Affixes an element on the screen based on a relative element

Unlike other plugins, this Vue 2 component will make it easy to affix any element while scrolling.

• Affixes an element based on a relative element
• Only needs 3 super simple configuration steps
• Dispatches events for affix tracking
• No dependencies

Make sure to check the demo to see how it works!

Installation

First install it using:

npm install --save vue-affix

or

yarn add vue-affix

Then you can either use it as a plugin:

import Affix from 'vue-affix';
Vue.use(Affix);

or you can use it as a component (note the curly braces):

import { Affix } from 'vue-affix';

export default {
  components: {
    Affix,
  },
};

Or if you wish to include it in a script tag, just include the vue-affix.min.js file located in the dist folder as so:

<script src="dist/vue-affix.min.js"></script>

Usage

• Wrap the element in an <affix> tag
• Set an element selector in the relative-element-selector property
• Set a width value for the .vue-affix class in your CSS (that is the element which the affix will be applied to)

Example below:

<affix class="sidebar-menu" relative-element-selector="#example-content" style="width: 300px">
  <a href="#markup-1">Markup 1</a>
  <a href="#markup-2">Markup 2</a>
  <a href="#markup-3">Markup 3</a>
</affix>
<section id="example-content">
  <p>This is the #example-content section which the sidebar will be relatively affixed!</p>
</section>

This will make the .sidebar-menu element stay fixed while in the #example-content element viewport. Simple as that. Just don’t forget to set the width to .vue-affix class! It will probably cause unexpected behavior if you don’t set it!

How the plugin works

It works similar to Bootstrap’s Affix plugin, it will add 3 classes (.affix-top, .affix and .affix-bottom) to the affixed element while you scroll the page.

Unlike Bootstrap’s Affix, all you need to do in vue-affix is set a width value for the class .vue-affix (that’s because when the position: fixed property is applied, it will lose its relative width value) and add an element in the relative-element-selector property.

vue-affix will calculate when to start/stop affixing relatively to the element you provide in the relative-element-selector property, that means you don’t have to do any calculation, just set the relative element and that will be all done automatically.

You can also set an offset object with the top and bottom values that will be used as a threshold to start/stop affixing the element, but that is optional.

Configuration

The only configuration you need to do in CSS is setting a width for the .vue-affix class, the rest will be applied through props as in the example below:

<affix class="sidebar-menu" relative-element-selector="#example-content" :offset="{ top: 40, bottom: 40 }">
  <a href="#markup-1">Markup 1</a>
  <a href="#markup-2">Markup 2</a>
  <a href="#markup-3">Markup 3</a>
</affix>

Props

These are all the props you can pass to the component:

/**
 * The relative element selector string. The relative element is
 * the element you want your affix to be related to, as it will
 * not be related to the window. The element will be affixed when
 * the window reaches the relative element.
 *
 * @example '#contact'
 * @type {String}
 */
relativeElementSelector: {
  type: String,
  required: true
},

/**
 * This is the offset margin between the top/bottom of the window
 * before the affix is applied.
 *
 * @type {Object}
 */
offset: {
  type: Object,
  default: () => {
    return {
      top: 40,
      bottom: 40
    }
  }
},

/**
 * Checks if the plugin should be enabled/disabled based
 * on true/false, good for mobile when you need to disable it.
 *
 * @type {Boolean}
 */
enabled: {
  type: Boolean,
  default: true
},

/**
 * Sets if the affix should be 'scrollable' when it is
 * taller than the viewport or if it should always be
 * affixed to the top until it reaches the end of the
 * relative element. Check the demo to understand better.
 *
 * @type {Boolean}
 */
scrollAffix: {
  type: Boolean,
  default: false
},

/**
 * Sets the scrollable container to use in scroll position
 * calculations. If not set, the window object will be
 * used by default.
 *
 * @type {Object}
 */
scrollContainerSelector: {
  type: String,
  default: null,
}

Events

vue-affix will dispatch 3 different events if scroll-affix prop is set to false:

• affixtop will be dispatched when the .affix-top class is applied, that is when you scroll above the relative element.
• affix will be dispatched when the .affix class is applied, that is while you scroll inside the relative element.
• affixbottom will be dispatched when the .affix-bottom class is applied, that is when you scroll below the relative element.

If scroll-affix prop is set to true, it will fire 5 different events:

• scrollaffixscrolling will be dispatched when the affixed element is being scrolled (not fixed).
• scrollaffixup will be dispatched when the affixed element gets fixed to the top of the screen.
• scrollaffixdown will be dispatched when the affixed element gets fixed to the bottom of the screen.
• scrollaffixtop will be dispatched when the affixed element reaches the top of the relative element.
• scrollaffixbottom will be dispatched when the affixed element reaches the bottom of the relative element.

Those can be catched as I show in the example below:

<affix class="sidebar-menu" relative-element-selector="#example-content" v-on:affixbottom="yourFunction()">
  <a href="#markup-1">Markup 1</a>
  <a href="#markup-2">Markup 2</a>
  <a href="#markup-3">Markup 3</a>
</affix>