README.md
# vue-plugin-timers
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A Vue.JS plugin/mixin that helps set timeouts and heartbeats in your Vue components
## The Problem - Creating Heartbeats
Say we create a vue.js component
```js
export default {
data() {
return {
minutes: new Date().getMinutes()
}
}
}
```
What if we want minutes to update along with the user's clock
when this component is open.
```js
export default {
get minutes() {
return new Date().getMinutes()
}
}
```
But, **unfortunately** this does **not work**.
Reason ?
`new Date()` or `Date.now()` type of objects are not reactive
We get their value once, but it doesn't update every minutes/second or so
## Solution - Use timers
With **`vue-plugin-timers`** we can create a `timers` option in Vue
components. Timers run a method in your component every `x` seconds
(where you can choose x).
### How to Use ?
We can activate timers in two ways
1. As a Component [Mixin](https://vuejs.org/v2/guide/mixins.html) in any component
```js
// @/components/AwesomeComponent.vue <script>
import { VueTimersMixin } from 'vue-plugin-timers'
export default {
mixins: [VueTimersMixin],
...,
timers: { ... }
}
```
2. As a global Vue [Plugin](https://vuejs.org/v2/guide/plugins.html) if you want to use in multiple components
```js
// @/main.js
import Vue from 'vue'
import VueTimers from 'vue-plugin-timers'
Vue.use(VueTimers)
```
You can use `timers` property in all components now
```js
// @/components/AnyComponent.vue <script>
export default {
...,
timers: { ... }
}
```
You can define timers in 2 ways -
1. As a `timers` property in component options (in single-file-component export or inside Vue.extend())
2. If using `vue-class-component`, then there are **`@Timer`** decorators 🎉
#### Usage: `timers` component option
```js
// @/components/AwesomeComponent.vue - <script>
export default {
data: {
time: new Date().toTimeString()
},
methods: {
updateTime() {this.time = new Date().toTimeString()}
},
timers: {
/* key = name of method */
updateMinutes: {
/* interval of delay (default: 1000) */
interval: 30000,
/* repeat (default: false)
true => setInterval,
false => setTimeout once */
repeat: true
}
}
}
```
### Usage: `@Timer` decorator
> ⚠️ IMPORTANT: This **needs** `vue-class-component` to be installed,
(or `vue-property-decorator`)
```typescript
import Vue from 'vue'
import Component from 'vue-class-component'
import { Timer } from 'vue-plugin-timer'
@Component
class TimerComponent extends Vue {
count = 0
@Timer({ interval: 200 })
incr() {
this.count++
}
}
```
The `@Timer` decorator takes all the same options as the
`timers` component options hashes do. Except the method name, because
you are decorating the method itself and so it is not needed
> NOTE: The **umd** builds do **NOT** have the decorator,
as decorators are something we usually use when building with
Vue CLI using Babel and/or Typescript