In my application I instantiate a dialog component programmatically. The dialog can (does) contain a child component to show content. I accomplish this thus:
// Create the containing dialog component.
// I don't care if this is cached or not, and it's easy
// to recreate.
//
var DialogComponent = Vue.extend(Dialog);
var instance = new DialogComponent({
parent: parent,
data: {...}
propsData: {...}
});
// Compile the subcomponent string. In practice this would
// be built dynamically before being passed to
// Vue.compile()
//
const template = '<ComponentName :binding="" ... />'
const x = Vue.compile(template);
const slotContent = {
data() { return data},
render: x.render,
staticRenderFns: x.staticRenderFns
}
// Create a vnode from the compiled render functions. This
// is the part I am less confident in, as it appears the
// render function returned will always instantiate a new
// child component, and it feels like involving `instance`,
// i.e. the dialog, is incorrect.
//
const vnode = instance.$createElement(slotContent);
instance.$slots.default = [ vnode ];
// Mount the dialog component to a DOM element.
//
var tmp = document.createElement('div');
document.body.appendChild(tmp);
instance.$mount(tmp);
// Hook the dialog close event to clean up the instance.
// In practice, when caching I would like to pull the
// child component out and only destroy the dialog instance.
// I can successfully set the child's vnode.data.keepAlive and
// persist the instance, but a new one gets created nonetheless.
//
instance.$on('close', (e) => {
instance.$el.parentNode.removeChild(instance.$el);
instance.$destroy();
})
I believe this is the accepted way of accomplishing this, and it works flawlessly. However, each time the dialog goes away it is of course $destroyed and the component resets when it's shown again.
I now need a method of maintaining the subcomponent's state when the dialog closes and reopens. So imagine a dialog that shows a new Date() on creation— I need that same date to show up after the dialog is closed and reopened. I have tried various sprinklings of <keep-alive> to no avail, but I don't think this is the appropriate use of that component.
Caching the vnode successfully avoids the compile call, but because (I think) the returned render function instantiates a component instance (ComponentName in the example) it does not reuse the original ComponentName, even if I successfully avoid destroying it (vm._isDestroyed == false).
Ultimately I think I'd like to hit line 73 in vue/create-component.js when inserting the child component, but a breakpoint there never gets hit (which may be an unrelated webpack/source-maps thing).
Is there a sane way of accomplishing the caching of a programmatically instantiated Vue component for later reuse similar to how <keep-alive> works?
Related
I have made some sandbox code of my problem here:
https://codesandbox.io/s/clever-zeh-kdff1z
<template>
<div v-if="started">
<HelloWorld :msg="msg" #exit="exit" #remake="remake" />
</div>
<button v-if="!started" #click="started = !started">start</button>
</template>
<script>
import HelloWorldVue from "./components/HelloWorld.vue";
export default {
name: "App",
components: {
HelloWorld: HelloWorldVue,
},
data() {
return {
started: false,
msg: "Hello Vue 3 in CodeSandbox!",
};
},
methods: {
exit() {
this.started = false;
},
remake() {
this.msg = this.msg + 1;
//this code should recreate our child but...
this.exit();
this.started = true;
// setTimeout(() => {
// this.started = true;
// });
},
},
};
</script>
So! We have 2 components parent and child. The idea is simple - we have a flag variable in our parent. We have a v-if statement for this - hide / show an element depend on the flag value "false" or "true". After we toggle the flag - the child component should be recreated. This is the idea. Simple.
In our parent we have a button which will set the flag variable to "true" and our child will be created and will appear on our page.
Ok. Now we have 2 buttons inside our child.
One button is "exit" which is emit an event so the flag variable of parent will set to "false" and the elemint will disappear from our page(It will be destroyed btw). Works as charm. Ok.
The second button "remake". It emit event so the flag variable will be just toggled (off then on). Simple. We set to "false", we set to "true". So the current child should dissapear, and then imediatly will be created new one.
But here we are facing the problem! Ok, current child is still here, there is no any recreation, it just updates current one... So in child I have checked our lifecycle hooks - created and unmounted via console.log function. And the second button dont trigger them. Start->Exit->Start != Start->Remake.
So can anyone please explain me why this is happening? I cant figure it out.
Interesting thing, if you can see there is some asynchronous code commented in my demo. If we set our flag to "true" inside the async function the child will be recreated and we will see the created hook message but it seems like crutch. We also can add a :key to our component and update it to force rerender, but it also seems like a crutch.
Any explanations on this topic how things work would be nice.
Vue re-uses elements and components whenever it can. It will also only rerender once per tick. The length of a 'tick' is not something you should worry yourself about too much, other than that it exists. In your case the this.exit() and this.started = true statements are executed within the same tick. The data stored in this.started is both true in the last tick and the current tick as it does not end the tick in between the statements, and so nothing happens to your component.
