Vue Tip: Event Handling


In Vue, you can listen for events using the v-on
directive or the shorthand @
. You can listen for any DOM event; for example, you can use @click
for click events. This link contains a list of all native DOM events.
Define Events
Of course, you can also listen for custom events that you have defined in your child component:
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<script setup lang="ts">
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import { ref } from 'vue'
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const counter = ref(0)
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const emit = defineEmits<{
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(event: 'update:counter', counter: number): void
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}>()
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const increment = () => {
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counter.value++
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emit('update:counter', counter.value)
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}
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</script>
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<template>
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<div>
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<span>Counter: {{ counter }}</span>
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<button @click="increment">Increment</button>
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</div>
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</template>
Handle Events
Let's look at the different ways to handle such events in Vue.
Without arguments
If your event does not have any arguments, I prefer this syntax:
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<script setup lang="ts">
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import Child from './Child.vue'
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const onUpdateCounter = (counter: number) => {
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console.log('onUpdateCounter', counter)
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}
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</script>
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<template>
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<Child @update:counter="onUpdateCounter" />
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</template>
Access custom event object
If you want to access the custom event object in your event handler, you can use the following syntax:
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<script lang="ts" setup>
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import type { Counter } from '...'
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const counters: Counter[] = [
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// ...
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]
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function onUpdateCounter(counter: Counter) {
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// ...
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}
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</script>
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<template>
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<ul>
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<li v-for="counter of counter" :key="counter.id">
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<Child @update:counter="() => onUpdateCounter(counter)" />
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</li>
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</ul>
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</template>
Access custom & native event object
Sometimes, you need access to your custom event object and the native event object. In this case, you can use the following syntax:
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<script lang="ts" setup>
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import type { Counter } from '...'
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const counters: Counter[] = [
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// ...
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]
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function onUpdateCounter(event: Event, counter: Counter) {
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// ...
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}
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</script>
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<template>
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<ul>
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<li v-for="counter of counter" :key="counter.id">
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<Child @update:counter="($event) => onUpdateCounter($event, counter)" />
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</li>
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</ul>
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</template>
Further Reading
Lachlan Miller wrote an excellent in-depth article about event handling, which you can find here. It is definitely worth a read!
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