Storybook for React Native tutorial

Storybook runs alongside your app in development mode. It helps you build UI components isolated from the business logic and context of your app. This edition of Learn Storybook is for React Native; other editions exist for React, Vue, Angular, Svelte and Ember.

Setup React Native Storybook

We’ll need to follow a few steps to get the build process set up in your environment. To start with, we want to use Expo to setup our build system, and enable Storybook and Jest testing in our created app.

Before diving into the tutorial, take into account the following considerations:

• All the code was intended for the Android platform, if you want to use IOS, some components might need to be updated in order to work properly.
• You'll need a working simulator or a physical device correctly setup to maximize your experience, react-native docs has more detailed instructions on how to achieve this.
• Throughout this tutorial, yarn will be used. Should you want to use npm, select the appropriate option when you're initializing the app and replace all subsequent commands with npm.

With that out of the way, let’s run the following commands:

# Create our application:
expo init --template tabs taskbox

cd taskbox

# Add Storybook:
npx -p @storybook/cli sb init --type react_native

We'll also want to add another package and make a change to storybook/rn-addons.js to allow the actions (you'll see them in action later in the tutorial) to be logged correctly in the Storybook UI.

Run the following command:

yarn add -D @storybook/addon-ondevice-actions

Change storybook/rn-addons.js to the following:

// storybook/rn-addons.js
import '@storybook/addon-ondevice-actions/register';

Setup Jest with React Native

We have two out of three modalities configured in our app, but we still need one, we need to setup Jest to enable testing.

Create a new folder called __mocks__ and inside add a new file globalMock.js with the following:

jest.mock('global', () => ({
  ...global,
  WebSocket: function WebSocket() {},
}));

Update the jest field in package.json:

"jest": {
    "preset": "jest-expo",
    "transformIgnorePatterns": [
      "node_modules/(?!(jest-)?react-native|react-clone-referenced-element|@react-native-community|expo(nent)?|@expo(nent)?/.*|react-navigation|@react-navigation/.*|@unimodules/.*|unimodules|sentry-expo|native-base)"
    ],
    "setupFilesAfterEnv": [
      "<rootDir>/__mocks__/globalMock.js"
    ]
  }

Now we can quickly check that the various environments of our application are working properly:

# Run the test runner (Jest) in a terminal:
yarn test

# Start the component explorer on port 7007:
yarn storybook

# Run the frontend app proper on port 19002:
yarn web

Checking our Storybook at this point, you might see that there's no stories displayed. That's ok, we'll take care of it shortly, for now, let's continue working on getting our application properly setup.

Depending on what part of the app you’re working on, you may want to run one or more of these simultaneously. Since our current focus is creating a single UI component, we’ll stick with running Storybook.

Reuse CSS

Taskbox reuses design elements from the GraphQL and React Tutorial example app, so we won’t need to write CSS in this tutorial. Contrary to the other tutorials, we wont copy over the compiled CSS, as React Native handles styling in a whole different way, but instead create a new file constants/globalStyles.js and add the following:

// /constants/globalStyles.js
import { StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
export const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    width: '100%',
  },
  TaskBox: {
    flex: 1,
    color: '#333',
    fontSize: 16,
    backgroundColor: '#26c6da',
  },
  CheckBox: {
    borderColor: '#26c6da',
    borderStyle: 'solid',
    borderWidth: 2,
    borderRadius: 1,
    backgroundColor: 'transparent',
    height: 18,
    width: 18,
  },
  GlowCheckbox: {
    borderColor: '#eee',
    borderStyle: 'solid',
    borderWidth: 2,
    borderRadius: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#eee',
    color: 'transparent',
    height: 20,
    width: 20,
  },
  GlowText: {
    backgroundColor: '#eee',
    color: 'transparent',
  },
  ListItem: {
    flexDirection: 'row',
    flexWrap: 'nowrap',
    height: 48,
    width: '100%',
    backgroundColor: 'white',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'space-around',
  },
  ListItemInputTask: {
    backgroundColor: 'transparent',
    width: '95%',
    padding: 10,
    fontFamily: 'NunitoSans',
    fontSize: 14,
    lineHeight: 20,
    fontStyle: 'normal',
  },
  ListItemInputTaskArchived: {
    color: '#aaa',
    width: '95%',
    padding: 10,
    fontFamily: 'NunitoSans',
    fontSize: 14,
    lineHeight: 20,
    fontStyle: 'normal',
  },
  LoadingItem: {
    alignItems: 'center',
    backgroundColor: 'white',
    flexWrap: 'nowrap',
    flexDirection: 'row',
    flex: 1,
    height: 48,
    justifyContent: 'space-around',
    paddingLeft: 16,
    width: '100%',
  },
  ListItems: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: 'white',
    minHeight: 288,
  },
  WrapperMessage: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: '40%',
    right: 0,
    bottom: 'auto',
    left: 0,
    width: 'auto',
    height: 'auto',
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
  PageListsShow: {
    minHeight: '100vh',
    backgroundColor: 'white',
  },
  PageListsShowhead: {
    backgroundColor: '#d3edf4',
    paddingTop: 24,
    paddingBottom: 24,
    paddingLeft: 20,
    paddingRight: 20,
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
  TitleMessage: {
    fontSize: 16,
    lineHeight: 24,
    fontFamily: 'NunitoSans',
    fontWeight: '800',
    color: '#555',
  },
  SubtitleMessage: {
    fontSize: 14,
    lineHeight: 20,
    color: '#666',
    fontFamily: 'NunitoSans',
  },
  titlepage: {
    fontSize: 20,
    lineHeight: 24,
  },
  TitleWrapper: {
    fontFamily: 'NunitoSans',
    fontWeight: '800',
    color: '#1c3f53',
    maxWidth: '100%',
  },
});

