Infinite Scroll with Laravel and Livewire

Infinite scrolling is a popular feature that that enhances user experience by seamlessly loading more content as a user scrolls down a webpage, rather than clicking a link to view additional content.

This technique is especially useful for displaying large datasets or feeds, like social media timelines or news articles, without the need for pagination links.

This blog post, will guide you through implementing infinite scroll in a Laravel application using Livewire and AlpineJS for a smooth, interactive user experience.

Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Infinite Scroll

1. Setting Up Livewire

First, ensure Livewire is integrated into your Laravel project. Livewire facilitates creating dynamic interfaces without extensive JavaScript, making it ideal for our infinite scroll feature. Install Livewire by executing the command below in your project's root directory:

composer require livewire/livewire "^3.0"

You can read more about installing livewire on the livewire documentation.

2. Creating a Livewire Component

Generate a new Livewire component that will manage the rendering of your posts and the infinite scroll functionality. Use the artisan command like so:

php artisan make:livewire Posts

3. Defining the Data Source

In the Livewire component, specify the data source for your posts. Using the Laravel model, fetch the initial set of posts to be displayed. For instance, to display posts in descending order by their creation date, you might write:

App\Models\Post::latest()->take(5)->get();

This returns the 5 latests posts from your database. In the example below I use Livewire Computed Properties so I can use $this->posts on the view to run the function posts that gets the latest number of posts based on the value of $on_page variable.

The loadMore() function increments the value of $on_page by 5 there for loading more posts on the view. We will see how to get the function to run when the user scrolls the page.

use Livewire\Attributes\Computed;
use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
use App\Models\Post;

class Posts extends Component {
    public int $on_page = 5;

    #[Computed]
    public function posts(): Collection
    {
        return Post::latest()->take($this->on_page)->get();
    }

    public function loadMore(): void
    {
        $this->on_page += 5;
    }
}

4. Rendering Your Data

In the Livewire component's view, render the posts in a user-friendly format. Here, posts can be displayed with their title, excerpt, and user information. An "empty" state is also defined for when no posts are available:

<div class="pt-10 mt-10 space-y-16 border-t border-gray-200">
  @forelse($this->posts as $post)
    <!-- Post template: title, excerpt, author info -->
  @empty
    <p>No Posts Found</p>
  @endforelse
  <!-- Load More -->
</div>

5. Implementing Infinite Scroll

Leverage AlpineJS's x-intersect plugin to trigger the loadMore method automatically as the user scrolls and reaches the end of the post list. This eliminates the need for a "Load More" button, providing a true infinite scroll experience:

You can read more about x-intersect on AlpineJs documentation.

<div x-intersect.full="$wire.loadMore()" class="p-4">
  <div wire:loading wire:target="loadMore" class="loading-indicator">
        Loading more posts...
  </div>
</div>

6. Enhancing User Experience with Loading Indicators

To inform users that more content is loading, implement a loading indicator that appears while the next set of posts is being fetched:

<div wire:loading wire:target="loadMore"
     class="loading-indicator">
      Loading more posts...
</div>

7. Testing and Debugging

Thoroughly test the infinite scroll feature to ensure it operates smoothly across different devices and browsers. Utilise Laravel and Livewire's debugging tools to resolve any issues.

By following these steps, you can implement an efficient and user-friendly infinite scroll feature in your Laravel application using Livewire v3. This approach not only enhances the interface but also leverages modern web development practices for a seamless user experience.

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For a practical demonstration, you can view an example component on GitHub written using livewire volt.

Additionally, a live implementation of this component is available on the playground https://play.apexcode.dev/blog

These resources provide valuable insights into how the infinite scroll functionality is implemented in a real-world application, allowing you to explore the code and see the feature in action.