Building Micro-Frontends With Vue and Reusable Components

In recent years, the concept of microservices has gained immense popularity in the world of software development. Now, there is a new kid on the block that’s catching up fast—micro-frontend. It’s a technique that allows you to create and deploy small, reusable components that work together to build a larger application.

One of the most popular frontend frameworks today is Vue. Vue is a progressive framework that allows you to build user interfaces and reusable components. In this article, we will discuss how to build micro-frontends using Vue and reusable components, as well as the differences between normal application development and the micro-frontend approach.

What Is a Micro-Frontend?

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s define what we mean by a micro-frontend. A micro-frontend is an architectural approach to building frontend applications that involves breaking down a large application into smaller, more manageable parts. Each part, or micro-frontend, is developed and deployed independently of the others. This approach allows teams to work on different parts of the application without stepping on each other’s toes.

Micro-Frontend vs Traditional Frontend Development

So, what makes micro-frontends different from traditional frontend development? In a traditional frontend development approach, you typically have a monolithic codebase where all the code for the frontend is located. This codebase can become bloated and difficult to manage, especially as the application grows larger. In contrast, a micro-frontend approach allows you to break down your frontend codebase into smaller, more manageable parts. This approach makes it easier to scale your application and allows you to reuse code across different parts of your application.

Building Micro-Frontends Using Vue and Reusable Components

Vue makes it easy to build reusable components, which is essential when building micro-frontends. Reusable components are components that can be used across different parts of your application without having to rewrite the same code multiple times. For example, a button component can be reused in different parts of your application where you need a button. This approach saves time and reduces code duplication.

To build a micro-frontend using Vue and reusable components, you need to first identify the different parts of your application that can be broken down into smaller, more manageable parts. Each part will be developed as a micro-frontend and will have its own set of reusable components.

Once you have identified the different parts of your application, you can start building the micro-frontends using Vue. Each micro-frontend can be developed independently and can be deployed separately. When the micro-frontends are ready, you can combine them to create the larger application.

Now, let’s explore how services interact with APIs in a micro-frontend architecture.

APIs in Micro-Frontend Architecture

In a micro-frontend architecture, services are typically built as standalone components that can be used across different micro-frontends. These services communicate with APIs to retrieve and store data.

For example, let’s say you have a micro-frontend that displays a list of products. You can build a service that communicates with an API to retrieve the list of products. This service can be reused in other micro-frontends that need to display a list of products.

Let’s say we are building an e-commerce platform, and we have identified the following parts that can be broken down into micro-frontends:

• Product catalog: This micro-frontend displays a list of products with their prices and descriptions.
• Cart: This micro-frontend allows users to add products to their cart and checkout.
• User account: This micro-frontend displays user account information, such as orders and saved addresses.

To build the micro-frontends, we can start by identifying the reusable components we need for each micro-frontend. For example, the “Product Catalog” and “Cart” micro-frontends both need a component that displays product information, while the “Cart” and “User Account” micro-frontends both need a component that displays the user’s order history.

We can then build these reusable components using Vue and import them into each micro-frontend as needed. This approach saves time and reduces code duplication.

For the services, we can build a product service that communicates with the product API to retrieve and display the product catalog. We can also build a cart service that communicates with the cart API to manage the user’s cart and checkout process.

Finally, the User Account micro-frontend can use a user service that communicates with the user API to retrieve and display the user’s account information.

By breaking down our e-commerce platform into micro-frontends with reusable components and services, we can develop and deploy each part independently, allowing our team to work on different parts of the application without stepping on each other’s toes. Additionally, this approach makes it easier to scale our application and reuse code across different parts of the platform.

Let’s take a look at an example of how we can build a product catalog component using Vue:

javascript
<template>
  <div>
    <h2>Product Catalog</h2>
    <ul>
      <li v-for="product in products" :key="product.id">
        <h3>{{ product.name }}</h3>
        <p>{{ product.description }}</p>
        <p>Price: ${{ product.price }}</p>
        <button @click="addToCart(product)">Add to Cart</button>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
import ProductService from '@/services/ProductService.js'

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      products: []
    }
  },
  methods: {
    addToCart(product) {
      // Call the Cart micro-frontend to add the product to the user's cart
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    ProductService.getProducts().then(response => {
      this.products = response.data
    })
  }
}
</script>

In this code, we have a product catalog component that displays a list of products with their name, description, and price. The component also has a button to add the product to the user’s cart.

We are using the ProductService to retrieve the list of products from the product API, and we are using the v-for directive to loop through the list of products and display them on the page.

When the user clicks the “Add to Cart” button, we can call a method to add the product to the user’s cart. This method can communicate with the “Cart” micro-frontend to perform the actual cart update.

This is just one example of how we can use Vue to build a reusable component for an e-commerce product catalog. Similar components can be built for other parts of the e-commerce platform, such as the cart and user account micro-frontends.

Conclusion

Micro-frontend architecture is a powerful approach to building frontend applications. It allows you to break down your application into smaller, more manageable parts, making it easier to scale and reuse code across different parts of your application. When building micro-frontends using Vue, reusable components are essential. They help you save time and reduce code duplication. Finally, in a micro-frontend architecture, services are typically built as standalone components that communicate with APIs to retrieve and store data.