Vue- best practice for loops and event handlers - vue.js

Question

I am curious if it is better to include methods within loops instead of using v-if. Assume the following codes work (they are incomplete and do not)
EX: Method
<template >
<div>
<div v-for="(d, i) in data" v-bind:key="i">
<span v-on:click="insertPrompt($event)">
{{ d }}
</span>
</div>
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
data() {
data:[
.....
]
},
methods:{
insertPrompt(e){
body.insertBefore(PROMPT)
}
}
}
</script>
The DOM would be updated via the insertPrompt() function which is just for display
EX: V-IF
//Parent
<template >
<div>
<div v-for="(d, i) in data" v-bind:key="i">
<child v-bind:data="d"/>
</div>
</div>
</template>
<script>
import child from './child'
export default {
components:{
child
},
data() {
data:[
.....
]
},
}
</script>
//Child
<template>
<div>
<span v-on:click="display != display">
{{ d }}
</span>
<PROMPT v-if="display"/>
</div>
</template>
<script>
import child from './child'
export default {
components:{
child
},
data(){
return {
display:false
}
},
props: {
data:{
.....
}
},
}
</script>
The PROMPT is a basic template that is rendered with the data from the loop data click.
Both methods can accomplish the same end result. My initial thought is having additional conditions within a loop would negatively impact performance?!?!
Any guidance is greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Unless you are rendering really huge amounts of items in your loops (and most of the times you don't), you don't need to worry about performance at all. Any differences will be so small nobody will ever notice / benefit from having it a tiny touch faster.
The second point I want to make is that doing your own DOM manipulations is often not the best idea: Why do modern JavaScript Frameworks discourage direct interaction with the DOM
So I would in any case stick with the v-if for conditionally rendering things. If you want to care about performance / speed here, you might consider what exactly is the way your app will be used and decide between v-if and v-show. Citing the official documentation:
v-if is “real” conditional rendering because it ensures that event
listeners and child components inside the conditional block are
properly destroyed and re-created during toggles.
v-if is also lazy: if the condition is false on initial render, it
will not do anything - the conditional block won’t be rendered until
the condition becomes true for the first time.
In comparison, v-show is much simpler - the element is always rendered
regardless of initial condition, with CSS-based toggling.
Generally speaking, v-if has higher toggle costs while v-show has
higher initial render costs. So prefer v-show if you need to toggle
something very often, and prefer v-if if the condition is unlikely to
change at runtime.
https://v2.vuejs.org/v2/guide/conditional.html#v-if-vs-v-show

Answer 2

There are numerous solutions to solving this issue, but let's stick to 3. Options 2 and 3 are better practices, but option 1 works and Vue was designed for this approach even if hardcore developers might frown, but stick yoru comfort level.
Option 1: DOM Manipulation
Your data from a click, async, prop sets a condition for v-if or v-show and your component is shown. Note v-if removes the DOM element where v-show hides the visibility but the element is still in the flow. If you remove the element and add its a complete new init, which sometimes works in your favor when it come to reactivity, but in practice try not to manipulate the DOM as that will always be more expensive then loops, filters, maps, etc.
<template >
<div>
<div v-for="(d, i) in getData"
:key="i">
<div v-if="d.active">
<child-one></child-one>
</div>
<div v-else-if="d.active">
<child-two></child-two>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</template>
<script>
import ChildOne from "./ChildOne";
import ChildTwo from "./ChildTwo";
export default {
components: {
ChildOne,
ChildTwo
},
data() {
return {
data: [],
}
},
computed: {
getData() {
return this.data;
},
},
mounted() {
// assume thsi woudl come from async but for now ..
this.data = [
{
id: 1,
comp: 'ChildOne',
active: false
},
{
id: 2,
comp: 'ChildTwo',
active: true
},
];
}
}
</script>
Option 2: Vue's <component> component
Always best to use Vue built in component Vue’s element with the is special attribute: <component v-bind:is="currentTabComponent"></component>
In this example we pass a slug or some data attribute to activate the component. Note we have to load the components ahead of time with the components: {}, property for this to work i.e. it has to be ChildOne or ChildTwo as slug string. This is often used with tabs and views to manage and maintain states.
The advantage of this approach is if you have 3 form tabs and you enter data on one and jump to the next and then back the state / data is maintained, unlike v-if where everything will be rerendered / lost.
Vue
<template >
<div>
<component :is="comp"/>
</div>
</template>
<script>
import ChildOne from "./ChildOne";
import ChildTwo from "./ChildTwo";
export default {
components: {
ChildOne,
ChildTwo
},
props: ['slug'],
data() {
return {
comp: 'ChildOne',
}
},
methods: {
setComponent () {
// assume prop slug passed from component or router is one of the components e.g. 'ChildOne'
this.comp = this.slug;
}
},
mounted() {
this.nextTick(this.setModule())
}
}
</script>
Option 3: Vue & Webpack Async and Dynamic components.
When it comes to larger applications or if you use Vuex and Vue Route where you have dynamic and large number of components then there are a number of approaches, but I'll stick to one. Similar to option 2, we are using the component element, but we are using WebPack to find all Vue files recursively with the keyword 'module'. We then load these dynamically / asynchronous --- meaning they will only be loaded when needed and you can see this in action in network console of browser. This means I can build components dynamically (factory pattern) and render them as needed. Example, of this might be if a user adds projects and you have to build and config views dynamically for projects created e.g. using vue router you passed it a ID for a new project, then you would need to dynamically load an existing component or build and load a factory built one.
Note: I'll use v-if on a component element if I have many components and I'm unsure the user will need them. I don't want to maintain state on large collections of components because I will end up memory and with loads of observers / watches / animations will most likely end up with CPU issues
<template >
<div>
<component :is="module" v-if="module"/>
</div>
</template>
<script>
const requireContext = require.context('./', true, /\.module\.vue$/);
const modules = requireContext.keys()
.map(file =>
[file.replace(/(.*\/(.+?)\/)|(\.module.vue$)/g, ''), requireContext(file)]
)
.reduce((components, [name, component]) => {
// console.error("components", components)
components[name] = component.default || component
return components
}, {});
export default {
data() {
return {
module: [],
}
},
props: {
slug: {
type: String,
required: true
}
},
computed: {
getData() {
return this.data;
},
},
methods: {
setModule () {
let module = this.slug;
if (!module || !modules[module]) {
module = this.defaultLayout
}
this.module = modules[module]
}
},
mounted() {
this.nextTick(this.setModule())
}
}
</script>

Answer 3

My initial thought is having additional conditions within a loop would negatively impact performance?
I think you might be confused by this rule in the style guide that says:
Never use v-if on the same element as v-for.
It's only a style issue if you use v-if and v-for on the same element. For example:
<div v-for="user in users" v-if="user.isActive">
But it's not a problem if you use v-if in a "child" element of a v-for. For example:
<div v-for="user in users">
<div v-if="user.isActive">
Using v-if wouldn't have a more negative performance impact than a method. And I'm assuming you would have to do some conditional checks inside your method as well. Remember that even calling a method has some (very small) performance impact.
Once you use Vue, I think it's a good idea not to mix it up with JavaScript DOM methods (like insertBefore). Vue maintains a virtual DOM which helps it to figure out how best to update the DOM when your component data changes. By using JavaScript DOM methods, you won't be taking advantage of Vue's virtual DOM anymore.
By sticking to Vue syntax you also make your code more understandable and probably more maintainable other developers who might read or contribute to your code later on.