Nested routes with react router v4 / v5

Question

I am currently struggling with nesting routes using react router v4.

The closest example was the route config in the React-Router v4 Documentation.

I want to split my app in 2 different parts.

A frontend and an admin area.

I was thinking about something like this:

<Match pattern="/" component={Frontpage}>
  <Match pattern="/home" component={HomePage} />
  <Match pattern="/about" component={AboutPage} />
</Match>
<Match pattern="/admin" component={Backend}>
  <Match pattern="/home" component={Dashboard} />
  <Match pattern="/users" component={UserPage} />
</Match>
<Miss component={NotFoundPage} />

The frontend has a different layout and style than the admin area. So within the frontpage the route home, about and so one should be the child routes.

/home should be rendered into the Frontpage component and /admin/home should be rendered within the Backend component.

I tried some variations but I always ended in not hitting /home or /admin/home.

Edit - 19.04.2017

Because this post has a lot of views right now I updated it with the final solution. I hope it helps someone.

Edit - 08.05.2017

Removed old solutions

Final solution:

This is the final solution I am using right now. This example also has a global error component like a traditional 404 page.

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { Switch, Route, Redirect, Link } from 'react-router-dom';

const Home = () => <div><h1>Home</h1></div>;
const User = () => <div><h1>User</h1></div>;
const Error = () => <div><h1>Error</h1></div>

const Frontend = props => {
  console.log('Frontend');
  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Frontend</h2>
      <p><Link to="/">Root</Link></p>
      <p><Link to="/user">User</Link></p>
      <p><Link to="/admin">Backend</Link></p>
      <p><Link to="/the-route-is-swiggity-swoute">Swiggity swooty</Link></p>
      <Switch>
        <Route exact path='/' component={Home}/>
        <Route path='/user' component={User}/>
        <Redirect to={{
          state: { error: true }
        }} />
      </Switch>
      <footer>Bottom</footer>
    </div>
  );
}

const Backend = props => {
  console.log('Backend');
  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Backend</h2>
      <p><Link to="/admin">Root</Link></p>
      <p><Link to="/admin/user">User</Link></p>
      <p><Link to="/">Frontend</Link></p>
      <p><Link to="/admin/the-route-is-swiggity-swoute">Swiggity swooty</Link></p>
      <Switch>
        <Route exact path='/admin' component={Home}/>
        <Route path='/admin/user' component={User}/>
        <Redirect to={{
          state: { error: true }
        }} />
      </Switch>
      <footer>Bottom</footer>
    </div>
  );
}

class GlobalErrorSwitch extends Component {
  previousLocation = this.props.location

  componentWillUpdate(nextProps) {
    const { location } = this.props;

    if (nextProps.history.action !== 'POP'
      && (!location.state || !location.state.error)) {
        this.previousLocation = this.props.location
    };
  }

  render() {
    const { location } = this.props;
    const isError = !!(
      location.state &&
      location.state.error &&
      this.previousLocation !== location // not initial render
    )

    return (
      <div>
        {          
          isError
          ? <Route component={Error} />
          : <Switch location={isError ? this.previousLocation : location}>
              <Route path="/admin" component={Backend} />
              <Route path="/" component={Frontend} />
            </Switch>}
      </div>
    )
  }
}

class App extends Component {
  render() {
    return <Route component={GlobalErrorSwitch} />
  }
}

export default App;

Answer 1

In react-router-v4 you don't nest <Routes />. Instead, you put them inside another <Component />.

---

For instance

<Route path='/topics' component={Topics}>
  <Route path='/topics/:topicId' component={Topic} />
</Route>

should become

<Route path='/topics' component={Topics} />

with

const Topics = ({ match }) => (
  <div>
    <h2>Topics</h2>
    <Link to={`${match.url}/exampleTopicId`}>
      Example topic
    </Link>
    <Route path={`${match.path}/:topicId`} component={Topic}/>
  </div>
) 

---

Here is a basic example straight from the react-router documentation.