React is the most used JavaScript framework for building user interfaces, and although it is most popular for building modern applications, it can also be used for building other interfaces like iOS or Android applications. What makes this possible is the separation of React.js and the platform-specific libraries React-DOM for the web and React-native for mobile user interfaces. React.js includes shared logic for state management, rendering, and component management, while React-DOM is responsible for actually rendering the interface into your browser.
While React-DOM and React-native are maintained by Meta, who also maintains React JS, there are dozens of community-driven implementations for custom React renderers that use React components to build command-line interfaces, email templates, and even PDFs. However, one renderer that nobody dared to create yet is one that can quite literally change the world, or at least a world – a Minecraft world.
React Minecraft allows players to automate all block placements using technology used and loved by thousands of developers around the world. Minecraft React components are reusable and can contain any logic that you can come up with in JavaScript. The React reconciler API allows developers to define what should happen inside the host system when React components are rendered. For React-DOM, the host system is a DOM, but for React-Minecraft, it will be a Minecraft world.
To achieve this, developers can use a Minecraft server as a host system, and while Minecraft servers are usually written in Java, flying-squid, an open-source project, provides a Minecraft-compatible server and a JavaScript API. This allows developers to connect to the server that flying-squid creates with a regular Minecraft client and play like it’s a completely normal Minecraft world.
The React Minecraft block component is used to render one specific block into the Minecraft world, allowing developers to specify where the block should be placed by providing coordinates as properties and decide what type of block they want by providing an ID. The prismarine block library allows developers to specify the properties like orientation of a block without having to look up every ID of every state for every block every time.
Before building the very first house in Minecraft with React.js, developers need to implement a way to rerender the React Minecraft component. This can be achieved by registering a slash reload command that can be executed via the Minecraft chat, which will render new blocks correctly. Additionally, defining an area where the React-Minecraft build should be allows the component to reset the state of the blocks correctly.
In conclusion, building Minecraft houses using React.js is an innovative and exciting way to engage with both Minecraft and modern web technologies. With the ability to automate block placements and utilize the power of React components, developers and players alike can explore new possibilities within the Minecraft world.