Vue.js: Data is not updating with state change so the re-render does not happen

Question

I have a reusable component that is a video.js video player. This component works fine when the data is passed in on the initial DOM load.

I need to figure out why my component is not re-rendering after the state is updated in Vuex.

The parent component passes down the data for the video via props. I also have this set to be used with multiple videos and it works fine with a single one or many.

<div v-for="video in videos" :key="video.id">
  <video-player :videoName="video.videoName" :videoURL="video.videoURL" :thumbnail="video.thumbnail"></video-player>
</div>

I'm setting the initial state to a generic video for all users in my Vuex store.

getFreeVideo: [
  {
    videoName: "the_video_name",
    videoURL:  "https://demo-video-url.mp4",
    thumbnail: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/../demo-video-poster.jpg"
  }
]

This is set in data in videos (and later set to getFreeVideo)

 data () {
   return {
     videos: []
   }
 }

I'm setting videos in data() to getFreeVideo in the store within the created() lifecycle:

    this.videos = this.getFreeVideo

..and checking if a user has a personal video and updating the state in the created() lifecycle.

 this.$store.dispatch('getFreeVideo', 'the_video_name')

This makes a request with axios and returns our video data successfully.

I'm using mapState import { mapState } from 'vuex to watch for a state change.

 computed: {
  ...mapState(['getFreeVideo'])
}

I am not seeing why this.videos is not being updated. Here, my assumption regarding the expected behaviour would be videos[] being updated from the state change and a re-rendering of the component.

As you can see below, the state has been updated, and the videoUpdate() within the computed properties has the new data as well:

..but, videos[] is never updated thus the video component never gets the props new props etc..

A couple of notes:

• already tried, hiding the child component with v-if (and showing after state change)
• tried setTimeout to test things, but the data will come through and then the videoJS player never instantiates correctly (must have initial data)
• tried doing this with a local method / not using Vuex state
• console is showing error TypeError: Cannot read property '_withTask' of undefined but this happens even when the demo video loads correctly, so this seem unrelated, and I can't find anything anywhere in here that presents itself as undefined.

TL;DR

I basically can't get child component to re-render after the state change. And although I can get the data into videos[] with a different structure, it still never re-renders.

Why is the data not making it through, and the re-render never happening?

Please don't post answers that only contain links to 'understanding reactivity' or something without any explanation.

appended for @acdcjunior

//action   
getFreeVideo: (context, videoName) => {
    axios({
      method: 'post',
      url: 'https://hidden-for-posting',
      data: {
        action: 'getVideo',
        userId: '1777', // (hardcoded to test)
        videoName: videoName
      },
      headers: {
        'x-api-key': apiKey,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
      }
    })
    .then(response => {
      let video = [
        {
          videoName: response.data.videoName,
          videoURL: response.data.videoURLs.mp4,
          thumbnail: response.data.thumbnails['1280']
        }
      ]
      return context.commit('updateGetFreeVideo', video)
    })
    .catch(error => {
      if (error.response) {
        console.log(error.response)
      } else if (error.request) {
        console.log(error.request)
      } else {
        console.log('Error', error.message)
      }
      console.log(error.config)
    })
}

// mutation:
updateGetFreeVideo: (state, payload) => {
  return state.getFreeVideo = payload
}

// getter:
getFreeVideo: state => {
  return state.getFreeVideo
}

Answer 1

NOTE: at the bottom of this answer, see the general point I make about update/reactivity issues with Vue.

---

Now, about the question, based on the code you posted, considering the template:

<div v-for="video in videos" :key="video.id">

It picks the videos from:

 data () {
   return {
     videos: freeVideo
   }
 }

Although it initializes from freeVideo, in nowhere in your code you show an update of videos.

Solution:

You already have the state mapped in the getFreeVideo computed:

computed: {
  ...mapState(['getFreeVideo'])
}

Use it:

<div v-for="video in getFreeVideo" :key="video.id">

---

Update:

I'm setting videos in data() to getFreeVideo in the store within the created() lifecycle:

    this.videos = this.getFreeVideo

This is not enough to keep this.videos updated with whatever this.getFreeVideo is. Whenever something is set to this.getFreeVideo it will only change this.getFreeVideo, not this.videos.

