Route Configuration

Tutorial 3 of 4

Route Configuration in Nuxt.js: A Comprehensive Tutorial

1. Introduction

This tutorial is designed to teach you the ins and outs of route configuration in a Nuxt.js project. By the end of this guide, you will have a solid understanding of how Nuxt.js automatically generates routing configuration from your Vue files.

You will learn:

  • How Nuxt.js performs automatic route configuration
  • How to manually override the default routing configuration
  • Best practices for route configuration in Nuxt.js

Prerequisites:

  • Basic knowledge of JavaScript
  • Familiarity with Vue.js would be beneficial, but not required

2. Step-by-Step Guide

Nuxt.js automatically generates a Vue Router configuration based on your file tree of Vue files inside the pages directory.

Let's create a simple pages directory structure:

pages/
--| about.vue
--| index.vue

About.vue:

<template>
  <h1>About Page</h1>
</template>

Index.vue:

<template>
  <h1>Home Page</h1>
</template>

This will automatically generate the following router configuration:

{
  router: {
    routes: [
      {
        name: 'index',
        path: '/',
        component: 'pages/index.vue'
      },
      {
        name: 'about',
        path: '/about',
        component: 'pages/about.vue'
      }
    ]
  }
}

This means that if you navigate to /, you will see the Home Page, and if you navigate to /about, you will see the About Page.

3. Code Examples

Example 1: Dynamic Routes

If you want to create a dynamic route with a parameter, you can do so by adding an underscore before the .vue file or directory.

For example, if you want to create a route like /users/:id, you can create a users directory and an _id.vue file inside it.

pages/
--| users/
-----| _id.vue

And in _id.vue:

<template>
  <h1>User ID: {{ $route.params.id }}</h1>
</template>

Now, if you navigate to /users/1, you will see "User ID: 1".

Example 2: Nested Routes

To create nested routes, create a Vue file with the same name as the directory, and then create an index.vue file inside that directory.

pages/
--| users/
-----| index.vue
-----| _id.vue

And in users/index.vue:

<template>
  <h1>Users Page</h1>
</template>

Now, if you navigate to /users, you will see the Users Page.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we've learned how Nuxt.js automatically generates routes based on the pages directory. We've also learned how to create dynamic and nested routes.

For further learning, I recommend checking out the Nuxt.js routing documentation.

5. Practice Exercises

  1. Exercise 1: Create a new route for /products/:id and display the product id.

Solution: Create a products directory and an _id.vue file inside it. In _id.vue, display the product id with {{ $route.params.id }}.

  1. Exercise 2: Create a nested route for /users/:id/posts and display the user id and a "Posts" heading.

Solution: Create a users directory with an _id directory inside it. Inside _id, create a posts.vue file. In posts.vue, display the user id with {{ $route.params.id }} and a "Posts" heading.

  1. Exercise 3: Create a dynamic nested route for /users/:id/posts/:postId and display the user id and the post id.

Solution: Inside the users/_id/ directory, create a posts directory with an _postId.vue file inside it. In _postId.vue, display the user id with {{ $route.params.id }} and the post id with {{ $route.params.postId }}.

Remember, practice makes perfect! Keep experimenting with different routes and configurations to master routing in Nuxt.js.