Using npm and React to Customize Your Theme

Stencil's architecture allows for organized customization using npm and React. In production, you can use these tools for stylizing seasonally themed products, temporary promotions, or event tickets. Below is a short tutorial on using npm and React to customize your Stencil theme.

In this example, we'll be making a drawer that sends a coupon code to the customer's email using Material UI's React framework. The resulting customization will look like the following:

Image of Coupon Drawer example

Prerequisites

Stencil CLI installed
BigCommerce store
Cornerstone Stencil theme with npm installed
Knowledge of HTML and JavaScript

To set up a BigCommerce store, see Creating a Trial Store (opens in a new tab).

Installing React and npm packages

To build this customization, complete the instructions in the following sections.

Install dependencies

For this example, we'll be using packages from Material-UI (opens in a new tab). These components require certain modules.

Navigate into the root Cornerstone theme folder, then install the following npm packages.

# navigate into theme dir
cd ~/path/to/theme/dir
 
# install dependencies
npm install --save-dev @material-ui/core react react-dom @babel/plugin-transform-object-assign @babel/preset-react

Update webpack.common.js

Update webpack.common.js with the new presets and plugins.

Example 1: New presets and plugins

...
plugins: [
  ...
   '@babel/plugin-transform-object-assign',
 ],

Example 2: New presets and plugins

...
presets: [
    ['@babel/preset-env', {
        ...
    }], '@babel/react',
  ],

Create components

In the following steps, we'll be adding React components to assemble our coupon drawer.

Navigate to the ./assets/js folder.
Create a /components folder within the /js folder.
Navigate into the /components folder.
Create a CouponDrawer.js file.
Copy the following code into the file:

CouponDrawer.js

import React from 'react';
import Drawer from '@material-ui/core/Drawer';
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';
import VerticalStepper from './VerticalStepper';
 
export default function CouponDrawer() {
  const [state, setState] = React.useState({
    right: false,
  });
 
  const toggleDrawer = (side, open) => event => {
    if (event.type === 'keydown' && (event.key === 'Tab' || event.key === 'Shift')) {
      return;
    }
 
    setState({ ...state, [side]: open });
  };
 
  return (
    <div>
      <Button color="secondary" variant="contained" onClick={toggleDrawer('right', true)}>Click Here For A Coupon</Button>
      <Drawer anchor="right" open={state.right} onClose={toggleDrawer('right', false)}>
        <VerticalStepper />
      </Drawer>
    </div>
  );
}

In the same /components folder, create a VerticalStepper.js file.
Copy the following code into the file:

VerticalStepper.js

import React from 'react';
import { makeStyles } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
import Stepper from '@material-ui/core/Stepper';
import Step from '@material-ui/core/Step';
import StepLabel from '@material-ui/core/StepLabel';
import StepContent from '@material-ui/core/StepContent';
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';
import Typography from '@material-ui/core/Typography';
import TextField from './TextField';
 
const useStyles = makeStyles(theme => ({
  root: {
    width: '100%',
  },
  button: {
    marginTop: theme.spacing(1),
    marginRight: theme.spacing(1),
  },
  actionsContainer: {
    marginBottom: theme.spacing(2),
  },
  resetContainer: {
    padding: theme.spacing(3),
  },
}));
 
function getSteps() {
  return ['Provide your email', 'Receive your coupon!'];
}
 
function getStepContent(step) {
  switch (step) {
    case 0:
      return `Please enter your email address:`;
    case 1:
      return `We have sent a coupon code to your email address.`;
    default:
      return `Unknown step`;
  }
}
 
export default function VerticalLinearStepper() {
  const classes = useStyles();
  const [activeStep, setActiveStep] = React.useState(0);
  const steps = getSteps();
 
  const handleNext = () => {
    setActiveStep(prevActiveStep => prevActiveStep + 1);
  };
 
  return (
    <div className={classes.root}>
      <Stepper activeStep={activeStep} orientation="vertical">
        {steps.map((label, index) => (
          <Step key={label}>
            <StepLabel>{label}</StepLabel>
            <StepContent>
              <Typography>{getStepContent(index)}</Typography>
              {activeStep === 0 ? <TextField /> : null}
              <div className={classes.actionsContainer}>
                {activeStep === 0 && (
                  <div>
                    <Button
                      variant="contained"
                      color="primary"
                      onClick={handleNext}
                      className={classes.button}
                    >
                      Submit
                    </Button>
                  </div>
                )}
              </div>
            </StepContent>
          </Step>
        ))}
      </Stepper>
    </div>
  );
}

In the same /components folder, create a TextField.js file.
Copy the following code into the file:

TextField.js

import React from 'react';
import { makeStyles } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
import TextField from '@material-ui/core/TextField';
 
const useStyles = makeStyles(theme => ({
  root: {
    '& > *': {
      margin: theme.spacing(1),
      width: 200,
    },
  },
}));
 
export default function BasicTextFields() {
  const classes = useStyles();
 
  return (
    <form className={classes.root} noValidate autoComplete="off">
      <TextField id="standard-basic" label="you@example.com" />
    </form>
  );
}

Import dependencies

Import the React dependencies and the new CouponDrawer component we've created into assets/js/app.js:

assets/js/app.js

__webpack_public_path__ = window.__webpack_public_path__; // eslint-disable-line
 
import Global from './theme/global';
import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import CouponDrawer from './components/CouponDrawer';

At the bottom of the file, render the CouponDrawer component and assign it an id.

Render CouponDrawer component

ReactDOM.render(<CouponDrawer />, document.querySelector('#coupondrawer'));

Add the CouponDrawer div to base.html

Navigate to templates/layout/base.html.
Add a new div element with our new id inside the body.

templates/layout/base.html

<body>
  ...
  <div id="coupondrawer"></div>
 
  {{> components/common/header }}
  {{> components/common/body }}
  {{> components/common/footer }}
 
  <script>window.__webpack_public_path__ = "{{cdn 'assets/dist/'}}";</script>
  <script src="{{cdn 'assets/dist/theme-bundle.main.js'}}"></script>
  <script>
    {{!-- Exported in app.js --}}
    window.stencilBootstrap("{{page_type}}", {{jsContext}}).load();
  </script>
 
  {{{footer.scripts}}}
</body>

Final product

View the finished product using the Stencil CLI command stencil start in the Cornerstone theme directory.

stencil start

# move into theme dir
cd ~/path/to/theme/dir
 
# Preview store using Browsersync
stencil start

Open your browser and navigate to localhost:3000 to view your local storefront.

Note: This coupon drawer example does not send coupon codes to the emails entered. This is only an example to show how to customize your storefront theme.

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