Location Data from Props

What is location data

Sometimes it can be helpful to know exactly what your app’s browser URL is at any given stage. Using @reach/router for client-side routing in Gatsby, location data represents where the app is currently, where you’d like it to go, and other helpful information. The location object is never mutated but reach@router makes it helpful to determine when navigation happens.

HashHistory

Using hash in JavaScript is one way to update the browser URL and the DOM without having the browser do a full HTML page reload. HashHistory in @reach/router is used to track browser history with JavaScript when using hashrouter instead of browserrouter which uses the newer HTML5 history API.

Use cases

Through client-side routing in Gatsby you can provide a location object instead of strings, which are helpful in a number of situations:

• Providing state to linked components
• Client-only routes
• Fetching Data
• Animation Transition

Example of providing state to a link component

Then from the receiving component you can conditionally render markup based on the location state.

Gatsby advantages

The great thing is you can expect the location prop to be available to you on every page thanks to its use of @reach/router.

Other resources

• @reach/router docs
• react-router location docs
• Hash Router
• Gatsby Breadcrumb Plugin
• Create Modal w/ Navigation State using React Router