React - Display loading screen while DOM is rendering?

React – Display loading screen while DOM is rendering?

When working with React, it’s common to have components that take some time to render, especially when dealing with large or complex data sets. During this rendering process, it’s a good practice to display a loading screen to provide feedback to the user and improve the overall user experience. In this blog post, we’ll explore different approaches to achieve this in React.

Approach 1: Using a Boolean Flag

One simple approach is to use a boolean flag to track whether the component is still rendering or not. We can start by initializing a state variable, isLoading, with a value of true. Once the rendering is complete, we can update the state to false and conditionally render the loading screen based on the value of isLoading.

{`
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
  const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(true);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Simulating a delay of 2 seconds
    setTimeout(() => {
      setIsLoading(false);
    }, 2000);
  }, []);

  return (
    {isLoading ? (
      
        Loading...
      
    ) : (
      
        {/* Your component's content */}
      
    )}
  );
};

export default MyComponent;
    `}

Approach 2: Using React Suspense

If you’re using React version 16.6 or above, you can take advantage of React Suspense to handle the loading screen. Suspense allows you to specify a fallback component that will be rendered while the main component is loading. This approach is especially useful when dealing with asynchronous data fetching or code splitting.

{`
import React, { Suspense } from 'react';

const MyComponent = () => {
  return (
    Loading...



}>
      {/* Your component's content */}
    
  );
};

export default MyComponent;
    `}

<h3>Approach 3: Using a Third-Party Library</h3>

If you prefer a more comprehensive solution, there are several third-party libraries available that provide advanced loading screen functionalities. One popular library is <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-loading-overlay" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">react-loading-overlay</a>. This library allows you to easily display loading overlays with customizable spinners and messages.

<pre><code>{`

import React from ‘react’;
import LoadingOverlay from ‘react-loading-overlay’;

const MyComponent = () => {
return (

{/* Your component’s content */}

);
};

export default MyComponent;
`}

<h3>Conclusion</h3>

Displaying a loading screen while the DOM is rendering in React is crucial for providing a smooth user experience. In this blog post, we explored three different approaches to achieve this. You can choose the approach that best fits your project's requirements and preferences. Whether it's using a boolean flag, React Suspense, or a third-party library, adding a loading screen will make your React components more user-friendly.

Do you have any other approaches or suggestions for displaying a loading screen in React? Let us know in the comments below!

React – Display loading screen while DOM is rendering?