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Next.js - Downsides to Handling All Routes with a Single Slug.js File?

19 replies
Last updated: Mar 22, 2021
Curious: Are there drawbacks to just having a single
[[…slug]].js
file that handles all your routes than manually duplicating logic from file to file? The more I work with Next the less I’m sure the file based routing is worth it.
Mar 16, 2021, 5:31 PM
I do [pageSlug].js for all pages that share the same template as well. I usually have similar pages under /blog/[postSlug].js, and /case-studies/[caseSlug].js
Mar 16, 2021, 7:16 PM
I’m finding so much shared code in all these files though. For example /news/slug.js is going to pretty much the exact same components as /category/slug.js ... so at what point do you just shove everything in one mega catch all file I wonder..
Mar 16, 2021, 7:17 PM
Yeah for sure they are very similar
Mar 17, 2021, 7:59 AM
one mega catch all file
I've never seen
[[...slug]].js
though, is that a thing?
Mar 17, 2021, 8:00 AM
Yep, it’ll catch routes with multiple paths like
/news/research/new-release
Mar 17, 2021, 8:01 AM
Ha cool, so what do the params look like in
export const getStaticProps = async ({ _params_ }) => {
?
Mar 17, 2021, 8:03 AM
for example that could look like this (file-based):
/news/[categorySlug]/[postSlug]
Mar 17, 2021, 8:03 AM
It requires an array of slugs “parts”. Which you can then use to inform your staticProps query.
Mar 17, 2021, 8:19 AM
I think the only drawback are...• 404 errors work slgihtly different, they go through your optional catch all page, too. Or I had some bugs with notFound: true at least particularly.
• It may be worth checking the webpack bundles before/after. In case they're using each page filesystem name as entry point
Mar 17, 2021, 11:03 AM
I use a catch all
[...slug].js
for just about every project. the code in the return looks something like this:
  return (
      <Layout page={data.content} site={doc.site}>
        {data.content._type === 'page' ? (
          <PageContent {...data.content} />
        ) : (
          <PostContent {...data.content} />
        )}
      </Layout>
  );
Mar 17, 2021, 6:44 PM
Within sanity I can define any directory structure I need to
Mar 17, 2021, 6:44 PM
Obviously this example only is using
Pages
and
Posts
, but I just add on as needed
Mar 17, 2021, 6:45 PM
Yeah cool. And you don’t see any drawbacks?
It’s something that to me “feels” wrong, but in execution seems so much more right!

Makes me think that Gatsby’s move from a single file to generate all paths, to file based routing, is misguided...
Mar 17, 2021, 6:51 PM
I've not run into a problem yet with this workflow.
Mar 17, 2021, 6:52 PM
If things share components all you'd have to do is add an
or
statement where it's checking the type of the
content
Mar 17, 2021, 6:54 PM
or whatever you've named your stuff
Mar 17, 2021, 6:54 PM
I’m doing all my routes in a single
[...slug.js]
file now and it’s so clean you could eat off it
Mar 18, 2021, 8:00 PM
user S
Now just rename it to
gatsby-node.js
and you’re off to the races. 😅
Mar 22, 2021, 7:11 PM
That’s precisely what I’ve recreated 😄
Mar 22, 2021, 7:11 PM

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