The correct way to extend a Material UI component

Explanation of the problem

We are utilizing Material-UI as the foundation for our project but encountering challenges when attempting to extend its components. Initially, we imported the Link component from @material-ui/core and assigned it to HnLink, which worked without any issues. However, problems arose when we tried to extend the Link component by defining our own component, HnLink, with additional functionality and explicitly specifying the LinkProps. This resulted in TypeScript errors indicating that the component and to prop were not being accepted. The same problem occurred with the Tabs component, where wrapping it in our custom component caused the onChange prop to not be accepted. This issue has also been raised and discussed in detail on the Material-UI GitHub repository.

 

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Problem solution for: The correct way to extend a Material UI component

To address the typing issues when wrapping Material-UI components, it is important to ensure that the extended component’s props are compatible with the original component’s props. One potential approach is to create a new component that extends the Material-UI component but omits or modifies the props causing the TypeScript errors. This can be achieved by defining a new component that explicitly specifies the desired props and passes the remaining props to the original component.

 

import { Link, LinkProps } from "@material-ui/core";

export const HnLink: React.FC<Omit<LinkProps, "to"> & { to: string }> = ({ to, ...restProps }) => {
  // Some extra functionality
  return <Link href={to} {...restProps} />
}
// Custom HnLink component with adjusted props

 

By using the Omit utility type, we can exclude the to prop from the LinkProps and add a new to prop with the desired type. This allows us to create a modified version of the Link component that accepts the necessary props without triggering TypeScript errors.

It is important to note that this solution may vary depending on the specific component and props being extended. Consulting the Material-UI documentation and community resources, such as the GitHub repository and forums, can provide additional insights and best practices for properly wrapping and extending Material-UI components to alleviate typing issues.

 

Problem 1: One common problem encountered when using Material-UI is the difficulty of customizing the styling of components. While Material-UI provides a wide range of pre-defined styles and themes, modifying these styles to align with specific design requirements can be challenging. For example, let’s consider the scenario of customizing the color palette of a Material-UI button component. By default, Material-UI buttons adhere to the theme’s primary color. However, when attempting to change the button color to a custom color, users may face issues and struggle to achieve the desired outcome.

Code Block 1:

 

import Button from "@material-ui/core/Button";
import { makeStyles } from "@material-ui/core/styles";

const useStyles = makeStyles(theme => ({
  customButton: {
    backgroundColor: "red", // Custom color
    color: "white",
  },
}));

const MyButton = () => {
  const classes = useStyles();

  return (
    <Button className={classes.customButton}>
      Custom Button
    </Button>
  );
};

 

Solution: To address customization challenges, Material-UI provides several approaches. One method involves leveraging the makeStyles hook to define custom styles for components. By creating a custom CSS class and applying it to the component, users can override the default styles and apply their desired modifications.

Code Block 2:

 

import Button from "@material-ui/core/Button";
import { makeStyles } from "@material-ui/core/styles";

const useStyles = makeStyles(theme => ({
  customButton: {
    backgroundColor: "red", // Custom color
    color: "white",
  },
}));

const MyButton = () => {
  const classes = useStyles();

  return (
    <Button className={classes.customButton}>
      Custom Button
    </Button>
  );
};

 

In the above example, the makeStyles hook is used to define the customButton class with custom styles, such as a red background color and white text color. By applying this class to the Button component, the customization is achieved.

Problem 2: Another common problem faced when working with Material-UI is the difficulty of handling complex layouts and responsive designs. Material-UI offers various layout components like Grid and Container to assist with layout management. However, when dealing with intricate layouts involving nested components and different screen sizes, achieving the desired responsive behavior can become challenging.

Code Block 3:

 

import Grid from "@material-ui/core/Grid";

const MyComponent = () => {
  return (
    <Grid container spacing={2}>
      <Grid item xs={12} md={6}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
      <Grid item xs={12} md={6}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
    </Grid>
  );
};

 

Solution: To address complex layout challenges, Material-UI offers a flexible and powerful grid system based on the CSS Grid specification. By using the Grid component, users can create responsive layouts that adapt to different screen sizes. The xs, md, and other size breakpoints can be used to define the desired layout arrangement.

Code Block 4:

 

import Grid from "@material-ui/core/Grid";

const MyComponent = () => {
  return (
    <Grid container spacing={2}>
      <Grid item xs={12} md={6}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
      <Grid item xs={12} md={6}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
    </Grid>
  );
};

 

In the provided example, the Grid component is used to create a two-column layout where each column occupies half the width on medium-sized screens (md={6}) and takes up the full width on small screens (xs={12}). By utilizing the grid system effectively, users can achieve the desired responsive behavior and manage complex layouts efficiently.

