#2 Understanding Lifecycle Hooks in Nuxt
#2 Understanding Lifecycle Hooks in Nuxt
An in-depth exploration of the various Lifecycles in Nuxt.js
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In this edition, I'm excited to share with you a sneak peek of a chapter I've been crafting: an in-depth exploration of the various Lifecycles in Nuxt.js. Get ready to dive deeper into the intricacies of Nuxt's lifecycle hooks and discover how they can enhance your Nuxt projects.
In the Author's Corner, we'll also embark on a brief journey into getting started with Asciidoctor. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just dipping your toes into the world of technical authoring, this guide will equip you with little extra information you might just need to express your ideas effectively.
Happy reading, and thank you for being a part of my journey.
Nuxter’s Corner
Lifecycle hooks have been one of my favourite topics ever since I picked up Vue.js back in 2017. So obviously, I am very excited to write this chapter in my book.
We never end up using all of the lifecycle hooks in a single project - ever! However, learning about them increases our understanding of the framework and teaches us how the framework was intended to be used. Whether we are writing Nuxt plugins or Nitro plugins, Nuxt modules or even Vue Composable in Nuxt - lifecycle hooks are everywhere if you look closely.
Lifecycle hooks provide insight into various stages of your Nuxt application - from setting up Nuxt configuration to creating, rendering and mounting the Nuxt app that leads us to access Nuxt page and Vue components. I can see three key reasons to learn lifecycle hooks in Nuxt.
Understanding these lifecycle hooks helps us write more efficient and predictable code in our Nuxt application.
Lifecycle hooks open up wide ranging possibilities to extend default Nuxt as it allows us to tap into specific stages of Nuxt application - either at runtime or build-time or on client-side or server-side.
Understanding these lifecycles can be invaluable when debugging and troubleshooting your Nuxt application. By logging lifecycle hook events and understanding their sequence, we can pinpoint issues and identify potential solutions more effectively.
We have three sets of lifecycle hooks in the Nuxt framework - 1) Nuxt, 2) Nitro and 3) App - that we should learn about. Since Nuxt is built on top of Vue, we should be familiar with Vue Component Lifecycle and Vue Transition Lifecycle as well.
Nuxt Lifecycle Hooks - allow us to extend Nuxt at build-time, and we can use them in Nuxt modules or a Nuxt Config file.
App Lifecycle Hooks - allow us to manage the state of the Nuxt app and help us extend Nuxt at runtime, that we can do through Nuxt plugins. I have created this initial diagram to illustrate the App Lifecycle Hooks where you can see a high-level journey of app:*, vue:* and Nuxt page:* hooks.
Nitro Lifecycle Hooks - allow us to tap into the runtime behaviour of the Nitro server where we can intercept request and response lifecycle including errors.
Nitro Lifecycle Hooks Vue Lifecycle Hooks - provide insight into the various stages a Vue component goes through, from initialisation to destruction.
This last one - Nuxt Page Lifecycle - is not an officially documented lifecycle as such. It is however, something I created to understand what happens when someone accesses a Nuxt page. Nuxt page lifecycle has evolved over time, and it was absolutely amazing to see how each new Nuxt version has brought new improvements each time. Here’s the very first version from the old days.
By understanding when (build-time or runtime) and where (client-side or server-side) certain tasks should be performed within the application, we can write more efficient, maintainable, and performant code, while also gaining valuable insights into the inner workings of Nuxt framework.
I see so many possibilities for this chapter that is filled with examples from real-world use cases. This chapter is likely to have critical teaching-points for the beginners as well. I will have similar diagrams as above for all Lifecycles mentioned here. Going forward, these diagrams will become reference points to dive deeper into other areas of Nuxt.
Author’s Corner
A talented tech writer is worth as much as a talented developer. Good prose is no more or less complex to write than good code. - Dan Allen
Dan Allen is the creator of Asciidoctor - an open source implementation of Asciidoc. Before I sat my heart on Asciidoctor, I did trial Google Docs, Notion, Scrivener and even Apple Pages. While they only partially fulfilled my requirements, Asciidoctor did everything I needed - pretty code blocks, markdown support, version control, multiple export file formats and more!
Unlike other tools I mentioned here, Asciidoc is not just a writing tool, it’s rather a tool for writing tech books. If you read its documentation, you will see lots of book related terminologies - such as recto, verso, abstract, colophon, index catalog, front matter, back matter, admonitions to name a few - that you may never see in a generic software. In case you are wondering, here’s a quick definition of each:
Front Matter: The introductory section of a book that includes elements like the title page, copyright page, dedication, preface, and table of contents.
Back Matter: The concluding section of a book that includes elements like the index, glossary, bibliography, appendices, and acknowledgments.
Recto: The right-hand page of an open book with an odd-numbered page.
Verso: The left-hand page of an open book with an even-numbered page.
Abstract: A concise summary of a larger work that provides an overview of its key points and findings.
Colophon: A section at the end of the book that contains information about the publication, such as the publisher's name, printer, and date of publication.
Index Catalog: A comprehensive list of topics, names, or terms found within a book, typically arranged alphabetically and providing page references.
Admonitions: Brief notes or warnings typically included in technical or instructional texts to provide guidance, clarification, or cautionary information to the reader.
Asciidoctor provides a straightforward and human-readable, markdown-like syntax while offering powerful features for writing technical content. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use AsciiDoc for writing a technical book:
Install AsciiDoc on your Mac:
Refer to the official AsciiDoctor website for installation instructions: AsciiDoctor Installation.
$ brew install asciidoctorBasic Document Structure:
Start your .adoc document in your favourite Code Editor with a title, author information, and other key metadata, such as :doctype: book - this is required when we want to generate a book. You can have a separate .adoc file for each of your book chapters, and then include them in your index.adoc file using include:: key. Here's a simple example:
// index.adoc = Title of Your Book Author Name :doctype: book :lang: en include::chapter-1.adoc include::chapter-2.adocInclude front and back cover:
Use the `image` directive to include images:
// index.adoc :doctype: book // ... :front-cover-image: image:images/cover-front.jpg[fit=fill] :back-cover-image: image:images/cover-front.jpg[fit=fill]Sections and Chapters:
Organise your content into sections and chapters using headings. For example:
// chapter-1.adoc == Chapter 1: Introduction This is the content of the introduction. === Section 1.1: Overview This is an overview of the chapter.Code Blocks:
Use code blocks for displaying code snippets:
[source,js] ---- export default { setup() { const count = ref(0) return { count } } } ----Generate PDF Output:
Once your content is written, use the asciidoctor-pdf to generate the PDF output. You do not need to install any additional package to do this.
Create a basic package.json in the root of your book project and add a script asciidoctor-pdf index.adoc to export the pdf file. Now, you can run yarn pdf from your terminal to export your book.// package.json { "name": "my-book", "version": "1.0.0", "main": "index.adoc", "scripts": { "pdf": "asciidoctor-pdf index.adoc" } }
Exported PDF with book cover using Asciidoctor Review and Iterate:
Review the generated output and iterate on your AsciiDoctor source as needed. Fine-tune formatting, fix errors, and enhance the content and most importantly now you can use a version control system to track changes and even collaborate with others.
By following these steps, you can leverage AsciiDoctor's simplicity and power to author a technical book with ease. We will see more intricate elements of the book authoring process in coming weeks.
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