Learn Redux-observable, Safari and Webstorm

Handling async actions that affect your application’s state sounds like a tall order, but Redux makes it possible — and a win-win for you and your app’s users.

In this course, we will begin with nothing more than an empty directory and a text editor. Through small, focused lessons, we’ll learn how to set up a React project that uses Redux for state management and redux-observable for asynchronous actions. We’ll see how ‘epics’ are registered and how they each receive a ‘stream’ of actions from the store.

With an understanding of how things work, we’ll move onto solving common problems like: 
- Ajax cancellation
- creating sequences of async actions
- enabling code reuse through higher-order Observables 
- and much more.

RxJS 5-based middleware for Redux. Compose and cancel async actions to create side effects and more.

redux-observable

Asynchronous State Management with redux-observable v1

***Note: RxJS imports have changed since the publication of this course. Operators now must be passed into `.pipe` to be applied to an observable.***

In this course we will begin with nothing more than an empty directory & a text editor. Through small, focussed lessons we’ll learn how to setup a React project that uses Redux for state management and redux-observable for asynchronous actions. We’ll see how ‘epics’ are registered and how they each receive a ‘stream’ of actions from the store. 

With an understanding of how things work, we’ll move onto solving common problems such as Ajax cancellation, creating sequences of async actions, enabling code reuse through higher-order Observables and much more. 

## **UPDATE:** 
This course is outdated, view updated material here: [Asynchronous State Management with redux-observable v1](https://egghead.io/courses/asynchronous-state-management-with-redux-observable-v1)

React is one of the web’s most popular frameworks for building JavaScript applications. 

If you know what you’re doing, React can drastically simplify how you build, use, and maintain code.

Whether you’re a React newbie or you’re ready for advanced techniques, you can level-up with egghead. Explore our in-depth courses, lessons, and community resources to build more powerful applications and crack open your career.

react

Up and Running with redux-observable

screen-reader

Learn the basics of navigating through a web page using VoiceOver on MacOS in Safari.

Navigate a Webpage with VoiceOver in Safari

The Chrome Developer Tools (DevTools for short), are a set of web authoring and debugging tools built into Google Chrome.

chrome-devtools

Using our accessibility auditing toolkit we can find issues concerning landmark regions in our web application.  The react-axe library will report findings in the JavaScript console of the browser.  We could also run the axe browser extension to see the same results.  The tota11y browser extension will annotate any landmark regions on the page and therefore if none are annotated it may indicate that they aren't any (_NOTE: tota11y will only annotate landmark regions using aria roles and not those using HTML5 elements_).  Finally using the VoiceOver Rotor in Safari will show us whatever landmark regions have been defined in the Landmarks menu. 

Test for Landmark Region Accessibility Issues in React

We can find issues with heading levels by utilizing our accessibility auditing tools.  The library react-axe, as well as the browser extension axe, will report any findings concerning heading levels.  The browser extension tota11y will annotate all heading levels on a page and show any in red that have issues.  Finally, we can check the Rotor in VoiceOver in Safari.  The Rotor should have a Headings menu and will list in order all of them that are found on the page.  If headings are missing or inappropriate this will help us find them as well.

Test for Heading Level Accessibility Issues

Labeling inputs, elements, and widgets add context and clarity for assistive technology such as screen readers. Some elements do not already have some sort of labeling text being displayed visually, such as a `<button>` without descriptive text or an `<icon>` or part of a more complex widget.  Others may have some form of text label but it is not descriptive enough for those who cannot see it.  The addition of an `aria-label` attribute to the element will provide it with an accessible label so that when that element is focused by a screen reader, for instance, a label is read that better describes the element and what a user can expect from it.

Add Accessible Labels to Elements Whose Labels are Not Clear Enough

Labeling inputs, elements, and widgets add context and clarity for assistive technology such as screen readers. Some elements do not already have some sort of labeling text being displayed visually, such as a `<button>` without descriptive text or an `<icon>` or part of a more complex widget.  Others may have some form of text label but it does not provide enough context to be useful enough for those that cannot see it.  The addition of an `aria-label` attribute to the element will provide it with an accessible label so that when that element is focused by a screen reader, for instance, a label is read provides better context for the element and what a user can expect from it.

Add Accessible Labels to Provide Elements with More Context

Labeling inputs, elements, and widgets add context and clarity for assistive technology such as screen readers.  When there are already one or more other elements that themselves can be used to provide labeling text to another element an `aria-labelledby` attribute can be added to that element.  

Some examples of appropriate use cases for using an `aria-labelledby` are:
* Combine multiple labels together
* Associate headings with regions
* Label for a widget

Add an Accessible Label to an Element from the Text of Other Elements

Labeling inputs, elements, and widgets add context and clarity for assistive technology such as screen readers. Beyond adding accessible labels to elements and widgets we can also provide additional descriptions.  Similar to how an `aria-labelledby` attribute works, an `aria-describedby` attribute can link the text from another element or elements to be used as a description for the given element.  

