classy-solid

classy-solid

Tools for class-based reactivity powered by Solid.js, and for using classes as Solid components (f.e. in a JSX template).

Install

npm install classy-solid

Note If you do not have or do not wish to use a build tool, see the Without compiler support section for plain JavaScript usage without decorators.

Note classy-solid works only with the latest stage-3 decorators. Legacy decorators are no longer supported, as we've moved onto the official decorator format finally blessed by the TC39 EcmasScript language design committee.

Vite Setup

Using classy-solid with Vite may result in the following error because decorators are not yet released natively into JavaScript engines (but they will be soon!). For now, a Babel configuration must be provided to compile the syntax for decorators.

Support for the experimental syntax 'decorators' isn't currently enabled

To use classy-solid with Vite (or Solid Start), we need to set up the Babel configuration for the Solid.js Vite plugin. First run the following:

npm install --save-dev @babel/plugin-proposal-decorators

Then update your vite.config.js to use the Babel plugin:

// ...
solidPlugin({
	babel: {
		plugins: [['@babel/plugin-proposal-decorators', {version: '2022-03'}]],
	},
})
// ...

Babel Setup

Similar to the Vite Setup above, you'll specify in your Babel config file the same @babel/plugin-proposal-decorators plugin.

// ...
plugins: [['@babel/plugin-proposal-decorators', {version: '2022-03'}]]
// ...

API and Usage

Note, these docs assume you have basic knowledge of Solid.js first.

@reactive

Mark a class with this decorator if it will have signal properties (properties backed by Solid signals). See @signal below for an example.

@signal

Decorate a property of a class with @signal to make it reactive (backed by a Solid signal). Be sure to decorate a class that has signal properties with the @reactive decorator as well.

import {reactive, signal} from 'classy-solid'
import {createEffect} from 'solid-js'

export {Car}
@reactive
class Car {
	@signal engineOn = false
	@signal sound = 'vroom'
}

import {Car} from './Car'

const car = new Car()

createEffect(() => {
	// This re-runs any time car.engineOn or car.sound change.
	if (car.engineOn) console.log(car.sound)
})

// ...

@component

A decorator that makes a class usable as a component within a Solid template (f.e. within JSX markup).

A class decorated with @component can optionally have any three of the following methods:

• onMount - Called after the the initial instantiation of the component, after the template has been executed, just like Solid's onMount.
• onCleanup - Called when the component is removed, just like Solid's onCleanup.
• template - Returns a template (f.e. JSX markup), just like the return values of a Solid function component, and it can use any reactive signal properties of the class.

Note All props passed into a class component get mapped to class properties, regardless if the property is reactive or not. This means you can, for example, forgo the @reactive and @signal decorators and use your own accessors to handle changes in some other way as you wish, or use existing classes that have properties implemented in their own way.

Examples:

JavaScript

With compiler support

Currently the best way to write JavaScript code with classy-solid is if you have a build setup in place (soon decorators will be native in JavaScript engines and a build step will not be necessary for decorators, but will still be necessary for JSX templates).

The Babel compiler, for example, allows use of decorators and JSX:

import {component, reactive, signal} from 'classy-solid'
import {onMount, onCleanup, createEffect} from 'solid-js'

export {MyComp}
@component
@reactive
class MyComp {
	@signal last = 'none'
	@signal count = 1

	h1

	onMount() {
		console.log('h1 element reference:', this.h1)

		this.int = setInterval(() => this.count++, 1000)

		// Clean up like this,
		onCleanup(() => clearInterval(this.int))
	}

	// or clean up like this.
	onCleanup() {
		clearInterval(this.int)
	}

	template(props) {
		// The class is in a Solid reactive context. You can also use onMount or
		// other Solid APIs like usual. The template() method is a Solid
		// function component that has access to `this`. For example, the
		// following two lines of standard Solid code would work fine here:
		onMount(() => console.log('mounted'))
		createEffect(() => console.log('count:', this.count))

		// Here we show that passed-in `props` can be used directly. All
		// props are automatically mapped to same-name properties on the
		// class instance, which is why the passed in `last={}` prop is
		// accessible as `this.last`.
		return (
			<h1 ref={this.h1}>
				Hello, my name is {props.first} {this.last}! The count is {this.count}.
			</h1>
		)
	}
}

render(() => <MyComp first="Joe" last="Pea" />, document.body)

Note You only need the @reactive decorator if you will use @signal properties in your class, regardless if your class is a component or not.

