Improvements in Vue 3.4 for Better Developer Experience

Introduction

If you use Vue in any capacity, there are two amazing developer experience improvements in Vue 3.4 that you need to know about. These improvements will simplify your code and save you time. In this blog, we will explore these two features in detail.

Removing Boilerplate Code

In previous versions of Vue, when using props in components, you had to define the attribute names in both the component and the template. However, in Vue 3.4, this has changed.

For example, let's consider a navlink component with two props: href and disabled. In earlier versions of Vue, you would define these props in the component and use them in the template like this:

<template>
  <a :href="href" :disabled="disabled">Link</a>
</template>

<script>
export default {
  props: {
    href: {
      type: String,
      required: true
    },
    disabled: {
      type: Boolean,
      default: false
    }
  }
};
</script>

But in Vue 3.4, you no longer need to define the attribute names in the template. You can simplify it to just:

<template>
  <a :href :disabled>Link</a>
</template>

<script>
export default {
  props: {
    href: {
      type: String,
      required: true
    },
    disabled: {
      type: Boolean,
      default: false
    }
  }
};
</script>

Vue 3.4 will automatically match the attribute names with the prop names, removing the need for the boilerplate code. This simplifies your code and makes it more readable.

Two-Way Data Binding Made Easy

In Vue, two-way data binding is a powerful feature that allows you to bind a form input to a data property, so any changes in the input will automatically update the data, and vice versa.

However, in previous versions of Vue, setting up two-way data binding required defining a model value prop and an event for updating the model value. This involved additional code and complexity.

In Vue 3.4, a new function called DefineModel has been introduced to simplify two-way data binding. Let's consider a text input component that uses two-way data binding:

<template>
  <input v-model="modelValue">
</template>

<script>
export default {
  props: {
    modelValue: {
      type: String,
      required: true
    }
  },
  emits: ['update:modelValue']
};
</script>

In earlier versions of Vue, you would define a model value prop, emit the update event, and handle the event in the parent component. But in Vue 3.4, you can simplify it to just:

<template>
  <input v-model="model">
</template>

<script>
export default {
  setup() {
    const model = DefineModel('model');
    return { model };
  }
};
</script>

With DefineModel, you no longer need to define the model value prop and emit the update event. Vue 3.4 automatically sets up the correct model value prop and events for two-way data binding.

Simplifying Custom Inputs

In addition to simplifying existing HTML inputs, you can also use DefineModel to create your own custom inputs in Vue 3.4. This makes it easy to create reusable components with two-way data binding.

Let's create a simple counter component as an example:

<template>
  <div class="counter">
    <button @click="decrement">-</button>
    <span>{{ count }}</span>
    <button @click="increment">+</button>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
export default {
  setup() {
    const count = DefineModel('count');
    
    const increment = () => {
      count.value++;
    };
    
    const decrement = () => {
      count.value--;
    };
    
    return { count, increment, decrement };
  }
};
</script>

In this example, we define a count variable using DefineModel. We also define increment and decrement functions to update the count value. The count value is bound to the template using double curly braces.

By using DefineModel, we can easily create custom inputs with two-way data binding, making our code more modular and reusable.

Conclusion

Vue 3.4 introduces two powerful improvements for better developer experience. The ability to remove boilerplate code and simplify two-way data binding with DefineModel will save you time and make your code more readable.

If you haven't already upgraded to Vue 3.4, make sure you do so to take advantage of these excellent new features. Happy coding!

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