Some example use cases for using an `aria-describedby` are:
* providing instructions
* providing important usage details

Add Accessible Descriptions to Elements

When dynamic changes occur to content on a page they are usually visually apparent to users who can see the page but may not be made apparent to users of assistive technologies. ARIA live regions provide a way to make those dynamic content changes able to be announced by assistive technologies.

## ARIA attributes
* `aria-live`: the priority with which updates are read
* `aria-atomic`: whether the screen reader should always present the live region as a whole, even if only part of the region changes
* `aria-relevant` - takes a list of what type of changes should be announced

## Resources
* https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/ARIA_Live_Regions
* https://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/aria-1.1/states_and_properties#aria-live
* https://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/aria-1.1/states_and_properties#aria-atomic
* https://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/aria-1.1/states_and_properties#aria-relevant
* http://html.cita.illinois.edu/nav/form/aria/index.php?example=3

Define a Live Region to Ensure Dynamic Changes are Announced by Assistive Technologies

In this lesson we’ll learn exactly what’s needed to incorporate redux-observable into an existing React/Redux application. We’ll learn what ‘Epics’ are, and how they receive a stream of actions and return a stream of actions. In-between is where we get to apply side-effects, call out to external services etc etc. In this lesson we’ll demonstrate the ‘async’ nature of epics by responding to an action with another, delay action.

Add redux-observable to an existing Redux project

Redux is a predictable state container for JavaScript apps.
It helps you write applications that behave consistently, run in different environments (client, server, and native), and are easy to test.

redux

In this lesson we’ll learn how to perform an Ajax request to an external API in response to an action in the redux store. We’ll see how, within the epic, we get access to actions after any reducers have been executed and how we can convert that incoming action into a resulting one that will save the data received into the redux store.

Use redux-observable for simple Ajax requests

With redux-observable, we have the power of RxJS at our disposal - this means tasks that would otherwise be complicated and imperative, become simple and declarative. In this lesson we’ll respond to an action by queuing up 2 separate Ajax requests that will execute sequentially. Then we’ll group the results from both into an array and produce a single action from our epic that will save the data into the redux store

Create a queue of Ajax requests with redux-observable and group the results.

When accepting user input and converting it into a request that talks to the outside world, we can often end up in a situation where responses are no longer relevant. This is a common case in type-ahead style input fields - we would only want to call an external search API after the user has stopped typing for a short amount of time. In this lesson we’ll see how we can begin to combine RxJS operators to solve such problems. 

Debounce user input to avoid repeated Ajax requests

Any application that uses external services such as APIs should be able to handle errors gracefully. Often this requires no more that displaying a message to the user and ensuring the application continues to function. In this lesson we’ll look at how we can convert an error from the network into an action that is dispatched into the Redux store, allowing us to show an error message to the user and prevent the application from crashing.

Handle network errors gracefully

Although ‘epics’ in RxJS are often described as ‘actions in, actions out’, there may be times when you need to ‘bail out’ of an action, or to just ignore the current one given some condition. By learning about RxJS’s `filter` Operator, we’ll see how easy it is to do ‘nothing’ when you need to. We’ll also see how the composition techniques available in RXJS allow us to control the UI in a declarative manner.

Filter a stream to exclude empty values

In certain situations, you care more about the final state of the redux store than you do about the particular stream of events coming out of an epic. In this lesson we explore a technique for dispatching actions direction into the store, having the epic execute as they would normally in production, and then assert on the updated store’s state.

Use tests to verify updates to the Redux store

When exploring a new framework or technology, it is nice to have a seed project or sandbox so you can just get in and start playing. Let's build our React playground using npm, browserify, 6to5, and more within WebStorm!

Setting up a React Playground Dev Environment

Did you know every Mac comes with a fantastic screen reader built-in? Learn the basics for operating Voiceover with Safari, including common key commands, the web rotor, and the help menu. We'll also set up keyboard tabbing in Safari and OSX's System Preferences, two requirements for accessibility testing that occasionally trip up users. In a future lesson, we'll compare Voiceover to Windows screen readers, since they work quite differently.

#### Resources
- Apple Voiceover commands and gestures: https://www.apple.com/voiceover/info/guide/_1131.html
- WebAIM Voiceover Tutorial: http://webaim.org/articles/voiceover/

Using the Voiceover screen reader to test for accessibility

Lightweight yet powerful IDE, perfectly equipped for complex client-side development and server-side development with Node.js.

webstorm

John Lindquist is a WebStorm wizard. In this lesson, he'll show you some of the tips & tricks he uses to squeeze maximum productivity out of his tool of choice. 

Tips & Tricks

You can easily share your code from WebStorm with others using the "Create Gist" feature. This lesson walks you through how to create a gist from a single or multiples files and also how to use gist.run to share a running version of your code

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