Mutiple Data Source for a component - vue.js

I am in a process to support multiple data source to show data in a component via props & store.
The idea is to build a list component, which will load the data from the store if no props present. Otherwise, show the data from props. Thus, I am ensuring reusability in the context of search functionality and normal listing view.
Here is the code looks like,
<template>
<div>
<li v-for="user in this.dataSource" :key="user.age">
{{ user.name }}
</li>
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
props: {
userData: {
type: Array,
default: null,
}
},
created() {
// dispatch action to get user data
this.$store.dispatch("GET_USER_DATA");
},
data() {
return {
dataSource: this.userData !== null ? this.userData: this.$store.state.users
};
}
};
As of now, the store holds just static data. But in the context of REST it will be async in nature. So sometimes, I see no data.
So my question is that is this logic of dataSource can be improved further?
Thanks
Robin.

You should change dataSource to computed property. It will automatically re-computed when this.userData is changed or this.$store.state.users is changed
computed: {
dataSource() {
return this.userData !== null ? this.userData: this.$store.state.users
}
}
For more information about computed in Vuejs, please check the document

This is a bad approach anyways.
Store should be used to contain the data and components should just "show" it and manipulate it through actions and mutations.
So in this case, I'd remove the props, created and data part and add a getter to the store which should be implemented in a computed in the component. Nothing fancy here.
You shouldn't need to manually load the data with a proper store setup. Always make a getter and "load" it into the component with a computed.

Related

vue unexpected reactivity from props

I just noticed an unexpected behaviour and now I don't know if it is normal or not.
I have a component named follows and a child component named follow-list-modal
I'm passing a followList (pagination ) from follows to its child component follow-list-modal
In the follow-list-modal I store the paginated array in the variable members
Follows.vue
<template>
<div>
<follow-list-modal
:follow-list="dataset">
</follow-list-modal>
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
props: {
dataset: {
type: Object,
default: {},
},
},
}
</script>
FollowListModal.vue
<template>
<div>
<button #click="fetchMore"> More </button>
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
props: {
followList: {
type: Object,
default: {},
},
data() {
return {
members: this.followList.data,
dataset: this.followList,
};
},
methods: {
fetchMore() {
let nextPage = parseInt(this.dataset.current_page) + 1;
axios
.get(this.dataset.path + '?page=' + nextPage)
.then(({ data }) => this.refresh(data))
.catch((error) => console.log(error));
}
},
refresh(paginatedCollection) {
this.dataset = paginatedCollection;
this.members = this.members.concat(...paginatedCollection.data);
},
}
When I click the button More in the follow-list-modal to get more data, I then want to append the new data to the members array.
The unexpected behaviour ( for me at least ). is that if I use push in the refresh method
this.members.push(..paginatedCollection.data);
It appends data not only to members but also to followList which is data that comes from the parent component follows
But if I use concat instead of push, it appends data only to members variable and not to followList
this.members = this.members.concat(..paginatedCollection.data);
Is this behaviour normal ?
I don't get why the followList changes when the members variable changes, I thought that reactivity is one way.
In other words, the members changes when the followList changes, but not the other way around
P.S I don't emit any events from follow-list-modal to follows or change the data of the follows component in any way from the follow-list-modal
In JavaScript, the properties of an Object that are also Objects themselves, are passed by reference, and not by value. Or you might say that they are shallow copied.
Thus, in your example, this.members and this.followList.data are pointing to the same variable in memory.
So, if you mutate this.members, it will mutate this.followList.data as well.
You could avoid this by doing a deep copy of the objects. The easiest method, and arguably the fastest, would be to use JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj)), but look at this answer for more examples.
data() {
return {
members: [],
dataset: [],
};
},
created() {
this.members = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(this.followList.data));
this.dataset = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(this.followList));
}
You instantiate your data with a direct link to the (initially undefined) property of your prop. This property is a complex entity like an Object (Arrays are Objects), and is thus called via reference. Since members references the same thing in memory as followList.data, when you're calling members, it will follow the reference to the same entity as followList.data. This doesn't have to do with Vue2 reactivity, but here's a link nontheless.
push mutates the array it is called on; it will follow the reference through members and change followList.data, updating its value when called through followList as well. Because the data key is not present on instantiation of the component, Vue can't watch it (just like you need to use Vue.set when adding a new key to a data object).
concat returns a new array of merged elements, and then replaces
the reference in members with the new array. Therefore from this point on you'll
no longer mutate followList.data, even with a push, as the reference has changed to a new entity.
When trying to set your initial members and dataset, I suggest using an initialization method that creates a clone of your followList and writes that to dataset, and running this on the created() or mounted() hook of your component lifecycle. Then create a computed property for members, no need to store followList.data thrice and potentially have dataset and members diverge.

