Do Vuex Getters return a reference (array, object, whatever) to the state?

Question

Environment
We have a Vue Cli using Vue 2. Vuex and TypeScript are installed

Issue
Currently we're getting some vuex state data (via a vuex getter). Then working with it. However, if we mutate the "gotten data" it affects the vuex state. It seems crazy! Here's a very silly stripped down version of a services module:

// vuex
import { mapState } from 'vuex'
// store
import store from './../store';
// types
import { ServiceType } from './../types/services'

export default class TestService implements ServiceType {

  serviceFunction(someArray: Array<number>) {

    // this will return some nested/multidimensional data:
    // [
    //   { prop: [[1, 2, 3, 4]] }
    // ]
    let data = store.getters['getTestStoreData'] 
      
      data[0].prop[0] = someArray          // doesn't mutate the state 
      data[0].prop = [someArray]           // mutates the state
      data[0].prop.splice(0, 1, someArray) // mutates the state
  }
}

The very very stripped down getter looks something like this:

getTestStoreData(state) { return state.data }

So 2 of the 3 above will mutate the store, since they mutate the data variable... Which leads me to believe the getter passes a reference of the state data.

Anyone have insight into this? Or know a good way to handle it? I've got some ideas about passing just the nested data from the store. This stackoverflow answer is some of the best insight I've found.

Amaarrockz Amaarrockz · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-29T00:52:47

In your case you need to clone the multidimensional array. There are 2 types of array cloning: shallow & deep. Shallow copies only cover the 1st level of the array and the rest are referenced. If you want a true copy of nested arrays, you’ll need a deep clone. For deep clones, go with the JSON way OR better yet use Lodash

// Using JavaScript
let data = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(store.getters['getTestStoreData']));

Or

// Using Lodash
let data = _.cloneDeep(store.getters['getTestStoreData']);

To test out the Lodash clone and clonedeep functions, you will need to install Lodash first:

npm install --save lodash

Or

yarn add lodash

With lodash now installed, use the require() function to now access all the functions that Lodash has too offer:

// vuex
import { mapState } from 'vuex'
// store
import store from './../store';
// types
import { ServiceType } from './../types/services'

const _ = require('lodash'); // Line to be included

export default class TestService implements ServiceType {
 .........

Do Vuex Getters return a reference (array, object, whatever) to the state?

1 Answers