "error" | "warning" | "info" |

Response:

Ah — good catch. That error happens because MUI’s color prop doesn't accept a function like ({ isActive }) => .... It's expecting a string literal or a theme color at render time, not dynamically during routing.

To fix this and still style based on route activity, you should leave the color prop static (or omit it) and instead use the sx prop for dynamic styling, which does accept a function.

✅ Correct Solution: Use sx for Dynamic Color

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Button from '@mui/material/Button';

// Inside your component JSX
<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  sx={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? 'primary.main' : 'info.main',
    fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
    textDecoration: isActive ? 'underline' : 'none',
  })}
>
  Blog
</Button>

This works because sx can take a callback function when the component is a NavLink, and MUI will apply the resulting styles.

🔄 Alternative: Use NavLink's className with CSS or styled

If you prefer CSS classes:

<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  className={({ isActive }) => (isActive ? 'nav-active' : 'nav-inactive')}
/>

Then define in your CSS or MUI theme overrides:

.nav-active {
  color: #1976d2; /* primary */
  font-weight: bold;
  text-decoration: underline;
}
.nav-inactive {
  color: #0288d1; /* info */
}

Let me know which approach you prefer — the sx version is cleaner and more in line with MUI's styling philosophy.

Prompt:

Property 'isActive' does not exist on type 'Theme'

Response:

Great — this tells us exactly what’s going on.

You're passing a function to the sx prop like:

sx={({ isActive }) => ({ ... })}

…but sx expects a function that receives the MUI theme, not React Router’s isActive.

That means the sx function is incorrectly assuming it gets { isActive }, when in fact it gets (theme: Theme).

✅ Correct Approach: Use NavLink’s style or className instead of sx for isActive

To conditionally style based on route activity, you must use NavLink's style or className props, which get the isActive value.

Here’s how to do it properly:

✅ Correct Implementation Using style 

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Button from '@mui/material/Button';

<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  style={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? '#1976d2' : '#0288d1', // primary vs info
    fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
    textDecoration: isActive ? 'underline' : 'none',
  })}
>
  Blog
</Button>

If you're using the MUI theme and want theme-aware colors, use the useTheme hook:

import { useTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const theme = useTheme();

// inside JSX
<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  style={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? theme.palette.primary.main : theme.palette.info.main,
    fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
  })}
/>

✅ Alternative: Use className

If you prefer CSS or emotion/styled components:

<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  size="small"
  variant="text"
  className={({ isActive }) => (isActive ? 'nav-active' : 'nav-inactive')}
/>

And define the classes in your global styles or use sx elsewhere.

🚫 Don’t Do This

sx={({ isActive }) => ({
  color: isActive ? 'primary.main' : 'info.main',
})}

This doesn’t work because sx doesn’t get isActive — it only gets MUI’s theme.

Let me know if you want to wrap this into a reusable <NavButton> component for DRY code!

Prompt:

React Hook "useTheme" cannot be called at the top level. React Hooks must be called in a React function component or a custom React Hook function.eslintreact-hooks/rules-of-hooks

Response:

You're absolutely right — and ESLint is giving you a correct warning.

❌ You cannot call useTheme() outside of a React component or hook function.

This mistake often happens when you're trying to declare const theme = useTheme() at the module level (i.e., outside of your component’s body). That’s not allowed by the Rules of Hooks.

✅ How to Fix It

Just move the useTheme() call inside your component before you use it:

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Button from '@mui/material/Button';
import { useTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const MyNavButton = () => {
  const theme = useTheme(); // ✅ must be inside the component

  return (
    <Button
      component={NavLink}
      to="/blog"
      size="small"
      variant="text"
      style={({ isActive }) => ({
        color: isActive ? theme.palette.primary.main : theme.palette.info.main,
        fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
      })}
    >
      Blog
    </Button>
  );
};

export default MyNavButton;

🧼 Optional: Wrap It for Reuse

If you're using a lot of navigation buttons, you can wrap this into a reusable component:

components/NavButton.tsx

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Button from '@mui/material/Button';
import { useTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

interface NavButtonProps {
  to: string;
  label: string;
}

const NavButton = ({ to, label }: NavButtonProps) => {
  const theme = useTheme();

  return (
    <Button
      component={NavLink}
      to={to}
      size="small"
      variant="text"
      style={({ isActive }) => ({
        color: isActive ? theme.palette.primary.main : theme.palette.info.main,
        fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
      })}
    >
      {label}
    </Button>
  );
};

export default NavButton;

Then in your AppAppBar.tsx:

<NavButton to="/features" label="Features" />
<NavButton to="/blog" label="Blog" />

Let me know if you'd like to also handle mobile drawer navigation the same way!

Prompt:

Property 'isActive' does not exist on type 'Theme'.

Response:

You're seeing this error because the style prop on your MUI Button does not forward isActive to the function when component={NavLink}. This is a tricky edge case.

Let me clarify and give you the correct and working solution.

✅ Why This Happens

You’re trying to do this:

<Button
  component={NavLink}
  to="/blog"
  style={({ isActive }) => ({
    color: isActive ? theme.palette.primary.main : theme.palette.info.main,
  })}
/>

But TypeScript sees style as (theme: Theme) => CSSProperties, because that’s what MUI expects, not what React Router provides.

So when React Router injects { isActive }, TypeScript still expects a MUI theme — and throws the error.

✅ Correct Working Solution

Instead of putting the style function directly on Button, you must move style to the underlying NavLink.

Here’s how to do it:

✅ Option 1: Wrap NavLink in a custom component and pass it to MUI’s component 

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import Button from '@mui/material/Button';
import { useTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const NavButton = ({ to, children }: { to: string; children: React.ReactNode }) => {
  const theme = useTheme();

  return (
    <Button
      component={NavLink}
      to={to}
      size="small"
      variant="text"
      style={({ isActive }: { isActive: boolean }) => ({
        color: isActive ? theme.palette.primary.main : theme.palette.info.main,
        fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal',
        textDecoration: isActive ? 'underline' : 'none',
      })}
    >
      {children}
    </Button>
  );
};

Then use it like:

<NavButton to="/blog">Blog</NavButton>

✅ Option 2: Use NavLink directly and apply MUI styles manually

This avoids MUI Button but gives you full control:

import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import { useTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const CustomLink = ({ to, children }: { to: string; children: React.ReactNode }) => {
  const theme = useTheme();

  return (
    <NavLink
      to={to}
      style={({ isActive }) => ({
        padding: '6px 16px',
        fontSize: '0.875rem',
        fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 400,
        textDecoration: isActive ? 'underline' : 'none',
        color: isActive ? theme.palette.primary.main : theme.palette.info.main,
        border: 'none',
        background: 'none',
        cursor: 'pointer',
      })}
    >
      {children}
    </NavLink>
  );
};

This looks similar to a MUI button and works without type issues.

✅ Summary

  • MUI's Button expects style: (theme) => styles, not style: ({ isActive }) => styles.
  • To use isActive, either:
    • Wrap NavLink and pass it via component
    • Use NavLink directly and apply styles manually

Let me know if you’d like to integrate this with your responsive AppBar drawer menu too!

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