Dynamic Routes with localization for Next.js

Based on Next-Routes with these changes:

• No support for unnamed routes
• Route can be added only by name, locale and pattern (and optionally page) or options object
• Link and Router generate URLs only by route definition (name + params)
• Routes can have data object (if you generate routes dynamically you can pass custom data there)

How to use

Install:

yarn add @join-com/next-routes-with-locale

Create routes.js inside your project:

import nextRoutes from '@join-com/next-routes-with-locale'

const routes = nextRoutes({ locale: 'en', fallbackLocale: 'en' })

routes
  .add('about', 'en', '/about')
  .add('blog', 'en', '/blog/:slug')
  .add('blog', 'en', '/blog/:slug')
  .add('user', 'en', '/user/:id', 'profile',)
  .add('about', 'de-ch', '/de-ch/about')
  .add('blog', 'de-ch', '/de-ch/blog/:slug')
  .add('user', 'de-ch', '/de-ch/user/:id', 'profile')

This file is used both on the server and the client.

API:

• routes.add(name, locale, pattern = /name, page = name, options)

Arguments:

• name - Route name
• locale - Locale of the route
• pattern - Route pattern (like express, see path-to-regexp)
• page - Page inside ./pages to be rendered; can be ommited
• options - Options object

The page component receives the matched URL parameters merged into query

export default class Blog extends React.Component {
  static async getInitialProps ({query}) {
    // query.slug
  }
  render () {
    // this.props.url.query.slug
  }
}

On the server

// server.js
const next = require('next')
const routes = require('./routes')
const app = next({ dev: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' })
const handler = routes.getRequestHandler(app)

// With express
const express = require('express')
app.prepare().then(() => {
  express()
    .use(handler)
    .listen(3000)
})

// Without express
const { createServer } = require('http')
app.prepare().then(() => {
  createServer(handler).listen(3000)
})

RequestHandler automatically sets req.locale to locale of matched route so you can use it in your app.

Optionally you can pass a custom handler, for example:

const handler = routes.getRequestHandler(app, ({ req, res, route, query }) => {
  app.render(req, res, route.page, query)
})

Make sure to use server.js in your package.json scripts:

"scripts": {
  "dev": "node server.js",
  "build": "next build",
  "start": "NODE_ENV=production node server.js"
}

On the client

Import Link and Router from your routes.js file to generate URLs based on route definition:

Link example

// pages/index.js
import { Link } from '../routes'

export default () => (
  <div>
    <div>Welcome to Next.js!</div>
    <Link href="blog" params={{ slug: 'hello-world' }}>
      <a>Hello world</a>
    </Link>
    or
    <Link href="blog" locale="cs" params={{ slug: 'ahoj-svete' }}>
      <a>Hello world</a>
    </Link>
  </div>
)

API:

• <Link route="name'>...</Link>
• <Link route="name" locale="locale">...</Link>
• <Link route="name" params={params}> ... </Link>
• <Link route="name" locale="locale" params={params}> ... </Link>

Props:

• route - Route name or URL to match (alias: to)
• params - Optional parameters for named routes

It generates the URLs for href and as and renders next/link. Other props like prefetch will work as well.

Router example

// pages/blog.js
import React from 'react'
import { Router } from '../routes'

export default class Blog extends React.Component {
  public handleClick() {
    // With route name and params
    Router.pushRoute('blog', { slug: 'hello-world' })
    // With route name and params and explicit locale
    Router.pushRoute('blog', { slug: 'hello-world' }, 'en')
  }
  public render() {
    return (
      <div>
        <div>{this.props.url.query.slug}</div>
        <button onClick={this.handleClick}>Home</button>
      </div>
    )
  }
}

API:

• Router.pushRoute(route, params) - automatically get current locale
• Router.pushRoute(route, params, locale)
• Router.pushRoute(route, params, locale, options)

Arguments:

• route - Route name
• locale - Route locale
• params - Optional parameters for named routes
• options - Passed to Next.js

The same works with .replaceRoute() and .prefetchRoute()

It generates the URLs and calls next/router

---

Related links

• zeit/next.js - Framework for server-rendered React applications
• path-to-regexp - Express-style path to regexp