Composables

useVueFlow

The useVueFlow composable provides you with a set of methods to interact with the graph.

<script setup>
import { ref } from 'vue'
import { useVueFlow, VueFlow } from '@vue-flow/core'

const { onInit, findNode, fitView, snapToGrid } = useVueFlow()

const nodes = ref([/* ... */])

const edges = ref([/* ... */])

// to enable snapping to grid
snapToGrid.value = true

// any event that is emitted from the `<VueFlow />` component can be listened to using the `onEventName` method
onInit((instance) => {
  // `instance` is the same type as the return of `useVueFlow` (VueFlowStore)
  
  fitView()
  
  const node = findNode('1')
  
  if (node) {
    node.position = { x: 100, y: 100 }
  }
})
</script>

<template>
  <VueFlow :nodes="nodes" :edges="edges" />
</template>

useVueFlow exposes the whole internal state, including the nodes and edges. The values are reactive, meaning changing the values returned from useVueFlow will trigger changes in the graph.

State creation and injection

The useVueFlow composable creates, on first call, a new instance of the VueFlowStore and injects it into the Vue component tree. This allows you to access the store from any child component using the useVueFlow composable.

This also means that the first call of useVueFlow is crucial as it determines the state instance that will be used throughout the component tree. You can think of it as a sort of <VueFlowProvider> wrapper that is automatically injected into the component tree.

You can read more about this in the State section of the guide.

Enforcing a specific state instance

If necessary, you can enforce the use of a specific state instance by passing an id to the useVueFlow composable.

import { useVueFlow } from '@vue-flow/core'

const { onInit } = useVueFlow({ id: 'my-flow-instance' })

onInit((instance) => {
  // `instance` is the same type as the return of `useVueFlow` (VueFlowStore)
})

useHandleConnections

useHandleConnections provides you with an array of connections that are connected to the node you pass to it.

import { useHandleConnections } from '@vue-flow/core'

// get all connections where this node is the target (incoming connections)
const targetConnections = useHandleConnections({
  type: 'target',
})

// get all connections where this node is the source (outgoing connections)
const sourceConnections = useHandleConnections({
  type: 'source',
})

const connections = useHandleConnections({
  id: 'handle-1', // you can explicitly pass a handle id if there are multiple handles of the same type
  nodeId: '1', // you can explicitly pass a node id, otherwise it's used from the `NodeId  injection
  type: 'target',
  onConnect: (connections: Connection[]) => {
    // do something with the connections
  },
  onDisconnect: (connections: Connection[]) => {
    // do something with the connections
  },
})

useNodesData

useNodesData provides you with an array of data objects depending on the node ids you pass to it. It's especially useful when used together with useHandleConnections.

import { useNodesData, useHandleConnections } from '@vue-flow/core'

// get all connections where this node is the target (incoming connections)
const connections = useHandleConnections({
  type: 'target',
})

const data = useNodesData(() => connections.value.map((connection) => connection.source))

console.log(data.value) // [{ /* ... */]

To further narrow down the type of the returned data, you can pass a guard function as the 2nd argument.

import { useNodesData, useHandleConnections, type Node } from '@vue-flow/core'

type MyNode = Node<{ foo: string }>

const connections = useHandleConnections({
  type: 'target',
})

const data = useNodesData(() => connections.value.map((connection) => connection.source), (node): node is MyNode => node.type === 'foo')

console.log(data.value) // [{ /* foo: string */]

useNodeId

useNodeId provides you with the current node id.

This composable should be called inside a custom node component, as the id for the node is provided by the internal <NodeWrapper /> component.

import { useNodeId } from '@vue-flow/core'

const nodeId = useNodeId()

console.log(nodeId.value) // '1'

useHandle

Instead of using the Handle component you can use the useHandle composable to create your own custom nodes. useHandle provides you with a mouseDown- and click-handler functions that you can apply to the element you want to use as a node-handle.

This is how the default handle component is built:

<script lang="ts" setup>
import { NodeId, useHandle, useVueFlow } from '@vue-flow/core'
import type { HandleProps, Position } from '@vue-flow/core'

const props = withDefaults(defineProps<HandleProps>(), {
  type: 'source',
  position: 'top' as Position,
  connectable: true,
})

const { id, hooks, connectionStartHandle } = useVueFlow()
const nodeId = inject(NodeId, '')

const { onMouseDown, onClick } = useHandle()
const onMouseDownHandler = (event: MouseEvent) =>
  onMouseDown(event, props.id ?? null, nodeId, props.type === 'target', props.isValidConnection, undefined, (connection) =>
    hooks.value.connect.trigger(connection),
  )
const onClickHandler = (event: MouseEvent) => onClick(event, props.id ?? null, nodeId, props.type, props.isValidConnection)
</script>

<script lang="ts">
export default {
  name: 'Handle',
}
</script>

<template>
  <div
    :data-handleid="props.id"
    :data-nodeid="nodeId"
    :data-handlepos="props.position"
    class="vue-flow__handle nodrag"
    :class="[
      `vue-flow__handle-${props.position}`,
      `vue-flow__handle-${id}`,
      {
        source: props.type !== 'target',
        target: props.type === 'target',
        connectable: props.connectable,
        connecting:
          connectionStartHandle?.nodeId === nodeId &&
          connectionStartHandle?.handleId === props.id &&
          connectionStartHandle?.type === props.type,
      },
    ]"
    @mousedown="onMouseDownHandler"
    @click="onClickHandler"
  >
    <slot :node-id="nodeId" v-bind="props"></slot>
  </div>
</template>