DevExtreme Vue - Application Template

The DevExtreme Vue Application Template helps you create a simple Vue application with a navigation menu and several sample views in a responsive layout (see live preview).

// Generate a Vue 2 application
npx devextreme-cli new vue-app app-name

// Generate a Vue 3 application
npx devextreme-cli new vue-app app-name --version=3

cd app-name
npm run serve

The application already contains the DataGrid and Form components. You can find their configurations in the src\views\tasks.vue and src\views\profile.vue files correspondingly.

The application includes two layouts. The only difference between them is where the toolbar is located: outer (default) or inner toolbar.

Outer toolbar

Inner toolbar

To switch to another layout, open the src\router.js file and change the import path from ./layouts/side-nav-outer-toolbar to ./layouts/side-nav-inner-toolbar:

import defaultLayout from './layouts/side-nav-inner-toolbar';

To generate a new application with an inner toolbar, set the --layout flag to side-nav-inner-toolbar:

npx devextreme-cli new vue-app app-name --layout=side-nav-inner-toolbar

Run the following command to add a new view. --icon specifies an icon from the DevExtreme icon library.

npx devextreme add view view-name [--icon=IconName]

You can find the added view under the src\views folder. This command also creates a navigation menu item for the added view in the src\app-navigation.js file.

Edit the src\app-navigation.js file to configure navigation menu items. Each item configuration can have the following fields:

• text - the item's text

• icon - the item's icon

• path - a navigation path associated with the item

• items - child items

{
    text: 'Category',
    icon: 'folder',
    items: [{
        text: 'About',
        path: '/about'
    }]
}

In the closed state, the navigation menu is partially visible because it displays item icons. If the items do not have icons, you can hide the menu. To do this, open the SideNavOuterToolbar or SideNavInnerToolbar component (depending on the used layout) and change the drawerOptions() computed property as follows:

// ...
<script>
// ...
export default {
    // ...
    computed: {
        drawerOptions() {
            // ...
            return {
                // ...
                minMenuSize: 0
            };
        },
        // ...
    },
    // ...
};
</script>

The application template uses the DevExtreme Toolbar component. The Toolbar is part of the HeaderToolbar component whose configuration is in the src\components\header-toolbar.vue file. To add a custom toolbar item, open this file and add a DxItem element inside DxToolbar. Refer to the items help section for information on DxItem attributes.

The following code adds a search button to the toolbar:

<template>
    <header class="header-component">
        <DxToolbar class="header-toolbar">
            <!-- ... -->
            <DxItem
                location="after">
                <template #default>
                    <DxButton
                        icon="search"
                        @click="searchFunc"
                    />
                </template>
            </DxItem>
            <!-- ... --->
        </DxToolbar>
    </header>
</template>
<script>
// ...
export default {
    props: {
        // ...
        searchFunc: Function
    },
    // ...
};
</script>

<template>
    <div class="side-nav-outer-toolbar">
        <header-toolbar ...
            :search-func="search"
        />
        <!-- ... -->
    </div>
</template>
<script>
// ...
export default {
    // ...
    methods: {
        // ...
        search() {
            console.log("search");
        }
    },
    // ...
};
</script>

In the code above, the button click handler is declared in the SideNavOuterToolbar component. This component applies when the outer toolbar layout is used. If the application uses the inner toolbar layout, add the same code to the SideNavInnerToolbar component.

The DevExtreme Vue Template uses a main theme for the view content and an additional theme (color swatch) for the navigation menu. To switch to another theme, open the src\themes\metadata.base.json or src\themes\metadata.additional.json file and assign a theme name to the baseTheme field:

{
    // ...
    "baseTheme": "material.blue.light",
    // ...
}

{
    // ...
    "baseTheme": "generic.light",
    // ...
}

You can find all theme names in the Predefined Themes help topic. Use theme names without the dx prefix.

Run the following command to rebuild themes:

npm run build-themes

See Also

• Switch Between Themes at Runtime

You can use the DevExtreme ThemeBuilder to create custom themes based on predefined themes. Follow the steps below:

1. Import src\themes\metadata.base.json or src\themes\metadata.additional.json to the ThemeBuilder.

2. Customize the theme.

3. Export theme metadata to the initial file (see Postpone Customization).

Run the following command to rebuild themes:

npm run build-themes

Color swatches are secondary color schemes used alongside a primary color scheme.

In the DevExtreme Vue Template, a color swatch is applied to the navigation menu and is configured in the src\themes\metadata.additional.json file. To apply this color swatch to an element, add the dx-swatch-additional class to this element:

<div class="dx-swatch-additional">
    <!-- Your content here -->
</div>

Theme variables are defined in the src\themes\generated\variables.base.scss and src\themes\generated\variables.additional.scss files. Apply them to custom elements, so that the elements have a uniform appearance with the rest of the application.

The following code applies the $base-accent variable as the background-color of my-element:

// Your SCSS file
@import "../../../themes/generated/variables.base.scss";

#my-element {
    background-color: $base-accent;
}

A DevExtreme Vue application includes authentication UI and API. Client-side routing is configured so that unauthenticated users can navigate to authentication pages only. These pages allow the users to sign in, create a new account, or reset the password.

Stub authentication functions for back-end requests are located in the src\auth.js file. Update these functions to make actual requests to your back end.

Each function returns an object with the following fields:

User information is stored in the same src\auth.js module. You can use its getUser() method to access this information:

<template>
    <!-- ... -->
</template>

<script>
import auth from '../auth';

export default {
    created() {
        auth.getUser().then((e) => {
            if (e.data) {
                // User is authenticated 
                ...
            }
        });
    },
    // ...
}
</script>

To generate an application with empty data, use the --empty flag (the layout remains the same):

npx devextreme-cli new vue-app app-name --empty

See Also

• Add DevExtreme to a Vue application