A plugin must either be a function or an object with an "install" function

[Amit Sharma]

🐛 Current behavior

I am not able to install the plugin. I receive a warning on the vue console in my browser.
[Vue warn]: A plugin must either be a function or an object with an "install" function.

More info: Related issue

🔍 Steps to reproduce

1. Go to https://codepen.io/amit-ksh/pen/jOvMEEw
2. Open the browser's console and see the warning

Live reproduction

https://codepen.io/amit-ksh/pen/jOvMEEw

💭 Expected behavior

• Plugin should be a function or have an install function
• Able to use the plugin without any additional steps

Package version

vue-instantsearch 4.13.6

Operating system

Microsoft Windows 11

Browser

Sidekick

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[Haroen Viaene]

The Vue InstantSearch for Vue 3 umd build doesn't have the plugin builtin, as in general you want to pick and choose which files you want included. However rewriting the plugin yourself is really simple:

const VueInstantSearchPlugin = {
  install(localVue) {
    Object.keys(VueInstantSearch).forEach((widgetName) => {
      localVue.component(
        VueInstantSearch[widgetName].name,
        VueInstantSearch[widgetName]
      );
    });
  }
};

https://codepen.io/Haroenv/pen/LYarZJp

[Amit Sharma]

@Haroenv curious to know why it is delivered as a dictionary and not as a Vue plugin.
Also, will it remain as a dictionary or be updated to a plugin in the future?

[Haroen Viaene]

Nobody has asked for a plugin before you in the last couple years since we released Vue 3. Main reason is that the plugin needs to manually be instantiated, which isn't the case for Vue 2 as it can be done globally.

The preferred consumption method isn't through UMD, but through bundling CJS or ESM, so we likely won't change this to a plugin soon.

[Amit Sharma]

Yeah! I know UMD is not used in prod app, I just wanted to confirm if it's going to available in future or not.

Got the answers I was looking for so, closing this issue.

Thanks for answering, @Haroenv!