Without compiler support

Note The new decorators proposal reached stage 3, so JavaScript will have decorators natively soon and won't require compiler support.

For plain JS users without build setups, use component and signalify with normal function calls, and use Solid's html template tag for templating:

TODO @component needs to be updated to stage 3

import {component, signalify} from 'classy-solid'
import html from 'solid-js/html'

const MyComp = component(
	class MyComp {
		last = 'none'
		count = 1

		h1

		constructor() {
			signalify(this, 'last', 'count')
			// Or, to signalify all properties:
			// signalify(this)
		}

		onMount() {
			console.log('h1 element:', this.h1)

			this.int = setInterval(() => this.count++, 1000)

			// Clean up like this,
			onCleanup(() => clearInterval(this.int))
		}

		// or clean up like this.
		onCleanup() {
			clearInterval(this.int)
		}

		template(props) {
			onMount(() => console.log('mounted'))
			createEffect(() => console.log('count:', this.count))

			return html`<h1 ref=${el => (this.h1 = el)}>Hello, my name is ${() => props.first} ${() => this.last}!</h1>`
		}
	},
)

render(() => html`<${MyComp} first="Joe" last="Pea" />`, document.body)

For reference, here's the same example using the component decorator as a regular function, but with accessor properties that wire up Solid signals manually, which is essentially the equivalent of what the @reactive and @signal decorators do under the hood for convenience:

import {component} from 'classy-solid'
import {createSignal} from 'solid-js'
import html from 'solid-js/html'

const MyComp = component(
	class MyComp {
		#last = createSignal('none')

		get last() {
			// read from a Solid signal
			const [get] = this.#last
			return get()
		}
		set last(value) {
			// write to a Solid signal
			const [, set] = this.#last
			set(value)
		}

		#count = createSignal(1)

		get count() {
			const [get] = this.#count
			return get()
		}
		set count(value) {
			const [, set] = this.#count
			set(value)
		}

		h1

		onMount() {
			console.log('h1 element:', this.h1)

			this.int = setInterval(() => this.count++, 1000)

			// Clean up like this,
			onCleanup(() => clearInterval(this.int))
		}

		// or clean up like this.
		onCleanup() {
			clearInterval(this.int)
		}

		template(props) {
			onMount(() => console.log('mounted'))
			createEffect(() => console.log('count:', this.count))

			return html`<h1 ref=${el => (this.h1 = el)}>Hello, my name is ${() => props.first} ${() => this.last}!</h1>`
		}
	},
)

render(() => html`<${MyComp} first="Joe" last="Pea" />`, document.body)

TypeScript

TypeScript does not yet support stage 3 decorators, so you'll have to use Babel's TypeScript preset to compile TypeScript code after type checking with TypeScript (Babel's transform won't perform type checking, it only strips types when converting to JavaScript).

Note The same rules apply here as with decorators in the previous JavaScript section, and the only difference here is added type checking.

import {component, reactive, signal, Props} from 'classy-solid'

@component
@reactive
class MyComp {
	// Define `PropTypes` on your class to define prop types for JSX. Note, this
	// property does not actually need to exist at runtime and is not used at
	// runtime, so here we use the `!` to tell TS not to worry about it being
	// `undefined`.
	PropTypes!: Props<this, 'last' | 'count' | 'first'>

	@signal last = 'name'
	@signal first = 'no'
	@signal count = 123

	// This property will not appear in the JSX prop types, because we did not
	// list it in the `PropTypes` definition.
	foo = 'blah'

	h1: HTMLHeadingElement | undefined = undefined

	onMount() {
		console.log('h1 element:', this.h1)
	}

	onCleanup() {
		console.log('cleaned up')
	}

	template(props: this['PropTypes']) {
		// Note, unlike the JS examples, we had to define a `first` property on
		// the class or else it would not have a type definition here within
		// `props` or in JSX that uses the component. Plain JS has no types, so
		// there is no concern with that in those cases.
		return (
			<h1 ref={this.h1}>
				Hello, my name is {props.first} {this.last}! The count is {this.count}.
			</h1>
		)
	}
}

render(() => <MyComp first="Joe" last="Pea" count={456} />, document.body)

createSignalObject()

