Unlock the Power of Vue 3: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Better Applications
What’s New in Vue 3?
Vue 3 is here, and it’s packed with exciting features that make building applications easier, faster, and more efficient. In this article, we’ll explore the new Composition API, composition functions, and Vuex 4, and show you how to refactor a Vue 2 application to take advantage of these innovations.
The Limitations of Vue 2
Vue 2 had its limitations, including components that became less readable and maintainable as they grew larger, bottlenecks created by code reusability patterns, and larger bundle sizes. Vue 3 addresses these issues with the Composition API, which allows you to organize component code based on logical concerns, rather than component options.
Migrating to Vue 3: A Step-by-Step Guide
We’ll use a sample Vue 2 application as our example, and walk you through the process of refactoring it to Vue 3. This application is a to-do list app that allows users to add, delete, mark, and filter to-dos.
Setting Up the Project
To get started, you’ll need to install the latest version of Vue CLI v4.5 and clone the project repository to your local machine. Then, change your directory to the project folder and open it in your code editor.
Upgrading Dependencies
The Vue team has provided a guide to upgrading Vue 2 projects to Vue 3. You’ll need to upgrade your dependencies, including Vue CLI, Vuex, and other libraries. We’ll show you how to do this step by step.
Enabling Compat Mode
Once you’ve upgraded your dependencies, you’ll need to enable compat mode via Vue compiler options. This involves creating a vue.config.js
file in the root of your project folder and adding the necessary configuration code.
Noticeable Changes to Vue 2 Syntax
Vue 3 introduces some significant changes to the Vue 2 syntax. For example, the new Vue()
method has been replaced with the createApp
method, and the way you declare your Vue instance has changed.
Fetching To-Dos
We’ll show you how to fetch to-dos from a Typicode API endpoint using Vuex 4. You’ll learn how to create an action types file, update the Vuex action to handle the fetching of to-dos, and dispatch the action in the Todo.vue component.
Adding New To-Dos
Next, we’ll cover how to add new to-dos to the existing list. You’ll learn how to create a form that allows users to add new to-dos, and how to update the Vuex store to handle the addition of new to-dos.
Reactivity in Vue 3 with Ref
Vue 3 introduces a new and improved reactive system. You’ll learn how to use the ref
function to add reactivity to variables anywhere in your component.
Filtering To-Dos
Finally, we’ll show you how to create a filter component that allows users to filter the number of to-dos they want to fetch at a time. You’ll learn how to update the Vuex store to handle the filtering of to-dos, and how to dispatch the action in the FilterTodo.vue component.
What’s Next?
This tutorial has covered the basics of refactoring a Vue 2 application to Vue 3. You can try refactoring the other operations on your own, such as deleting to-dos, updating to-dos, marking to-dos as completed, and toggling to-dos visibility.
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