Combining Elixir's LiveView with JavaScript for Enhanced Interactivity

The article begins by introducing Phoenix LiveView as an Elixir library that offers real-time user experiences through server-rendered HTML and details how LiveViews are Elixir processes that manage events, state, and page render updates. It then discusses the issue that arises when combining JavaScript with LiveView: the potential for LiveView to override DOM changes made by JavaScript due to different state management approaches. To resolve this, a series of strategies are presented: using LiveView.JS for client commands, leveraging hooks for client callbacks and complex interactions, the 'phx-update' attribute for controlling updates to certain DOM elements, and the onBeforeElUpdated callback for more intricate mixtures of static and dynamic content. Examples are provided for implementing a terms of service checkbox, a dark mode toggle, and a JS-powered accordion within a LiveView. The article concludes by affirming the complementary strengths of LiveView and JavaScript and encourages developers to explore their combined potential.