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MonkeyType React Clone: A Step-by-Step Guide

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MonkeyType React Clone: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you looking to improve your typing speed and accuracy? MonkeyType, a popular online typing test platform, can help you achieve just that. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore how to create a React clone of MonkeyType, allowing you to build your own typing test application.

Introduction

MonkeyType is a web-based typing test platform that measures your typing speed and accuracy. It presents you with a passage of text, and you type it out as accurately and quickly as possible. The application then calculates your words per minute (WPM) and accuracy, providing you with valuable feedback on your typing skills.

By creating a React clone of MonkeyType, you'll gain valuable experience in front-end development, specifically with React, state management, and real-time data handling. You'll also understand how to build interactive user interfaces and implement features like word counting, time tracking, and result display.

Building the React Clone

We'll break down the development process into manageable steps, providing you with code snippets and explanations along the way.

1. Project Setup

Start by creating a new React project using Create React App:

npx create-react-app monkeytype-clone

Navigate to the project directory:

cd monkeytype-clone

2. Setting Up the UI

Create the basic UI components for your typing test application. We'll need components for:

App:

The main component that houses all other components.
TextInput:

The input field where the user types the text.
TextDisplay:

Displays the passage of text the user needs to type.
Timer:

Tracks the time spent typing.
Results:

Displays the user's WPM and accuracy after they finish typing.

Here's an example of how you might structure your App.js file:




        import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';


        import TextInput from './TextInput';


        import TextDisplay from './TextDisplay';


        import Timer from './Timer';


        import Results from './Results';

    function App() {
        const [text, setText] = useState('');
        const [userInput, setUserInput] = useState('');
        const [startTime, setStartTime] = useState(null);
        const [endTime, setEndTime] = useState(null);
        const [wpm, setWpm] = useState(0);
        const [accuracy, setAccuracy] = useState(0);

        useEffect(() =&gt; {
            // Fetch a passage of text from an API or use a pre-defined passage
            fetch('https://api.example.com/text')
                .then(res =&gt; res.json())
                .then(data =&gt; setText(data.text));
        }, []);

        const handleInputChange = (event) =&gt; {
            setUserInput(event.target.value);
        };

        const startTest = () =&gt; {
            setStartTime(Date.now());
        };

        const endTest = () =&gt; {
            setEndTime(Date.now());
            calculateResults();
        };

        const calculateResults = () =&gt; {
            const timeTaken = (endTime - startTime) / 1000; // Time in seconds
            const wordsTyped = userInput.trim().split(/\s+/).length;
            const wpm = Math.round((wordsTyped / timeTaken) * 60); // Words per minute
            const accuracy = calculateAccuracy(text, userInput); // Calculate accuracy

            setWpm(wpm);
            setAccuracy(accuracy);
        };

        const calculateAccuracy = (originalText, typedText) =&gt; {
            // Implement logic to calculate accuracy based on comparing originalText and typedText
        };

        return (
            <div classname="App">
                <h1>Typing Test</h1>
                <textdisplay text="{text}"></textdisplay>
                <textinput handleinputchange="{handleInputChange}" userinput="{userInput}"></textinput>
                <timer endtime="{endTime}" starttime="{startTime}"></timer>
                <results accuracy="{accuracy}" wpm="{wpm}"></results>
            </div>
        );
    }

    export default App;
    </pre>








    3. Implementing the TextInput Component


   



   


    The TextInput component will handle user input. It should:

Display the input field for typing.
Track the user's input.
Trigger events on key presses.




        import React from 'react';

    const TextInput = ({ userInput, handleInputChange }) =&gt; {
        return (
            <textarea onchange="{handleInputChange}" placeholder="Start typing..." value="{userInput}"></textarea>
        );
    };

    export default TextInput;
    </pre>








    4. Displaying the Text Passage


   



   


    The TextDisplay component will show the passage of text the user needs to type. It can simply render the text passed as a prop.


