How to Integrate Vue.js Applications With Drupal

The popularity of interweb content on the interwebs, growing rapidly ever since the early 2000s, has led the world to the doorstep of yet another technology: Content Management Systems. With JavaScript, there are plenty of options for front-end interfaces. Now, we do have ample technologies like Drupal to build these platforms, the growing demand for dynamic and interactive experiences has put the spotlight on other technologies that can fulfill such expectations. 

This is where vue.js, a JavaScript framework renowned for enabling the development of rich, interactive apps. Vue.js is a popular JavaScript framework to create interactive applications. Did you know it provides data-reactive components with a simple and flexible API? In addition, you can use it as a library to add interactive elements/blocks to existing websites. It is now well-established as the go-to resource if you are looking to deliver a significant boost to user experiences. 

So, if you are in the market for such solutions and want to take things up a few notches with your Drupal CMS, here are some tips to integrate them with vue.js apps.

    1. Use Custom Modules: Easily one of the primary and also the most basic steps for the integration of any Vue.js application with Drupal is via the creation of custom modules. But what does that exactly entail? Well, the developer is required to develop a new custom module for the Vue.js app. See, what this dependency then does is add general Vue libraries. That is not all though; developers are also able to add these aforementioned general Vue libraries straight to the custom module they created at the beginning of this process. With that being said, we must mention that placing them in another module would be a much better idea because that way developers will be able to reuse them later on as well.

name: Module Name

type: module

description: 'Provides functionality for ...'

package: Project Name

core_version_requirement: ^8.8 || ^9

dependencies:

  - projectname_system:projectname_system

version: 1.0

    2. Leverage Vue CLI: Vue CLI not only helps build new Vue apps but also enables developers to scaffold said app with necessitating an extensive setup. It does so via building the directory structure and generating settings for application compilation, etc. It is advisable to place the app into the target module’s sub-directory; e.g., module-name-app

{

  "name": "module-name-app",

  "version": "0.1.0",

  "private": true,

  “scripts”: {

    "serve": "vue-cli-service serve",

    "build": "vue-cli-service build --target lib --formats umd-min --name module_name_app src/main.js",

    "lint": "vue-cli-service lint",

    "lint-no-fix": "vue-cli-service lint --no-fix --max-warnings 0",

    "dev": "vue-cli-service build --target lib --formats umd-min --name module_name_app src/main.js --watch"

  },

...

}

    3. Integrate Application Library in Block:  The beauty of blocks, as well as paragraphs, is that they enable developers to position content in the editor-accessible sections of the apps and integrating requisite assets solely the said block or paragraph makes an appearance on the page. You can execute such integration via a custom block’s build method and add the library in question to the returned render array.

public function build() {

  ...

  return [

    '#theme' => 'module_name_block',

    ...

    '#attached' => [

      'library' => 'module_name/module-name-app',

    ],

    ...

  ];

}

Countless experts all over the world agree that leveraging Vue.js for one’s Drupal website development project is undoubtedly a great idea. After all, it is not only a rather developer-friendly framework, but is also very agile, brings forth a spectacular ecosystem, and offers a world of countless other benefits as well. All you need, then, is to make sure that you keep the industry best practices and tips, such as the ones listed above, in mind to quickly and effortlessly integrate vue.js applications with Drupal.