I just wanna learn React and learn Meteor and build a darn app. I search a little find all this stuff about ReactMeteorData mixin (what most resources seem to follow) and React Komposer + Mantra, FlowRouter vs. ReactRouter, etc. It’s overwhelming! Which way is Meteor 1.3 + React headed and is there a solid tutorial out there that actually encompasses this direction?
I’d say follow mantra. It provides a nice way to organize code
1 Like
I would personally wait for Meteor Guide v1.3, Mantra somehow seemed overcomplicated (but most probably that’s my issue).
Haven’t tried yet, but looks like a nice alternative to containers: https://github.com/ultimatejs/tracker-react
3 Likes
When you say you want to just build an app, if it is just for learning purposes, then I say create few quick test apps with each of these technologies, and see which of them you prefer. In many cases, the choice comes down to personal preference.
Mantra is great but it’s pretty complex if you want to just “build a darn app”. If you want to keep it simple, that basically means using FlowRouter and getMeteorData for now (you can always switch to Komposer later). And the basic todos tutorial is great to get started.
1 Like
Yes, I’ve already tried the basic Meteor + React todos tutorial: https://www.meteor.com/tutorials/react/components I appreciated that it was simple and still looks like regular React.
When I say “regular React”, this was based on my limited knowledge after doing Facebook’s official tutorial: https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/tutorial.html
So when I see something like this: https://medium.com/@kenrogers/build-a-journaling-app-with-meteor-1-3-beta-react-react-bootstrap-and-mantra-7965d9e9fc23#.6kwrhfavt, it scares the crap out of me because it looks nothing like the previous 2 tutorials and what I thought was “regular React”.
Turns out the first 2 mentioned were both kind of outdated/don’t follow a best practice? https://toddmotto.com/react-create-class-versus-component/
The goal is to learn Meteor 1.3 + React however, I want to learn it in a way that I should build a futuristic production quality app with from organization (modules, routing, etc.), style (ES2015 with const, =>, and import/export everywhere >.>), to testing. It doesn’t matter if it’s complicated like Mantra.
I decided to just go with this book for now: http://kenrogers.co/meteor-react/ (uses Mantra) because some dude who put a lot more time and research into this and cares a lot more about this stuff than I do says, “Meteor 1.3 is still in beta, and as things are changed and finalized, this book will be updated with new best practices and the best way to develop apps with it.” I also really just needed something that will walk me through building a complete app from start to finish.
You can also preview the upcoming Meteor Guide’s React content, and/or preview the upcoming React version of the Todos app that will accompany the updated 1.3 version of the Guide. Some things will still change, but it’s almost there.
5 Likes
@hwillson: Wow, this looks a lot closer to the more up-to-date stuff I’ve been seeing and debating about. Thank you! Really needed this.