Using Bootstrap 5 with Vue 3

Question

I want to use Bootstrap 5 with Vue 3. As Bootstrap 5 uses vanilla JS (no JQuery), can I use Bootstrap 5 directly in a Vue 3 project (without using Bootstrap-Vue)? Can someone guide me how to use Bootstrap 5 with Vue 3?

Answer 1

Bootstrap 5 no longer needs jQuery so it's easier to use with Vue, and no longer requires a library like bootstrap-vue.

Install bootstrap as you would any other JS module in the Vue project using npm install or by adding it to the package.json...

npm install --save bootstrap
npm install --save @popperjs/core

Next, add the Bootstrap CSS and JS components to the Vue project entrypoint (ie: src/main.js)...

import "bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css"
import "bootstrap"

Then, the simplest way to use Bootstrap components is via the data-bs- attributes. For example here's the Bootstrap Collapse component...

<button 
  class="btn btn-primary" 
  data-bs-target="#collapseTarget" 
  data-bs-toggle="collapse">
  Bootstrap collapse
</button>
<div class="collapse py-2" id="collapseTarget">
  This is the toggle-able content!
</div>

Demo with Navbar component

Or, you can import any Bootstrap components and "wrap" them as Vue components. For example here's the Popover component...

import { Popover } from bootstrap;

const popover = Vue.component('bsPopover', {
  template: `
    <slot/>
  `,
  props: {
    content: {
      required: false,
      default: '',
    },
    title: {
      default: 'My Popover',
    },
    trigger: {
      default: 'click',
    },
    delay: {
      default: 0,
    },
    html: {
      default: false,
    },
  },
  mounted() {
    // pass bootstrap popover options from props
    var options = this.$props
    var ele = this.$slots.default[0].elm
    new Popover(ele,options)
  },
})

<bs-popover
  title="Hello Popover"
  content="This is my content for the popover!"
  trigger="hover">
    <button class="btn btn-danger">
      Hover for popover
    </button>
</bs-popover>

Demo | Read more

Answer 2

Yes, you can use Bootstrap without Bootstrap-Vue. Install these two packages with npm:

npm install --save @popperjs/core bootstrap@next

Import Bootstrap to src/main.js:

import "bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css";
import "bootstrap";

Example usage for Vue Template:

<div class="dropdown">
    <button
      class="btn btn-secondary dropdown-toggle"
      type="button"
      id="dropdownMenuButton1"
      data-bs-toggle="dropdown"
      aria-expanded="false"
    >
      Check Bootstrap
    </button>
    <ul class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdownMenuButton1">
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>

Result:

Answer 3

It's easy to implement this once you understand how Bootstrap modals work. Bootstrap modals have a div element with a class of modal fade. When it is triggered, this element gets the show and d-block class as well. In addition, the body tag gets an additional class of modal-open. When the modal is closed, this process is reversed. Understanding this, we can easily implement Bootstrap 5 modals in one's code:

Import Bootstrap 5's CDN in your code. Add both the CSS and JS to your code.

Our sample Single Page Component will look like this:

<template>
<div>  
    <p>Test modal<a href="#" @click="modalToggle">now</a></p>
    <div>
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" @click="modalToggle">My Modal</button>
            <div
            ref="modal"
            class="modal fade"
            :class="{ show: active, 'd-block': active }"
            tabindex="-1"
            role="dialog">
            <div class="modal-dialog" role="document">
            <div class="modal-content">
                <div class="modal-header">
                <h5 class="modal-title">Modal title</h5>
                <button
                    type="button"
                    class="close"
                    data-dismiss="modal"
                    aria-label="Close"
                    @click="modalToggle">
                    <span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
                </button>
                </div>
                <div class="modal-body">
                <p>Modal body text goes here.</p>
                </div>
            </div>
            </div>
        </div>
        <div v-if="active" class="modal-backdrop fade show"></div>
        </div>
</div>
</template>

Here we are using the basic Bootstrap 5 modal.

<script>
export default {
data() {
    return {
    active: false,
    }
},
methods: {
    modalToggle() {
    const body = document.querySelector("body")
    this.active = !this.active
    this.active ? body.classList.add("modal-open") : body.classList.remove("modal-open")
    },
},
}
</script>

Here, we have a variable active which is initially set false. So modal will not show up on page load. On clicking a link, we use a method to toggle this variable. This will remove the show attribute and the d-block class from our modalm and remove the modal-open property from the body tag.

Answer 4

While the Bootstrap CSS can be used with any framework (React, Vue, Angular, etc), the Bootstrap JavaScript is not fully compatible with them.

Here's the official reasoning from the Bootstrap 5 docs:

While the Bootstrap CSS can be used with any framework, the Bootstrap JavaScript is not fully compatible with JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular which assume full knowledge of the DOM. Both Bootstrap and the framework may attempt to mutate the same DOM element, resulting in bugs like dropdowns that are stuck in the “open” position.

The docs state to use an alternative framework-specific package instead of the Bootstrap JavaScript such as React Bootstrap, BootstrapVue, and ng-bootstrap.

Unfortunately, BootstrapVue is only compatible with Vue2/Nuxt2 and there is no version available for Vue3/Nuxt3 yet.