Advanced Next.js Concepts

<p>As a developer, you may have built a Next.js application using the basic concepts such as creating and navigating pages,&nbsp;<a href="https://medium.com/@alldevutils/server-side-rendering-and-data-fetching-3198dc605113" rel="noopener">handling data with&nbsp;<strong><em>getStaticProps</em></strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong><em>getServerSideProps</em></strong></a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://medium.com/@alldevutils/styling-in-next-js-866ede8d7ab6" rel="noopener"><strong><em>styling with CSS modules</em></strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong><em>styled components</em></strong></a>. However, there are many advanced Next.js concepts that can help you build more complex and powerful applications. In this article, we&rsquo;ll cover some of these advanced concepts and provide code examples to demonstrate how to use them.</p> <h2><a href="https://medium.com/@alldevutils/introduction-to-next-js-b3cf00ddd6f1?source=post_page-----8439a8752597--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow" target="_blank">Introduction to Next.js</a></h2> <h3><a href="https://medium.com/@alldevutils/introduction-to-next-js-b3cf00ddd6f1?source=post_page-----8439a8752597--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow" target="_blank">Are you looking to build web applications with React but are not sure where to start? Look no further than Next.js, a&hellip;</a></h3> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@alldevutils/introduction-to-next-js-b3cf00ddd6f1?source=post_page-----8439a8752597--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow" target="_blank">medium.com</a></p> <h1>1. Handling Authentication in Next.js</h1> <p>Authentication is a critical aspect of web applications that require users to sign in and access their personal data. Next.js provides several authentication strategies that you can use to secure your application. One of the most common approaches is to use cookies to store authentication tokens.</p> <p>To implement authentication with cookies in Next.js, you can create an API route that handles user authentication. Here&rsquo;s an example:</p> <pre> // pages/api/login.js import { setCookie } from &#39;nookies&#39;; export default function handler(req, res) { // Check user credentials const user = authenticateUser(req.body.username, req.body.password); if (!user) { res.status(401).send(&#39;Invalid credentials&#39;); return; } // Set authentication cookie setCookie({ res }, &#39;auth_token&#39;, user.auth_token, { maxAge: 30 * 24 * 60 * 60, path: &#39;/&#39;, }); // Redirect to dashboard page res.redirect(&#39;/dashboard&#39;); }</pre> <p>In this example, we&rsquo;re using the&nbsp;<code>nookies</code>&nbsp;library to set a cookie called&nbsp;<code>auth_token</code>&nbsp;with a maximum age of 30 days. Once the user is authenticated, we redirect them to the dashboard page.</p> <blockquote> <p>Also, one can use&nbsp;<a href="https://next-auth.js.org/getting-started/introduction" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>NextAuth.js</strong></a>&nbsp;for better security purposes.</p> </blockquote> <h1>2. Serverless Functions in Next.js</h1> <p>Serverless functions are a great way to implement backend functionality without having to manage a server. Next.js provides built-in support for serverless functions using the&nbsp;<code>api</code>&nbsp;directory.</p> <p>To create a serverless function in Next.js, create a file in the&nbsp;<code>pages/api</code>&nbsp;directory with the following format:</p> <p><a href="https://blog.devgenius.io/advanced-next-js-concepts-8439a8752597">Visit Now</a></p>