Add assets

To match the intended design, you'll need to download both the font and icon directories and place them inside the assets folder.

svn export https://github.com/chromaui/learnstorybook-code/branches/master/src/assets/icon assets/icon
svn export https://github.com/google/fonts/trunk/ofl/nunitosans assets/font

Next the assets need to be loaded into the app, for that we're going to update hooks/useCachedResources.js to the following:

// hooks/useCachedResources.js
async function loadResourcesAndDataAsync() {
  try {
    SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync();

    // Load fonts
    await Font.loadAsync({
      ...Ionicons.font,
      'space-mono': require('../assets/fonts/SpaceMono-Regular.ttf'),
      percolate: require('../assets/icon/percolate.ttf'),
      'NunitoSans-Bold': require('../assets/font/NunitoSans-Bold.ttf'),
      'NunitoSans-Italic': require('../assets/font/NunitoSans-Italic.ttf'),
      NunitoSans: require('../assets/font/NunitoSans-Regular.ttf'),
    });
  } catch (e) {
    // We might want to provide this error information to an error reporting service
    console.warn(e);
  } finally {
    setLoadingComplete(true);
    SplashScreen.hideAsync();
  }
}

In order to use the icons from the percolate font safely and correctly in React Native we need to create a bridge that will map each individual icon to it's correspondent in the font file.

Create a new file /constants/Percolate.js with the following:

// constants/Percolate.js
/**
 * PercolateIcons icon set component.
 * Usage: <PercolateIcons name="icon-name" size={20} color="#4F8EF7" />
 */

