React-router-dom v4, links in NavBar but routing in App.js

Question

I have a problem with react-router-dom v4

When I click on Home / contact links In App.js it's working great, redirect to correct path.

But when I click on NavBar links (NavLink to="") it change path but not rendering new component

How to force NavLink to rerender new component on click?

App.js

export const App = () => {
return(
  <div className="App">
    <NavBar />
    <div className='text-center'>
        <div className='children'>
          <Router>
            <div className="container">
              <Link to="/">Home</Link>
              <Link to= "/contact">Contact</Link>
              <Link to= "/terms">Terms</Link>
              <Route exact path= "/" component={Home} />
              <Route path= "/contact" component={Contact} />
              <Route path= "/terms" component={Terms} />
            </div>
          </Router>
        </div>

        <Footer />

    </div>
  </div>
);}
export default App;

NavBar.js

class NavBar extends React.Component {
render () {
return (
  <nav className="navbar navbar-default horizontal-navbar">
          <a className="navbar-brand" href="#">
            <img className='horizontal-navbar-logo' src={Job2PersonLogo}  />
          </a>
        <div className="links-navbar-div">
          <Router>
            <div className="btn-nav">
              <ul className="nav navbar-nav navbar-right">
                <li><NavLink to="/">Add Job</NavLink></li>
                <li><NavLink to= "/#search">Search</NavLink></li>
                <li><a href="/#how-it-works">How It Works</a></li>
                <li><NavLink to= "/sign-in">Sign In</NavLink></li>
                <li><NavLink to="/sing-up">Sign Up</NavLink></li>

              </ul>
            </div>
          </Router>
      </div>
  </nav>
)}}
export default NavBar;

index.js

render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'));
registerServiceWorker();

Answer 1

You have two instances of <Router />, 1st in App.js and 2nd in NavBar.js.

You should have only one instance of Router in your application in this case.

1 Remove extra <Router /> from NavBar.js

NavBar.js

class NavBar extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <nav className="navbar navbar-default horizontal-navbar">
        <a className="navbar-brand" href="#">
          <img className="horizontal-navbar-logo" src={Job2PersonLogo} />
        </a>
        <div className="links-navbar-div">
          <div className="btn-nav">
            <ul className="nav navbar-nav navbar-right">
              <li>
                <NavLink to="/">Add Job</NavLink>
              </li>
              <li>
                <NavLink to="/#search">Search</NavLink>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="/#how-it-works">How It Works</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <NavLink to="/sign-in">Sign In</NavLink>
              </li>
              <li>
                <NavLink to="/sing-up">Sign Up</NavLink>
              </li>
            </ul>
          </div>
        </div>
      </nav>
    );
  }
}

export default NavBar;

2 Make <Router /> direct descendant in App.js, like:

App.js

export const App = () =>
  <Router>
    <div className="App">
      <NavBar />
      <div className="text-center">
        <div className="children">
          <div className="container">
            <Link to="/">Home</Link>
            <Link to="/contact">Contact</Link>
            <Link to="/terms">Terms</Link>
            <Route exact path="/" component={Home} />
            <Route path="/contact" component={Contact} />
            <Route path="/terms" component={Terms} />
          </div>
        </div>

        <Footer />
      </div>
    </div>
  </Router>;

export default App;

I created a demo based on your code to replicate this issue. You can see that when you click inside <Articles /> links, <NavLink /> inside the <Navbar /> component are not active even if url in the browser is changed.

If you click on a link inside <Navbar />, <NavLink /> is active but content is no more rendered in <Articles /> component because we have two instances of BrowserRouter.

Demo: https://codesandbox.io/s/lwqBO6r5

Fixed demo (with one BrowserRouter): https://codesandbox.io/s/xkj1xKO6r