To .value or not to .value. That is the vuestion.
Tags: vue, javascript, webdev
Published: 2020-10-14 05:54:50

Vue 3 with composition api introduces some new ways to create reactive or observable value. There are `reactive`, `ref`, and `computed`. They have quirk in terms of their syntax. Let's use hot food to show it.

### Reactive Object
```js
import { reactive, computed } from 'vue'

const coolTemperature = 22

export function useHotFood({ temperatureInCelcius }) {  
  const state = reactive({
    temperatureInCelcius,
    isHot: computed(
      () => state.temperatureInCelcius > coolTemperature
    ),
  })

  function blow() {
    state.temperatureInCelcius -= 10
  }

  // ...

  return {
    state,
    blow,
  }
}
```

State would lost reactivity if destructured, so it have to be returned as is.

```js
// Using reactive object named state
const hotFood = useHotFood({ temperatureInCelcius: 100 })
hotfood.state.temperatureInCelcius
hotfood.state.isHot
hotfood.blow()
```

### Ref/Computed Object
```js
import { ref, computed } from 'vue'

const coolTemperature = 22

export function useHotFood(args) {  
  const temperatureInCelcius = ref(args.temperatureInCelcius)
  const isHot = computed(
    () => temperatureInCelcius.value > coolTemperature
  )

  function blow() {
    temperatureInCelcius.value -= 10
  }

  // ...

  return {
    temperatureInCelcius,
    isHot,
    blow,
  }
}
```

Ref value have to be accessed through its value property. Ref may be unwrapped in template, but it causes syntax inconsistency, between template and script block.

```js
// Using ref for each prop of state
const hotFood = useHotFood({ temperatureInCelcius: 100 })
hotFood.temperatureInCelcius.value
hotFood.isHot.value
hotFood.blow()
// or
const {
  temperatureInCelcius, isHot, blow
} = useHotFood({ temperatureInCelcius: 100 })
temperatureInCelcius.value
isHot.value
blow()
```

This overhead of remembering whether to use `.value` or not, makes people confused. But it doesn't have to. 

### Enter vue-extend-reactive

To achieve terser syntax, one way is to extend reactive object, maybe with another reactive object (like getters), or methods.

Reactive object can contain methods when using javascript, but make it more verbose to call it in same block, and create error when using typescript.

And thats why `vue-extend-reactive` is created,to enable reactive object extension leveraging Proxy object.

Extend reactive object returned from composition function with additional reactive object(such as getters), or additional methods to get these benefits:
- Simplify api of object returned by a composition function.
- Eliminate overhead thinking of whether to use or not to use `value` property of `ref` or `computed` object to get its value.


## Installation

- Using NPM
```bash
npm install vue-extend-reactive
```

- Using Yarn
```bash
yarn add vue-extend-reactive
```

## Usage

```js
import { reactive, computed } from 'vue'
import { extend } from 'vue-extend-reactive'

const coolTemperature = 22

export function useHotFood({ temperatureInCelcius }) {  
  const state = reactive({
    temperatureInCelcius,
    isHot: computed(
      () => state.temperatureInCelcius > coolTemperature
    ),
  })

  function blow() {
    state.temperatureInCelcius -= 10
  }

  // ...  

  return extend(state, { blow })
}
```

Below is the end result after returning extended reactive object.

```js
const hotFood = useHotFood({ temperatureInCelcius: 100 })
hotFood.temperatureInCelcius
hotFood.isHot
hotFood.blow()
```

This helper is compatible with both Vue 2 (using `@vue/composition-api`) and Vue 3.

There is one caveat that returned reactive object cannot be destructured as it will lost reactivity, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make, to get terser and more consistent syntax.

Lastly, I hope this is the way vue package authors create their composition functions or hooks.

Links:
- [Vue Extend Reactive on GitHub](https://github.com/c5n8/vue-extend-reactive)
- [Example on CodeSandbox](https://codesandbox.io/s/lucid-resonance-pb42c?file=/src/components/HotFood.vue)