Svelte is an excellent choice for building user interfaces and, while writing custom styles may suffice for small projects, a component library is often better for large-scale projects.
Such libraries offer advantages like consistent UI, improved accessibility, and flexible customization options. Learn how you can work with the SvelteStrap component library to streamline your development.
What Are Svelte and Bootstrap?
Svelte is a JavaScript framework, that diverges from the conventional approach taken by frameworks like React. Instead of running most of its operations at run-time, Svelte compiles your application to JavaScript during the build process.
This unique approach eliminates the need for a virtualDocument Object Model (DOM)and significantly reduces boilerplate code.
Bootstrap is a CSS framework, created by Twitter (now branded X), that pioneered the “mobile-first” design philosophy. It offers a wealth of pre-designed components.
Installing Sveltestrap in Your Project
Before you can install Sveltestrap in your project, you need to make sure your Svelte project is properly set up. Make sure you have Node.js andNode Package Manager (NPM)or Yarn running on your machine. You can scaffold a new Svelte project with this command:
Name your Svelte project and when prompted to choose a framework and a variant, select Svelte and JavaScript respectively. After doing that,cdinto the project directory and run:
This command will install the necessary dependencies for a typical Svelte project.
With your Svelte project ready, you’re able to now install the Sveltestrap library by running:
If you encounter an “unable to resolve dependency tree” error during Sveltestrap installation, resolve it by running these terminal commands:
Then, proceed with Sveltestrap installation or consider using Yarn as an alternative package manager.
Delete theassetsand thelibfolder, then clear the contents of theApp.sveltefile and theApp.cssfile. Afterward, you can start the development server by running:
Using Sveltestrap in Your Project
To start using Sveltestrap, you need to include a link to the Bootstrap style sheet using a CDN link. You can do this inside theheadelement in your HTML layout or from thesvelte:headtag in your Svelte component.
Open theindex.htmlfile, and add the following to theheadelement:
If you prefer, you may import or add thelinktag directly in thesvelte:headspecial element like this:
Alternatively, you can use the@importrule in thestyletag of any component like this:
The Button Component in Sveltestrap
The standard Bootstrap framework provides a variety of class names you can use to style buttons. These class options include names like “primary,” “danger,” “info,” “link,” and many others.
In Sveltestrap, eachButtoncomponent conveniently features a color prop that aligns with Bootstrap’s default styling options. This helps to simplify the customization process. To import a component like a button, add the following in any.sveltecomponent file, likesrc/App.svelte:
After that, you can addButtoncomponents, passing in a value to thecolorprop.
The code block above should result in the following:
Creating Alerts in Sveltestrap
Adding an alert component is as simple as importing it from the Sveltestrap library like this:
To make an alert dismissible, you have to add the “dismissible” prop to the Component like this:
Just as with theButtoncomponent, you can customize the color of the alert with thecolorprop.
TheAlertcomponent also provides anisOpenand atoggleprop that give you fine-grained control over the open/close state of the alert box.
This code block defines anAlertcomponent with anisOpenandtoggleprop. Every Alert component has a “close” icon that dismisses the alert, but you can override this behavior with the toggle prop.
In this example, clicking the “X” icon displays a native browser alert box instead of closing the alert.
In a practical application, you can use thetoggleprop to call a function whenever the user dismisses an alert.
How to Use Dropdowns in SvelteStrap
To work with dropdowns, use theButtonDropdownutility from the sveltestrap library. Ideally, you should add aDropdownTogglecomponent as a child of the ButtonDropdown to toggle the dropdown menu. Use another child component—DropdownMenu—to hold the drop-down items.
The code block above imports four components:ButtonDropdown,DropdownItem,DropdownMenu,andDropdownToggle. Every DropdownItem provides aheaderand adividerprop that you can use to group related dropdown items.
Understanding Icons in Sveltestrap
If you want to add a Bootstrap icon to your project, you have to import theIconcomponent.
You also have to include a CDN link to the Bootstrap Icons package in your project, preferably in thesvelte:headspecial element.
EveryIconcomponent has anameprop where you pass in the name of the Bootstrap icon you want. You can use the officialBootstrap Icons web pageto search for the name of the icon you want to use.
Notice how the icon will automatically adjust its color to match its context:
Advantages of Component Libraries
Component libraries simplify development with reusable components that follow best practices and design guidelines. They help you achieve consistent design and functionality throughout an application, ensuring a polished and professional appearance.
These libraries also include built-in accessibility features for inclusive user interfaces. With active community support, they receive continuous updates and make it easy to adapt components to specific project needs.
