PlugSnatcher/PlugSnatcher Frontend Refactoring Plan.md

PlugSnatcher Frontend Refactoring Plan

Overview

This document outlines a comprehensive plan to refactor the PlugSnatcher frontend from a monolithic structure into a well-organized, modular React application. The refactoring will focus on component separation, state management optimization, and establishing a scalable architecture.

Current Issues

• All React components are in a single 1300+ line file (App.tsx)
• State management is centralized and lacks separation of concerns
• No clear component hierarchy or organization
• Complex UI logic mixed with event handling and API calls
• Poor testability due to tightly coupled components
• Difficulty maintaining and extending the codebase

Refactoring Goals

• Separate components into individual files with clear responsibilities
• Implement a logical folder structure
• Improve state management using React context or other solutions
• Extract common functionality into hooks and utilities
• Make components more reusable
• Improve code maintainability and readability
• Establish patterns for future development

Project Structure

src/
├── assets/             # Images, icons, and other static files
├── components/         # UI components
│   ├── common/         # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── Button/
│   │   ├── Modal/
│   │   ├── ProgressBar/
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── layout/         # Layout components
│   │   ├── Header/
│   │   ├── Footer/
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── plugins/        # Plugin-related components
│   │   ├── PluginList/
│   │   ├── PluginItem/
│   │   ├── PluginDetails/
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── server/         # Server-related components
│   │   ├── ServerSelector/
│   │   ├── ServerInfo/
│   │   └── ...
│   └── updates/        # Update-related components
│       ├── UpdateControls/
│       ├── CompatibilityCheck/
│       └── ...
├── context/            # React context providers
│   ├── ServerContext/
│   ├── PluginContext/
│   └── ...
├── hooks/              # Custom React hooks
│   ├── usePluginActions.ts
│   ├── useServerActions.ts
│   ├── useEventListeners.ts
│   └── ...
├── services/           # API and service functions
│   ├── tauriInvoke.ts
│   ├── eventListeners.ts
│   └── ...
├── types/              # TypeScript type definitions
│   ├── plugin.types.ts
│   ├── server.types.ts
│   └── ...
├── utils/              # Utility functions
│   ├── formatters.ts
│   ├── validators.ts
│   └── ...
├── App.tsx             # Main App component (refactored)
└── main.tsx            # Entry point

Implementation Checklist

Phase 1: Setup Project Structure and Types ✅

• Create folder structure as outlined above
• Extract TypeScript interfaces to separate files
  • Create types/plugin.types.ts for Plugin interfaces
  • Create types/server.types.ts for Server interfaces
  • Create types/events.types.ts for Event payloads

Phase 2: Extract Utility Functions ✅

• Create utility files
  • utils/serverUtils.ts - Server type icons and helpers
  • utils/formatters.ts - Text formatting functions
  • utils/validators.ts - Data validation functions

Phase 3: Extract Common UI Components ✅

• Create common UI components
  • components/common/Modal/Modal.tsx - Base modal component
  • components/common/ProgressBar/ProgressBar.tsx - Progress indicator
  • components/common/Button/Button.tsx - Styled button component
  • components/common/Badge/Badge.tsx - For platform compatibility badges

Phase 4: Implement Context for State Management ✅

• Create server context
  • context/ServerContext/ServerContext.tsx - Server state provider
  • context/ServerContext/useServerContext.ts - Server context hook
• Create plugin context
  • context/PluginContext/PluginContext.tsx - Plugin state provider
  • context/PluginContext/usePluginContext.ts - Plugin context hook
• Create UI context
  • context/UIContext/UIContext.tsx - UI state provider (modals, errors)
  • context/UIContext/useUIContext.ts - UI context hook

Phase 5: Create Custom Hooks ✅

• Create event listener hooks
  • hooks/useEventListeners.ts - Tauri event listener setup
• Create server action hooks
  • hooks/useServerActions.ts - Server-related actions
• Create plugin action hooks
  • hooks/usePluginActions.ts - Plugin-related actions
  • hooks/useUpdateActions.ts - Update-related actions

Phase 6: Implement UI Components

Layout Components:

• ✅ Footer - Display application version and GitHub link
• ✅ MainContent - Main application content container
• ✅ ServerSelector - For selecting and managing server paths
• ✅ ServerInfo - Display information about the selected server
• ✅ ScanProgress - Show progress during server scanning

Plugin Components:

• ✅ PluginList - Container for listing all plugins
• ✅ PluginItem - Individual plugin display with actions
• ✅ PluginDetails - Detailed view of a plugin
• ✅ NoPluginsMessage - Message shown when no plugins are found

Update Components:

• ✅ UpdateControls - Controls for managing plugin updates
• ✅ BulkUpdateProgress - Shows progress during bulk updates
• ✅ CompatibilityCheckDialog - Confirms compatibility before update
• ✅ PremiumPluginModal - Info for premium plugins
• ✅ DownloadProgressIndicator - Shows download progress
• ✅ PluginMatchSelector - For selecting from potential plugin matches
• ✅ WarningModal - For displaying important warnings to users

Additional Steps:

• ✅ Fixed linter errors related to Tauri API imports
• ✅ Added TypeScript declarations for Tauri API modules

Phase 7: Refactor Main App Component ✅

• ✅ Streamline App.tsx to use new components and contexts
• ✅ Remove direct state management from App.tsx
• ✅ Implement provider wrapping in the component tree
• ✅ Verify all functionality works as before

Phase 8: Performance Optimizations

• Add React.memo() to prevent unnecessary renders
• Optimize context usage to prevent unnecessary re-renders
• Use callback and memoization for expensive operations
• Review and optimize state update patterns

Phase 9: Testing and Documentation

• Add component documentation
• Add JSDoc comments for functions and hooks
• Set up unit testing framework
• Write tests for critical components

Phase 10: Final Review and Cleanup

• Remove unused code and comments
• Ensure consistent naming conventions
• Verify all features work correctly
• Review for any performance issues
• Finalize documentation

Implementation Strategy

Approach

1. Incremental Migration: Refactor incrementally, keeping the app functional at each step
2. Component by Component: Start with smaller, leaf components and work upward
3. Test Frequently: Verify functionality after each significant change
4. State Migration: Move state management to context providers gradually

Best Practices

• Keep components focused on a single responsibility
• Use TypeScript interfaces for all component props
• Maintain clear separation between UI components and business logic
• Follow consistent naming conventions
• Use React's composition pattern for component reuse
• Document complex logic with comments

Future Enhancements

• Consider adding a state management library if complexity increases (Redux, Zustand, etc.)
• Implement React Router for potential multi-page navigation
• Add i18n for internationalization
• Implement error boundary components for better error handling
• Set up automated testing workflows

Conclusion

This refactoring plan provides a comprehensive roadmap for transforming the PlugSnatcher frontend into a maintainable, modular React application. By following this plan, we will address the current issues and establish patterns that support future development and scaling of the application.