Style

React Native doesn't implement CSS but instead relies on JavaScript to let you style your application. This has been a controversial decision and you can read through those slides for the rationale behind it.

Declare Styles #

The way to declare styles in React Native is the following:

var styles = StyleSheet.create({
  base: {
    width: 38,
    height: 38,
  },
  background: {
    backgroundColor: '#222222',
  },
  active: {
    borderWidth: 2,
    borderColor: '#00ff00',
  },
});

StyleSheet.create construct is optional but provides some key advantages. It ensures that the values are immutable and opaque by transforming them into plain numbers that reference an internal table. By putting it at the end of the file, you also ensure that they are only created once for the application and not on every render.

All the attribute names and values are a subset of what works on the web. For layout, React Native implements Flexbox.

Using Styles #

All the core components accept a style attribute.

<Text style={styles.base} />
<View style={styles.background} />

They also accept an array of styles.

<View style={[styles.base, styles.background]} />

The behavior is the same as Object.assign: in case of conflicting values, the one from the right-most element will have precedence and falsy values like false, undefined and null will be ignored. A common pattern is to conditionally add a style based on some condition.

<View style={[styles.base, this.state.active && styles.active]} />

Finally, if you really have to, you can also create style objects in render, but they are highly discouraged. Put them last in the array definition.

<View
  style={[styles.base, {
    width: this.state.width,
    height: this.state.width * this.state.aspectRatio
  }]}
/>

Pass Styles Around #

In order to let a call site customize the style of your component children, you can pass styles around. Use View.propTypes.style and Text.propTypes.style in order to make sure only styles are being passed.

var List = React.createClass({
  propTypes: {
    style: View.propTypes.style,
    elementStyle: View.propTypes.style,
  },
  render: function() {
    return (
      <View style={this.props.style}>
        {elements.map((element) =>
          <View style={[styles.element, this.props.elementStyle]} />
        )}
      </View>
    );
  }
});

// ... in another file ...
<List style={styles.list} elementStyle={styles.listElement} />

Supported Properties #

You can checkout latest support of CSS Properties in following Links.

Documentation from React Native open source project with modifications. License Information