How to Integrate LWC with Modern JavaScript Tools

May 27, 2025
646 Views
How to Integrate LWC with Modern JavaScript Tools

Salesforce’s Lightning Web Components (LWC) provide a powerful way to build UI on the Salesforce Platform. But what if you want to enrich your UI with features from popular JavaScript libraries like Chart.js, Moment.js, or even React (to some extent)?

In this post, we’ll explore how to integrate LWC with modern javascript tools effectively.

Why Integrate LWC with Modern JavaScript Tools?

While LWC offers native capabilities for many UI needs, integrating modern libraries lets you:

  • Add advanced visualizations (e.g., charts, graphs)
  • Perform complex operations (e.g., date handling, array manipulation)
  • Improve development speed using well-tested utilities

Basic Integration Strategy

LWC supports using external JS libraries by loading them via Static Resources.

General Steps:
  1. Upload Library to Static Resources
  2. Import it in your LWC using loadScript

Supported Libraries and Caveats

Supported Libraries and Caveats
Also Read

Integration Examples

Example 1: Using Chart.js for Visualizations

Step 1: Upload chart.min.js as a Static Resource (e.g., ChartJS)

Step 2: Create an LWC

chartExample.html

		<template>
		  <lightning-card title="Sales Chart">
			<canvas class="chart" lwc:dom="manual"></canvas>
		  </lightning-card>
		</template>
		

chartExample.js

import { LightningElement } from 'lwc';
import { loadScript } from 'lightning/platformResourceLoader';
import ChartJS from '@salesforce/resourceUrl/ChartJS';

export default class ChartExample extends LightningElement {
  chart;
  chartJsInitialized = false;

  renderedCallback() {
    if (this.chartJsInitialized) {
      return;
    }
    this.chartJsInitialized = true;

    Promise.all([loadScript(this, ChartJS)])
      .then(() => {
        const ctx = this.template.querySelector('canvas').getContext('2d');
        this.chart = new window.Chart(ctx, {
          type: 'bar',
          data: {
            labels: ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar'],
            datasets: [{
              label: 'Revenue',
              data: [100, 200, 300],
              backgroundColor: 'rgba(54, 162, 235, 0.6)'
            }]
          }
        });
      })
      .catch(error => {
        console.error('Error loading ChartJS', error);
      });
  }
}

Example 2: Using Moment.js for Date Formatting

momentExample.js

import { LightningElement, track } from 'lwc';
import { loadScript } from 'lightning/platformResourceLoader';
import MomentJS from '@salesforce/resourceUrl/MomentJS';

export default class MomentExample extends LightningElement {
  @track formattedDate;
  momentInitialized = false;

  renderedCallback() {
    if (this.momentInitialized) return;
    this.momentInitialized = true;

    loadScript(this, MomentJS)
      .then(() => {
        this.formattedDate = window.moment().format('MMMM Do YYYY, h:mm:ss a');
      })
      .catch(error => {
        console.error('Moment.js load failed', error);
      });
  }
}

momentExample.html

<template>
  <lightning-card title="Current Date & Time">
    <p>{formattedDate}</p>
  </lightning-card>
</template>

Example 3: Using Lodash for Utility Functions

lodashExample.js

import { LightningElement, track } from 'lwc';
import { loadScript } from 'lightning/platformResourceLoader';
import Lodash from '@salesforce/resourceUrl/Lodash';

export default class LodashExample extends LightningElement {
  @track maxValue;
  lodashInitialized = false;

  renderedCallback() {
    if (this.lodashInitialized) return;
    this.lodashInitialized = true;

    loadScript(this, Lodash)
      .then(() => {
        const values = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9];
        this.maxValue = window._.max(values);
      })
      .catch(error => {
        console.error('Lodash load error', error);
      });
  }
}

lodashExample.html

<template>
  <lightning-card title="Max Value Using Lodash">
    <p>Max Value: {maxValue}</p>
  </lightning-card>
</template>

Tips & Best Practices

  • Always use loadScript and loadStyle from lightning/platformResourceLoader
  • Use renderedCallback carefully to avoid multiple loads
  • Wrap logic in a flag like libraryInitialized to prevent redundant rendering
  • Always handle catch() for error handling

Limitations and Considerations

  • Shadow DOM can interfere with some DOM-manipulating libraries (like jQuery)
  • Avoid libraries that depend on document.getElementById() or DOM traversal
  • Do not integrate full frameworks like Angular or React — LWC is not designed for it

Conclusion

Lightning Web Components provide a clean, fast, and secure UI framework. With a little extra effort, you can integrate powerful modern JavaScript libraries to enhance functionality and enrich the user experience.

Keep in mind to use libraries that play well with ES6 modules and shadow DOM, and always test thoroughly in the Salesforce environment.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 3.7 / 5. Vote count: 3

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

Written by

Khumed Khatib

8x Salesforce certified || Senior Engineering Lead Salesforce at Persistent Systems || 2x Ranger || Blogger || LWC || Aura||integration

Get the latest tips, news, updates, advice, inspiration, and more….

Contributor of the month
contributor
Gopinath G

Passionate about the intersection of cutting-edge technologies

...
Categories
...
Boost Your Brand's Visibility

Want to promote your products/services in front of more customers?

...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *