What is @storybook/preview-api?
The @storybook/preview-api package is part of the Storybook ecosystem, which is a tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, Angular, and more. This package provides APIs to interact with the Storybook preview, allowing developers to control the rendering of stories, listen to events, and manipulate the state of the Storybook UI.
What are @storybook/preview-api's main functionalities?
Fetching and rendering stories
This feature allows developers to fetch story data by ID and render it using a custom component or utility.
import { useStorybookApi } from '@storybook/api';
function MyComponent() {
const api = useStorybookApi();
const story = api.getData('some-story-id');
return <StoryRenderer story={story} />;
}
Listening to Storybook events
This feature enables components to listen to Storybook-specific events and react accordingly, as well as emit events to the Storybook environment.
import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { useChannel } from '@storybook/api';
function MyComponent() {
const emit = useChannel({
'storybook/my-event': (eventData) => {
console.log('Event data:', eventData);
}
});
useEffect(() => {
emit('storybook/my-event', { payload: 'data' });
}, [emit]);
return <div>Check the console for event data.</div>;
}
Manipulating the Storybook UI
Developers can use this feature to programmatically control the Storybook UI, such as changing the current story displayed.
import { addons } from '@storybook/addons';
addons.setChannel(new Channel({ transport: new PostmsgTransport({ key: 'iframe-key' }) }));
addons.getChannel().emit('setCurrentStory', { storyId: 'some-story-id' });
Other packages similar to @storybook/preview-api
@storybook/addon-actions
This package allows developers to create callbacks that appear in the actions panel of the Storybook UI when clicked. It is similar to @storybook/preview-api in that it enhances the Storybook development experience but focuses on actions rather than preview functionality.
@storybook/addon-links
This package provides a way to create links between stories. It is similar to @storybook/preview-api in that it interacts with the Storybook UI, but it specifically focuses on linking stories together rather than providing a general API for preview manipulation.
@storybook/addon-storysource
This addon shows the source of the story next to the story itself. While it enhances the Storybook experience by providing source code context, it does not offer an API for controlling the preview like @storybook/preview-api does.
8.2.0
Hold onto your hats! Storybook 8.2 has dropped, packed with a treasure trove of new features and bug fixes:
- 🪝 New test hook
beforeAll
- 🕹️ Enhanced
play
function - 📦 Portable stories that let you use your stories in other testing tools
- 🎁 Consolidated dependency to bring you better performance in a smaller package
- ✨ Brand new onboarding experience to get you up to speed quicker
- 💯 Hundreds more improvements
<details>
<summary>List of all updates</summary>
- Addon Controls: Fix saving on Windows - #28485, thanks @ghengeveld!
- Addon Interactions: Use unique keys when rendering array nodes in panel - #28423, thanks @yannbf!
- Addon Onboarding: Add icons for dev/test/doc to the splash screen - #28389, thanks @ghengeveld!
- Addon Onboarding: New design and flow based on Save from Controls - #28327, thanks @ghengeveld!
- Addon Onboarding: Trigger onboarding during init for Vue and Angular projects - #28482, thanks @ghengeveld!
- Addon-A11y: Fix property default assignment - #27224, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Angular: Allow format configuration of custom source preview - #28305, thanks @64BitAsura!
- Angular: Allow outputPath object syntax - #28144, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Angular: Cleanup types - #27189, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Angular: Fix enableProdMode setting - #28415, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Angular: Fix wrong detection of standalone components - #27353, thanks @dario-baumberger!
- Angular: Introduce preserveSymlink builder option - #28145, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Angular: Update outputPath default value in angular-cli-webpack.js - #28418, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Babel: Ensure story files not transpiled earlier than ES2017 - #28469, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Blocks: Fix reference to storybook core - #28422, thanks @yannbf!
- Blocks: Prebundle
tocbot
- #28318, thanks @shilman! - Build: Change require/import order, so that import has higher prio if both are specified - #27730, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Build: Ignore ts stories in cra/default-js sandbox - #28354, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- CLI: Add
--no-dev
option to init
- #26918, thanks @fastfrwrd! - CLI: Add optional
--dev
and --no-dev
options to storybook init
CLI - #26918, thanks @fastfrwrd! - CLI: Add support for Nuxt to project init - #26884, thanks @tobiasdiez!
