'What is <router-view :key="$route.fullPath">?

I'm completely new to Vue.js and I think I have a bit of understanding of how a router works with things like:

<router-link to="/">

But I am not really understanding what the following line does:

<router-view :key="$route.fullPath"></router-view>

I believe router-view by itself makes sure the content is displayed but what does the key part mean?



Solution 1:[1]

See Special Attributes - key

It can also be used to force replacement of an element/component instead of reusing it. This can be useful when you want to:

  • Properly trigger lifecycle hooks of a component
  • Trigger transitions

$route.fullPath is defined as

The full resolved URL including query and hash.

If you bind key to $route.fullPath, it will always "force a replacement" of the <router-view> element / component every time a navigation event occurs.

As mentioned above, this is most probably done in order to trigger a transition / animation.

Solution 2:[2]

In Vue-Router 4.0, this is implemented using a scoped slot. According to the docs the following is necessary to force a route to reload.

<router-view v-slot="{ Component, route }">
  <component :is="Component" :key="route.path" />
</router-view>

This is necessary for integrating with Vue 3 transitions.

<router-view v-slot="{ Component, route }">
  <transition name="fade">
    <component :is="Component" :key="route.path" />
  </transition>
</router-view>

Note: Putting the :key="route.path" directly on the <router-view> can cause subtle routing issues. Such as a route with a redirect triggering twice.

Sources

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Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 Phil
Solution 2 Jayvin Chang