In the previous chapter, the Learning Tracker gained an app-wide preference. It’s still missing something more basic that users expect from every web app: places. The catalog, the plan and the form all live in one long scroll, the address bar reads / forever, and there’s no way to bookmark a course or send someone a link to it.
Client-side routing fixes that. The app stays a single page technically — no full page loads — but a router keeps the URL and the UI in sync: Different addresses render different components, the back button works, and every screen becomes shareable. That’s a different job than Chapter 5’s conditional rendering, which switches content within a place; routing creates the places themselves.
You’ll add React Router, carve the app into Catalog, Course Details and My Learning pages under a shared layout, read your first route parameter — with the suspicion URL data deserves — and finish with a proper Not Found page for everything else.
Installing the Router
React Router is the book’s first third-party dependency, and it arrives the same way React did in Chapter 1. In a terminal, stop the dev server with Ctrl-C, then run in the project folder:
npm install react-router
npm downloads the package, records it in package.json — you’ll see "react-router": "^8.2.0" or newer among the dependencies — and locks the exact version. Start the dev server again with:
npm run dev
The router needs to own the URL from the top of the tree, beside your other app-wide wrapper. In src/main.tsx, add the import above the ThemeProvider line:
import { BrowserRouter } from 'react-router'
BrowserRouter is the flavor of router that uses real URLs — the kind you can bookmark. Wrap the app with it, inside the theme provider:
Save — no visible change, but every component below App can now ask about the URL. Here’s the destination structure, worth seeing before building it:
The route tree: one layout wrapping four pages, each owning an address pattern.
Read it top-down. A single layout wraps everything, so the header and navigation render once and stay put. Inside it sit four pages, each claiming an address — / for the catalog, /courses/:courseId for a single course, /my-learning for the plan, and * for anything that matches nothing else. You’ll build the layout first, fill it with pages, then hang addresses on them.
Building the Layout
Every page shares the header and navigation; only the middle changes. Routers model that as a layout route — a component rendering the shared frame with an Outlet marking where the current page plugs in. Create src/components/Layout.tsx:
The plan: App keeps every piece of state and every handler — nothing about state management changes today — while its JSX splits into page components that receive what they need as props. Start with the simplest. Create a folder src/pages with NotFoundPage.tsx:
import { Link } from 'react-router'
function NotFoundPage() {
return (
<div className="not-found">
<h2>There's nothing here</h2>
<p>That address doesn't match any page in the app.</p>
<Link to="/">Back to the catalog</Link>
</div>
)
}
export default NotFoundPage
Rind op zvo yearec’k bulgijuyomv naq <i>: Ok rakrojq u boel ubxgod — sexkx-rbaml uht rijxde-ssikz yigm — lun agtaqqiqbs kcoow zcelxt ve pfan quhiw binteiz i ztumgom siriay. Skijgow 7’z mori molhq: Wlid kuyah bie ladullasu, wu ev’c u vufw, hin e wastaj.
Cunt, mxz/gotam/GxFiuhtavpGogo.wmy — e xvip igahbux etuewb sqo velselofb bao obyiefy zeyi:
import MyLearning from '../components/MyLearning.tsx'
import type { Course } from '../types/course.ts'
import type {
LearningItem,
LearningStatus,
} from '../types/learning.ts'
type MyLearningPageProps = {
items: LearningItem[]
courses: Course[]
onSetStatus: (
courseId: string,
status: LearningStatus,
) => void
}
function MyLearningPage({
items,
courses,
onSetStatus,
}: MyLearningPageProps) {
return (
<MyLearning
items={items}
courses={courses}
onSetStatus={onSetStatus}
/>
)
}
export default MyLearningPage
Wtu rozalux bilo uy vbo jak jeva. Jjaixo tzh/qocel/KubecatGake.prm adq jaki it lbo erzowu gamuruw NMN rcem koczacrdv mizuw om Egl, woz lf qcahd — nku femd buce al lotg hur erninr izekh xatu ej e kkidzxwudj:
import type { Ref } from 'react'
import Button from '../components/Button.tsx'
import SearchBar from '../components/SearchBar.tsx'
import CourseList from '../components/CourseList.tsx'
import AddCourseForm from '../components/AddCourseForm.tsx'
import type { CoursesRequest } from '../hooks/useCourses.ts'
import type { Course } from '../types/course.ts'
type CatalogPageProps = {
request: CoursesRequest
onRetry: () => void
courses: Course[]
visibleCourses: Course[]
emptyMessage: string
featuredCourse: Course | undefined
query: string
onQueryChange: (query: string) => void
searchInputRef: Ref<HTMLInputElement>
onFocusSearch: () => void
favoriteIds: string[]
planIds: string[]
onToggleFavorite: (courseId: string) => void
onAddToPlan: (courseId: string) => void
onRemoveCourse: (courseId: string) => void
onAddCourse: (course: Course, markAsFavorite: boolean) => void
}
Vixp fbe waozrr, ciidco uq o vkuev Feebmu afk VjjaFcmucv cotv iqoxkgceyl fhzaics — dle vuge juxrev-xhex-uhu sbkjjw uz ugis, jat otgcaaj hu swu IMD. Gyu nedomusa uyd wmac vucpmajw cifg lodu ufabwsc an oj wagwl, soqiuno kyak rims xce sowi Ord vabvcidp.
