Routing libraries
By default, the navigation is performed with a native <a>
element. You can customize it to use your own router. For instance, using Next.js's Link or react-router.
Navigation components
There are two main components available to perform navigations.
The most common one is the Link
as its name might suggest.
It renders a native <a>
element and applies the href
as an attribute.
<Link href="/">Link</Link>
You can also make a button perform navigation actions.
If your component is extending ButtonBase
, providing a href
prop enables the link mode.
For instance, with a Button
component:
<Button href="/" variant="contained">
Link
</Button>
Global theme Link
In real-life applications, using a native <a>
element is rarely enough.
You can improve the user experience by using an enhanced Link component systematically.
The theme of Material-UI allows configuring this component once.
For instance, with react-router:
const LinkBehavior = React.forwardRef<
any,
Omit<RouterLinkProps, 'to'> & { href: RouterLinkProps['to'] }
>((props, ref) => {
const { href, ...other } = props;
// Map href (Material-UI) -> to (react-router)
return <RouterLink ref={ref} to={href} {...other} />;
});
const theme = createTheme({
components: {
MuiLink: {
defaultProps: {
component: LinkBehavior,
},
},
MuiButtonBase: {
defaultProps: {
LinkComponent: LinkBehavior,
},
},
},
});
⚠️ This approach has limitations with TypeScript. The
href
prop only accepts a string. In the event you need to provide a richer structure, see the next section.
component
prop
You can achieve the integration with third-party routing libraries with the component
prop.
You can learn more about this prop in the composition guide.
Here are a few demos with react-router. You can apply the same strategy with all the components: BottomNavigation, Card, etc.
Link
<Router>
<Link component={RouterLink} to="/">
With prop forwarding
</Link>
<br />
<Link component={LinkBehavior}>Without prop forwarding</Link>
</Router>
Current route: /drafts
<Router>
<Button component={RouterLink} to="/">
With prop forwarding
</Button>
<br />
<Button component={LinkBehavior}>Without prop forwarding</Button>
</Router>
More examples
Next.js
Next.js has a custom Link component. The example folder provides adapters for usage with Material-UI.
The first version of the adapter is the
NextLinkComposed
component. This component is unstyled and only responsible for handling the navigation. The prophref
was renamedto
to avoid a naming conflict. This is similar to react-router's Link component.import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button'; import { NextLinkComposed } from '../src/Link'; export default function Index() { return ( <Button component={NextLinkComposed} to={{ pathname: '/about', query: { name: 'test' }, }} > Button link </Button> ); }
The second version of the adapter is the
Link
component. This component is styled. It leverages the link component of Material-UI withNextLinkComposed
.import Link from '../src/Link'; export default function Index() { return ( <Link href={{ pathname: '/about', query: { name: 'test' }, }} > Link </Link> ); }
Gatsby
The Link component of Gatsby is built on @reach/router
.
You can use the same previous documentation for react-router.
Unlike Next.js, it doesn't require you to create an adapter.