Technology, Page 9 Category

The dynamic team of the popular typescript-based web framework, Angular, has been known for its periodic updates to keep up with changing times and emerging technologies. And, here’s another update that has created a buzz in the technical world. Their latest update, Angular 13, rolled out on 3rd November 2021; is one of their most organized, pre-planned, and game-changing updates so far.

So, what’s new in angular13? Well, this post discusses all the noteworthy add-ons, embellishments, improvements, deletions as well as modifications. Let’s peek through the novel offerings of Angular 13!

After the Angular team had rolled out multiple updated versions that marked a transitioning phase to the Ivy View Engine, Angular 13 is now 100% Ivy. Angular has completely removed support for the legacy view engine and supports only Ivy. The existing libraries will get migrated to the “partial” compilation mode automatically and the metadata that was earlier needed for the legacy View Engine will be removed. Angular developers should switch from “enableIvy:false” to “compilationMode:partial” to keep up with the update.

This update brings about speedier compilation as well as enhanced productivity to Angular app development. Moreover, the Ivy approach enables developers to write codes dynamically unlike the previous versions, wherein the developers needed a boilerplate for code creation. Using the previous versions, developers are required to inject ComponentFactoryResolver into the constructor for creating components. But, with V13, components can be created without having to create an associated factory using ViewContainerRef.createComponent.

The APF (Angular Package Format) defines the format and the structure of the packages contained within the Angular framework. This approach greatly helps in packaging third-party libraries in the web development environment. Angular 13 comes with a new version of the APF, a modernized and streamlined APF.

Modifications and add-ons

V13 comes with FormControlStatus, a new type for forms which is a union type of all status strings possible concerning form controls. This add-on brings about two more modifications – the type of AbstractControlStatus changes to FormControlStatus and StatusChanges now has Observable instead of Observable.

V13 introduces a host of new functions that manage form validation like addValidators, setValidators, hasValidators, removeValidators, alongside their equivalent async versions – addAsyncValidators, setAsyncValidators, hasAsyncValidators, and removeAsyncValidators.

Now let’s take a look at the router modifications. The earlier Angular versions had an empty string to set the routerLink directive value to zero and undefined; without any means for disabling the link’s navigation. However, with Angular 13, you can entirely disable the navigation, if you set the same values to routerLink directive. Another add-on is Active Change, a new output for the RouterLink directive; which is produced every time when a related link becomes either active or inactive. Developers using V13 can use dynamic ESM import statements as in this updated version; the load property that is a part of the route definition is unable to accept string values.

The enhancements made to Angular Material Components include:

The Angular team has removed support for IE11 (Internet Explorer11) in the latest version Angular13, based on customer feedback, to make it future-ready. As a result, the entire infrastructure concerning IE11 – build passes, CSS code paths, polyfills, special JS, etc. – will be eliminated.

The build infrastructure and enhanced APIs will prove beneficial to Angular app developers, whereas the end-users will enjoy speedier load times as well as an improved UX.

However, this update will affect organizations that still use Internet Explorer 11 and have not yet migrated to modern browsers like Microsoft Edge. For migrating your project to Angular 13, you have to run the ng update – this will automatically drop the IE-specific polyfills and minimize the bundle size during migration. The existing Angular development projects that still need the support for IE11, can continue using Angular 12, which will be supported till November 2022.

I hope my post has provided you with comprehensive insights on the most significant updates that influence Angular app development.

Looking for further clarification on Angular 13 updates or would like to hire technical assistance for leveraging these amazing features to build futuristic apps/software solutions?

Contact Biz4Solutions, a highly experienced and distinguished Angular app development company that excel in providing high-end services to clients across the globe.

Utilizing the Angular framework for building an app is immensely beneficial. Nevertheless, coding in Angular can turn tricky at times, thereby adversely affecting the code quality. Thankfully, there are certain tried and tested strategies that will instantly improve the quality of your Angular codebase. This post provides Angular Development Company with detailed insights into these ingenious strategies. Take a look!

