$watch

You can "watch" a component property using the $watch magic method. For example:

<div x-data="{ open: false }" x-init="$watch('open', value => console.log(value))">
    <button @click="open = ! open">Toggle Open</button>
</div>

In the above example, when the button is pressed and open is changed, the provided callback will fire and console.log the new value:

You can watch deeply nested properties using "dot" notation

<div x-data="{ foo: { bar: 'baz' }}" x-init="$watch('foo.bar', value => console.log(value))">
    <button @click="foo.bar = 'bob'">Toggle Open</button>
</div>

When the <button> is pressed, foo.bar will be set to "bob", and "bob" will be logged to the console.

Getting the "old" value

$watch keeps track of the previous value of the property being watched, You can access it using the optional second argument to the callback like so:

<div x-data="{ open: false }" x-init="$watch('open', (value, oldValue) => console.log(value, oldValue))">
    <button @click="open = ! open">Toggle Open</button>
</div>

Deep watching

$watch automatically watches from changes at any level but you should keep in mind that, when a change is detected, the watcher will return the value of the observed property, not the value of the subproperty that has changed.

<div x-data="{ foo: { bar: 'baz' }}" x-init="$watch('foo', (value, oldValue) => console.log(value, oldValue))">
    <button @click="foo.bar = 'bob'">Update</button>
</div>

When the <button> is pressed, foo.bar will be set to "bob", and "{bar: 'bob'} {bar: 'baz'}" will be logged to the console (new and old value).

⚠️ Changing a property of a "watched" object as a side effect of the $watch callback will generate an infinite loop and eventually error.

<!-- 🚫 Infinite loop -->
<div x-data="{ foo: { bar: 'baz', bob: 'lob' }}" x-init="$watch('foo', value => foo.bob = foo.bar)">
    <button @click="foo.bar = 'bob'">Update</button>
</div>

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