Unlocking the Power of Histoire: A Deep Dive into Vue 3’s Interactive Documentation
As Vue 3 continues to gain traction, a new tool has emerged to make documenting and testing UI components a breeze. Say hello to Histoire, a Storybook alternative that’s taking the Vue community by storm. In this article, we’ll explore how to harness the power of Histoire to create interactive documentation for your Vue 3 projects.
Getting Started with Histoire
Before we dive in, let’s take a look at our companion project, a TodoMVC implementation using Vue 3 and TypeScript. We’ll use this project to illustrate different development patterns, including how to initialize the Pinia store for a Histoire story.
Histoire’s UI Controls: The Building Blocks of Interactive Documentation
Histoire provides a range of UI controls that allow users to interact with your UI components. These controls are the foundation of interactive documentation, making it easy to test and document your components. Let’s take a closer look at some of the built-in controls:
- HstText: A text input field control
- HstNumber: A number field control
- HstSlider: A slider control for adjusting numerical values
- HstSelect: A dropdown control for selecting values from a list
- HstCheckbox: A checkbox control for toggling boolean values
- HstRadio: A radio button control for selecting values from a list
- HstButtonGroup: A button group control for selecting values from a list
- HstJson: A JSON control for providing data as a JSON object
Using Histoire’s UI Controls
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into some examples of how to use Histoire’s UI controls.
Using Text and Number Fields
Let’s start with a simple example using the HstText and HstNumber controls. We’ll create a variant that demonstrates how to use these controls to interact with a UI component.
Using the Slider Component
Next, we’ll explore how to use the HstSlider control to adjust numerical values. We’ll create a variant that demonstrates how to use this control to interact with a UI component.
Fine-Tuning Which Controls Are Displayed
By default, Histoire will display all props of a given UI component. However, we can use the auto-props-disabled feature to disable this behavior and add our own custom controls.
Using Dropdowns, Radio Buttons, and Button Groups
Let’s take a look at how to use the HstSelect, HstRadio, and HstButtonGroup controls to select values from a list.
Using a Checkbox Control
We’ll also explore how to use the HstCheckbox control to toggle boolean values.
Using JSON Controls
Finally, we’ll cover how to use the HstJson control to provide data as a JSON object.
Initializing the Pinia Store
In our final example, we’ll demonstrate how to use the setup-app directive to initialize the Pinia store for a Histoire story.
By following these examples, you’ll be well on your way to creating interactive documentation for your Vue 3 projects using Histoire. With its simplicity and ease of use, Histoire is an excellent choice for anyone looking to improve their documentation workflow.