How to integrate slate text editor in react

Tutorial: Integrating Slate in a React Application

Slate is a responsive and user friendly text editor use in React for writing and editing text in a web application. This tutorial will guide you through the process of integrating Slate into a React application. We will cover from setting up the environment to implementing a basic rich text editor.

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of React.
Node.js and npm installed on your machine.

How to integrate Slate text editor in Nextjs

1. Set Up Your React Project

I assume you have your project already if you don’t have a React project, you can create one using this process.

npx create-react-app slate-editor
cd slate-editor

2. Install React Slate text editor Packages

Now you will install Slate and its related packages using npm:

npm install slate slate-react slate-history slate-hyperscript

3. Create the react slate Editor Component

Create a new file named SlateEditor.js in the src directory and add the following code:

// src/SlateEditor.js
import React, { useMemo, useState, useCallback } from 'react';
import { Slate, Editable, withReact } from 'slate-react';
import { createEditor, Descendant } from 'slate';
import { withHistory } from 'slate-history';

// Define the initial value of the editor
const initialValue: Descendant[] = [
  {
    type: 'paragraph',
    children: [{ text: 'This is a simple Slate editor!' }],
  },
];

// Create a React component for the editor
const SlateEditor = () => {
  const editor = useMemo(() => withReact(withHistory(createEditor())), []);
  const [value, setValue] = useState(initialValue);

  // Handle changes to the editor content
  const handleChange = useCallback((newValue) => {
    setValue(newValue);
  }, []);

  return (
    <Slate editor={editor} value={value} onChange={handleChange}>
      <Editable placeholder="Enter some text..." />
    </Slate>
  );
};

export default SlateEditor;

4. Update `App.js`

In this step you have to import and use the SlateEditor component in your main App.js file:

// src/App.js
import React from 'react';
import SlateEditor from './SlateEditor';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Slate Editor in React</h1>
      <SlateEditor />
    </div>
  );
};

export default App;

5. Add Basic Styling

We can make the editor look more better thqn the default look. Add some basic CSS and Create a styles.css file in the src directory and add the following:

/* src/styles.css */
.App {
  padding: 20px;
  max-width: 800px;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

.editor {
  border: 1px solid #ddd;
  padding: 10px;
  min-height: 200px;
}

Don’t forget to import this CSS file in your index.js:

// src/index.js
import './styles.css';

6. Run Your Application

We are done setting it up now start your React application:

npm start

After you run the nom start command our browser will open with a simple Slate editor embedded in your React application.

7. Enhancing react slate text Editor

If you want to To enhance the editor, you can add features such as formatting, custom elements, and plugins. Slate’s flexibility allows us to add extensive customization, including:

Custom Formatting: this add support for text formatting like bold, italic, and underline.
Plugins: It integrate additional features like tables, images, or links.
Collaboration: It also Implement real-time collaborative editing.

Example of Adding Basic Formatting in slate text editor

To add basic formatting (e.g., bold text), you can also modify the SlateEditor.js component as follows:

Update the Editor Component to Handle Formatting

   import React, { useMemo, useState, useCallback } from 'react';
   import { Slate, Editable, withReact, useSlate } from 'slate-react';
   import { createEditor, Descendant, Transforms, Editor, Range } from 'slate';
   import { withHistory } from 'slate-history';

   const initialValue: Descendant[] = [
     {
       type: 'paragraph',
       children: [{ text: 'This is a simple Slate editor!' }],
     },
   ];

   const MarkButton = ({ format, children }) => {
     const editor = useSlate();
     const isActive = isMarkActive(editor, format);

     return (
       <button
         onMouseDown={(event) => {
           event.preventDefault();
           toggleMark(editor, format);
         }}
         style={{ fontWeight: isActive ? 'bold' : 'normal' }}
       >
         {children}
       </button>
     );
   };

   const isMarkActive = (editor, format) => {
     const marks = Editor.marks(editor);
     return marks ? marks[format] === true : false;
   };

   const toggleMark = (editor, format) => {
     const isActive = isMarkActive(editor, format);
     if (isActive) {
       Editor.removeMark(editor, format);
     } else {
       Editor.addMark(editor, format, true);
     }
   };

   const SlateEditor = () => {
     const editor = useMemo(() => withReact(withHistory(createEditor())), []);
     const [value, setValue] = useState(initialValue);

     const handleChange = useCallback((newValue) => {
       setValue(newValue);
     }, []);

     return (
       <Slate editor={editor} value={value} onChange={handleChange}>
         <div>
           <MarkButton format="bold">Bold</MarkButton>
           <MarkButton format="italic">Italic</MarkButton>
         </div>
         <Editable placeholder="Enter some text..." />
       </Slate>
     );
   };

   export default SlateEditor;

Here we have use MarkButton as a custom component for toggling text formatting. The toggleMark function will apply or remove the specified mark (e.g., bold or italic) from the selected text.

Conclusion for integration of slate text editor

Slate text editor is a powerful editor for writing and editing text in your react application. We have accomplished the process of integrating React wonderful text editor called slate.