Скачать или смотреть How to Control Script Tags in Production vs. Staging Environments in React Applications

Discover how to conditionally include external script tags in your production environment while keeping your staging environment clean and efficient in your React applications.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/74355416/ asked by the user 'Valeria' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/20445482/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/74363564/ provided by the user 'Joel Peltonen' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/694325/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Production environment use script tag in head section of website but not in Staging Environment

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/l...
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
Handling External Scripts in React: A Production-Only Approach

In modern web development, managing scripts effectively in different environments is crucial for optimizing performance and ensuring functionality. If you're working with a React application and need to include an external script only in your production environment, you might be puzzled about how to achieve this.

The Problem

Imagine you have a script that enables certain features on your production website but is unnecessary or even detrimental during testing or staging. This situation arises frequently when deploying applications on platforms like Google Cloud or when managing various environments through Docker.

For many developers, the question that arises is: How can we include an external script in the production build while ensuring it is omitted from the staging setup?

Suggested Solutions

1. Using Environment Variables

One of the most effective ways to manage this is to utilize environmental variables that differentiate between your production and staging environments. Here’s a practical example of how to conditionally include the script in your HTML head based on the environment:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Breakdown of the Code:

Environment Variable Check: The script will only execute if the environment variable NODE_ENV is set to 'production'.

Safe Execution: It encapsulates the functionality within an immediately invoked function expression (IIFE) to avoid global scope pollution.

2. Hostname Conditions

Another straightforward solution is to check the current hostname. This works well if your staging and production environments have different URLs. For instance:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Key Points:

Hostname Check: The script runs and executes only if the user is not on the testing server.

Flexibility: This method allows you to hard-code environment checks without relying solely on environment variables.

3. Alternative Using Docker Environment Variables

If you're running your applications in Docker containers, you can also use Docker's environment variable capabilities to control the rendering of these scripts. You can define an environment variable in your docker-compose.yml file and then access that in your React app.

Example snippet from docker-compose.yml:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

Incorporating external scripts conditionally based on your deployment environment is crucial for maintaining a clean and performant application. By leveraging environment variables or hostname checks, you can effectively control which scripts load in your React application. This not only helps improve the performance of your staging environment but also ensures a seamless production experience.

By following the structured approach outlined here, you'll have a clear path forward in managing your scripts, making your development process smoother and more efficient.

Whether you choose to rely on environment variables or simple hostname checks, the goal remains the same: to manage your resources wisely across different deployment environments.

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below; I’m here to help!