Using a Button as a Link in React

Raise your hands if you've ever felt personally victimized by the intricacies of React! Wait, don't put your hands down yet.

Now, think about all the times you've wanted to use a button as a link. Put your hands down if you've found a smooth, easy solution. Still got your hands raised, huh? Don't worry; you're in good company.

Let's dive right in, take the bull by the horns, and solve this elusive mystery of using a button as a link in React!

What's the Big Deal Anyway?

Ah, the button-link conundrum! We've all been there, haven't we? Imagine this scenario: You're happily coding away, creating a slick, new user interface in React. You've got your button component all ready to roll.

It's smooth; it's sexy. You love it. Then, reality crashes down - you realize you need your button to act as a link.

Traditionally, you'd have a <button> for submitting forms and a <a> for navigation. But in the wild, wild west of web development, we often need a button that looks like a button but acts like a link.

It sounds like a mid-life crisis to me, but let's humor it.

Traditional Approach: Our Old Pal, the Anchor Tag

Before we get into the React way, let's briefly recap the traditional way.

<a href="https://www.coolwebsite.com">Go to Cool Website</a>

That's an anchor tag - it takes you places! But what if we want it to look like a button? Easy-peasy! We slap some CSS onto it, and we're good to go.

<a href="https://www.coolwebsite.com" class="button-class">Go to Cool Website</a>

In your CSS, you might have something like:

.button-class {
    display: inline-block;
    padding: 10px 20px;
    background-color: #008CBA;
    color: white;
    border: none;
    cursor: pointer;
    text-align: center;
    text-decoration: none;
    font-size: 16px;
    transition-duration: 0.4s;
}

.button-class:hover {
    background-color: white;
    color: black;
}

And voilà! Your link now masquerades as a button. But alas! We're using React, aren't we?

Enter React: A New Challenger Appears

React has its own philosophy when it comes to handling actions and events. Our beloved <a> tag wouldn't work so smoothly here due to the whole page refresh thing.

React favors single-page application design, which requires programmatic navigation. That's fancy talk: "We want to control where the user goes without refreshing the page."

Using React Router

React Router is one of the most widely-used routing libraries in the React ecosystem. For this, you need to have it installed in your project. If it's not, open your terminal, navigate to your project directory, and type:

npm install react-router-dom

import { useHistory } from "react-router-dom";

const ButtonLink = () => {
    const history = useHistory();

    const handleClick = () => {
        history.push("/coolwebsite");
    };

    return (
        <button type="button" onClick={handleClick}>
            Go to Cool Website
        </button>
    );
};

export default ButtonLink;

Voila! We have a button that navigates to "/cool website" when clicked—no page refresh, just smooth transitions - the React way.

Wait, What About External Links?

Good question, my astute reader! For an external link, we use the good ol' JavaScript window object. Here's how:

const ButtonLink = () => {
    const handleClick = () => {
        window.location.href = "https://www.coolwebsite.com";
    };

    return (
        <button type="button" onClick={handleClick}>
            Go to Cool Website
        </button>
    );
};

export default ButtonLink;

To Sum It All Up

Congratulations! You've just made your way through the dense jungle of using a button as a link in React.

You've taken on the might of React Router, wrestled with JavaScript's window object, and emerged victorious.

Remember, when in doubt, break it down:

Define your button component.
Handle the click event.
Use history.push() for internal links or window.location.href for external links.

So, go forth and conquer your React projects with this newfound wisdom. May your buttons always navigate and your links always be styled!

Pro tip: Remember to style your button-link components. We want those links to look like buttons. Or were the buttons looking like links? Oh well, you get the idea!