🎥

Building and Deploying a YouTube Clone Application using React.js

Jul 22, 2024

Building and Deploying a YouTube Clone Application using React.js 🎥

Overview

  • Create a YouTube clone using React.js and Material UI v5.
  • Include features like video sections, custom categories, responsive channel and video cards, channel pages, and video pages.
  • Use Rapid API for data fetching.
  • Deploy the application using Netlify.
  • Prerequisites: Basic understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React.

Technologies Used

  • React.js
  • Material UI v5
  • Rapid API
  • Axios
  • React Router DOM
  • Rapid API Visual Studio Code extension

Project Setup

  1. Create Project Folder: youtube_clone and initialize a React app within it.
  2. Install Dependencies: Add Material UI and other dependencies, ensure to use the latest versions of MUI and React Router DOM.
  3. Create App Routes: Configure routes for Home, Video Details, Channel Details, and Search Feed.
  4. **File Structure: ** Organize files and folders including components, utils, and specific JSX files for each component (Navbar, Feed, VideoDetail, ChannelDetail, SearchFeed, VideoCard, ChannelCard, SearchBar).

Main Components & Functionalities

Navbar

  • Import Stack from MUI and use a logo from constants.js.
  • Create a SearchBar component to handle searching, auto-suggest, and navigate to the search results.

Feed

  • Consists of Sidebar and Video Feed.
  • Sidebar for category selection, changes category on button click.
  • Fetch videos based on selected category using Rapid API.
  • Render videos using VideoCard and ChannelCard components.

VideoCard & ChannelCard

  • Use props to render videos and channel details dynamically.
  • Conditional rendering based on video and channel details.
  • Ensure responsive design with media queries (css).

ChannelDetail

  • Use useParams to get the channel ID from the URL.
  • Fetch channel details and videos for that channel using Rapid API.
  • Reuse ChannelCard component to create channel profile page.

Search Feed

  • Dynamically fetch videos based on input search query from the URL using useParams.
  • Reuse existing Videos component to display search results.
  • Handle search form submission in the navbar using useNavigate hook.

VideoDetail

  • Fetch detailed video data and related videos using useParams to get the video ID from the URL.
  • Use React Player to embed and play the video.
  • Display related videos alongside the main video.

Fetching Data with Rapid API

  1. Setup API: Use Rapid API to fetch data from YouTube v3 API.
  2. API Function: Create fetchFromAPI utility to manage API calls with Axios.
  3. Handling API Errors with Rapid API Extension: Test and troubleshoot API requests using the Rapid API VSCode extension.

Responsive Design

  • Use MUI’s built-in components and sx prop for responsive design.
  • Ensure layout works across various devices ranging from mobile phones to desktops.
  • Manage different screen widths using breakpoints and responsive styling.

Deployment

  • Netlify: Drag and drop the build folder for quick deployment.
  • Fixing Redirect Issues: Add a _redirects file to handle SPA routing issues.

Conclusion

  • The project provides comprehensive knowledge of building and deploying a full-fledged web application using React and Material UI.
  • Emphasis on reusable components and API integration.
  • Suggested future improvements and customizations for added functionality.

Resources

  • Rapid API Hub
  • Hostinger (for professional deployment)
  • JSMastery.pro (for additional courses and resources)

Additional Tips

  • Read React and MUI documentation for better understanding of components and APIs.
  • Invest time in learning Rapid API for various data sources.
  • Use version control (Git) for managing your project effectively.