React.js Blog with Squidex

Quickly Deploy a Simple React.js Blog with Squidex

This articles provides you with instructions on how to quickly deploy a React.js blog with Squidex Cloud. The same approach can also be used for a self-hosted Squidex. For installation instructions click here.

Prerequisites

• Account at cloud.squidex.io (or a self-hosted Squidex).

• Account at app.netlify.com.

• Account at github.com.

• For local deployment / development:

  • nodejs 16 or above.

  • npm 8 or above.

Creating the Squidex App

For this quick-start you can create the App with pre-populated schemas directly in Squidex. To do this follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to https://cloud.squidex.io and login. (If you do not have an account, create one).

2. Click Starter Sample Blog (1), give it a unique Name (2) such as reactjs-blog-with-squidex-[your_initials] and click Create (3).

   

   Creating the Starter Sample Blog App on Squidex
3. Click on the newly-created App to navigate into it. You should make a note of the App Name as it will be required later in the instructions.

   

   Accessing the Squidex App

Creating a Client in the Squidex App

In this step, let's create a client that will be used by the React.js code to talk to Squidex. When an App is created, there is a default client already present however it has an Owner role by default and so it's best not to use it as a best practice.

1. Navigate to Settings (4) > Clients (5) in the App. Next enter a Name for the client (6) and click Add Client (7).

   

   Create a client for React.js
2. This creates a new client with the role of Editor. Copy (8) the Client Id and Client Secret as they will also be required along with the App Name later in the instructions.

   

   Copy the Client Id & Client Secret

You are now ready to use this App with the code.

If you wish to run the sample code locally, proceed with these steps here, otherwise, continue to deploy the blog to an online platform.

Deploying the React.js Blog

You can deploy the React.js code using various methods such as self-hosting and as a Docker container, in Kubernetes etc. You can also deploy to various modern, fast and developer-friendly serverless platforms such as Netlify. The instructions here cover the latter:

Deploying to Netlify

Netlify is a platform that helps you quickly build and deploy sites to a global network with a host of features and you can get stated for free!

When you click the Deploy to Netlify button below, the following steps will occur:

1. You will be redirected to Netlify and prompted to sign in. (If you do not have an account visit https://app.netlify.com/signup and create an account first).

2. Next, you will be asked to connect to your GitHub account. This step is required as the deployment process will clone the code to a repository in your own account.

3. Finally, you will be prompted to enter a name for the repository and the environment variables for the Squidex App. Enter the values noted down from before. Your values will be different than the values in the screenshot.

Configuring the Netlify site

4. Next, Netlify will deploy the App and provide a URL to access the App. (Netlify runs the App in a Starter plan which is free).

Click to get started.

Running the Code Locally

1. Start by cloning the React.js sample blog code to your machine. git clone https://github.com/sangramrath/squidex-reactjs-blog-starter.git

2. Next, create the environment variables files using the example file available i.e. .env.example. To separate your variables from development and production you can create .env.development and .env.production. Add the App Name, Client ID and Client Secret values noted down earlier. For the URL use https://cloud.squidex.io if using Squidex Cloud or the URL to your Squidex instance, e.g. http://localhost:5000 if you run it locally. The final file may look something like this:

   

   Environment file example
3. Run npm install to install the node modules and setup the project.

4. Run npm start to compile and run it in development mode. This will serve the App at http://localhost:3000/. (sample screenshot below):

   

   Successfully running React.js App

   The development mode supports hot-reload for any live changes.

5. Access your App locally, it should display your content fetched from Squidex. The Starter Sample Blog App at Squidex has only one post.

   

   Blog running locally