Created for CSE 370
React Native is a powerful framework that lets us create cross platform mobile applications using React concepts. Expo is a set of tools and services built around React Native to assist in developing and deploying React Native applications onto Android, iOS, and even the web.
In this first part of the tutorial we will be using Expo to create a new application, then we will preview it on our mobile device as well as in the browser. For your final project in CSE 370, you will not need your React Native application working in the browser, this is purely for demo purposes.
First we’ll need to start by compiling our dependencies and requirements. In your command line, use npm to install the expo-cli onto your machine. This will allow you to make, control, and deploy your mobile app. You can install expo-cli by running the following command.
npm install -g expo-cli
Once installed, navigate to where you would like to create your app, then run the following command to clone our template code:
git clone https://github.com/CSE410HCI/react-native-template.git
This code is based off of an existing Expo boilerplate, modified with extra pages to help with your project
Wait for the process to complete, then navigate to the new project and start it by running npm start. In a browser window, a control panel will open up that will give you a few options.