Reseting a config option on vue-flatpickr programatically

I have a vue date component that is composed of a vue-flatpickr-component. When I pass config options in as props, of course, they work as expected, however, if want to change one of the config options which should be possible, it won't propagate down. I'm not a Vue guru, any advice would be helpful.
I'm using a page component in a Laravel app, it shouldn't be relevant, however, just in case someone answers with vuex or vue-router, those won't work here.
Here are the form elements in play from page.vue:
<material-select
name="specialist"
label="Specialist"
default-text="CHOOSE HOMEVISIT SPECIALIST"
:options="staffMembers"
v-model="form.specialist"
:validation-error="form.errors.first('specialist')"
class="mb-4"
></material-select>
<div class="w-1/2">
<material-date
label="Appointment date"
name="appointment_date"
v-model="form.appointment_date"
:validation-error="form.errors.first('appointment_date')"
class="mb-4"
:external-options="{
enable: this.appointmentDates,
}"
></material-date>
<pre>{{ this.appointmentDates }}</pre>
</div>
Here is the computed property driving the config change:
computed: {
appointmentDates(){
if(this.form.specialist !== null){
return this.availableDates[this.form.specialist - 1]
}
return []
},
When a different home visit specialist is chosen, it will update with Vue's reactivity.
I have a computed property changing the config options. Here are the props data and the relevant computed property from the MaterialDate.vue file:
import flatPickr from 'vue-flatpickr-component';
import 'flatpickr/dist/flatpickr.css';
export default {
components: {
flatPickr
},
props: {
value: String,
label: String,
validationError: String,
name: {required:true},
optional: {
default: false
},
externalOptions: {}
},
data() {
return {
defaults: {disableMobile: true,},
options: this.externalOptions
}
},
computed: {
config(){
return Object.assign({}, this.defaults, this.options)
},
This will of course never update the enabled dates option because the prop is immutable, I need to get access to the set(option, value) section of the wrapped by vue-flatpickr-component. However, my Vue kungfu is not really strong enough to source dive it to see how I might access it and programatically call set('enabled', [new dates]).
Sometimes, you shouldn't code when you are tired :) But Hopefully this will help someone at some point. I was over thinking this. Data is passed down through props, and if controlling data changes it has to be reflected in the propagated data. Much like v-model with it's value prop.
So instead of binding the config object on this.options which doesn't stay hooked to it's prop value that it was initialized from, the computed function should be calculated from the prop which will change based on the new passed in options prop.
so simply change the computed function to:
computed: {
config(){
return Object.assign({}, this.defaults, this. externalOptions)
},
and remove the data element.
... Elementary
Sorry for the cheese it's late and I feel relieved.

