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createRouteAction

createRouteAction creates a controller for dispatching and managing the submission state of an async user action.
tsx
const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
tsx
const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);

Usage

Run an async process when a user clicks a button

While you might think this should be just a straight forward onClick handler, there are a few things to consider. You would want to show indicators of the action being performed. You would want to handle errors. You may also want to handle multiple submissions. Let's see how createRouteAction helps you deal with some of these issues.

Run a mutation

If you are coming from tanstack-query, this hook is similar to useMutation. It allows you to run an async function and manage the state of the action. It also allows you to run the action multiple times.

Show a pending indicator for an action in progress

We want to show a pending status while the action is being performed. The submission has a pending property that we can use to show a pending indicator.

tsx
import { createRouteAction } from 'solid-start';
import { Show } from 'solid-js';
 
function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
  return (
    <div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}
tsx
import { createRouteAction } from 'solid-start';
import { Show } from 'solid-js';
 
function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
  return (
    <div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}

Handle errors

If an error occurs, the submission will have an error property. We can use this to show an error message.

routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction } from 'solid-start';
import { Show } from 'solid-js';
 
export default function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
  return (
    <div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        <div>{enrolling.error.message}</div>
        <button onClick={() => enrolling.retry()}>Retry</button>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}
routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction } from 'solid-start';
import { Show } from 'solid-js';
 
export default function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
  return (
    <div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        <div>{enrolling.error.message}</div>
        <button onClick={() => enrolling.retry()}>Retry</button>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}

Showing a success message

If you want to show a success message after an action is complete, you can use the result property to get the returned value of the action.

routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction, createRouteData } from 'solid-start';
import { Show, For } from 'solid-js';
 
export function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
  return (
    <div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.result}>
        <div>Successfully enrolled in {enrolling.result}</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}
routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction, createRouteData } from 'solid-start';
import { Show, For } from 'solid-js';
 
export function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
  return (
    <div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.result}>
        <div>Successfully enrolled in {enrolling.result}</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}

Refetching data after an action

You don't have to do anything more to have your createRouteData functions refetch data after an action. The createRouteData functions will automatically refetch data after an action is performed.

Invalidating specific data after an action

If you don't want to refetch all the data, you can use the invalidate param to specify which key's to invalidate. This way you only refetch what you know has changed.

routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction, createRouteData } from 'solid-start';
import { Show, For } from 'solid-js';
 
export default function EnrollmentPage() {
  const classes = createRouteData(getClasses, { key: 'classes' });
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(
    enrollInClass,
    { invalidate: ['classes'] }
  );
 
  return (
    <div>
      <ul>
        <For each={classes()}>
          {course => <li>{course.name}</li>}
        </For>
      </ul>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        <div>{enrolling.error.message}</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}
routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction, createRouteData } from 'solid-start';
import { Show, For } from 'solid-js';
 
export default function EnrollmentPage() {
  const classes = createRouteData(getClasses, { key: 'classes' });
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(
    enrollInClass,
    { invalidate: ['classes'] }
  );
 
  return (
    <div>
      <ul>
        <For each={classes()}>
          {course => <li>{course.name}</li>}
        </For>
      </ul>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        <div>{enrolling.error.message}</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}

Optimistic UI

Now, since we have Javascript in our hands, we can give the user a more enhanced experience. Sometimes this means pretending an action was successful to provide a more responsive user experience. This is called an optimistic UI. We can do this in a neat way where you don't need to manage extra state. You have access to the input on the submission, so you know what data was sent to the action.

