Interaction between components

This should be possible with interactive components (currently in beta) https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061175334-Create-interactive-components-with-variants

Note: The Change to action can only be used on variants in a component set. It’s not possible to use this action between two separate components or top-level frames.

It would be possible if both components were part of one variant this is not the case.

I want to be able to change state of the stream when i click on the mic toggle button

So to clarify, you want basically what interactive components allow, but with regular components instead of variants, right?

I would like that to be able to change variant state from another component.
If i click on a button i can switch another component variant from A to B.

Not sure if I am clear

That would be really useful. The ideal would be to simply allow interactions between pages, independent of it being a component or not. The only difference is that components propagate their interactions to their instances.

Allowing to change the state of another component, which is essential, would not be enough, the components would need to be implemented in the same file and in the same page, which defeats the purpose of pages in the first place. It is sad that every neat feature Figma has for organize and keep your design system neat is lost when prototyping.

The workaround I am using to simulate non-local interactions, is to implement container components, that combine the change of state in multiple child components. It has some drawbacks that are not obvious at first, but may be enough for what you are trying to achieve right now.

Agreed this would be really useful!

I really need this right now

A perfect example of why this is crucial.

1. I have a modal as an overlay - I use it on dozens of pages.
2. It has a drop down box in a form which opens another overlay (the options of the combobox.)
3. Depending on what they click on, I want to add a bunch of secondary fields.

Currently, there is no way to do this without eliminating the drop down overlay which would ruin the form experience.
Example:

The experience should be on this control:

Change to shouldn’t assume “THIS” component. There should be one extra field which asks “which component”. Specifically, it is going to be the component that opened up the menu. The modal.

I run into this problem 4 times a week.

This would enable much more dynamic prototypes to be built quicker. I struggle with this constantly, especially in building navigation. I have a nav that expands/collapses and since each frame of a prototype is effectively it’s own state of the application, I have to create 2x the number of screens to account for if the user has the nav element expanded or collapsed.

Instead, I want to build a navigation “controller” and a page “viewer” that are separate where the nav can control the view and they have independent states/behaviors.

Agreed, Big need for this feature. Less non local simulations (time and screens consuming), more dynamic prototyping. <3