import { createIconSet } from '@expo/vector-icons';
const glyphMap = {
  graphql: 59658,
  redux: 59656,
  grid: 59657,
  redirect: 59655,
  grow: 59651,
  lightning: 59652,
  'request-change': 59653,
  transfer: 59654,
  calendar: 59650,
  sidebar: 59648,
  tablet: 59649,
  atmosphere: 58993,
  browser: 58994,
  database: 58995,
  'expand-alt': 58996,
  mobile: 58997,
  watch: 58998,
  home: 58880,
  'user-alt': 58881,
  user: 58882,
  'user-add': 58883,
  users: 58884,
  profile: 58885,
  bookmark: 58886,
  'bookmark-hollow': 58887,
  star: 58888,
  'star-hollow': 58889,
  circle: 58890,
  'circle-hollow': 58891,
  heart: 58892,
  'heart-hollow': 58893,
  'face-happy': 58894,
  'face-sad': 58895,
  'face-neutral': 58896,
  lock: 58897,
  unlock: 58898,
  key: 58899,
  'arrow-left-alt': 58900,
  'arrow-right-alt': 58901,
  sync: 58902,
  reply: 58903,
  expand: 58904,
  'arrow-left': 58905,
  'arrow-up': 58906,
  'arrow-down': 58907,
  'arrow-right': 58908,
  'chevron-down': 58909,
  back: 58910,
  download: 58911,
  upload: 58912,
  proceed: 58913,
  info: 58914,
  question: 58915,
  alert: 58916,
  edit: 58917,
  paintbrush: 58918,
  close: 58919,
  trash: 58920,
  cross: 58921,
  delete: 58922,
  power: 58923,
  add: 58924,
  plus: 58925,
  document: 58926,
  'graph-line': 58927,
  'doc-chart': 58928,
  'doc-list': 58929,
  category: 58930,
  copy: 58931,
  book: 58932,
  certificate: 58934,
  print: 58935,
  'list-unordered': 58936,
  'graph-bar': 58937,
  menu: 58938,
  filter: 58939,
  ellipsis: 58940,
  cog: 58941,
  wrench: 58942,
  nut: 58943,
  camera: 58944,
  eye: 58945,
  photo: 58946,
  video: 58947,
  speaker: 58948,
  phone: 58949,
  flag: 58950,
  pin: 58951,
  compass: 58952,
  globe: 58953,
  location: 58954,
  search: 58955,
  timer: 58956,
  time: 58957,
  dashboard: 58958,
  hourglass: 58959,
  play: 58960,
  stop: 58961,
  email: 58962,
  comment: 58963,
  link: 58964,
  paperclip: 58965,
  box: 58966,
  structure: 58967,
  commit: 58968,
  cpu: 58969,
  memory: 58970,
  outbox: 58971,
  share: 58972,
  button: 58973,
  check: 58974,
  form: 58975,
  admin: 58976,
  paragraph: 58977,
  bell: 58978,
  rss: 58979,
  basket: 58980,
  credit: 58981,
  support: 58982,
  shield: 58983,
  beaker: 58984,
  google: 58985,
  gdrive: 58986,
  youtube: 58987,
  facebook: 58988,
  'thumbs-up': 58989,
  twitter: 58990,
  github: 58991,
  meteor: 58992,
};

const iconSet = createIconSet(glyphMap, 'percolate');

export default iconSet;

export const Button = iconSet.Button;
export const TabBarItem = iconSet.TabBarItem;
export const TabBarItemIOS = iconSet.TabBarItemIOS;
export const ToolbarAndroid = iconSet.ToolbarAndroid;
export const getImageSource = iconSet.getImageSource;

In order to see Storybook in React Native we're going to update screens/LinksScreen.js to the following:

// screens/LinksScreen.js
import * as React from 'react';
import StorybookUIRoot from '../storybook';

export default function LinksScreen() {
  return <StorybookUIRoot />;
}

And finally navigation/BottomTabNavigator.js to the following:

// navigation/BottomTabNavigator.js
import * as React from 'react';
import { createBottomTabNavigator } from '@react-navigation/bottom-tabs';
import TabBarIcon from '../components/TabBarIcon';
import HomeScreen from '../screens/HomeScreen';
import LinksScreen from '../screens/LinksScreen';

const BottomTab = createBottomTabNavigator();
const INITIAL_ROUTE_NAME = 'Home';

export default function BottomTabNavigator({ navigation, route }) {
  navigation.setOptions({ headerTitle: getHeaderTitle(route) });
  return (
    <BottomTab.Navigator initialRouteName={INITIAL_ROUTE_NAME}>
      <BottomTab.Screen
        name="Taskbox"
        component={HomeScreen}
        options={{
          title: 'Taskbox',
          tabBarIcon: ({ focused }) => <TabBarIcon focused={focused} name="md-code-working" />,
        }}
      />
      <BottomTab.Screen
        name="Links"
        component={LinksScreen}
        options={{
          title: 'Storybook',
          tabBarIcon: ({ focused }) => <TabBarIcon focused={focused} name="md-book" />,
        }}
      />
    </BottomTab.Navigator>
  );
}

function getHeaderTitle(route) {
  const routeName = route.state?.routes[route.state.index]?.name ?? INITIAL_ROUTE_NAME;

  switch (routeName) {
    case 'Home':
      return 'How to get started';
    case 'Links':
      return 'Your Storybook';
  }
}

And finally, we'll need to make a small change to our Storybook configuration. As we're using Expo to build our app, we can safely remove some items from the configuration as they are not required. Turning the file contents into the following:

// /storybook/index.js
import { getStorybookUI, configure } from '@storybook/react-native';

import './rn-addons';

// import stories
configure(() => {
  require('./stories');
}, module);

const StorybookUIRoot = getStorybookUI({
  asyncStorage: null,
});

export default StorybookUIRoot;

After adding styling and assets, the app will render a bit strangely. That’s OK. We aren’t working on the app right now. We’re starting off with building our first component!