In general you should think in states in Vue rather than in lifecycles. Or in other words: What are the different situations this component must be able to handle and how do you switch between those states. Rather than determining what to do in which point in time. Using :key="keyName" is indeed generally a crutch, as is using import { nextTick } from 'vue'; and using that to get some cadence of states to happen, as is using a setTimeout to get some code to execute after the current tick. The nasty part of setTimeout is also that it can execute code on a component that is already destroyed. It can sometimes help with animations though.
In my experience when people try to use lifecycle hooks they would rather have something happen when one of the props change. For example when a prop id on the child component changes you want to load data from the api to populate some fields. To get this to work use an immediate watcher instead:
watch: {
id: {
handler(newId, oldId) {
this.populateFromApi(newId);
},
immediate: true
}
}
Now it will call the watcher on component creation, and call it afterwards when you pass a different id. It will also help you gracefully handle cases where the component is created with a undefined or null value in one of the props you expect. Instead of throwing an error you just render nothing until the prop is valid.
I created the child using:
const ComponentClass = Vue.extend(someComponent);
const instance = new ComponentClass({
propsData: { prop: this.value }
})
instance.$mount();
this.$refs.container.appendChild(instance.$el);
When this.value is updated in the parent, its value doesn't change in the child. I've tried to watch it but it didn't work.
Update:
There's an easier way to achieve this:
create a <div>
append it to your $refs.container
create a new Vue instance and .$mount() it in the div
set the div instance's data to whatever you want to bind dynamically, getting values from the parent
provide the props to the mounted component from the div's data, through render function
methods: {
addComponent() {
const div = document.createElement("div");
this.$refs.container.appendChild(div);
new Vue({
components: { Test },
data: this.$data,
render: h => h("test", {
props: {
message: this.msg
}
})
}).$mount(div);
}
}
Important note: this in this.$data refers the parent (the component which has the addComponent method), while this inside render refers new Vue()'s instance. So, the chain of reactivity is: parent.$data > new Vue().$data > new Vue().render => Test.props. I had numerous attempts at bypassing the new Vue() step and passing a Test component directly, but haven't found a way yet. I'm pretty sure it's possible, though, although the solution above achieves it in practice, because the <div> in which new Vue() renders gets replaced by its template, which is the Test component. So, in practice, Test is a direct ancestor of $refs.container. But in reality, it passes through an extra instance of Vue, used for binding.
Obviously, if you don't want to add a new child component to the container each time the method is called, you can ditch the div placeholder and simply .$mount(this.$refs.container), but by doing so you will replace the existing child each subsequent time you call the method.
See it working here: https://codesandbox.io/s/nifty-dhawan-9ed2l?file=/src/components/HelloWorld.vue
However, unlike the method below, you can't override data props of the child with values from parent dynamically. But, if you think about it, that's the way data should work, so just use props for whatever you want bound.
Initial answer:
Here's a function I've used over multiple projects, mostly for creating programmatic components for mapbox popups and markers, but also useful for creating components without actually adding them to DOM, for various purposes.
import Vue from "vue";
// import store from "./store";
export function addProgrammaticComponent(parent, component, dataFn, componentOptions) {
const ComponentClass = Vue.extend(component);
const initData = dataFn() || {};
const data = {};
const propsData = {};
const propKeys = Object.keys(ComponentClass.options.props || {});
Object.keys(initData).forEach(key => {
if (propKeys.includes(key)) {
propsData[key] = initData[key];
} else {
data[key] = initData[key];
}
});
const instance = new ComponentClass({
// store,
data,
propsData,
...componentOptions
});
instance.$mount(document.createElement("div"));
const dataSetter = data => {
Object.keys(data).forEach(key => {
instance[key] = data[key];
});
};
const unwatch = parent.$watch(dataFn || {}, dataSetter);
return {
instance,
update: () => dataSetter(dataFn ? dataFn() : {}),
dispose: () => {
unwatch();
instance.$destroy();
}
};
}
componentOptions is to provide any custom (one-off) functionality to the new instance (i.e.: mounted(), watchers, computed, store, you name it...).
I've set up a demo here: https://codesandbox.io/s/gifted-mestorf-297xx?file=/src/components/HelloWorld.vue
Notice I'm not doing the appendChild in the function purposefully, as in some cases I want to use the instance without adding it to DOM. The regular usage is:
const component = addProgrammaticComponent(this, SomeComponent, dataFn);
this.$el.appendChild(component.instance.$el);
Depending on what your dynamic component does, you might want to call .dispose() on it in parent's beforeDestroy(). If you don't, beforeDestroy() on child never gets called.
