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vite-plugin-ssr has been renamed Vike, see migration guide.

Custom Exports/Hooks

pageContext.exports holds the export values of:

  • The current page's .page.js/.page.server.js/.page.client.js files.
  • The _default.page.* files.

For example:

// /pages/countries.page.js
// Environment: server and browser

export const title = 'Earth Countries'
// /pages/countries.page.server.js
// Environment: server

export const dataUrl = 'https://restcountries.com/v3.1/all'
// /renderer/_default.page.server.js
// Environment: server

export { onBeforeRender }

import fetch from 'node-fetch'

async function onBeforeRender(pageContext) {
  const response = await fetch(pageContext.exports.dataUrl)
  // ...
}

function render(pageContext) {
   const titleTag = `<title>${pageContext.exports.title}</title>`
   // ...
}
// /renderer/_default.page.client.js
// Environment: browser

export const clientRouting = true
export { render }

function render(pageContext) {
  if (!pageContext.isHydration) {
    // Update the website's title upon page navigation.
    document.title = pageContext.exports.title
  }
  // ...
}

Note how pageContext.exports.title is available in both Node.js and the browser: that's because export { title } is defined in a .page.js file which is loaded in Node.js as well as in the browser.

Whereas pageContext.exports.dataUrl isn't available in the browser: .page.server.js files are loaded only in Node.js.

We call this technique Custom Exports / Custom Hooks.

Example: Page Layout

A common technique is to use a custom export pageContext.exports.Layout to define the layout of a page.

// /pages/product.page.js
// Environment: browser and server

export { Layout } from '../layouts/Responsive'
export function Page() {
   /* ... */
}
// /pages/admin.page.js
// Environment: browser and server

export { Layout } from '../layouts/Dashboard'
export function Page() {
   /* ... */
}
// /renderer/_default.page.server.js
// Environment: server

import { renderToHtml } from 'some-ui-framework'
import { escapeInject, dangerouslySkipEscape } from 'vite-plugin-ssr/server'

export function render(pageContext) {
  const { Page, Layout } = pageContext.exports
  const pageHtml = renderToHtml(<Layout><Page /></Layout>)
  return escapeInject`<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
      <body>
        <div id="root">${dangerouslySkipEscape(pageHtml)}</div>
      </body>
    </html>`
}
// /renderer/_default.page.client.js
// Environment: browser

import { renderDom } from 'some-ui-framework'

export function render(pageContext) {
  // `.page.js` files are also loaded in the browser: `Layout` and `Page` are also available here
  const { Page, Layout } = pageContext.exports
  renderDom(
    <Layout><Page /></Layout>,
    document.getElementById("root")
  )
}

Note how we use pageContext.exports.Page instead of pageContext.Page: that's because pageContext.Page is actually just an alias for pageContext.exports.Page ?? pageContext.exports.default.

Example: Data Query

Another common example is to use a custom export pageContext.exports.query to define the data query of a page.

// /pages/product.page.js
export const query = { modelName: 'Product', select: ['name', 'price'] }
// /pages/user.page.js
export const query = { modelName: 'User', select: ['firstName', 'lastName'] }
// /renderer/_default.page.server.js
// Environment: server

export { onBeforeRender }
export { render }
export const passToClient = ['pageProps']

import { renderToHtml } from 'some-ui-framework'
import { escapeInject, dangerouslySkipEscape } from 'vite-plugin-ssr/server'
import { runQuery } from 'some-sql-engine'

async function onBeforeRender(pageContext) {
  const { query } = pageContext.exports
  const data = await runQuery(query)
  const pageProps = { data }
  return { pageContext: { pageProps } }
}

function render(pageContext) {
  const { Page, pageProps } = pageContext
  const pageHtml = renderToHtml(<Page {...pageProps} />)
  return escapeInject`<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
      <body>
        <div id="root">${dangerouslySkipEscape(pageHtml)}</div>
      </body>
    </html>`
}
// /renderer/_default.page.client.js
// Environment: browser

export { render }

import { renderDom } from 'some-ui-framework'

function render(pageContext) {
  const { Page, pageProps } = pageContext
  renderDom(
    <Page {...pageProps} />,
    document.getElementById("root")
  )
}

Example: Meta Data

We can also use a custom export pageContext.export.meta to define the meta data of a page.

// /pages/product.page.js
// Environment: server
export const title = 'Product'
export const getDescription = pageProps => `Product: ${pageProps.productName}`
// /pages/user.page.js
// Environment: server
export const title = 'User'
export const getDescription = pageProps => `User: ${pageProps.firstName} ${pageProps.lastName}`
// /renderer/_default.page.server.js
// Environment: server

export { render }

import { renderToHtml } from 'some-ui-framework'
import { escapeInject, dangerouslySkipEscape } from 'vite-plugin-ssr/server'

function render(pageContext) {
  const { Page, pageProps } = pageContext
  const { title, getDescription } = pageContext.exports
  const description = getDescription(pageProps)
  const pageHtml = renderToHtml(<Page {...pageProps} />)
  return escapeInject`<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
      <head>
        <title>${title}</title>
        <meta name="description" content="${description}" />
      </head>
      <body>
        <div id="root">${dangerouslySkipEscape(pageHtml)}</div>
      </body>
    </html>`
}