When working with Storybook, a powerful tool for developing UI components in isolation, we often need to test our components with different sets of data. One way to achieve that is by creating dynamic stories with parameters. In this blog post, we will explore how to create dynamic stories using Storybook’s parameters feature in JavaScript.

What are Parameters in Storybook?

Parameters in Storybook allow us to define reusable metadata for our stories. They provide a way to customize and configure story variants by passing data through configurable UI controls such as knobs or controls. By using parameters, we can create dynamic stories that can be easily modified and tested with different configurations.

Getting Started

To get started with dynamic stories using parameters in Storybook, make sure you have Storybook installed in your project. If you haven’t done so, you can install it by running the following command:

npm install --save-dev @storybook/react

Once installed, create a new story file or navigate to an existing one and import the necessary dependencies. We will be using the storiesOf function from Storybook’s API to define our story.

Creating Dynamic Stories with Parameters

To create a dynamic story with parameters, you need to define a parameter object and use the addParameters function provided by Storybook. The parameter object should contain the configuration for your story, including the different sets of data you want to test.

Let’s consider an example where we have a Button component that receives different text labels and colors as props. We can create a dynamic story for this component by defining different sets of labels and colors as parameters.

import { storiesOf } from '@storybook/react';

// Import your Button component here

const parameters = {
  colors: [
    { label: 'Red', value: 'red' },
    { label: 'Blue', value: 'blue' },
    { label: 'Green', value: 'green' },
  ],
  labels: [
    { label: 'Primary', value: 'primary' },
    { label: 'Secondary', value: 'secondary' },
    { label: 'Default', value: 'default' },
  ],
};

storiesOf('Button', module)
  .addParameters({ parameters })
  .add('Default', () => <Button label="Default" color="blue" />)
  .add('Dynamic', ({ parameters: { colors, labels } }) => {
    return (
      <div>
        {colors.map(color => (
          labels.map(label => (
            <Button key={`${color.value}-${label.value}`} label={label.label} color={color.value} />
          ))
        ))}
      </div>
    );
  });

In the above example, we define parameters as an object containing an array of colors and labels. We then use the addParameters function to add our parameters to the storybook. Finally, we define two stories - one with fixed props and another dynamic story that utilizes the parameter values.

The dynamic story function receives the parameters object as an argument and uses the data to create multiple instances of the Button component. This way, we can test our component with different label-color combinations.

Conclusion

By creating dynamic stories with parameters in Storybook, we can easily test our components with different configurations and data sets. This allows for better component development and ensures that our UI remains consistent and robust.

With this knowledge, you can explore the full potential of Storybook’s parameters feature and improve the testing and development process for your UI components.

Happy coding! 🚀

#Javascript #Storybook