The Angular framework clearly defines a set of rules and practices that one should follow for creating a uniform codebase across the organization. Adhering to these Angular app design guidelines proves beneficial in the following ways:

Example: Take a look at this particular example of Angular design guideline

Angular files should follow the naming conventions recommended by Angular team like each file with an Angular structure such as a pipe, a module, or a component is named in the following manner:

[Name].[structure].[file-extension]

Hence, for creating a component that is to be displayed to the customers, name it as ‘customer’ – its structure will be a component and the file extension will be ‘css’, ‘.ts’, or ‘html’ – Custumer.component.ts

All the aforesaid functions are taken care of by the Angular-cli by employing a command – ng-generate – for creating the structure, and the file that is created as an outcome of this function follows the naming convention automatically

One of the commonest mistakes developers commit is placing everything into the application module resulting in a complete mess. Therefore, it is advisable to employ modules and structure those modules as defined by the Angular team. The usage of modules ushers in the following benefits:

Feature modules are created in a different folder named ‘feature’ and are meant to contain a particular feature. For instance, the feature-module for the attribute named ‘feature’ is placed within a directory called feature and the module file follows the naming convention – feature.module.ts.

The top advantages of using feature-modules are as follows:

Feature modules encase every directive/component/pipe into a separate module and so it cannot be used in other parts of the app if it is not imported. While such a function is immensely useful in certain situations, it doesn’t work for other cases. For instance, when there is a need to import the admin-module of the blog section for using a plain utility-directive, employing a feature module will complicate things and also overshadow its advantages. In such a case there arises a need to employ modules like ‘Core’ and ‘Shared’ for addressing other requirements. Check them out!

Shared modules need to be used when pieces of your app are required to be used across multiple features/areas of the app. Therefore, components that are reused in multiple features are called shared modules like services and pipes. With shared modules, you can share common pieces for filling out feature module ‘sections’. All feature modules use shared modules without having to break the encasing of other modules. Example – A text-formatting module containing a set of pipes for formatting text in a particular way.

Core modules are encased within the CoreModule inside a directory named ‘core’ and are used for placing app-wide services that have been used only once.

This module provides all application-wide singleton services that may be required. It is imported into the application module and keeps the app module nice and tidy. Nevertheless, the core module is not limited to services only. Everything that is used app-wide, but isn’t suitable for a shared module can be executed using the core module. Example: Loading-spinners at the beginning of the app are not used elsewhere in the app and so building an additional shared module for this purpose would be an over kill.

Most Angular services are meant for functioning globally and are thereafter provided at an app-level called the App Module. But this strategy is useful only if you need the global-singleton pattern wherein a single global instance is needed if your service requires to cache things. In other instances, each component comes with a separate cache on account of Angular’s scoped dependency injection.

But, there are several services that do not require to be provided globally, particularly if used by a single component. Here, you need to provide the service within the component – a service that is directly attached to the component. You can also provide the services in a module that is accessible from anywhere it is required. For this reason, the services are related to features/feature-modules and hence they become easier to locate as well as understand in the correct context. Moreover, these are contained by a feature module that enables lazy-loading abilities. Furthermore, it reduces the risk of a dead code when the only module using that service is deleted.

Keeping logic outside your components is a good strategy for improving the code quality. But why should the business logic exist as a separate service? The reasons are manifold.

Firstly, conducting testing for components and UI is quite challenging as compared to conducting pure logic testing and secondly, this strategy enables you to create more efficient tests at a fast pace. If available as a separate service, your logic can also be used by other components. This way, more amount of code can be reused minimizing the need for writing codes altogether. Furthermore, the code can be read effortlessly, if the logic exists in a separate file.

Angular’s environment involves stringent rules for achieving code consistency and this is applicable for the asynchronous code as well. The rxjs library is employed for every asynchronous function and this library utilizes the observer pattern. The following piece of advice will help you in ensuring the accuracy of the asynchronous code.

The larger the application, the lower is the code quality. This is because since every component has its own state, the presence of hundreds of components becomes confusing and makes debugging all the more challenging. This problem can be resolved by practicing centralized state management.

Centralized state management is the practice of storing the entire app’s state in one single location rather than being scattered all over the application. Here, a single instance controls the overall state and executes changes to the state.

Using Redux is recommended while generating large apps containing multiple components. However Redux doesn’t work well in the case of small and mid-sized apps because it involves a host of boilerplate code that can over-complicate the code of the Angular application.

All Angular app developers must necessarily follow these groundbreaking strategies to develop an impeccable Angular app. Need technical assistance with Angular app development? Contact Biz4Solutions, a highly experienced outsourcing software development company in India and U.S.A. Our high-end AngularJS development services are worth a try!