No More Serverless Hassles: A Beginner's Guide to Building Web Apps with AWS Amplify and React

Are you tired of managing complicated server infrastructures and dealing with endless backend configurations? If so, serverless development might be the perfect solution for you. In this tutorial, we'll be focusing on AWS Amplify, a powerful tool that allows you to create fullstack web applications without worrying about the headache of server management.

What is AWS Amplify?

AWS Amplify is a development platform that provides a set of tools and services to help you build scalable and secure cloud-powered web and mobile applications. It’s a convenient and cost-effective way to create and manage backend services without the hassle of setting up, configuring, and maintaining servers. Amplify supports popular front-end frameworks such as React, Vue, and Angular, and provides a wide range of features, including authentication, API, and storage services.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, you should have the following:

A basic understanding of JavaScript, React, and HTML/CSS.
A free AWS account.
Node.js and npm installed on your machine.
A code editor, such as Visual Studio Code or Atom.

Creating a new React app with Amplify

Let's get started by creating a new React application using the create-react-app command. Open your terminal and run the following command:

npx create-react-app my-app
cd my-app
npm start

This will create a new React app and start the development server. You should see the React logo in your browser at http://localhost:3000/.

Now that we have a basic React app set up, let's add Amplify to it. To install the Amplify CLI, run the following command:

npm install -g @aws-amplify/cli

Next, we'll configure Amplify by running the following command:

amplify configure

This will prompt you for your AWS Access Keys. If you don't have an AWS account, you can create one for free.

Once you have configured Amplify, you can initialize it in your React app by running the following command:

amplify init

This will create a new Amplify project and prompt you to configure some settings for your app. You can leave most of the settings as default for now, but make sure to enable the following features:

Authentication
API (GraphQL)
Storage (Amazon S3)

Setting up authentication with Amplify

One of the most important features of any web application is authentication. Luckily, Amplify makes it easy to set up authentication with just a few commands.

First, let's add authentication to our app by running the following command:

amplify add auth

This will prompt you to choose the authentication type you want to use for your app. You can choose from several options, including email/username, phone number, and social providers like Google and Facebook.

For this tutorial, we'll use the email/username option. Once you have selected the authentication type, run the following command to push the changes to your backend:

amplify push

Amplify will now create all the necessary resources for authentication, including a user pool and an identity pool.

Next, let's add a sign-up and login form to our React app. We'll create a new component called AuthForm.js and add the following code:

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Auth } from 'aws-amplify';

const AuthForm = () => {
  const [email, setEmail] = useState('');
  const [password, setPassword] = useState('');
  const [error, setError] = useState('');

  const handleSignUp = async () => {
    try {
      await Auth.signUp({
        username: email,
        password: password,
      });
      console.log('Sign up successful!');
    } catch (error) {
      setError(error.message);
      console.log('Sign up error:', error);
    }
  };

  const handleLogin = async () => {
    try {
      await Auth.signIn(email, password);
      console.log('Login successful!');
    } catch (error) {
      setError(error.message);
      console.log('Login error:', error);
    }
  };

  return (
    
      {error && {error}}
       setEmail(e.target.value)}
      />
       setPassword(e.target.value)}
      />
      
      
    
  );
};

export default AuthForm;

Now let's render the AuthForm component in our App.js file by replacing the existing code with the following:

import React from 'react';
import './App.css';
import AuthForm from './AuthForm';

function App() {
  return (
    
      
        
      
    
  );
}

export default App;

You should now see a sign-up and login form in your app when you navigate to http://localhost:3000/.

Setting up an API with Amplify

Next, let's set up an API with Amplify. We'll use GraphQL, which is a powerful and flexible way to query data from a backend API.

First, let's add an API to our app by running the following command:

amplify add api

This will launch the Amplify API wizard, where you can define your API schema and data sources. For this tutorial, we'll use the default schema and data source, which includes a Todos type with basic CRUD operations.

Once you have created your API, run the following command to push the changes to your backend:

amplify push

Amplify will now create all the necessary resources for your API, including a GraphQL schema, a DynamoDB table, and AWS AppSync.

Now let's add a new component called Todos.js and use the AWS Amplify client library to fetch and display the Todos:

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { API, graphqlOperation } from 'aws-amplify';

const listTodos = `query ListTodos {
  listTodos {
    items {
      id
      name
      description
    }
  }
}`;

const Todos = () => {
  const [todos, setTodos] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    fetchTodos();
  }, []);

  const fetchTodos = async () => {
    try {
      const { data } = await API.graphql(graphqlOperation(listTodos));
      setTodos(data.listTodos.items);
    } catch (error) {
      console.log('Error fetching todos:', error);
    }
  };

  return (
    
      Todos
      
        {todos.map((todo) => (
          
            {todo.name}
            {todo.description}
          
        ))}
      
    
  );
};

export default Todos;

Now we'll render the Todos component in our App.js file by replacing the existing code with the following:

import React from 'react';
import './App.css';
import AuthForm from './AuthForm';
import Todos from './Todos';

function App() {
  return (
    
      
        
        
      
    
  );
}

export default App;

You should now see the list of Todos rendered in your app.

Setting up storage with Amplify

Finally, let's set up storage with Amplify. We'll use Amazon S3, which is an object storage service that lets you store and retrieve data from the cloud.

First, let's add storage to our app by running the following command:

amplify add storage

This will launch the Amplify storage wizard, where you can define your storage settings. For this tutorial, we'll use the default settings, which include a public bucket that allows users to upload and download files.

Once you have created your storage, run the following command to push the changes to your backend:

amplify push

Amplify will now create all the necessary resources for your storage.

Now we'll create a new component called FileUpload.js and use the AWS Amplify Storage library to upload and display a file:

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Storage } from 'aws-amplify';

const FileUpload = () => {
  const [file, setFile] = useState(null);
  const [url, setUrl] = useState(null);

  const handleUpload = async () => {
    try {
      const filename = `${Date.now()}_${file.name}`;
      await Storage.put(filename, file, { contentType: file.type });
      const url = await Storage.get(filename);
      setUrl(url);
      console.log('File uploaded successfully!');
    } catch (error) {
      console.log('Error uploading file:', error);
    }
  };

  const handleFileChange = (event) => {
    setFile(event.target.files[0]);
  };

  return (
    
      File Upload
      
      
      {url && (
        
          File URL:
          {url}
        
      )}
    
  );
};

export default FileUpload;

We'll render the FileUpload component in our App.js file by replacing the existing code with the following:

import React from 'react';
import './App.css';
import AuthForm from './AuthForm';
import Todos from './Todos';
import FileUpload from './FileUpload';

function App() {
  return (
    
      
        
        
        
      
    
  );
}

export default App;

You should now see a file upload form in your app that allows you to upload and display a file from your S3 bucket.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully created a fullstack web application using AWS Amplify and React. With Amplify's powerful tools and services, you were able to create an authentication system, API, and storage without worrying about the headache of server management.

Amplify is an excellent choice for developers who want to focus on building their applications rather than worrying about infrastructure. With its vast range of features, Amplify makes it easy to create scalable and secure cloud-powered applications in no time.