Returns a Solid signal in the form of an object with .get and .set methods, instead of an array tuple.

let count = createSignalObject(0) // count starts at 0
count.set(1) // set the value of count to 1
count.set(count.get() + 1) // add 1
let currentValue = count.get() // read the current value

In cases where decorators are not yet supported or undesired, using Solid's createSignal directly as a class property is not so ideal:

class Counter {
	count = createSignal(0)

	increment() {
		// These are not so readable:
		this.count[1](this.count[0]() + 1)
		// or
		this.count[1](c => c + 1)
	}
}

createSignalObject provides an alternative that is more usable as a class property:

class Counter {
	count = createSignalObject(0)

	increment() {
		// These are more readable:
		this.count.set(this.count.get() + 1)
		// or
		this.count.set(c => c + 1)
	}
}

createSignalFunction()

Returns a Solid signal in the form of a single overloaded function for both getting and setting the signal, instead of an array tuple. Call the function with no arguments to get the signal value, and call it with an arg to set the signal value.

let count = createSignalFunction(0) // count starts at 0
count(1) // set the value of count to 1
count(count() + 1) // add 1
let currentValue = count() // read the current value

In cases where decorators are not yet supported or undesired, using Solid's createSignal directly as a class property is not so ideal:

class Counter {
	count = createSignal(0)

	increment() {
		// These are not so readable:
		this.count[1](this.count[0]() + 1)
		// or
		this.count[1](c => c + 1)
	}
}

createSignalFunction provides an alternative that is more usable as a class property:

class Counter {
	count = createSignalFunction(0)

	increment() {
		// These are more readable:
		this.count(this.count() + 1)
		// or
		this.count(c => c + 1)
	}
}

signalify()

Use this to convert properties on an object into Solid signal-backed properties. This is what @signal uses behind the scenes.

This can be useful with plain objects, as well with classes in situations where decorators are unavailable or undesired.

Here are some examples. Make certain properties on an object reactive signal-backed properties:

import {signalify} from 'class-solid'
import {createEffect} from 'solid-js'

const obj = {
	foo: 1,
	bar: 2,
	baz: 3,
}

// Make only the 'foo' and 'bar' properties reactive (backed by Solid signals).
signalify(obj, 'foo', 'bar')

// ...

createEffect(() => {
	console.log(obj.foo, obj.bar)
})

In some cases, using signalify is more desirable than Solid's createMutable because the original object is not wrapped in a Proxy. This can be useful for patching 3rd-party objects to make them reactive, whereas it would not be possible with createMutable.

Note, it returns the same object passed in, so you can write this:

const obj = signalify(
	{
		foo: 1,
		bar: 2,
		baz: 3,
	},
	// Make only the 'foo' and 'bar' properties reactive (backed by Solid signals).
	'foo',
	'bar',
)

If you want to make all properties signal-backed, then omitting the property names in the call will internally use Object.keys(obj) as a default:

// Make all properties reactive signals
const obj = signalify({
	foo: 1,
	bar: 2,
	baz: 3,
})

Note that the object passed in is the same object returned:

let test
const obj = signalify(test = {...})
console.log(obj === test) // true

Signalify properties in a class (alternative to decorators):

import {signalify} from 'class-solid'
import {createEffect} from 'solid-js'

class Counter {
	count = 0
	on = true

	constructor() {
		// Make only the 'count' variable reactive (signal-backed). The 'on'
		// variable remains a regular property.
		signalify(this, 'count')
	}
}

const c = new Counter()

// ...

createEffect(() => {
	console.log(c.count)
})

The downside of the previous example (namely, not using decorators) is that the code is less DRY, we had to repeat ourselves by writing the word "count" twice. But, if you're okay with it, you can make all properties reactive by omitting the second arg (sometimes you don't want all properties to be reactive):

class Counter {
	count = 0
	on = true

	constructor() {
		// Both 'count' and 'on' will be signal-backed:
		signalify(this)
	}
}

Note how with decorators, the code is more DRY and concise, because we don't have to express the count word more than once, therefore reducing some surface area for human mistakes, and we don't have to write a constructor:

@reactive
class Counter {
	@signal count = 0
	on = true
}