10 Pinia Best Practices
If you're using the pinia framework for Vue.js, there are some best practices you should follow to get the most out of it. Here are 10 of them.
Pinia is a powerful tool for creating and managing web applications. It is designed to make the development process easier and faster, while also providing a secure and reliable platform for your applications.
However, Pinia is not a one-size-fits-all solution. To get the most out of Pinia, it is important to follow best practices. In this article, we will discuss 10 Pinia best practices that will help you create secure, reliable, and efficient web applications.
1. Use the pinia/store package
The pinia/store package provides a simple and consistent way to manage your application’s state. It allows you to easily access, update, and persist data in an organized manner. This makes it easier for developers to work with the data and helps ensure that all of the data is kept up-to-date across different parts of the application. Additionally, using the store package can help reduce code complexity by allowing you to keep related pieces of data together in one place.
2. Use a single store instance per app
Using a single store instance per app ensures that all of your components are using the same data. This makes it easier to debug and maintain, as you don’t have to worry about different parts of your application having different versions of the same data. It also helps keep your codebase more organized, since you won’t have multiple stores scattered throughout your project. Finally, it can help improve performance, since Pinia will only need to update one store instead of multiple ones.
3. Don’t use v-model on input elements in templates
Using v-model on input elements in templates can lead to unexpected behavior, as the data binding is not always updated when the user interacts with the element. This can cause confusion and frustration for users, as they may expect their changes to be reflected immediately but instead find that nothing has changed.
Instead of using v-model on input elements, use a method or computed property to update the data model. This ensures that the data model is always up-to-date and that any changes made by the user are reflected immediately.
4. Use computed properties for derived data
Computed properties are functions that return a value based on the data in your store. This means that you can keep all of your derived data up-to-date without having to manually update it every time something changes.
For example, if you have an array of items and need to calculate the total price, you could use a computed property to do this for you. Whenever any of the item prices change, the total will automatically be updated as well. This makes it much easier to maintain accurate data in your store.
5. Avoid using watchers
Watchers are a powerful tool, but they can also be expensive and slow down your application.
When you use watchers, Pinia has to constantly check for changes in the data that is being watched. This means that it needs to make multiple requests to the server every time something changes, which can add up quickly and cause performance issues.
Instead of using watchers, try to use computed properties or methods whenever possible. Computed properties and methods only run when their dependencies change, so they don’t need to be checked as often as watchers do. This makes them much more efficient and helps keep your application running smoothly.
6. Use actions to mutate state
Actions are the only way to ensure that state changes are tracked and can be reverted if needed. This is especially important when dealing with complex applications, as it allows you to easily debug any issues that may arise.
Actions also make your code more readable and maintainable by providing a single source of truth for all state mutations. By using actions, you can clearly see which parts of the application are responsible for making changes to the state, allowing you to quickly identify potential problems or areas for improvement.
7. Define your mutations as functions
When you define your mutations as functions, it makes them easier to test and debug. It also allows you to reuse the same mutation in multiple places, which can save time and effort when making changes or adding new features. Additionally, defining your mutations as functions helps keep your code organized and readable, which is important for maintainability. Finally, by using functions, you can ensure that all of your mutations are consistent and adhere to best practices.
8. Keep your mutations small and focused
When you have a mutation that is too large, it can become difficult to debug and maintain. It also makes it harder for other developers to understand what the mutation is doing. Keeping your mutations small and focused helps ensure that they are easy to read and understand, which in turn makes them easier to debug and maintain.
Additionally, keeping your mutations small and focused allows you to reuse code more easily. This means that if you need to make changes to one part of the mutation, you don’t have to rewrite the entire thing. Instead, you can just update the specific parts that need to be changed.
9. Mutations should be synchronous
When mutations are asynchronous, it can be difficult to track the state of your application. This is because when a mutation is asynchronous, you don’t know exactly when it will finish and what data will be returned. As a result, it’s hard to keep track of the current state of your application.
By making sure all mutations are synchronous, you can ensure that the state of your application is always up-to-date and consistent. This makes debugging easier and helps prevent unexpected errors from occurring.
10. Prefer getters over methods
Getters are more concise and easier to read, making them ideal for quickly accessing data. They also allow you to access the same data from multiple components without having to write a method in each one.
Methods, on the other hand, can be used when you need to perform an action or manipulate data before returning it. For example, if you want to format a date string before displaying it, you would use a method instead of a getter.
Overall, Pinia encourages developers to prefer getters over methods whenever possible. This helps keep code clean and readable while still allowing you to access and manipulate data as needed.