Hey there, friend! I'm so excited to welcome you to my very first blog on Hashnode. Are you just starting out with React Native and feeling a little overwhelmed with setting up your first app? No worries - you're in the right place!

First things first, let's clear up the misconception that you need high-end gadgets to kick off your React Native journey. All you really need is your trusty laptop where you usually do your coding and an Android device to test your app. That's all there is to it!

Now, let's embark on this exciting adventure together and set up your first React Native app.

Installing dependencies

Oh, do you know what you'll actually need to get started? Just Node, a JDK, and Android Studio! And hey, don't get me wrong - when I say Android Studio, I don't mean we'll be using it to write our codes. No way! We're just going to use it for some initial setup. How intriguing, right?

Installing Node, JDK

You can install Node and JDK from their respective websites, it is recommended to install LTS version of Node. But it would be much easier if install Node and JDK via Chocolatey, a popular package manager for Windows.

If you don't have Chocolatey, no worries! Just check out this article and you'll have it installed in no time. Trust me, it's super easy.

Once you get Chocolatey, open Administrator Powershell (right-click Powershell and select "Run as Administrator"), then run the following command:

choco install -y nodejs-lts microsoft-openjdk11

Once nodejs and jdk are installed, verify their installation by using node --version and java --version in your terminal respectively.

from React Native official docs:

If you're using the latest version of Java Development Kit, you'll need to change the Gradle version of your project so it can recognize the JDK. You can do that by going to {project root folder}\android\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.properties and changing the distributionUrl value to upgrade the Gradle version.

Setting up Android development Environment

Download and install Android Studio On the installation wizard, make sure to tick the boxes next to Android SDK and Android SDK Platform and install them. Once Android Studio is installed, open it. click on More Actions > SDK Manager. Under Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Android SDK > SDK Tools, verify that Android SDK Platform-Tools, Android SDK Build-Tools, Android Emulator, and Android Emulator hypervisor driver are installed. That's it, now we never gonna need to open this App again.

Configuring some environment variable

For React Native tools to work properly, we need to add some environment variables.

1. Hit windows key (🪟) on keyboard and type 'edit the system environment variables'.

2. Click and open Edit the system environment variables

3. Click on Environment Variables.

4. Click New to create a new ANDROID_HOME user variable.

The SDK is installed, by default, at this location

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk

We can verify that ANDROID_HOME is successfully added, by following the steps mentioned below:

1. Open PowerShell.

2. Copy and paste Get-ChildItem -Path Env:\ in the terminal.

3. Verify if ANDROID_HOME has been added.

Now that we've successfully added ANDROID_HOME, we're going to Add platform-tools to Path

1. Follow the same steps as above to open Environment Variables.

2. Double-click on the Path variable.

3. Add the path to platform-tools to the list.

The default location for this folder is:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk\platform-tools

Creating your first React Native application

So, we're about to use npx to launch your very first React Native application! Can you believe it? Let's call our shiny new app "FirstProject"!

Get ready to create your groundbreaking app! Just open your Terminal, and with a burst of excitement, type in this fantastic command:

npx react-native init FirstProject

We've finally got your first-ever React Native application. I will catch you up in my next blog where I will show you, how you can run and play with your first React native app.

Thanks :)