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Reactivity API: Utilities

isRef()

Checks if a value is a ref object.

  • Type

    ts
    function isRef<T>(r: Ref<T> | unknown): r is Ref<T>
    

    Note the return type is a type predicate, which means isRef can be used as a type guard:

    ts
    let foo: unknown
    if (isRef(foo)) {
      // foo's type is narrowed to Ref<unknown>
      foo.value
    }
    

unref()

Returns the inner value if the argument is a ref, otherwise return the argument itself. This is a sugar function for val = isRef(val) ? val.value : val.

  • Type

    ts
    function unref<T>(ref: T | Ref<T>): T
    
  • Example

    ts
    function useFoo(x: number | Ref<number>) {
      const unwrapped = unref(x)
      // unwrapped is guaranteed to be number now
    }
    

toRef()

Can be used to create a ref for a property on a source reactive object. The created ref is synced with its source property: mutating the source property will update the ref, and vice-versa.

  • Type

    ts
    function toRef<T extends object, K extends keyof T>(
      object: T,
      key: K,
      defaultValue?: T[K]
    ): ToRef<T[K]>
    
    type ToRef<T> = T extends Ref ? T : Ref<T>
    
  • Example

    js
    const state = reactive({
      foo: 1,
      bar: 2
    })
    
    const fooRef = toRef(state, 'foo')
    
    // mutating the ref updates the original
    fooRef.value++
    console.log(state.foo) // 2
    
    // mutating the original also updates the ref
    state.foo++
    console.log(fooRef.value) // 3
    

    Note this is different from:

    js
    const fooRef = ref(state.foo)
    

    The above ref is not synced with state.foo, because the ref() receives a plain number value.

    toRef() is useful when you want to pass the ref of a prop to a composable function:

    vue
    <script setup>
    import { toRef } from 'vue'
    
    const props = defineProps(/* ... */)
    
    // convert `props.foo` into a ref, then pass into
    // a composable
    useSomeFeature(toRef(props, 'foo'))
    </script>
    

    When toRef is used with component props, the usual restrictions around mutating the props still apply. Attempting to assign a new value to the ref is equivalent to trying to modify the prop directly and is not allowed. In that scenario you may want to consider using computed with get and set instead. See the guide to using v-model with components for more information.

    toRef() will return a usable ref even if the source property doesn't currently exist. This makes it possible to work with optional properties, which wouldn't be picked up by toRefs.

toRefs()

Converts a reactive object to a plain object where each property of the resulting object is a ref pointing to the corresponding property of the original object. Each individual ref is created using toRef().

  • Type

    ts
    function toRefs<T extends object>(
      object: T
    ): {
      [K in keyof T]: ToRef<T[K]>
    }
    
    type ToRef = T extends Ref ? T : Ref<T>
    
  • Example

    js
    const state = reactive({
      foo: 1,
      bar: 2
    })
    
    const stateAsRefs = toRefs(state)
    /*
    Type of stateAsRefs: {
      foo: Ref<number>,
      bar: Ref<number>
    }
    */
    
    // The ref and the original property is "linked"
    state.foo++
    console.log(stateAsRefs.foo.value) // 2
    
    stateAsRefs.foo.value++
    console.log(state.foo) // 3
    

    toRefs is useful when returning a reactive object from a composable function so that the consuming component can destructure/spread the returned object without losing reactivity:

    js
    function useFeatureX() {
      const state = reactive({
        foo: 1,
        bar: 2
      })
    
      // ...logic operating on state
    
      // convert to refs when returning
      return toRefs(state)
    }
    
    // can destructure without losing reactivity
    const { foo, bar } = useFeatureX()
    

    toRefs will only generate refs for properties that are enumerable on the source object at call time. To create a ref for a property that may not exist yet, use toRef instead.

isProxy()

Checks if an object is a proxy created by reactive(), readonly(), shallowReactive() or shallowReadonly().

  • Type

    ts
    function isProxy(value: unknown): boolean
    

isReactive()

Checks if an object is a proxy created by reactive() or shallowReactive().

  • Type

    ts
    function isReactive(value: unknown): boolean
    

isReadonly()

Checks if an object is a proxy created by readonly() or shallowReadonly().

  • Type

    ts
    function isReadonly(value: unknown): boolean
    
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