How to register Vue plugin from files generated by npm build with webpack

Question

I setup a new Vue project with basic scaffolding using the Vue CLI and Vuetify with tree shaking to eliminate any components I don't need. I'm really only interested in the vendor files that have the Vuetify components (presumably the chunk-vender... files under dist/js and dist/css).

The HTML in my project is including those vendor files, but I don't understand how to register the plugin with Vue. For example, in my app's JS file:

Vue.use(vuetify); // where do I get the vuetify plugin object from?
new Vue({...})

Just to be clear, I'm not interested in the app JS/CSS files generated by the npm build. I'm only using that whole setup so that I can manually cherry pick the Vuetify components I want and create the necessary JS/CSS.

If I include the full-fat Vuetify script/css in my HTML from a CDN eg

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/vuetify/2.3.17/vuetify.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/vuetify/2.3.17/vuetify.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>

...then I can initialize Vuetify in my apps JS like:

new Vue({
    el: '#my-app',
    vuetify: new Vuetify(),
})

...so what I'm hoping to find out is if there is a way to initialize Vuetify using the vendor JS file produced from the Vue CLI build instead of the full CDN version. If I try to use the same initialzation method above when using the vendor build JS file, I get the error Vuetify is not defined .

Answer 1

There's actually a more idiomatic way to create a library with Vue CLI. Your build NPM-script should specify the library build type and an entry point that exports a Vue plugin (eg, src/plugins/vuetify.js ), where only specific Vuetify components are installed.

For example, to create a Vue plugin that installs only VApp (required as root component in Vuetify 2.x), VContainer , VBtn , and VTextField components:

1. Run these commands to generate a Vue CLI project with the default options:

    npx @vue/cli create --default my-vuetify cd my-vuetify

2. Run this command from the project's root directory to add Vuetify to the project (and choose Default preset at prompt):

    npx @vue/cli add vuetify

3. Edit the project's build NPM-script in package.json to create a library called MyVuetify (this will be the global variable set when the library is imported in your <script> tag):

    // package.json { "scripts": { // BEFORE: "build": "vue-cli-service build", // AFTER: "build": "vue-cli-service build --target lib --name MyVuetify src/plugins/vuetify.js", } }

4. In the plugin's entry file, export a vuetify function that constructs a new Vuetify instance:

    // src/plugins/vuetify.js import Vuetify from 'vuetify/lib' export const vuetify = options => new Vuetify({ ...options })

   Also export a plugin object, containing an install function that specifies only the Vuetify components of interest:

    // src/plugins/vuetify.js import { VApp, VContainer, VBtn, VTextField } from 'vuetify/lib' export const plugin = { install(app, options) { app.use(Vuetify, { components: { // Vuetify 2.x requires `VApp` to be the root component, so `VApp` // needs to be exported unless you prefer the consumer app provided it VApp, VContainer, VBtn, VTextField, }, ...options }) } }

5. Run this command to build the library:

    npm run build

Usage

In dist/demo.html from the library build output, load the UMD script ( MyVuetify.umd.js ), which sets a global named MyVuetify , containing the exports from the build output (defined earlier in step 4). Also load the styles ( MyVuetify.css ), which contains the CSS for the used Vuetify components.

<script src="./MyVuetify.umd.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="./MyVuetify.css">

Finally, create a <script> block that installs the plugin from MyVuetify.plugin and initializes the Vue app's vuetify with MyVuetify.vuetify() :

<script>
Vue.use(MyVuetify.plugin)

new Vue({
  vuetify: MyVuetify.vuetify(/* Vuetify options (e.g., `theme`) */),
})
</script>

Here's a complete dist/demo.html :

<script src="https://unpkg.com/vue@2.6.12/dist/vue.min.js"></script>
<script src="./MyVuetify.umd.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="./MyVuetify.css">

<v-app id="app">
  <v-container>
    <form @submit.prevent="greet">
      <v-text-field v-model="name" label="Name"></v-text-field>
      <v-btn type="submit">Greet</v-btn>
    </form>
  </v-container>
</v-app>

<script>
Vue.use(MyVuetify.plugin)

new Vue({
  el: '#app',
  vuetify: MyVuetify.vuetify(),
  data: () => ({
    name: '',
  }),
  methods: {
    greet() {
      alert(`Hi ${this.name.trim() || 'there'}!`)
    }
  }
})
</script>

GitHub demo