Material UI is a popular library for creating user interfaces with a modern, minimalist look and feel. It provides a collection of pre-built UI components that are easy to use and customize, and it uses the React JavaScript library to implement these components. In this article, we will look at how to install Material UI Core using npm and how to use some of its components in your React applications with code examples.
Installing Material UI Core using npm
Material UI Core is the core set of components that make up the Material UI library. You can install it using npm, the package manager for Node.js. To install Material UI Core, you need to have Node.js and npm installed on your system. You can verify this by running the following commands in your terminal or command prompt:
node -v
npm -v
Once you have confirmed that Node.js and npm are installed, you can use npm to install Material UI Core in your project. To do this, open a terminal or command prompt in your project directory and run the following command:
npm install @material-ui/core
This will download and install the latest version of Material UI Core and its dependencies in your project. Once the installation is complete, you can import the components you need from Material UI Core in your React components.
Using Material UI Components
Now that you have installed Material UI Core, you can start using its components in your React application. To demonstrate this, let's create a simple React component that uses a Material UI button component.
First, you need to import the button component from Material UI Core in your React component file:
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';
Next, you can use the button component in your React component's render method:
class MyComponent extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<Button variant="contained" color="primary">
Click Me
</Button>
);
}
}
The Button component accepts several props, such as variant and color, that you can use to customize its appearance. In this example, we have set the variant to contained and the color to primary, which gives the button a raised appearance with a primary color background.
You can also use Material UI Core components with your own styles and customizations. To do this, you can pass a classes prop to the component that contains your custom styles. For example:
const useStyles = makeStyles({
root: {
background: 'linear-gradient(45deg, #FE6B8B 30%, #FF8E53 90%)',
border: 0,
borderRadius: 3,
boxShadow: '0 3px 5px 2px rgba(255, 105, 135, .3)',
color: 'white',
height: 48,
padding: '0 30px',
},
});
function MyComponent() {
const classes = useStyles();
return (
<Button className={classes.root}>
Custom Button
</Button>
);
}
In this example, we have defined a custom style for the button using the makeStyles hook from Material UI. The classes object contains the custom styles, which we have passed to the Button component as the
Styling Material UI Components
Material UI provides several ways to style its components. In addition to passing a classes prop as we saw in the previous example, you can also use the withStyles higher-order component to wrap your components and apply styles to them.
For example, to style the button component, you can create a new component using the withStyles higher-order component:
import { withStyles } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
const styles = theme => ({
root: {
background: 'linear-gradient(45deg, #FE6B8B 30%, #FF8E53 90%)',
border: 0,
borderRadius: 3,
boxShadow: '0 3px 5px 2px rgba(255, 105, 135, .3)',
color: 'white',
height: 48,
padding: '0 30px',
},
});
function MyStyledButton(props) {
const { classes } = props;
return (
<Button className={classes.root}>
Styled Button
</Button>
);
}
export default withStyles(styles)(MyStyledButton);
In this example, we have defined a styles object that contains the styles for the button. We have then wrapped the Button component with the withStyles higher-order component, passing the styles object as an argument. This creates a new component MyStyledButton that has access to the custom styles through the classes prop.
Using Material UI Themes
Material UI also provides support for themes, which allow you to globally change the appearance of your application. You can use a Material UI theme to define colors, typography, and other styles for your components.
To use a Material UI theme, you need to wrap your application in a MuiThemeProvider component, which provides the theme to your components. For example:
import { createMuiTheme, MuiThemeProvider } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
const theme = createMuiTheme({
palette: {
primary: {
main: '#ff4400',
},
secondary: {
main: '#00bcd4',
},
},
});
function MyApp() {
return (
<MuiThemeProvider theme={theme}>
<MyStyledButton />
</MuiThemeProvider>
);
}
In this example, we have created a Material UI theme using the createMuiTheme function. We have then passed the theme to the MuiThemeProvider component, which wraps our MyStyledButton component. This makes the theme available to all components within the MuiThemeProvider, allowing us to easily change the appearance of our components based on the theme.
Conclusion
Material UI is a powerful library for creating modern and elegant user interfaces in React. By using npm to install Material UI Core, you can easily add Material UI components to your React applications. With its support for styles and themes, you can customize the appearance of your components and create a cohesive look and feel for your application.
Popular questions
- What is Material UI Core?
Material UI Core is a React-based library for building user interfaces. It provides a wide range of pre-built UI components, such as buttons, icons, forms, and more, that follow Google's Material Design guidelines.
- Why use Material UI Core?
Material UI Core is a popular choice for building user interfaces in React because it provides a large library of well-designed components that are easy to use. It also offers support for styling and themes, allowing you to easily customize the appearance of your components.
- How do I install Material UI Core using npm?
To install Material UI Core using npm, you can use the following command:
npm install @material-ui/core
- Can you provide an example of using Material UI Core in a React component?
Sure! Here's an example of using the Button component from Material UI Core in a React component:
import React from 'react';
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';
function MyButton() {
return (
<Button variant="contained" color="primary">
Click Me!
</Button>
);
}
export default MyButton;
In this example, we have imported the Button component from @material-ui/core, and then used it in our MyButton component. We have also specified the variant and color props to create a contained button with a primary color.
- How do I style Material UI Core components?
Material UI Core provides several ways to style its components, including using the classes prop, the withStyles higher-order component, and Material UI themes. You can use these tools to apply custom styles to your components and create a cohesive look and feel for your application.
Tag
MaterialUI