   



   


        import React from 'react';

    const TextDisplay = ({ text }) =&gt; {
        return (
            <p>{text}</p>
        );
    };

    export default TextDisplay;
    </pre>








    5. Implementing the Timer


   



   


    The Timer component will track the time spent typing. It should:

Display the elapsed time.
Start and stop the timer.




        import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

    const Timer = ({ startTime, endTime }) =&gt; {
        const [elapsedTime, setElapsedTime] = useState(0);

        useEffect(() =&gt; {
            if (startTime &amp;&amp; !endTime) {
                const intervalId = setInterval(() =&gt; {
                    setElapsedTime((Date.now() - startTime) / 1000);
                }, 1000);

                return () =&gt; clearInterval(intervalId);
            }
        }, [startTime, endTime]);

        return (
            <div>
                {elapsedTime &gt;= 0 &amp;&amp; (
                    <span>Time: {Math.floor(elapsedTime)} seconds</span>
                )}
            </div>
        );
    };

    export default Timer;
    </pre>








    6. Creating the Results Component


   



   


    The Results component will display the user's WPM and accuracy after they finish typing.


   



   


        import React from 'react';

    const Results = ({ wpm, accuracy }) =&gt; {
        return (
            <div>
                {wpm &gt; 0 &amp;&amp; (
                    <p>WPM: {wpm}</p>
                )}
                {accuracy &gt;= 0 &amp;&amp; (
                    <p>Accuracy: {accuracy}%</p>
                )}
            </div>
        );
    };

    export default Results;
    </pre>








    7. Implementing the Logic


   



   


    Now, let's add the logic for starting, stopping, and calculating results:


   



   


        // ... (Existing App component code)

    // Start the test
    const startTest = () =&gt; {
        setStartTime(Date.now());
    };

    // End the test
    const endTest = () =&gt; {
        setEndTime(Date.now());
        calculateResults();
    };

    // Calculate WPM and accuracy
    const calculateResults = () =&gt; {
        const timeTaken = (endTime - startTime) / 1000; // Time in seconds
        const wordsTyped = userInput.trim().split(/\s+/).length;
        const wpm = Math.round((wordsTyped / timeTaken) * 60); // Words per minute
        const accuracy = calculateAccuracy(text, userInput); // Calculate accuracy

        setWpm(wpm);
        setAccuracy(accuracy);
    };

    // Calculate accuracy (implement logic here)
    const calculateAccuracy = (originalText, typedText) =&gt; {
        // ... (Logic to calculate accuracy)
    };

    return (
        // ... (App component JSX)

        <button onclick="{startTest}">Start Test</button>
        <button disabled="{!startTime}" onclick="{endTest}">End Test</button>

        // ... (App component JSX)
    );
</pre>








    8. Adding Buttons for Start and End


   



   


    In the App component, add buttons for starting and ending the test. Ensure the "End Test" button is initially disabled and only enabled when the test is running.


   



   





    9. Calculating Accuracy


   



   


    The calculateAccuracy function is where you implement the logic for determining how accurately the user typed the text. One approach is to compare the original text with the user's input, counting the number of correctly typed characters and dividing by the total number of characters in the original text.


   



   


        const calculateAccuracy = (originalText, typedText) => {


            const originalChars = originalText.trim().split('');


            const typedChars = typedText.trim().split('');


            let correctChars = 0;

        for (let i = 0; i &lt; originalChars.length; i++) {
            if (originalChars[i] === typedChars[i]) {
                correctChars++;
            }
        }

        return Math.round((correctChars / originalChars.length) * 100);
    };
    </pre>








    10. Adding Styling


   



   


    Use CSS or a CSS framework like Bootstrap or Tailwind CSS to style your application to your liking. Create styles for the different components, input fields, buttons, and overall layout.


   



   





    Conclusion


   



   


    Congratulations! You have successfully created a React clone of MonkeyType, allowing users to test their typing skills. This guide has covered the core concepts and implementation steps involved in building a functional typing test application.  Key takeaways include:

React is a powerful library for building interactive user interfaces.
State management in React is crucial for updating and displaying dynamic data.
You can use useEffect hooks to handle side effects like fetching data and setting up timers.
Implementing logic for calculating WPM and accuracy requires careful consideration of algorithms.

This is a basic implementation of a MonkeyType clone. You can further enhance it by adding features like:

Different Text Passages:

Offer a variety of text passages for users to choose from.
User Profiles:

Allow users to create profiles to track their progress over time.
Gamification:

Implement game mechanics like leaderboards or badges to incentivize user engagement.
Performance Optimization:

Optimize the application for speed and responsiveness.

This project can serve as a foundation for exploring further React development and creating web applications with dynamic features.