Probably the coolest part about it all is you don't actually need to append the child to the parent's DOM (it can be placed anywhere in DOM and the child will still respond to any changes of the parent, like it would if it was an actual descendant). Their "link" is programmatic, through dataFn.
Obviously, this opens the door to a bunch of potential problems, especially around destroying the parent without destroying the child. So you need be very careful and thorough about this type of cleanup. You either register each dynamic component into a property of the parent and .dispose() all of them in the parent's beforeDestroy() or give them a particular selector and sweep the entire DOM clean before destroying the parent.
Another interesting note is that in Vue 3 all of the above will no longer be necessary, as most of the core Vue functionality (reactivity, computed, hooks, listeners) is now exposed and reusable as is, so you won't have to $mount a component in order to have access to its "magic".
I have two vue files, app.vue and logincomponent.vue.
I use logincomponent.vue to make template that does login box and uses scripts to communicate with go backend in wails, the code itself works, but I'm trying to change value in main app.vue but i cant get it working.
The question is:
"How do I change value of variable in main vue app from component?"
Import:
import LoginScreen from "./components/LoginScreen.vue"
Variable:
data: () => ({
drawer: false,
currentScreenID: 0,
logged: false
Setter:
sendLogin: function () {
var self = this;
if (this.$refs.login_form.validate()) {
self.dialog = true;
self.loadingCircleLogin = true;
self.login_dialog_title = self.login_dialog_logging_title;
window.backend.sendLoginToBackend(self.email, self.password, self.remember_email).then(result => {
if (result === false) {
self.loadingCircleLogin = false;
self.loginFailText = true;
self.login_dialog_title = self.login_dialog_error_title;
} else {
self.dialog = false;
self.currentScreenID = 3;
}
})
}
},
The short answer to if the state of the parent component (or main Vue instance) can be changed from a child component, is no or at least it should not be done. It's an anti-pattern and can produce bugs in your code.
But you have two choices here.
To emit an event from child component, and handling it from parent. So the parent is responsible of changing its own state with its own logic.
When you need to change a value from the main instance from a child component, you emit the event, even with a value you can pass to the emit function, and you program your main instance to listen that event and respond accordingly.
More info here: listening to child component events.
To add a Vuex store to your app. In this way you abstract the state of the app that's common to several components. So your child component could ask the store to change certain state.
More info here: Vuex
Using Vuex is more complex dough, if your app is simple I'd go with first option.
I have a call in my created method which has an await.
I want to know that the results of that call are loaded so that i can conditionally show/hide things in the DOM.
Right now it looks like the DOM is being rendered before that method has completed. But I though that methods in created were called before the DOM rendered?
You're correct in assuming that the created hook runs before the component mounts. However, the lifecycle hooks are not waiting for async calls to complete. If you want to wait for that call to be completed and data to load, you can do so by using a Boolean that you set to true when your data has loaded.
Your template:
<div v-if='dataLoaded'>Now you can see me.</div>
in your vue instace
export default {
data () {
return {
dataLoaded: false
}
},
created () {
loadMyData().then(data => {
// do awesome things with data
this.dataLoaded = true
})
}
}
This way you can keep your content hidden until that call has resolved. Take care with the context when you handle the ajax response. You will want to keep this as a reference to the original vue instance, so that you can set your data correctly. Arrow functions work well for that.
I have a component whose data is initialized by ajax. I know vue.js has provide several lifecycle hooks: Lifecycle-Diagram. But for ajax to initialize the data, which hook(beforeCreate, create, mounted, etc) is the best place to do it:
hook_name: function() {
ajaxCall(function(data) {
me.data = data;
});
}
Currently, i do it in mounted, making it to re-render the component. But i think we should get the data before the first render. Can someone figure out the best way to do it?
If you want to initialize your component with data you receive from a request, created() would be the most appropriate hook to use but it is a request, it might not resolve by the end of created or even mounted() (when even your DOM is ready to show content!).
So do have your component initialized with empty data like:
data () {
return {
listOfItems: [],
someKindOfConfig: {},
orSomeSpecialValue: null
}
}
and assign the actual values when you receive them in your created hook as these empty data properties would be available at that point of time, like:
created () {
someAPICall()
.then(data => {
this.listOfItems = data.listOfItems
})
/**
* Notice the use of arrow functions, without those [this] would
* not have the context of the component.
*/
}
It seems like you aren't using (or aren't planning to use) vuex but I'd highly recommend you to use it for for managing your data in stores. If you use vuex you can have actions which can make these api calls and by using simple getters in your component you would have access to the values returned by the request.