VUE's focus() method return a console error? How to use it correctly? - vue.js

Question

I'm trying to focus on several elements of my form but the first one, despite being applied, returns an error by console.
This is my template:
<div class="container">
<div class="col-xs-12">
<div class="row">
<h1 class="animal-title">Your selection is : </h1>
</div>
<div class="wrapper">
<form class="first-form" #submit.prevent="onSubmit">
<div class="image-wrapper">
<div class="sel-image">
<div v-on:click="imageSelected = true" v-for="item in items" v-bind:key="item.id">
<label>
<input
type="radio"
name="selectedItem"
ref="item"
:value="item.id"
v-model="itemFormInfo.selectedItem"
#change="onChangeItem($event)"
/>
<img v-if="item.id === 1" src="../../assets/1.png" />
<img v-if="item.id === 2" src="../../assets/2.png" />
<img v-if="item.id === 3" src="../../assets/3.png" />
</label>
<p class="cie-animal-subtitle">{{item.name}}</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-select">
<div v-show="filteredStock && (imageSelected || itemFormInfo.selectedItem) > 0">
<h1 v-if="this.itemName === 'Phone' || this.itemName === 'Tablet'" for="selectedItem" ref="itemVisible">
Select the brand of your <span>{{this.itemName}}</span> :
</h1>
<h1 v-if="this.itemName === 'PC'" for="selectedBreed" ref="itemVisible">
Select the type of your <span>{{this.itemName}}</span> :
</h1>
<select
ref="brand"
class="form-control"
id="selectedBrand"
v-model="itemFormInfo.selectedBrand"
#change="onChangeBrand($event)">
<option v-for="brand in filteredBrand" v-bind:key="brand.name">{{ brand.name }}</option>
</select>
<div v-show="this.isBrandSelected">
<h1>What are you going to use your
<span>{{itemName}}</span> for ?
</h1>
<input
type="text"
id="componentName"
ref="componentName"
class="form-control fields"
style="text-transform: capitalize"
v-model="itemFormInfo.component"
#keypress="formChange($event)"
/>
<div class="loader-spinner" v-if="loading">
<app-loader/>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="service-options" v-show="isComponentCompleted">
<div class="from-group">
<h1>
Here are the options for your <span>{{this.itemFormInfo.component}}</span> :
</h1>
<div class="services">
<div class="column-service" v-for="option in options" v-bind:key="option.name">
<div class="service-name">{{option.name}}</div>
<div class="service-price">{{option.price.toString().replace(".", ",")}} </div>
</div>
</div>
and here my first method
onChangeItem(event) {
let item = event.target._value;
this.itemName = this.getItemName(item);
if (this.isItemSelected = true) {
this.isItemSelected = false;
this.isComponentCompleted = false;
this.isLoaderFinished = false;
this.itemFormInfo.name = ""
}
this.$refs.item.focus();
},
in this function that I control my first input, the focus is working but it returns me by console the following error:
"this.$refs.item.focus is not a function at VueComponent.onChangeItem"
I have seen some references to similar cases where they involved the reference in a setTimeout or used the this.$nextTick(() => method but it didn't work in my case.
What am I doing wrong?
How can I focus on the next select with ref brand, once I have chosen the value of the first input?
Thank you all for your time and help in advance

Answer 1

How can I focus on the next select with ref brand, once I have chosen the value of the first input?
You want to put focus on brand but your onChangeItem handler is calling this.$refs.item.focus() (trying to focus item). Seems strange to me...
Reason for the error is you are using ref inside v-for.
Docs: When used on elements/components with v-for, the registered reference will be an Array containing DOM nodes or component instances
So the correct way for accessing item ref will be this.$refs.item[index].focus().
Just be aware that right now v-for refs do not guarantee the same order as your source Array - you can find some workarounds in the issue discussion...