vuejs where in the code/lifecycle should data retrieval be triggered - vue.js

Question

I am working on a vuejs SPA.
I have a view that shows a list of items and another view that shows details for a specific Item.
when I click the item I switch views using:
this.$router.push('/item/' + event.ItemId );
The data is managed using vuex modules.
I would like to allow some temporary display while the item details are being retried (i.e. not to block the rendering of the item details view which should know on its own to indicate that it is still awaiting data).
And I would also have to consider that it should work if the URL is changed (I think I read that there is an issue with the view not being reloaded/recreated when only the item id would change in the URL.
Where would be the appropriate place (code/lifecycle) to trigger the (async) retrieval of the data required for rendering the item details view?

Answer 1

I would like to allow some temporary display while the item details are being retried (i.e. not to block the rendering of the item details view which should know on its own to indicate that it is still awaiting data).
One way to achieve this, is to define a state variable, named e.g. isLoading, in the data context of the Vue component. This variable would then be true while the data is retrieved asynchronously. In the template, you can use v-if to display a spinner while loading, and displaying the content after that.
If you are retrieving the data multiple times (refreshing the view), I would move the retrieving code into a method, e.g. called loadData. In the mounted section of the Vue component you then can just initially call this method once.
Here is some example code:
<template>
<div>
<button #click="loadData" :disabled="isLoading">Refresh</button>
<div class="item" v-if="!isLoading">
{{ item }}
</div>
<div class="spinner" v-else>
Loading...
</div>
</div>
</template>
<script>
import HttpService from '#/services/HttpService';
export default {
name: 'item-details',
data () {
return {
isLoading: false,
item: {}
};
},
methods: {
loadData () {
this.isLoading = true;
HttpService.loadData().then(response => {
this.item = response.data;
this.isLoading = false;
}, () => {
this.item = {};
this.isLoading = false;
});
}
},
mounted () {
this.loadData();
}
};
</script>
And I would also have to consider that it should work if the URL is changed (I think I read that there is an issue with the view not being reloaded/recreated when only the item id would change in the URL.
This issue you mentioned occurs if you are not using the HTML5 history mode, but an anchor (#) in the URL instead. If you are just changing the part after the anchor in the URL, the page is not actually refreshed by the browser. The Vue component won't be reloaded in this case and the state is still old. There are basically two ways around this:
You are switching from anchors in the URL to a real URL with the HTML5 history mode, supported by the Vue Router. This requires some back-end configuration, though. The browser then does not have this faulty behavior, because there is no anchor. It will reload the page on every manual URL change.
You can watch the $route object to get notified on every route change. Depending on if the user is changing the part after the anchor, or before, the behavior is different (it also depends where the cursor is, when you hit enter). If the part after the anchor is changed (your actual Vue route), only the component is notified. Otherwise, a full page refresh is made. Here's some example code:
// ...inside a Vue component
watch: {
'$route' (to, from) {
this.loadData();
}
}