Primary Sidebar

Primary Sidebar Flow — OrcaQ

Architecture Overview

The Primary Sidebar is driven by a single active tab value in a Pinia store. The flow is:

ActivityBarItemType (enum)           ← Tab identity
useActivityBarStore.activityActive   ← Which tab is currently active (persisted)
PrimarySideBar.vue                   ← Watches activityActive, renders the matching component
Management***.vue                    ← The actual panel content (KeepAlive'd)

The Activity Bar (the narrow icon strip on the far left) calls setActivityActive(type). The Primary Sidebar reacts to the change and swaps the rendered panel — all panels are wrapped in <KeepAlive> so their state is preserved when the user switches tabs.

File Locations

Management panel locations

How the Switcher Works (PrimarySideBar.vue)

<script setup lang="ts">
const activityStore = useActivityBarStore();
const current = shallowRef();

watch(
  () => activityStore.activityActive,
  () => {
    if (activityStore.activityActive === ActivityBarItemType.Explorer)
      current.value = ManagementExplorer;
    if (activityStore.activityActive === ActivityBarItemType.Schemas)
      current.value = ManagementSchemas;
    // ... one branch per tab
  },
  { immediate: true }
);
</script>

<template>
  <div class="w-full h-full flex flex-col" v-if="appConfigStore.layoutSize[0]">
    <KeepAlive>
      <component :is="current" />
    </KeepAlive>
  </div>
</template>

Key points:

• Uses shallowRef (not ref) for the component — avoids deep reactivity on component objects.
• immediate: true so the correct panel is rendered on first mount.
• <KeepAlive> preserves scroll position and internal state when switching tabs.
• The panel is only mounted when the sidebar is open (layoutSize[0] > 0).

How to Add a New Sidebar Tab

Step 1 — Add enum value

In core/stores/useActivityBarStore.ts:

export enum ActivityBarItemType {
  Explorer = 'Explorer',
  Schemas = 'Schemas',
  ErdDiagram = 'ERDiagram',
  UsersRoles = 'UsersRoles',
  DatabaseExport = 'DatabaseExport',
  Agent = 'Agent',
  MyNewTab = 'MyNewTab', // ← new
}

Step 2 — Create the management panel module

Create the folder components/modules/management/my-new-tab/ with this structure:

my-new-tab/
├── index.ts                    ← exports ManagementMyNewTab
├── ManagementMyNewTab.vue      ← entry component
├── components/                 ← sub-components (optional)
├── hooks/                      ← business logic composables (optional)
└── services/                   ← API calls (optional)

ManagementMyNewTab.vue minimum template:

<script setup lang="ts">
import { ManagementSidebarHeader } from '../shared';
</script>

<template>
  <div class="flex flex-col h-full w-full overflow-y-auto">
    <ManagementSidebarHeader title="My New Tab" />
    <!-- panel content here -->
  </div>
</template>

index.ts:

export { default as ManagementMyNewTab } from './ManagementMyNewTab.vue';

Step 3 — Export from the management module

In components/modules/management/index.ts:

export * from './my-new-tab'; // ← add this line

Step 4 — Register in PrimarySideBar

In components/modules/app-shell/primary-side-bar/components/PrimarySideBar.vue:

// 1. Import the component
import { ManagementMyNewTab } from '#components';

// 2. Add a branch in the watch
watch(
  () => activityStore.activityActive,
  () => {
    // ... existing branches ...
    if (activityStore.activityActive === ActivityBarItemType.MyNewTab)
      current.value = ManagementMyNewTab;
  },
  { immediate: true }
);

Step 5 — Add Activity Bar button

The Activity Bar icon strip that calls setActivityActive is separate from the management module. Find the component that renders the icon list and add a button:

activityStore.setActivityActive(ActivityBarItemType.MyNewTab);

How to Update an Existing Panel

1. Find the panel in components/modules/management/<tab-name>/Management<Tab>.vue.
2. Business logic (API calls, state) belongs in a hook under <tab-name>/hooks/.
3. Static structure (sub-components) belongs in <tab-name>/components/.
4. Persisted UI state (expanded nodes, scroll position) goes into useActivityBarStore — see schemasExpandedState, schemaCurrentScrollTop as examples.

ManagementSidebarHeader — Shared Header Component

All panels use the shared header. Props:

It also accepts a v-model:search for two-way search binding and an #actions slot for icon buttons in the title bar.

Standard usage:

<ManagementSidebarHeader
  title="My Panel"
  :show-connection="true"
  :workspaceId="workspaceId"
  :show-search="true"
  v-model:search="searchInput"
>
  <template #actions>
    <Button size="iconSm" variant="ghost" @click="onRefresh">
      <Icon name="hugeicons:refresh" class="size-4!" />
    </Button>
  </template>
</ManagementSidebarHeader>

Controlling the Sidebar Programmatically

import {
  useActivityBarStore,
  ActivityBarItemType,
} from '~/core/stores/useActivityBarStore';

const activityStore = useActivityBarStore();

// Switch to a tab
activityStore.setActivityActive(ActivityBarItemType.Schemas);

// Read current active tab
const isSchemas = activityStore.activityActive === ActivityBarItemType.Schemas;

The sidebar visibility is controlled by appConfigStore.layoutSize[0]. Use onToggleActivityBarPanel() from useAppConfigStore to open/close it — do NOT manipulate layoutSize directly.

Hook Pattern for Panel Logic

Every non-trivial panel delegates logic to a hook. The hook receives UI callbacks via parameter (avoid importing component refs directly):

// hooks/useMyPanelTree.ts
export function useMyPanelTree(callbacks: {
  focusNode: (id: string) => void;
  collapseAll: () => void;
  expandAll: () => void;
  isExpandedAll: ComputedRef<boolean>;
}) {
  // state, API calls, event handlers
  return {
    treeData,
    searchInput,
    onClickNode,
    // ...
  };
}

Usage in the container:

<script setup lang="ts">
const treePanelRef = useTemplateRef<TreeInstance | null>('treePanelRef');

const { treeData, searchInput, onClickNode } = useMyPanelTree({
  focusNode: id => treePanelRef.value?.focusItem(id),
  collapseAll: () => treePanelRef.value?.collapseAll(),
  expandAll: () => treePanelRef.value?.expandAll(),
  isExpandedAll: computed(() => treePanelRef.value?.isExpandedAll ?? false),
});
</script>

Key Constraints

• Never add business logic directly in PrimarySideBar.vue — it is a pure switcher. All logic lives in the management panel or its hooks.
• Always use shallowRef for the current component — ref() causes deep reactivity overhead on component objects.
• Always wrap the <component :is="current"> in <KeepAlive> — this preserves scroll position and tree expand state when switching tabs.
• Persisted tree state (expanded keys, scroll positions) goes into useActivityBarStore, not into local component state.
• Imports in PrimarySideBar.vue use #components (Nuxt auto-import barrel) — not direct relative paths.
• Each management sub-module must have its own index.ts exporting its root component, and be re-exported from components/modules/management/index.ts.