bo-oz/actioncable-vue

A Vue plugin that makes integrating Rails Action Cable dead-easy.

ActionCableVue is an easy-to-use Action Cable integration for VueJS.

🚀 Installation

npm install actioncable-vue --save

import Vue from 'vue';
import ActionCableVue from 'actioncable-vue';
import App from './App.vue';

Vue.use(ActionCableVue, {
  debug: true,
  debugLevel: 'error',
  connectionUrl: 'ws://localhost:5000/api/cable',
  connectImmediately: true,
});

new Vue({
  router,
  store,
  render: h => h(App)
}).$mount('#app');

Parameters	Type	Default	Required	Description
debug	Boolean	false	Optional	Enable logging for debug
debugLevel	String	error	Optional	Debug level required for logging. Either info, error, or all
connectionUrl	String	null	Required	ActionCable websocket server url
connectImmediately	Boolean	true	Optional	ActionCable connects to your server immediately. If false, ActionCable connects on the first subscription.

🌈 Component Level Usage

If you want to listen channel events from your Vue component, you need to add a `channels` object in the Vue component. Each defined object in `channels` will start to receive events provided you subscribe correctly.

new Vue({
  data() {
    return {
      message: 'Hello world'
    };
  },
  channels: {
    ChatChannel: {
      connected() {},
      rejected() {},
      received(data) {},
      disconnected() {}
    }
  },
  methods: {
    sendMessage: function() {
      this.$cable.perform({
        channel: 'ChatChannel',
        action: 'send_message',
        data: {
          content: this.message
        }
      });
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    this.$cable.subscribe({
      channel: 'ChatChannel',
      room: 'public'
    });
  }
});

✨ Subscriptions

1. Subscribing to a channel

Requires that you have an object defined in your component's channels object matching the action cable server channel name you passed for the subscription.

new Vue({
  channels: {
    ChatChannel: {
      connected() {
        console.log('I am connected.');
      }
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    this.$cable.subscribe({
      channel: 'ChatChannel'
    });
  }
});

Important

ActionCableVue automatically uses your ActionCable server channel name if you do not pass in a specific channel name to use in your channels. It will also override clashing channel names.

2. Subscribing to the same channel but different rooms

new Vue({
  channels: {
    chat_channel_public: {
      connected() {
        console.log('I am connected to the public chat channel.');
      }
    },
    chat_channel_private: {
      connected() {
        console.log('I am connected to the private chat channel.');
      }
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    this.$cable.subscribe({
        channel: 'ChatChannel',
        room: 'public'
      },
      'chat_channel_public'
    );
    this.$cable.subscribe({
        channel: 'ChatChannel',
        room: 'private'
      },
      'chat_channel_private'
    );
  }
});

3. Subscribing to a channel with a computed name

// Conversations.vue

new Vue({
  methods: {
    openConversation(conversationId){
      this.$router.push({name: 'conversation', params: {id: conversationId});
    }
  }
});

// Chat.vue

new Vue({
  channels: {
    computed: [{
      channelName() {
        return `${this.$route.params.conversationId}`;
      },
      connected() {
        console.log('I am connected to a channel with a computed name.');
      },
      rejected() {},
      received(data) {},
      disconnected() {}
    }]
  },
  mounted() {
    this.$cable.subscribe({
      channel: this.$route.params.conversationId
    });
  }
});

🎃 Unsubscriptions

When your component is destroyed ActionCableVue automatically unsubscribes from any channel that component was subscribed to.

new Vue({
  methods: {
    unsubscribe() {
      this.$cable.unsubscribe('ChatChannel');
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    this.$cable.subscribe({
      channel: 'ChatChannel'
    });
  }
});

♣ Performing an action on your Action Cable server

Requires that you have a method defined in your Rails Action Cable channel whose name matches the action property passed in.

new Vue({
  channels: {
    ChatChannel: {
      connected() {
        console.log('Connected to the chat channel');
      },
      received(data) {
        console.log('Message received');
      }
    }
  },
  methods: {
    sendMessage() {
      this.$cable.perform({
        channel: 'ChatChannel',
        action: 'send_message',
        data: {
          content: 'Hi'
        }
      });
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    this.$cable.subscribe({
      channel: 'ChatChannel'
    });
  }
});

💪 Usage with Nuxt.JS

ActionCableVue works just fine with Nuxt.JS. All you need to do is set it up as a client side plugin.

// /plugins/actioncable-vue.js

import Vue from 'vue';
import ActionCableVue from 'actioncable-vue';

if (process.client) {
  Vue.use(ActionCableVue, {
    debug: true,
    debugLevel: 'all',
    connectionUrl: process.env.WEBSOCKET_HOST,
    connectImmediately: true
  });
}

Don't forget to register your plugin.

// nuxt.config.js
/*
 ** Plugins to load before mounting the App
 */
plugins: [{ src: '@/plugins/actioncable-vue', ssr: false }];