docs(guide): Clarify how to handle 404s

[runmoore]

When discussing this topic with colleagues the wording 'you don't have to do anything' was interpreted in an ambiguous way.

This re-phrasing link's back to splat routes as a good option for handling 404s

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[tat-ss]

To dear reviewer: I really keen to know if it is intentional to have 2 kind of 404 handlings (spat route and catch boundary) being used together to catch simple route mismatch and response throws from loader/action function. Don't you believe they should be unified into one? Your response to this would be very helpful.

[kiliman]

@tat-ss There are actually 3 ways to handle 404 responses.

Standard 404

1. If you don't want to do anything but return 404 to the client, remove the <CatchBoundary> from root, and add this to handleRequest in entry.server

  if (responseStatusCode === 404) {
    return new Response("Not Found", { status: 404 });
  }

<CatchBoundary> for custom 404 page

2. Add a <CatchBoundary> to root to render a custom 404 page.

export const CatchBoundary = () => {
  const caught = useCatch();
  const location = useLocation();
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>
        Catch {caught.status} {caught.statusText}
      </h1>
      <h2>Location: {`${location.pathname}${location.search}`}</h2>
    </div>
  );
};

Splat route for dynamic 404 handling

3. Add a splat route. This gives you the ability to do something like check database if route has been moved and redirect.

// routes/$.tsx
export const loader: LoaderFunction = async ({ request }) => {
  const url = new URL(request.url);
  if (url.pathname === "/not-found") {
    return redirect("/found");
  }
  throw new Response("Not Found", { status: 404 });
};

[kentcdodds]

I like this improved wording 👍