Linear Gradient Component in React Native

React Native Linear Gradient

This is an example of a Linear Gradient Component in React Native. For those who have no idea about Gradient, A Gradients let you display smooth transitions between two or more specified colors. The gradient can be of two types:

  • Linear Gradients (goes down/up/left/right/diagonally)
  • Radial Gradients (defined by their center)

In this example, we will see the Linear Gradient. To Make a Linear Gradient in React Native we will use the LinearGradient component from @react-native-community/react-native-linear-gradient provided by react-native-community. This is very useful if you want to make a custom button with a curve effect or any multi-color background.

In this example, we will make three buttons (Note: It is not only for the buttons you can use gradient in any view) with three types of gradient backgrounds:

  1. Simple Linear Gradient.
  2. Horizontal Gradient.
  3. Location Gradient.

Simple Gradient

<LinearGradient 
  colors={['#4c669f', '#3b5998', '#192f6a']} 
  style={styles.linearGradient}>
  <Text style={styles.buttonText}>
    Simple Linear Gradient Backgrount
  </Text>
</LinearGradient>

Horizontal Gradient

<LinearGradient 
  start={{x: 0, y: 0}} 
  end={{x: 1, y: 0}} 
  colors={['#4c669f', '#3b5998', '#192f6a']} 
  style={styles.linearGradient}>
  <Text style={styles.buttonText}>
    Horizontal Gradient Backgrount
  </Text>
</LinearGradient>

Location Gradient

<LinearGradient
  start={{x: 0.0, y: 0.25}} 
  end={{x: 0.5, y: 1.0}}
  locations={[0,0.5,0.6]}
  colors={['#4c669f', '#3b5998', '#192f6a']}
  style={styles.linearGradient}>
  <Text style={styles.buttonText}>
    Location Gradient Backgrount
  </Text>
</LinearGradient>

Here are some additional props for knowledge:

  1. colors: An array of at least two color values that represent gradient colors. Example: [‘red’, ‘blue’] set gradient from red to blue.
  2. start: An optional object of the following type: { x: number, y: number }. Coordinates declare the position that the gradient starts at, as a fraction of the overall size of the gradient, starting from the top left corner. Example: { x: 0.1, y: 0.1 } means that the gradient will start at 10% from the top and 10% from the left.
  3. end: Same as the start, but for the end of the gradient.
  4. locations: An optional array of numbers defining the location of each gradient color stop, mapping to the color with the same index in the colors prop. Example: [0.1, 0.75, 1] means that the first color will take 0% – 10%, the second color will take 10% – 75%, and finally third color will occupy 75% – 100%.

I think this is enough for now let’s get started with the example.

To Make a React Native App

Getting started with React Native will help you to know more about the way you can make a React Native project. We are going to use react native command line interface to make our React Native App.

If you have previously installed a global react-native-cli package, please remove it as it may cause unexpected issues:

npm uninstall -g react-native-cli @react-native-community/cli

Run the following commands to create a new React Native project

npx react-native init ProjectName

If you want to start a new project with a specific React Native version, you can use the --version argument:

npx react-native init ProjectName --version X.XX.X

Note If the above command is failing, you may have old version of react-native or react-native-cli installed globally on your pc. Try uninstalling the cli and run the cli using npx.

This will make a project structure with an index file named App.js in your project directory.

Installation of Dependency

To use LinearGradient we need to install react-native-linear-gradient dependency.

To install this open the terminal and jump into your project using

cd ProjectName

Run the following command to install

npm install react-native-linear-gradient --save

This command will copy all the dependencies into your node_module directory. –save is optional, it is just to update the react-native-linear-gradient dependency in your package.json file.

CocoaPods Installation

Please use the following command to install CocoaPods

npx pod-install

Code

Now Open App.js in any code editor and replace the code with the following code

App.js

// Linear Gradient Component in React Native
// https://aboutreact.com/react-native-linear-gradient/

// import React in our code
import React from 'react';

// import all the components we are going to use
import {
  SafeAreaView,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  View
} from 'react-native';

//import LinearGradient Componet to make Linear Gradient
import LinearGradient from 'react-native-linear-gradient';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={{flex: 1}}>
      <View style={styles.container}>
        {/*Simple Gradient*/}
        <LinearGradient
          colors={['#4c669f', '#3b5998', '#192f6a']}
          style={styles.linearGradient}>
          <Text style={styles.buttonText}>
            Simple Linear Gradient Background
          </Text>
        </LinearGradient>

        {/*Horizontal Gradient*/}
        <LinearGradient
          start={{x: 0, y: 0}}
          end={{x: 1, y: 0}}
          colors={['#4c669f', '#3b5998', '#192f6a']}
          style={styles.linearGradient}>
          <Text style={styles.buttonText}>
            Horizontal Gradient Background
          </Text>
        </LinearGradient>

        {/*Location Gradient*/}
        <LinearGradient
          start={{x: 0.0, y: 0.25}}
          end={{x: 0.5, y: 1.0}}
          locations={[0, 0.5, 0.6]}
          colors={['#4c669f', '#3b5998', '#192f6a']}
          style={styles.linearGradient}>
          <Text style={styles.buttonText}>
            Location Gradient Background
          </Text>
        </LinearGradient>
      </View>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

export default App;

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#F5FCFF',
  },
  linearGradient: {
    paddingLeft: 15,
    paddingRight: 15,
    borderRadius: 5,
    marginTop: 16,
    width: 350,
  },
  buttonText: {
    fontSize: 18,
    fontFamily: 'Gill Sans',
    textAlign: 'center',
    margin: 10,
    color: '#ffffff',
    backgroundColor: 'transparent',
  },
});

To Run the React Native App

Open the terminal again and jump into your project using.

cd ProjectName

1. Start Metro Bundler

First, you will need to start Metro, the JavaScript bundler that ships with React Native. To start Metro bundler run following command:

npx react-native start

Once you start Metro Bundler it will run forever on your terminal until you close it. Let Metro Bundler run in its own terminal. Open a new terminal and run the application.

2. Start React Native Application

To run the project on an Android Virtual Device or on real debugging device:

npx react-native run-android

or on the iOS Simulator by running (macOS only)

npx react-native run-ios

Known Issue

If you’re having trouble, you can point your package.json at GitHub to see if the issue has been fixed. Simply change the dependency

"react-native-linear-gradient": "react-native-community/react-native-linear-gradient"

to get the data right from GitHub instead of npm and then npm install.

Output Screenshots

IOS

Android

This is how you can use Linear Gradient Component in React Native. If you have any doubts or want to share something about the topic you can comment below or contact us here. There will be more posts coming soon. Stay tuned!

Hope you liked it. 🙂

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