Update System Routing in Next.js 13.2
Tags: nextjs, javascript, react, webdev
Published: 2023-05-22 08:36:26

Next.js is a popular framework for building React applications, and it provides a powerful routing system that simplifies the process of defining and handling routes within your application. The routing in Next.js is based on the file system structure, making it intuitive and easy to work with.
Here's how Next.js handles routing:

1. **File-based Routing**: `Next.js` uses the file system as the basis for routing. Each page in your application is represented by a corresponding file in the pages directory. For example, if you have a file named `about.js` inside the pages directory, it will be mapped to the `/about` route.

2. **Nested Routes:**
 You can create nested routes by organizing files in nested folders within the pages directory. For example, if you have a file named `projects/index.js `inside the pages directory, it will be mapped to the `/projects` route.

3. **Dynamic Routes**: Next.js supports dynamic routing by using special filenames and folders. If you create a file with square brackets in the pages directory (e.g., [id].js), it will match any dynamic value in the URL and make it available as a parameter in the corresponding page component.

4. **Linking between Pages**: Next.js provides the `Link `component from the `next/link` module to handle client-side navigation between pages. It automatically pre-fetches the linked page for improved performance. You can use it to create anchor tags `(<a>)` with client-side navigation behavior.

5. **Programmatic Routing:** Next.js also provides a router object from the` next/router` module, which allows you to perform programmatic navigation, query parameters, and other advanced routing operations. You can `import` and use the` router` object to handle navigation programmatically within your components.

`Next.js` offers additional features like server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), and API routes that enhance the routing capabilities and enable more advanced scenarios.
By leveraging `Next.js` file-based routing system, you can easily define routes for your `pages` and navigate between them using the provided `Link `component or programmatic `routing `with the router object. This approach simplifies the management of `routes `and helps in building scalable and maintainable applications. 

** example of how you can use routing in a Next.js application:**
**

1. Create a new Next.js project:
**
Set up a new Next.js project by running the following command in your terminal:

```
npx create-next-app my-app
```

**2. Define the routing structure:**
Inside the pages directory of your project, create multiple files representing the different `pages/routes` of your application. For example:
Create a file named `index.js` for the homepage (`/ route`).
Create a file named `about.js `for the about page (`/about route`).
Create a file named `blog.js` for the blog page (`/blog route`).
Create a file named `blog/[slug].js` for dynamic blog posts (`/blog/some-post-slug route`).

**3. Implement the page components:**
Open each page file you created in the pages directory and write the corresponding React component. For example, in `pages/index.js`, you can have:

```
const HomePage = () => {
  return <h1>Welcome to the homepage!</h1>;
};

export default HomePage;
```

**4. Link between pages:**
In your components, use the Link component from `next/link` to create links between pages. For example, in `pages/index.js`:
import Link from 'next/link';

```
const HomePage = () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Welcome to the homepage!</h1>
      <Link href="/about">
        <a>About</a>
      </Link>
      <Link href="/blog">
        <a>Blog</a>
      </Link>
    </div>
  );
};

export default HomePage;
```
Test the routing:

Start your Next.js development server by running `npm run dev` or `yarn dev` in your project's `root directory.`
Open your browser and navigate to `http://localhost:3000` to see the homepage.
Click on the "About" and "Blog" links to navigate to the respective pages.
Next.js will automatically handle the routing based on the file structure you've defined. The `Link `component ensures `client-side `navigation without a full page refresh, providing a seamless user experience.
You can continue building out your application by creating more pages and defining their routes in the pages directory. Remember to follow the file-based routing approach and utilize the `Link `component for navigation between pages.

Next.js routing makes it easy to create a structured and intuitive navigation system within your application, allowing users to move between different pages seamlessly.
read more in [How to protect api routes in Next.js-middleware security](https://www.medcode.dev/blogs/next.js-protect-routes-middleware)