Redirect URL in ReactJS

How to Redirect URL in ReactJS?

Do you want to know how to redirect URL in ReactJS? Well! This section explains in-depth about a redirect URL in ReactJS. It helps you learn the working of the redirect feature in ReactJS properly. If you still need help with this task, you can hire ReactJS developer.

Introduction to redirect in ReactJS

ReactJS is an open-source and free frontend library. It is widely accessed for developing single-page applications. Redirecting is one of the vital features in the frontend application like React app. It lets you programmatically redirect from one URL to another without accessing the React-router component or anchor link.

Currently, many components, methods, and hooks in React are available. You can use them to redirect using React and JavaScript. The following section covers both external and internal URL redirecting.

Must know things about redirecting in ReactJS

Before getting into the details of how to redirect in ReactJS, here is a quick cheat sheet to redirect URL in ReactJS. It helps you to perform redirects efficiently in ReactJS.

1. Redirect

window.location.replace (https://Google.com/);

2. User event navigation

window.location.href = “https://Google.com/”;

In React, plenty of libraries are available that you can utilize to handle client-side navigation and routing. Redirection is also a part of those libraries, but the redirect principle is similar for all the React component libraries.

The client-side redirect’s principle is to push or replace the new URL to the window history to change the page. You can use any of the above methods to redirect in JavaScript according to the scenario.

For instance, use window.location.replace to perform the redirect that replaces a specific item in history to avoid loops. On the other hand, use window.location.href to add to the history according to the user action.

Also Read: How to Conditionally Add Attributes to React Components?

A guide to redirect to the external URL

You can redirect to the external URL in plain JavaScript by calling the method “window.location.replace”. Here is how to use this method in React.

Example

	
function RedirectExample() 
{
 useEffect(() => {
const timeout = setTimeout(() => {
// redirects to an external URL  
window.location.replace('https://Google.com');
}, 5000);
return () => clearTimeout(timeout);
}, []); 
return <>Will redirect in 5 seconds...</>;
}

Keep in mind that accessing the page through the browser’s back button is not possible after redirecting with the replace() method.

Also Read: How To Navigate Programmatically Using React Router

Navigate to the external page to Redirect URL in Reactjs

In many cases, people assume that redirects mean navigating. If you want to navigate to another page, you can do it easily with the help of window.location.href method. For that, you have to set this property with the URL like below-mentioned.

	
// directly change the active URL to navigate
window.location.href = 'https://google.com';

When you navigate like this, you can add a new entry in the navigation history rather than replacing the current one. As a result, the user will go back. If this navigation happens when the user clicks an element, it is enough to use the anchor tag (<a>). Here is how to use this navigation!

	
//  A simple link to an external website
<a href="https://google.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">
  Go to google.com
</a> 

The “=”_blank” attribute is accessed to open the link in the new tab. In addition, the rel=”noopener noreferrer” attribute is used for security reasons.

Redirect with the help of React-router

Commonly, React-router is used together with React. As it is responsible for client-side navigation, you cannot handle the redirect to external URLs. You have to use the above method to do that.

But, to redirect between the pages in the React app, which uses React-router v6, utilize the useNavigate hook or navigate component. You have to set the replace property like “true: navigate(‘/about’, { replace: true });”

Here is how it looks in React:

	
import { useEffect } from 'React';
import { Route, Routes, useNavigate } from 'React-router-dom';
function RedirectReactRouterExample() {
return (
<Routes>
<Route path="/" element={<Index />} />
<Route path="about" element={<About />} />
</Routes>
);
}
function About() {
return <div>About</div>;
}
function Index() {
const navigate = useNavigate();
useEffect(() => {
setTimeout(() => {
// Redirects to the about page, note the `replace: true
navigate('/about', { replace: true });
}, 5000);
}, []);
return <div>Redirecting...</div>;
}
export default RedirectReactRouterExample;

Redirect to the URL using the useHistory hook

The following code will help you to redirect to the new path with the help of the useHistory hook property.

	
import { useHistory } from "React-router-dom";
import "./App.css";
function App() {
const history = useHistory();
const handleGoHome = () => {
history.push("/home"); // New line
};
return (
<> 
<button onClick={handleGoHome}>Go Back</button>
</>
 
);
}
export default App;

In React Router v6, the useHistory property is deprecated and replaced with the useNavigate hooks. It is a function letting the user navigate to the path programmatically within the function. It serves a similar purpose as the useHistory hook and utilizes the same prop as the <navigate/> component.

Also Read: React State Management: Everything you need to know

Difference between internal and external URLs for redirecting

The difference between external and internal URLs for redirecting in React is extremely simple. The internal URLs will navigate within the current site, while external URLs will navigate to different sites. Understanding this difference is highly important because handling different types of URLs is quite challenging.

While navigating to the external route from your page, you do not worry about running it via your library. It is because the application will go down after you navigate away from the specific page. It is especially true using the React-based library or vanilla JS implementation.

On the other hand, even though internal URL is easier to handle and manage, you must use redirection or libraries implementation. The use of libraries will help track, render React components, and manage every page while maintaining the browsing history.

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Conclusion

Usually, the server performs the redirect, not the client. However, in certain cases, redirection requires the client to perform the tasks. In such a case, it is mandatory to use window.location.redirect () call. Use window.location.href with the target URL to navigate to another page upon clicking a button. Thus, focus on the coding to get a better understanding.

However, the Redirect component from the react-router-dom library is a helpful and useful tool for redirecting to URLs in ReactJS. It also redirects from one URL to another URL easily and efficiently. If you want to integrate this functionality in ReactJS, consult a React apps development company like Bosc Tech Labs, which has the expertise and will help you with their skills and knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Define redirect in ReactJS

A JavaScript redirect is the only JavaScript code used to automatically transmit a visitor from the landing page to various target pages.

2. What is the way to redirect to the login page in React JS?

import {Naviagte} from “react-router-dom”; is sued to redirect the unauthenticated users. Navigate component is the declarative API. It relies on the user event, which is the authentication, to cause the state change and will consequently cause the component, which is re-render.

3. How does URL Redirect work?

In HTTP, redirection is triggered by the server sending a particular direct response to the request. However, redirect responses have status codes that begin with a 3, and the location holder has the URL to redirect. Hence, when the browsers receive the redirect, they immediately load a new URL provided in the location header.


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