Vue - instance data is not defined

I have a menu of topics (e.g. "About us", "Support") and I want to be able to tell what topic is active right now. When a topic is clicked it will become the active one. Think of it as a substitute for a router that will set an active route. This is not possible in my case since I'm working in SharePoint 2010... in a content editor. So I made the decision to have an activeTopic variable in my Vue instance.
The Vue instance
new Vue({
el: '#app',
data: {
activeTopic: '',
}
});
This is because the activeTopic has to update another component and show some data based on the active topic. Like a router showing a child route.
The topic component
Vue.component('topic', {
props: ["title"],
methods: {
setActiveTopic: function (title) {
activeTopic = title;
},
isActiveTopic: function (title) {
return activeTopic == title;
}
},
template: `
<div v-bind:class="{active: isActiveTopic(title)}" v-on:click="setActiveTopic(title)">
<p v-text="title"></p>
</div>
`
});
The setActiveTopic function works as it should when I click it; it updates the activeTopic. But the isActiveTopic function gives me this error:
Error in render: "ReferenceError: activeTopic is not defined"
What I don't understand is that I can edit the activeTopic variable but I can't make a comparison? I've tried setting a default value but it still says it is undefined.
activeTopic should be assigned to the Vue component by setting and reading this.activeTopic. As is, you have two independent activeTopic variables scoped within each of your component methods.
You'll also want to include activeTopic in the component's data block, rather than on the Vue object itself, since it's specific to the component.
(If there's a reason to put that variable on the Vue object you would either want to pass it down to the component as a prop, or else access it directly as Vue.activeTopic instead of this.activeTopic. I'm honestly not certain whether Vue would treat that last structure as a reactive value within components -- I've never had a reason to try that, and can't think of a situation where that'd be a reasonable architecture.)
Vue.component('topic', {
props: ["title"],
data() { return {
activeTopic: ''
}},
methods: {
setActiveTopic(title) {
this.activeTopic = title;
},
isActiveTopic(title) {
return this.activeTopic == title;
}
},
template: `
<div v-bind:class="{active: isActiveTopic(title)}" v-on:click="setActiveTopic(title)">
<p v-text="title"></p>
</div>
`
});
I am new to Vue, and have seen data being defined as an object in several examples.
But apparently, as per the documentation, you have to use data as a function that returns an object.
This is to ensure that all instances will have it's own version of the data object, and is not shared with all instances.
Instead of
data: {
count: 0
}
use
data: function () {
return {
count: 0
}
}
However I still don't know why in one of my component, data as an object worked, and in a child component with it's own data as an object, I got the error count is undefined;
I am assuming, the root element, (defined by new Vue({}) has to be a singleton, and is not intended to have several instances.
And since components, can have instances, the data in that needs to be defined as a function.

How to Initialize Data Properties with Prop Values

Still a little bit young in VueJS but I'm loving every bit of it. But now, fixated somewhere.
I want to initialize some values in data() using values passed via props. This is so that I can be able to mutate them later on, since it is not recommended to mutate props inside a component. In fact the official docs recommend this property initialization using prop values as shown below:
{
props: ['initialCounter'],
data: function () {
return { counter: this.initialCounter }
}
I have something like the one below:
<template>
<div class="well">
<!-- Use Prop value directly on the template: works (but of no help in initializing data) -->
Department: {{department.name}}
<!-- Use prop value but gotten via computed property: Works inside the template but not in the initialization -->
Department: {{fetchDepartment.name}}
<!-- Use the array I initialized with the prop value: Does not work -->
Department: {{this_department.name}}
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
name: 'test',
props: ['department'],
data() {
return {
this_department: this.department
// below does not work either
//this_department: this.fetchDepartment
}
},
created() {
// shows empty array
console.log(this.department)
},
mounted() {
// shows empty array
console.log(this.department)
},
computed: {
fetchDepartment() {
return this.department
}
}
}
</script>
As seen in the commented sections above, the initialization is not successful. Neither does the value of this.department appear either from the created() or the mounted() hooks. And note, I can see it is defined using the Chrome Vue Devtools. So my question is, how exactly should I initialize data() attributes using props values, or which is the best way of going around this issue?
I know my answer comes in late but it helps me and hopefully someone else coming here. When props' data are async:
// in the parent component
<template>
<child :foo="bar" v-if="bar" />
</template>
That way, you render the component when props are already available making it safer to follow the guide's recommended ways to initialize data value with props as so:
props: ['initialCounter'],
data: function () {
return {
counter: this.initialCounter
}
}
Happy coding!
You CAN modify a prop. Use the '.sync' modifier. I use it frequently because it is convenient and intuitive. This requires emitting an event to update the value on the parent. I am not really sure the warning of how it results in maintenance issues.
Another method I use if I want to modify a value and not update the parent is using Lodash clone. For example (assuming its available on mounted)
mounted(){
this_department = _.clone(this.department)
}
If you consistently want to mutate the prop and have it change with the parent, then use a computed property. However, in most cases you will want to depend on the state of that data within the component and change it using other functions and thus a computed property will not be what you need.
A computed property is the simplest way to provide a mutable version of a prop, but you might not want to lose data when the prop is updated. You could use an explicit watch.
Watchers
While computed properties are more appropriate in most cases, there
are times when a custom watcher is necessary. That’s why Vue provides
a more generic way to react to data changes through the watch option.
This is most useful when you want to perform asynchronous or expensive
operations in response to changing data.
This is most useful when you want to perform asynchronous or expensive
operations in response to changing data.