Problem 3: A frequent challenge faced when using Material-UI is the limited number of pre-built components available. While Material-UI offers a comprehensive set of components, there might be cases where users require additional or specialized components that are not readily available in the library. This limitation can lead to development bottlenecks and necessitate custom component implementation, consuming additional time and effort.

Solution: To address the need for additional or specialized components, Material-UI provides the flexibility to create custom components tailored to specific requirements. Users can leverage the available building blocks provided by Material-UI, such as the Box, Typography, and IconButton components, to construct custom components that align with their design needs. By combining these foundational components and utilizing the various styling and theming options provided by Material-UI, developers can create reusable and customized components that extend the functionality of the library.

It is important to note that Material-UI also has a vibrant and active community that contributes to the library by creating and sharing additional components, extensions, and plugins. Exploring community-driven resources, such as GitHub repositories and forums, can help users discover ready-to-use components that address specific use cases and expand the available options within the Material-UI ecosystem.

 

A brief introduction to material-ui

Material-UI is a popular React UI library that provides a rich set of pre-designed components and utilities for building user interfaces. It follows the principles of Material Design, Google’s design language, to create visually appealing and responsive web applications. Material-UI offers a comprehensive collection of reusable components, including buttons, inputs, dialogs, grids, and navigation elements, allowing developers to quickly construct modern and intuitive user interfaces.

One of the key features of Material-UI is its emphasis on theming and customization. It provides a robust theming system that allows developers to easily modify the appearance and behavior of components to match their project’s branding and design requirements. By utilizing the Material-UI theme object, users can customize colors, typography, spacing, and other visual aspects of the components, ensuring a consistent and cohesive look throughout the application. Additionally, Material-UI offers various ways to style components, such as using CSS-in-JS with the makeStyles or styled APIs, or applying global styles with the ThemeProvider.

Material-UI also places a strong emphasis on responsiveness and accessibility. It provides responsive components and layout systems that adapt to different screen sizes and orientations, enabling developers to create applications that work seamlessly across various devices. The library adheres to web accessibility standards and guidelines, ensuring that components are keyboard-navigable and provide proper semantic markup for assistive technologies. Material-UI also offers built-in support for internationalization and localization, allowing developers to create multilingual applications with ease. With its focus on theming, customization, responsiveness, accessibility, and internationalization, Material-UI empowers developers to build visually appealing and inclusive web applications.

Most popular use cases for material-ui

 

1. Material-UI provides a wide range of ready-to-use UI components that can be easily integrated into React applications. These components offer a consistent and visually appealing user interface, saving developers time and effort in designing and implementing UI elements from scratch. For example, the following code demonstrates the usage of a Material-UI button component:

 

import React from 'react';
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';

const MyButton = () => {
  return (
    <Button variant="contained" color="primary">
      Click Me
    </Button>
  );
};

 

2. Material-UI offers a powerful theming system that allows developers to customize the look and feel of their applications. By leveraging the Material-UI theme object, developers can easily override default styles, define custom colors, typography, and spacing, and create a consistent visual identity for their application. The following code snippet showcases how to customize the theme in Material-UI:

 

import React from 'react';
import { createMuiTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';

const theme = createMuiTheme({
  palette: {
    primary: {
      main: '#007bff',
    },
  },
});

const MyThemedButton = () => {
  return (
    <ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
      <Button variant="contained" color="primary">
        Themed Button
      </Button>
    </ThemeProvider>
  );
};

 

3. Material-UI supports responsive design principles, allowing developers to create applications that adapt to different screen sizes and orientations. The responsive components and layout systems provided by Material-UI ensure that the application’s UI remains consistent and functional across various devices. Developers can utilize responsive grid components and breakpoints to create responsive layouts. For instance, the following code demonstrates the usage of Material-UI’s responsive grid system:

 

import React from 'react';
import Grid from '@material-ui/core/Grid';

const MyResponsiveLayout = () => {
  return (
    <Grid container spacing={2}>
      <Grid item xs={12} sm={6} md={4}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
      <Grid item xs={12} sm={6} md={4}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
      <Grid item xs={12} sm={6} md={4}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Grid>
    </Grid>
  );
};

 

By leveraging these features, developers can create sophisticated and responsive user interfaces with ease using Material-UI.