Create Chat App UI with React Js and Material UI
Building a chat application with React Js and Material UI is a common task for web developers. In this article, we will learn how to create a chat app UI using these technologies.
Getting Started
First, make sure you have Node.js and npm installed in your system. You can create a new React app using create-react-app by running the following command in your terminal:
npx create-react-app chat-app
Once the app is created, navigate to the project directory and install the Material-UI library using npm or yarn:
npm install @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled
yarn add @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled
Creating the Chat UI
Now let’s start by creating the chat UI. We will use the components provided by Material-UI to build the UI.
First, create a new component for the chat UI. You can name this component ChatApp.js and define the UI as follows:
import React from 'react';
import { Container, Box, TextField, Button } from '@mui/material';
const ChatApp = () => {
return (
{/* Chat messages will be displayed here */}
);
}
export default ChatApp;
Integrating Socket.IO for Real-time Chat
To make our chat app real-time, we will integrate Socket.IO, a JavaScript library for real-time web applications. Install Socket.IO using npm or yarn:
npm install socket.io-client
yarn add socket.io-client
Now, create a new file called socket.js and initialize Socket.IO in it:
import { io } from 'socket.io-client';
const socket = io('http://localhost:3001');
export default socket;
Next, import the socket instance into your ChatApp component and use it to send and receive messages in real-time.
Conclusion
By following the above steps, you can create a chat app UI with React Js and Material UI. Integrating Socket.IO allows you to add real-time chat functionality to the app, making it a complete chat application. You can further enhance the UI and functionality according to your requirements.
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