If you want to automatically update this.videos whenever this.getFreeVideo changes, create a watcher:

watch: {
  getFreeVideo() {
    this.videos = this.getFreeVideo
  }
}

And then keep using videos in the v-for:

<div v-for="video in videos" :key="video.id">

Vue's reactivity

All explanation below applies to Vue2 only. Vue3 doesn't have any of these caveats.

If your state is not getting updated in the view, perhaps you are not exploring Vue at its best:

To have Vue automatically react to value changes, the objects must be initially declared in data. Or, if not, they must be added using Vue.set().

See the comments in the demo below. Or open the same demo in a JSFiddle here.

new Vue({
  el: '#app',
  data: {
    person: {
      name: 'Edson'
    }
  },
  methods: {
    changeName() {
      // because name is declared in data, whenever it
      // changes, Vue automatically updates
      this.person.name = 'Arantes';
    },
    changeNickname() {
      // because nickname is NOT declared in data, when it
      // changes, Vue will NOT automatically update
      this.person.nickname = 'Pele';
      // although if anything else updates, this change will be seen
    },
    changeNicknameProperly() {
      // when some property is NOT INITIALLY declared in data, the correct way
      // to add it is using Vue.set or this.$set
      Vue.set(this.person, 'address', '123th avenue.');
      
      // subsequent changes can be done directly now and it will auto update
      this.person.address = '345th avenue.';
    }
  }
})

/* CSS just for the demo, it is not necessary at all! */
span:nth-of-type(1),button:nth-of-type(1) { color: blue; }
span:nth-of-type(2),button:nth-of-type(2) { color: red; }
span:nth-of-type(3),button:nth-of-type(3) { color: green; }
span { font-family: monospace }

<script src="https://unpkg.com/vue@2"></script>

<div id="app">
  <span>person.name: {{ person.name }}</span><br>
  <span>person.nickname: {{ person.nickname }}</span><br>
  <span>person.address: {{ person.address }}</span><br>
  <br>
  <button @click="changeName">this.person.name = 'Arantes'; (will auto update because `name` was in `data`)</button><br>
  <button @click="changeNickname">this.person.nickname = 'Pele'; (will NOT auto update because `nickname` was not in `data`)</button><br>
  <button @click="changeNicknameProperly">Vue.set(this.person, 'address', '99th st.'); (WILL auto update even though `address` was not in `data`)</button>
  <br>
  <br>
  For more info, read the comments in the code. Or check the docs on <b>Reactivity</b> (link below).
</div>

To master this part of Vue, check the Official Docs on Reactivity - Change Detection Caveats. It is a must read!

Answer 2

So turns out the whole issue was with video.js. I'm half tempted to delete this question, but I would not want anyone who helped to lose any points.

The solution and input here did help to rethink my use of watchers or how I was attempting this. I ended up just using the central store for now since it works fine, but this will need to be refactored later.

I had to just forego using video.js as a player for now, and a regular html5 video player works without issues.

Answer 3

If the computed property isn't referenced (e.g. "used") somewhere in your template code vue will skip reactivity for it.

First it's a bit confusing the way you're structuring the store and the state properties.

I would:

1) Have a "videos" property in the store state

2) Initialise it as an empty array

3) On application start populate it correctly with the "load" defaults, with a mutation that pushes the "default" video to it

4) Have the components mapGetter to it under the name of videos

5) Whenever you load a component that "updates" the possible videos, then dispatch the action and call the appropriate mutation to substitute the store "videos" property

Note: If components can have different "default" videos, then probably you'll want to have a videos property in the store that is initialised as false. This then allows you to have a computed property that uses the getter for the videos property in the store and in case it is false

What I mean is, for the first case

// store
state: {
  videos: []
}

getters: {
  videos(state) { return state.videos } 
}

//components

...
computed: {
  videos() {
    this.$store.getters.videos
  }
}

For the second case


// store
state: {
  videos: false
}

getters: { personal_videos(state) { return state.videos } }

//components
data() { return { default: default_videos } },
computed: {
  ...mapGetters([ 'personal_videos' ]),
  videos() {
    if (this.personal_videos) {
      return this.personal_videos
    } else {
      return this.default
    } 
  }

}

Personal: give them better names -_- and the first option is the clearest