- CLI: Fix CLI always asking all automigrations - #28238, thanks @ndelangen!
- CLI: Improve error message when fetching CLI version - #28289, thanks @yannbf!
- CLI: Include
@storybook/addon-svelte-csf
when initializing new projects - #27070, thanks @benmccann! - CLI: Prebundle get-npm-tarball-url and @ndelangen/get-tarball - #28481, thanks @ndelangen!
- Config: Apply JavaScript-only story glob extensions for JavaScript projects - #28338, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Controls: Fix date picker control validation and assignment - #26695, thanks @leeovictor!
- Controls: Fix grouped Radio controls to have the same name - #23374, thanks @srapilly!
- Controls: Throttling makes Color control lagging - #22615, thanks @gitstart!
- Core: Add context as a property of the context (self-referencing) - #28353, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Core: Add support for
beforeAll
hook - #28255, thanks @ghengeveld! - Core: Fix startup hang caused by watchStorySpecifiers - #27016, thanks @heyimalex!
- Core: Make sure StorybookError message shows up in browser console and interactions panel - #28464, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Core: Migrate from
pkg-dir
to fd-package-json
- #28270, thanks @43081j! - Core: Refactor phases to run in order
loading
-> rendering
-> playing
- #28431, thanks @kasperpeulen! - Core: Remove more
.stories.mdx
handling - #25973, thanks @JReinhold! - Core: Remove util dependency - #28191, thanks @43081j!
- CPC: Add
CJS
for core/components
- #28440, thanks @ndelangen! - CPC: Core Package Consolidation - #27039, thanks @ndelangen!
- CSF: Automatically extract componentPath - #24396, thanks @shilman!
- CSF: Rename
preview.js
globals
to initialGlobals
- #27517, thanks @shilman! - Dependencies: Allow esbuild version 0.21.x - #28245, thanks @edoardocavazza!
- Dependency: bump
markdown-to-jsx
to v7.4.5 - #26694, thanks @xyy94813! - Dependency: Bump Express.js - #26680, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Dependency: Remove node-fetch - #28160, thanks @yk-kd!
- Dependency: Upgrade
webpack-virtual-modules
to 0.6.0 - #27102, thanks @fyodorovandrei! - Deps: Migrate from
read-pkg-up
to fd-package-json
- #28272, thanks @43081j! - Docs-tools: Replace
doctrine
with jsdoc-type-pratt-parser
- #26305, thanks @43081j! - Docs: Filter mount stories from
Stories
block, error when referenced in MDX - #28434, thanks @kasperpeulen! - Docs: Fix
Typeset
Doc block fontSizes
type - #26475, thanks @noranda! - Index: Fix MDX to override project-level autodocs - #28461, thanks @shilman!
- Indexer: Improve locating stories with specials chars in path - #22110, thanks @jankoritak!
- Next: Set default targets for next babel config - #28443, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Next.js: Set
env.bugfixes
in SWC so destructuring is never transpiled - #28363, thanks @kasperpeulen! - React: Export ButtonProps and HeaderProps in CLI templates - #28487, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- SWC: Set default targets for swc that align with our esbuild targets - #28435, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Telemetry: Stop prompting about crash reports in CI - #28433, thanks @yannbf!
- Test: Add args to
mount
in react, svelte, and vue renderers - #28385, thanks @kasperpeulen! - Test: Add mount property to the story context - #28383, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Test: Enhance the context with canvas when the test package is used - #28368, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Test: Improve MountMustBeDestructuredError error message - #28468, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Test: Reactive spies preserve the this instance - #28445, thanks @kasperpeulen!
- Types: Fix type implementation for
CompatibleString
- #27180, thanks @sni-J! - Vite: Fix asset warning by externalizing sb-common-assets font - #27110, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
- Vue3: Enable new hydration mismatch compile time flag - #27192, thanks @Cherry!
- Webpack5/Vite: Fix sourcemaps - #27171, thanks @valentinpalkovic!
</details>