Web Apps with Rust: Your Guide to a Sleek, Fast Application

Ready to build something extraordinary?

November 17, 2023

By: Michael Cardoza

Empower Your Web Development with Rust: The Future of Web Apps

Step into the forefront of web app development! Embrace the strength of Rust, a programming language revolutionizing web applications. Together, let’s unlock the power of Rust and its incredible capabilities.

Rust and Leptos: A Dynamic Duo for Web Development

Rust is celebrated for its safety and speed, revolutionizing web app development. Combined with Leptos, reminiscent of JavaScript frameworks like Solid, React, and Svelte, and Rust’s own Yew and Dioxus, Rust elevates its game. This duo makes Rust powerful and accessible, especially for those familiar with these frameworks.

Installing Rust: Your Gateway to Web App Innovation

Rust installation is your first step towards web development marvels, regardless of your operating system preference:

Windows Users: Opt for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) or Rust’s official installer.
macOS Enthusiasts: Utilize Homebrew, a package manager, for installing Rust.
Linux Advocates: Install Rust through package managers or the official installer.

Begin your Rust journey:

Open a terminal.
Download the installer:
- For Linux and macOS: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
- For Windows: Download and execute the installer from Rust’s website.
Follow the installation instructions, including adding Rust to your system’s PATH.
Verify your installation with rustc --version and cargo --version in a new terminal window.

Installing Trunk: Enhancing Your Rust Experience

Trunk, a web assembly application bundler for Rust, is your next step. Install Trunk via Cargo and confirm its installation:

Open a terminal.
Install Trunk with cargo install trunk.
- Verify the installation with trunk --version.

Starting Your Project with Cargo

Cargo streamlines the creation and management of your new Rust project:

Open a terminal.
Create your project: cargo init awesome-web-app. Cargo will create a new directory with this name and set up a basic Rust project structure inside.
Navigate to the new directory: cd awesome-web-app.
Familiarize yourself with Cargo’s default project structure, including the src/ directory and Cargo.toml

Integrating Leptos into Your Project

Easily integrate Leptos into your project:

In your terminal, in the project directory, add Leptos as a dependency with cargo add leptos --features=csr. This command adds the Leptos crate to your project with the specified feature, “csr”.
Update dependencies with cargo update: Upon adding the Leptos crate, Cargo automatically updates your cargo.toml file with the new dependency entry.

Adding the wasm32-unknown-unknown Target

To compile code to WebAssembly for browser compatibility:

Ensure Rustup is installed.
Add the target: rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown.
Verify the addition with rustup target list.

Building Your App with Leptos:

Start by creating a basic index.html in your project’s root directory:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head></head>
  <body></body>
</html>

Add a “Hello, world!” message in main.rs:

use leptos::*;

fn main() {
    mount_to_body(|| view! { <p>"Hello, world!"</p> })
}

Launch and view your app at http://127.0.0.1:8080/ with trunk serve --open.

Adding Interactivity: The Rust Way

Let’s spice things up with an interactive counter component.

Define a Button component in main.rs that updates a counter when clicked.
Implement the counter logic using Rust’s create_signal function.


use leptos::*;

#[component]
fn Button() -> impl IntoView {
    let (count, set_count) = create_signal(0);

    let handle_counter = move |_| {
        set_count.update(|n| *n += 2);
    };

    view! {
        <div>
            <h2>{move || count.get()}</h2>
            <button on:click=handle_counter>"Click me!"</button>
        </div>
    }
}

The App component is composed of a header stating “Rust is Awesome” and an instance of the Button component.

...

#[component]
fn App() -> impl IntoView {
    view! {
        <h1>"Rust is Awesome"</h1>
        <Button />
    }
}

...

Here is the full code, if you want to copy it:

use leptos::*;

#[component]
fn Button() -> impl IntoView {
    let (count, set_count) = create_signal(0);

    let handle_counter = move |_| {
        set_count.update(|n| *n += 2);
    };

    view! {
        <div>
            <h2>{move || count.get()}</h2>
            <button on:click=handle_counter>"Click me!"</button>
        </div>
    }
}

#[component]
fn App() -> impl IntoView {
    view! {
        <h1>"Rust is Awesome"</h1>
        <Button />
    }
}

fn main() {
    mount_to_body(App)
}

Styling Your App: The CSS Touch

For that stylish look, add leptos_meta as a dependency and create a CSS file with your desired styles. Then, integrate these styles into your Rust components to bring them to life!

cargo add leptos_meta --features=csr

Now, create a css file style/output.css with this code:

body {
  background-color: #0b0a11;
  font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}

main {
  margin: 0 auto;
  max-width: 600px;
  text-align: center;
  color: white;
}

.counter {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: center;
}

.counter button {
  height: 40px;
  width: 120px;
  border: 0;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

Here is the full code:

use leptos::*;
use leptos_meta::*;

#[component]
fn Button() -> impl IntoView {
    let (count, set_count) = create_signal(0);

    let handle_counter = move |_| {
        set_count.update(|n| *n += 2);
    };

    view! {
        <div class="counter">
            <h2>{move || count.get()}</h2>
            <button on:click=handle_counter>"Click me!"</button>
        </div>
    }
}

#[component]
fn App() -> impl IntoView {
    provide_meta_context();

    view! {
        <main>
            <h1>"Rust is Awesome"</h1>
            <Button />
        </main>
    }
}

fn main() {
    mount_to_body(App)
}

A screen showing the result of the web app created

Conclusion: The Power of Rust in Web Development

You’ve now built a functional, stylish web application with Rust. This is just the beginning of your journey with Rust. Keep exploring and innovating to realize the full potential of your web development skills with Rust.

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