Using the pending property, you can use the input as part of the visible UI. For example, in a list of enrolled classes, you can add the class to the list before the action is complete. Then, if the action fails, you can remove the class from the list.

routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction, createRouteData } from 'solid-start';
import { Show, For } from 'solid-js';
 
export function EnrollmentPage() {
  const classes = createRouteData(getClasses, { key: 'classes' });
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(
    enrollInClass,
    { invalidate: ['classes'] }
  );
 
  return (
    <div>
      <div>
        Enrolled Classes
        <ul>
          <For each={classes()}>
            {course => <li>{course.name}</li>}
          </For>
          <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
            <li>{enrolling.input}</li>
          </Show>
        </ul>
      </div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        <div>{enrolling.error.message}</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}
routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction, createRouteData } from 'solid-start';
import { Show, For } from 'solid-js';
 
export function EnrollmentPage() {
  const classes = createRouteData(getClasses, { key: 'classes' });
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(
    enrollInClass,
    { invalidate: ['classes'] }
  );
 
  return (
    <div>
      <div>
        Enrolled Classes
        <ul>
          <For each={classes()}>
            {course => <li>{course.name}</li>}
          </For>
          <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
            <li>{enrolling.input}</li>
          </Show>
        </ul>
      </div>
      <button
        onClick={() => enroll('Defense against the Dark Arts')}
        disabled={enrolling.pending}
      >
        Enroll
      </button>
      <Show when={enrolling.pending}>
        <div>Enrolling...</div>
      </Show>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        <div>{enrolling.error.message}</div>
      </Show>
    </div>
  );
}

Creating a Enhanced Form

Although we recommend using progressively enhanced forms on the server whenever possible, we can still take advantage of running actions on the client and used enhanced forms. This is ideal when you need to run an action or API request that can only be done in the browser.

To accomplish this we need to pass information to our action using form elements like <input>. Any data need to be sent that end users don't enter can be added with an <input> with type="hidden".

routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction } from "solid-start";
import { Show } from 'solid-js';
 
function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, { Form }] = createRouteAction(async (form: FormData) => {
    const data = await enrollInClass(form.get('email') as string)
    return data
  });
 
  return (
    <Form>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        There was an error while enrolling: {enrolling.error.message}
      </Show>
 
      <input id="email" name="email" type="email" />
      <button type="submit" disabled={enrolling.pending}>
        Enroll
      </button>
    </Form>
  );
}
routes/enrollment.tsx
tsx
import { createRouteAction } from "solid-start";
import { Show } from 'solid-js';
 
function EnrollmentPage() {
  const [enrolling, { Form }] = createRouteAction(async (form: FormData) => {
    const data = await enrollInClass(form.get('email') as string)
    return data
  });
 
  return (
    <Form>
      <Show when={enrolling.error}>
        There was an error while enrolling: {enrolling.error.message}
      </Show>
 
      <input id="email" name="email" type="email" />
      <button type="submit" disabled={enrolling.pending}>
        Enroll
      </button>
    </Form>
  );
}

We return a email value to tell the browser there was a successful submission so you can give visual feedback to your users or do anything else you may need.

Reference

createRouteAction(action, options)

Call createRouteAction inside a component to create an action controller.

tsx
import { createRouteAction } from 'solid-start';
 
function Component() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
}
tsx
import { createRouteAction } from 'solid-start';
 
function Component() {
  const [enrolling, enroll] = createRouteAction(enrollInClass);
}

createRouteAction is a hook that returns a tuple of two values: The first item is a reactive object maintaining the state of the submission of the action, along with some helpers. The second item in the tuple is a function used to dispatch the action.

The second item also has another property called Form which is a progressively enhanced version of the form element. It is a component that can be used to submit the action, and a url can be passed to be the action of the form element when JS is not available.

Returns

enrolling is a Submission with the following properties:

  • pending - A boolean indicating if the action is currently being performed.
  • error - An error object if the action failed.
  • input - The input that was passed to the action.
  • result - The data returned from the action.
  • And the following methods:
    • retry() - Resets the submission with the same input.
    • clear() - Clears the state of the submission.

enroll is a function that takes the input to the action and dispatches the action. It returns a promise that resolves to the result of the action.

  • And the following helpers:
    • Form: A form smart component to help make using forms easier.
    • url: A URL string that can be passed to be the action of the form element when JS is not available.

This is the behavior of the enroll function: