Exploring Next.js Server Actions: Simplifying Server-Side Operations

Unlock the full potential of server-side rendering with Next.js Server Actions - Simplifying server-side operations for seamless data fetching and server-side computations. 🔧

Overview

In this blog, we will dive into the world of Next.js Server Actions and explore how they revolutionize server-side rendering. 🚀 Next.js, a popular React framework, brings seamless integration of server-side rendering and client-side interactivity. However, there are times when we need to perform complex server-side operations like fetching data from an external API or executing computationally intensive tasks. This is where Next.js Server Actions come into play, providing an elegant solution to streamline these operations and enhance the performance and scalability of your Next.js applications. Join us as we uncover the power and simplicity of Next.js Server Actions and discover how they can elevate your development workflow. 💪✨

Topics we'll cover:

1. Introduction

2. What is Next.js?

3. A bit about React Server Components

4. The Problem

5. What are Server Actions in Next.js?

6. How to use server actions from client components in Next.js?

7. How to use server actions in Next.js server components?

8. Further References

9. Conclusion

Introduction

In the world of server-side rendering frameworks, Next.js has emerged as a popular choice among developers. With its extensive feature set, Next.js simplifies the development process and provides efficient server-side rendering capabilities. In this article, we'll delve into the realm of Next.js Server Actions, exploring what they are, the problems they solve, and how to implement them into your Next.js applications.

What is Next.js?

Next.js is a powerful React framework used for building server-rendered web applications. It combines the benefits of both client-side JavaScript and server-side rendering, allowing developers to create performant, SEO-friendly websites. With Next.js, you can seamlessly switch between server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), and client-side rendering (CSR) based on your project requirements.

A bit about React Server Components

With React Server Components(RSC), We can move our components to the server and colocate them to our data store so that,

• They have backend access without any network roundtrips.

• We can avoid network waterfalls.

• We improve your app's performance with zero bundle size.

Considering user experience, maintainability, and performance cost, these benefits are huge.

When we move the components to the server with React Server Components, they will most likely be colocated to your application's data store or database. You still need to fetch the data to your components from the database, but the data fetching will be way faster than fetching from a client component.

Next.js App Router has gone the "Thinking in Server Components" way. By default, all the components are server components, and if you want to write a client component, you need to mark them explicitly using the use client directive.

It means a component hierarchy in Next.js can combine server and client components. We can use server components as much as possible and client components wherever we need user interactions or event handling.

The Problem: Handling Server-Side Operations

In traditional Next.js applications, certain tasks such as fetching data from an API or performing server-side computations can be challenging. These operations often require server-side rendering to ensure optimal performance, but handling them can become complex and cumbersome. This is where Next.js Server Actions come to the rescue.

What are Server Actions in Next.js?

Next.js provides data fetching techniques and patterns for developers to use. One of the techniques is by using server actions. (While writing this article) server actions are still an experimental alpha feature in Next.js, and you need to enable it explicitly using the serverActions flag in the next.config.js file.

module.exports = {
  experimental: {
    serverActions: true,
  },
}

Server actions are built on React Actions that you can define in server components and/or calls from client components. Server actions are JavaScript async functions that run on the server by the user interactions on the client.

How to use server actions from client components in Next.js?

As the component hierarchy can have both server and client components, you may want to use server actions inside the client components as well. For that, create your actions in a separate file, say, add-comments.js.

'use server'

import { addProductToCart } from '@/utils/product'

export async function fetchData(data, id) {
  const response = await addProductToCart(data, id);
  return response;
}

How to use server actions in Next.js server components?

To use the server actions inside the server component, first create an async function with the use server directive. You must place the directive on top of the function body.

Then, you can call the server function from the action prop of the <form/> element or use the formAction prop on the elements(like the submit button, input text, etc.) inside a <form/> element.

export default function ProductCart() {
  async function addProductToCart(data, id) {
    'use server'

     await addToCart(data, id);
  }

  return(
     <form action={addProductToCart}>
       <button type="submit">Add Product</button>
     </form>
  )
}

Further Reference

For comprehensive documentation and detailed information on implementing Next.js Server Actions, refer to the official Next.js documentation: Next.js Server Actions Documentation

Conclusion

Next.js Server Actions provide a streamlined approach to handling server-side operations within Next.js applications. By leveraging the power of server-side rendering, Server Actions enable smoother data fetching, server-side computations, and execution of server-side code. As a result, developers can build performant and SEO-friendly web applications with ease using Next.js.

So, why wait? Dive into the world of Next.js Server Actions and take your Next.js projects to the next level! 😉🚀