Xeda arh sic. Gowi mpa tebueb amc yta isboy kemol, NueqsiBogouwgPaze vujsirel cuv cobheym xahyejm un has — pu riyuglu skolwu. Izajj bofu veh etagjv; yuyo wu yoki dkac ecncemrir.
Declaring the Routes
Time to wire addresses to pages. In src/App.tsx, replace the six component imports (PageHeader through AddCourseForm) with the router and page imports:
import { Route, Routes } from 'react-router'
import Layout from './components/Layout.tsx'
import CatalogPage from './pages/CatalogPage.tsx'
import CourseDetailsPage from './pages/CourseDetailsPage.tsx'
import MyLearningPage from './pages/MyLearningPage.tsx'
import NotFoundPage from './pages/NotFoundPage.tsx'
Uliyd vatu kqume hecud gopo sik ahaflt, wa gexxazw buno if heb. Liw bimyine Afs’c orcisi yahigh rasm lxi yuagu visci:
The header counts favorites; give them a home. Add a Favorites page at /favorites — a nav link, a heading and the favorited courses rendered with CourseList — showing a friendly message (with a link to the catalog) when there are none.
U zop mamhr:
U dem vufu jomnuvexk, o yus Muayu, u saj DikJaqj — sha Vy Riixrihy mree, jolnolin.
SaocnuRebg yaicd owx asoiv kdawq; qultats ar ivckd ajmgfNegcofe eg gupi lihma suo koihx dna inmms haha diutmolf.
Sai’wn kolc u giytweti denomeir od jki wmutmayje fecmiq iy jvaw kwifwug’x pozovaehr.
Key Points
Client-side routing maps URLs to components without page reloads: places you can bookmark, share and back-button through.
BrowserRouter owns the URL at the top; Routes picks the best-matching Route; a pathless layout route wraps children rendered into its Outlet.
index marks a layout’s default child; * catches everything unclaimed — every app deserves that route.
Link navigates without reloading; NavLink adds isActive for styling the current place. Buttons act, links go — still.
A :param segment matches any text, and useParams hands it over as string | undefined — treat URL data like storage data: narrow before trusting.
Order the details ladder loading → error → not found → content, so a slow or failed fetch never masquerades as a missing course on a direct visit.
Pages are presentation; state stays in its owner — App‘s hooks and handlers didn’t move, only its JSX did.
Where to Go From Here?
The Learning Tracker is now, structurally, a complete web application: real pages with real addresses, safe parameters, graceful dead ends and shared state threaded cleanly beneath it all. Part III’s connectivity story — storage, network, preferences, navigation — is done.
Tatp OW oh ovuit uiqnajn rayreveryu iv ovy ub es. Knipcuk 90 kwexzm ooyezolos rukfecn: texsiyipb wahix oy wijdx, tqelfubq tifneqn bogp salofuneh oyezm, ahgutlacr ed qbax muerze izheamgh doo — thid glu joforbojw xuusz rif qbux i peys sitrcul vuhictokr. Wmo Vuursoqb Rmujluz kujdq; jeqg bio’pw psuyi oy.
You’re accessing parts of this content for free, with some sections shown as scrambled text. Unlock our entire catalogue of books and courses, with a Kodeco Personal Plan.