Open a VueJS component on a new window - vue.js

Question

I have a basic VueJS application with only one page.
It's not a SPA, and I do not use vue-router.
I would like to implement a button that when clicked executes the window.open() function with content from one of my Vue Components.
Looking at the documentation from window.open() I saw the following statement for URL:
URL accepts a path or URL to an HTML page, image file, or any other resource which is supported by the browser.
Is it possible to pass a component as an argument for window.open()?

Answer 1

I was able to use some insights from an article about Portals in React to create a Vue component which is able to mount its children in a new window, while preserving reactivity! It's as simple as:
<window-portal>
I appear in a new window!
</window-portal>
Try it in this codesandbox!
The code for this component is as follows:
<template>
<div v-if="open">
<slot />
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
name: 'window-portal',
props: {
open: {
type: Boolean,
default: false,
}
},
data() {
return {
windowRef: null,
}
},
watch: {
open(newOpen) {
if(newOpen) {
this.openPortal();
} else {
this.closePortal();
}
}
},
methods: {
openPortal() {
this.windowRef = window.open("", "", "width=600,height=400,left=200,top=200");
this.windowRef.addEventListener('beforeunload', this.closePortal);
// magic!
this.windowRef.document.body.appendChild(this.$el);
},
closePortal() {
if(this.windowRef) {
this.windowRef.close();
this.windowRef = null;
this.$emit('close');
}
}
},
mounted() {
if(this.open) {
this.openPortal();
}
},
beforeDestroy() {
if (this.windowRef) {
this.closePortal();
}
}
}
</script>
The key is the line this.windowRef.document.body.appendChild(this.$el); this line effectively removes the DOM element associated with the Vue component (the top-level <div>) from the parent window and inserts it into the body of the child window. Since this element is the same reference as the one Vue would normally update, just in a different place, everything Just Works - Vue continues to update the element in response to databinding changes, despite it being mounted in a new window. I was actually quite surprised at how simple this was!

Answer 2

You cannot pass a Vue component, because window.open doesn't know about Vue. What you can do, however, is to create a route which displays your component and pass this route's URL to window.open, giving you a new window with your component. Communication between the components in different windows might get tricky though.

Answer 3

For example, if your main vue is declared like so
var app = new Vue({...});
If you only need to render a few pieces of data in the new window, you could just reference the data model from the parent window.
var app1 = window.opener.app;
var title = app.title;
var h1 = document.createElement("H1");
h1.innerHTML = title;
document.body.appendChild(h1);

Answer 4

I ported the Alex contribution to Composition API and works pretty well.
The only annoyance is that the created window ignores size and position, maybe because it is launched from a Chrome application that is fullscreen. Any idea?
<script setup lang="ts">
import {ref, onMounted, onBeforeUnmount, watch, nextTick} from "vue";
const props = defineProps<{modelValue: boolean;}>();
const emit = defineEmits(["update:modelValue"]);
let windowRef: Window | null = null;
const portal = ref(null);
const copyStyles = (sourceDoc: Document, targetDoc: Document): void => {
// eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/prefer-spread
for(const styleSheet of Array.from(sourceDoc.styleSheets)) {
if(styleSheet.cssRules) {
// for <style> elements
const nwStyleElement = sourceDoc.createElement("style");
// eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/prefer-spread
for(const cssRule of Array.from(styleSheet.cssRules)) {
// write the text of each rule into the body of the style element
nwStyleElement.append(sourceDoc.createTextNode(cssRule.cssText));
}
targetDoc.head.append(nwStyleElement);
}
else if(styleSheet.href) {
// for <link> elements loading CSS from a URL
const nwLinkElement = sourceDoc.createElement("link");
nwLinkElement.rel = "stylesheet";
nwLinkElement.href = styleSheet.href;
targetDoc.head.append(nwLinkElement);
}
}
};
const openPortal = (): void => {
nextTick().then((): void => {
windowRef = window.open("", "", "width=600,height=400,left=200,top=200");
if(!windowRef || !portal.value) return;
windowRef.document.body.append(portal.value);
copyStyles(window.document, windowRef.document);
windowRef.addEventListener("beforeunload", closePortal);
})
.catch((error: Error) => console.error("Cannot instantiate portal", error.message));
};
const closePortal = (): void => {
if(windowRef) {
windowRef.close();
windowRef = null;
emit("update:modelValue", false);
}
};
watch(props, () => {
if(props.modelValue) {
openPortal();
}
else {
closePortal();
}
});
onMounted(() => {
if(props.modelValue) {
openPortal();
}
});
onBeforeUnmount(() => {
if(windowRef) {
closePortal();
}
});
</script>
<template>
<div v-if="props.modelValue" ref="portal">
<slot />
</div>
</template>