VueJS access child component's data from parent

I'm using the vue-cli scaffold for webpack
My Vue component structure/heirarchy currently looks like the following:
App
PDF Template
Background
Dynamic Template Image
Static Template Image
Markdown
At the app level, I want a vuejs component method that can aggregate all of the child component's data into a single JSON object that can be sent off to the server.
Is there a way to access child component's data? Specifically, multiple layers deep?
If not, what is the best practice for passing down oberservable data/parameters, so that when it's modified by child components I have access to the new values? I'm trying to avoid hard dependencies between components, so as of right now, the only thing passed using component attributes are initialization values.
UPDATE:
Solid answers. Resources I found helpful after reviewing both answers:
Vuex and when to use it
Vuex alternative solution for smaller apps
In my child component, there are no buttons to emit changed data. It's a form with somewhat 5~10 inputs. the data will be submitted once you click the process button in another component. so, I can't emit every property when it's changing.
So, what I did,
In my parent component, I can access child's data from "ref"
e.g
<markdown ref="markdowndetails"></markdown>
<app-button #submit="process"></app-button>
// js
methods:{
process: function(){
// items is defined object inside data()
var markdowns = this.$refs.markdowndetails.items
}
}
Note: If you do this all over the application I suggest move to vuex instead.
For this kind of structure It's good to have some kind of Store.
VueJS provide solution for that, and It's called Vuex.If you are not ready to go with Vuex, you can create your own simple store.
Let's try with this
MarkdownStore.js
export default {
data: {
items: []
},
// Methods that you need, for e.g fetching data from server etc.
fetchData() {
// fetch logic
}
}
And now you can use those data everywhere, with importing this Store file
HomeView.vue
import MarkdownStore from '../stores/MarkdownStore'
export default {
data() {
sharedItems: MarkdownStore.data
},
created() {
MarkdownStore.fetchData()
}
}
So that's the basic flow that you could use, If you dont' want to go with Vuex.
what is the best practice for passing down oberservable data/parameters, so that when it's modified by child components I have access to the new values?
The flow of props is one way down, a child should never modify its props directly.
For a complex application, vuex is the solution, but for a simple case vuex is an overkill. Just like what #Belmin said, you can even use a plain JavaScript object for that, thanks to the reactivity system.
Another solution is using events. Vue has already implemented the EventEmitter interface, a child can use this.$emit('eventName', data) to communicate with its parent.
The parent will listen on the event like this: (#update is the shorthand of v-on:update)
<child :value="value" #update="onChildUpdate" />
and update the data in the event handler:
methods: {
onChildUpdate (newValue) {
this.value = newValue
}
}
Here is a simple example of custom events in Vue:
http://codepen.io/CodinCat/pen/ZBELjm?editors=1010
This is just parent-child communication, if a component needs to talk to its siblings, then you will need a global event bus, in Vue.js, you can just use an empty Vue instance:
const bus = new Vue()
// In component A
bus.$on('somethingUpdated', data => { ... })
// In component B
bus.$emit('somethingUpdated', newData)
you can meke ref to child component and use it as this
this.$refs.refComponentName.$data
parent-component
<template>
<section>
<childComponent ref="nameOfRef" />
</section>
</template>
methods: {
save() {
let Data = this.$refs.nameOfRef.$data;
}
},
In my case I have a registration form that I've broken down into components.
As suggested above I used $refs, In my parent I have for example:
In Template:
<Personal ref="personal" />
Script - Parent Component
export default {
components: {
Personal,
Employment
},
data() {
return {
personal: null,
education: null
}
},
mounted: function(){
this.personal = this.$refs.personal.model
this.education = this.$refs.education.model
}
}
This works well as the data is reactive.