Vue Components: Bootstrap Card, Github API

I’m dabbling with Vue version 3. Here’s Part 2 of 2 in generating a reusable component. This time with an API call attached.

Introduction

Let’s build this. A simple Vue app which accesses Github’s REST API and prints a user’s profile into a Bootstrap 4 card interface.

What’s the Goal?

Create a reusable component that displays a person’s Github profile.

What will we need?

Stackblitz - to quickly prototype a Vue project and its dependencies.
Bootstrap 4 - to grab some ready-made user interfaces (e.g. cards).
Axios - the promise based library we’ll use to communicate with Github’s API.
Github API - the data source we’ll need to access and display a user’s profile.

Step By Step

Step 1: Create Vue App

Visit Stackblitz.com and click the Vue icon to automatically generate a default HelloWorld project.

Step 2: Install Dependencies

Enter additional dependencies such as axios and bootstrap (jquery and popper is optional but I added it anyway).

Step 3: Add Dependencies to main.js

const { createApp } = require("vue");
import App from "./App.vue";
import "bootstrap"; // Add this import.
import "bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.css"; // Add this import.

createApp(App).mount("#app");

Step 4: Create a Service for API Call

Create a new directory called services and add new file `GithubAPI.js.`

The Service Code

Debrief of the GithubAPI service code:

Line 1: Import axios library for promise based HTTP requests.
Line 5: Write a function called getGithubProfile() and pass in username as an argument.
Line 7: Leverage the get method and concatenate the username variable.
Line 9: Return the response object (component will consume this).

Step 5: Modify HelloWorld.vue Component

Out of box, Stackblitz generates a default Vue project paired with a component called HelloWorld.vue. Rename it.

We’ll repurpose most of this by first renaming it to `GithubProfile.vue.`

The Component Code

Debrief of the GithubProfile component code:

Lines 3-16: The Bootstrap card.
Line 20: Import the service made from Step 4.
Lines 23-28: The prop you’ll pass in (e.g. a profile name).
Lines 29-33: Setup Vue’s data object which will populate the card.
Lines 34-42: Setup the API call inside of the created lifecycle hook.

Debrief of the App component code:

Line 13: the prop passed in as a string (e.g. my profile name).

Key Takeaways

We’ve now created a reusable component which is dynamic enough to apply a Bootstrap card by passing in the Github profile as a prop. This will use Github’s API to make a call on their end which will print the profile data to the card.

Additional Resources

Vue School’s free component course.
Source code for this demo is available on Github and Stackblitz.
If you want to make a context switch to React, a similar implementation can be found here.