React Native Spacing System

Warning, you are currently looking at the v2 documentation. For v1 documentation please go over here.

What Is It?

Using margin and padding to control spacing between components introduces too many ways to accomplish the same goal. React Native Spacing System seeks to standardize your React Native code, increase legibility, and separate the concern of layouting though the usage of spacing components.

   Stack:   Queue:   Inset:  

Factory method are provided so that you can use your own spacing key and values instead of raw values.

and are both supported!

Installation

npm install react-native-spacing-system

or

yarn add react-native-spacing-system

Features

Stack

Stack is a vertical spacing component, think of a pile of plates at a buffet.

Usage

Stack Props:

• size: number
• _debug?: boolean
• _debugOptions?: {color?: string, border?: boolean, borderColor?: string, opacity?: number}

import React from "react";
import { View } from 'react-native';
import { Stack } from "react-native-spacing-system";
import { BuffetPlates } from "./BuffetPlates";
import { KitchenCounter } from "./KitchenCounter";

/*
  Creates a vertical space with size of 16 between
  <BuffetPlates /> and <KitchenCounter /> components.
*/
const QueueExample = () => {
  return (
    <View>
      <BuffetPlates />
      <Stack size={16} />
      <BuffetPlates />
      <Stack size={16} />
      <KitchenCounter />
    </View>
  );

Queue

Queue is a horizontal spacing component, think of people queueing for that new bubbletea joint.

Usage

Queue Props:

• size: number
• _debug?: boolean
• _debugOptions?: {color?: string, border?: boolean, borderColor?: string, opacity?: number}

import React from "react";
import { View } from "react-native";
import { Queue } from "react-native-spacing-system";
import { BubbleTeaJoint } from "./BubbleTeaJoint";
import { PatientPatron } from "./PatientPatron";

/*
  Creates a horizontal space with size of 16 between
  <BubbleTeaJoint /> and <PatientPatron /> components.
  Only works when flex direction is row.
*/
const StackExample = () => {
  return (
    <View style={{ flexDirection: "row" }}>
      <BubbleTeaJoint />
      <Queue size={16} />
      <PatientPatron />
      <Queue size={16} />
      <PatientPatron />
    </View>
  );
};

Inset

Inset is a boundary spacing component, think of adding frames around a picture (the child).

Usage

Inset Props:

• children: ReactNode
• layout?: LayoutStyle
• onLayout?: (event: LayoutChangeEvent) => void
• _debug?: boolean
• _debugOptions?: {color?: string}
• PaddingCombinations

The allowed PaddingCombinations are as follows:

• {all: number}
• {horizontal: number, vertical: number}
• {horizontal: number, bottom?: number, top?: number}
• {vertical: number, left?: number, right?: number}
• {left: number, top?: number, right?: number, bottom?: number}
• {left?: number, top: number, right?: number, bottom?: number}
• {left?: number, top?: number, right: number, bottom?: number}
• {left?: number, top?: number, right? :number, bottom: number}

The allowed LayoutStyle can be found HERE

import React from "react";
import { Inset } from "react-native-spacing-system";
import { PictureNeedingAFrame } from "./PictureNeedingAFrame";

/*
  Creates a padding of size 16 around 
  the <PictureNeedingAFrame /> component.
*/
const InsetExample = () => {
  return (
    <Inset all={16}>
      <PictureNeedingAFrame />
    </Inset>
  );
};

Factory Methods

Create your own spacing component with custom keys by passing in the space mapping object into the factory method provided.

• stackFactory()
• queueFactory()
• insetFactory()

import { stackFactory } from "react-native-spacing-system";

const spacing = {
  tall: 8,
  grande: 12,
  venti: 16
};

const Stack = stackFactory(spacing);

<Stack size={16}/> // TS Error
<Stack size="venti"/> // Works

spacingFactory

If the spacing object is expected to be used in all Stack, Queue, and Inset, spacingFactory can be used to create the components in one function.

import { spacingFactory } from "react-native-spacing-system";

const spacing = {
  tall: 8,
  grande: 12,
  venti: 16,
};

const { Stack, Queue, Inset } = spacingFactory(spacing);

Flow

/* @flow */
import { stackFactory } from "react-native-spacing-system";

type SpacingKey = 'tall' | 'grande' | 'venti'

type Spacing = {[key: SpacingKey]: number}

const spacing: Spacing = {
  tall: 8,
  grande: 12,
  venti: 16
};

const Stack = stackFactory<Spacing>(spacing);

<Stack size={16}/> // Flow Error
<Stack size="venti"/> // Works

DisallowLayout

For insetFactory and spacingFactory, you can declare if you would like to allow the layout prop to be able to be passed into Inset.

TypeScript

/* @flow */
import { insetFactory } from "react-native-spacing-system";

const spacing = {
  tall: 8,
  grande: 12,
  venti: 16
};

const disallowLayout = true;

const NoLayoutInset = insetFactory(spacing, disallowLayout);

<NoLayoutInset all='tall' layout={{flex: 1}}/> // TS Error
<NoLayoutInset all='tall'/> // Works

Flow

For flow, you must specify the type arguments.

/* @flow */
import { insetFactory } from "react-native-spacing-system";

type SpacingKey = 'tall' | 'grande' | 'venti'

type Spacing = {[key: SpacingKey]: number}

const spacing: Spacing = {
  tall: 8,
  grande: 12,
  venti: 16
};}

type DisallowLayout = true;

const disallowLayout = true;

const NoLayoutInset = insetFactory<Spacing, DisallowLayout>(spacing, disallowLayout);

<NoLayoutInset all='tall' layout={{flex: 1}}/> // Flow Error
<NoLayoutInset all='tall'/> // Works

Debug Mode

Each component supports a debug mode where their spacing is highlighted.

Import the DebugContext and use the Provider to toggle debug mode on and off.

import React from "react";
import { DebugContext } from "react-native-spacing-system";
import ComponentWithSpacingSystemComponents from "./ComponentWithSpacingSystemComponents";

const SomeComponent = () => {
  return (
    <DebugContext.Provider value={{ debug: booleanValue }}>
      <ComponentWithSpacingSystemComponents />
    </DebugContext.Provider>
  );
};

You can also control debug mode of each type of spacing component as well as their border highlighting.

Expected Type (TypeScript)

type DebugContextProps = {
  debug: boolean;
  inset?: {
    debug?: boolean;
    color?: string;
  };
  queue?: {
    debug?: boolean;
    color?: string;
    border?: boolean;
    borderColor?: string;
    opacity?: number;
  };
  stack?: {
    debug?: boolean;
    color?: string;
    border?: boolean;
    borderColor?: string;
    opacity?: number;
  };
};

Expected Type (Flow)

type DebugContextProps = {|
  debug: boolean,
  inset?: {|
    debug?: boolean,
    color?: string,
  |},
  queue?: {|
    debug?: boolean,
    color?: string,
    border?: boolean,
    borderColor?: string,
    opacity?: number,
  |},
  stack?: {|
    debug?: boolean,
    color?: string,
    border?: boolean,
    borderColor?: string,
    opacity?: number,
  |},
|};

Sentiment & Rationalization

Inspired by Nathan Curtis's Medium article Space In Design Systems and this react-spacing library by Nathan Winder, I figured I'd do something similar for React Native with slight tweaks.

For the full sentiment and rationalization, please check out my Medium blog post: Enforcing Component Spacing in React & React Native.

Contacts & Social Media