How to Build a QR Code Generator Using React

This handy app lets you create your own QR codes. You can build it with very little effort, using the powerful QRCode library.

A QR (Quick Response) code is a two-dimensional barcode that can store and convey information in a machine-readable format. Such information can include links to a company's website, a restaurant menu, product details, or an instructions page.

The QR code technology aims at helping businesses give their users quick access to information, which can provide a competitive advantage.

Learn how to build a QR code generator in React with practical code examples.

To build the QR Code generator, you’ll need:

You can find the finished project on GitHub for reference and further exploration.

QR codes can look both simple and random, but the format has some clever features to pack in plenty of data and aid readability.

You are probably familiar with QR code images. The one above will take you to the MUO home page if you scan it. You might have seen similar QR codes on product packages, at restaurants, or on billboards.

The design of a QR code focuses on its aesthetics, including color and size, adding a logo within the QR code, incorporating custom artwork, or generally applying various visual effects.

On the other hand, the structure of a QR code focuses on the physical arrangement of elements within a QR code. These elements follow a predefined layout to ensure proper decoding. They are as follows:

The former refers to converting input data or information (a URL) into a QR code matrix. In contrast, the latter refers to extracting stored data or information from a QR code using a smartphone camera or dedicated QR code scanners.

QRCode is a third-party library used to generate 2D barcodes. QRCode is currently the most popular QR code library, with over one million weekly installations and support for client and server applications.

To install QRCode in an existing React application, open your terminal, navigate to your project directory, and run the following code:

Or if you prefer npm, use:

The project’s repository contains two branches: starter and final. You can use the former as a base to build the project from or the latter to preview the finished demo.

We have provided a starter app on GitHub with the UI built to help you focus on implementation. Open your terminal and run the following command to clone the starter branch of the repository into your local machine:

Run the following terminal command, within the project directory, to install its dependencies:

Or:

To start the application, run:

Or:

Awesome! You should see the UI displayed on your browser:

Open the src/App.jsx file and replace its contents with the following code:

This code snippet does the following:

Now you can conditionally render the generated view in a div element when the dataUrl state changes:

Test your application in a browser and confirm it gives the expected result:

While QR code technology aims at helping people access information quickly, it also carries some potential security concerns.

Now you have learned how to generate QR codes in your React application, you should learn about scanning these QR codes securely.

Francis is a front-end web developer with experience with React.js/Next.js, a popular JavaScript library/framework. He passionately shares his technical knowledge with others through classroom teaching and technical articles. You can find him gaming or exploring new places when he is not coding or teaching.