Angular 8 Tutorial & Crash Course
Angular 8 Tutorial & Crash Course
Angular 8 is out now and along with that, comes my Angular 8 Tutorial (more like a crash course!) that will
beginner's exactly how to get up and running with this powerful frontend javascript framework.
Angular allows you to create SPA's (Single Page Apps), SSR's (Server Side Rendered) and PWA's (Progressive
Web Apps). For this tutorial, we're going focus just on the basics of building an SPA.
You should be comfortable with HTML, CSS and JavaScript fundamentals before proceeding with Angular.
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Installation
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First, you will need Node.js in order to install the Angular CLI. Head on over to http://nodejs.org , download
and install it. After installation with the default settings, open up your command line / console and run the
following command:
> npm -v
This should output a version number. If so, you're ready to install the Angular CLI (Command Line Interface),
which is a command line tool that allows you to create and manage your Angular 8 projects.
This will prompt you with a couple questions. Answer them according to the answers below:
Angular routing allows you to create routes between the components in your app. We'll be using Sass (SCSS)
as well, so we're adding that too.
Let's hop into the folder where our new project is stored:
> cd myapp
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At this point, I usually issue the command: code . which opens up Visual Studio Code (the code editor I use) in
the current folder.
> ng serve -o
The -o flag is optional, but it opens up your default browser to the development location http://localhost:4200
Now, while you're developing your Angular app, every time you update a file, the browser will automatically
reload (hot reloading) so that you can see the app and debug it in near real-time.
Note: When you want to deploy your Angular app, you will use a different command. We'll get to that later.
Folder Structure
It's worth dedicating a little bit of time to outline the important files and folders that you will commonly work
in -- and also understand some of the under-the-hood stuff that makes Angular 8 work.
The folder and file structure looks like this in an Angular 8 project:
> e2e
> node_modules
> src
> app
> assets
> environments
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..index.html
..styles.scss
The e2e folder is for end to end testing. We won't be covering testing in this course, but I will do a
separate tutorial on that.
node_modules is a folder you will never watch to touch, as it contains the project's dependencies.
/app is where you will spend the most of your time writing your Angular 8 code. It includes the routing,
components, and more.
/index.html is the entry point to the app, and you generally don't touch this file.
Angular 8 Components
The fundamental building blocks of your Angular app are the components. Components consist of 3 elements:
The imports
The component decorator, which are various properties for your component. The component decorator
includes locations to your component's template and CSS location.
Let's take a look at the component the Angular CLI generated for us to see these 3 areas in action.
Open up /src/app/app.component.ts:
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: './app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['./app.component.scss']
})
export class AppComponent {
title = 'myapp';
}
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As you can see, we have a single import at the top, which is necessary for all Angular components. We also
have the @Component({}) decorator, and the component logic at the bottom with the single title property.
As we progress, we'll work with all 3 of these concepts to build out the app.
Creating a Navigation
Let's add a navbar with a logo and a navigation to the top of our app.
Open up /src/app/app.component.html and remove all of the current code. Replace it with the following:
<header>
<div class="container">
<a routerLink="/" class="logo">CoolApp</a>
<nav>
<ul>
<li><a href="#" routerLink="/">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#" routerLink="/list">List</a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
</header>
<div class="container">
<router-outlet></router-outlet>
</div>
The two important areas that are specific to Angular 8 here are:
1. routerLink - This is how you link together different pages of your app. You don't use href.
2. router-outlet - This is where routed components are displayed within the template. You will see how this
works shortly..
Next, let's visit the global /app/styles.scss file to provide it with the following rulesets:
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@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Nunito:400,700&display=swap');
body {
margin: 0;
font-family: 'Nunito', 'sans-serif';
font-size: 18px;
}
.container {
width: 80%;
margin: 0 auto;
}
header {
background: $primary;
padding: 1em 0;
a {
color: white;
text-decoration: none;
}
a.logo {
font-weight: bold;
}
nav {
float: right;
ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
display: flex;
li a {
padding: 1em;
&:hover {
background: darken($primary, 10%);
}
}
}
}
}
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h1 {
margin-top: 2em;
}
Nothing too exciting happening here. After saving, your app should now have a styled navigation bar.
Routing
Let's use the Angular CLI to generate a couple components for the pages in our app.
@NgModule({
imports: [RouterModule.forRoot(routes)],
exports: [RouterModule]
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})
export class AppRoutingModule { }
We first import the components that were generated, and then we add them as an object in the Routes array.
We left the path: property blank, which signifies the home component that will load by default when the app
loads.
If you click on the List and Home links in the navigation, they will now display the component template
associated with the clicked component!
Simple!
<h1>Welcome!</h1>
<div class="play-container">
<p>You've clicked <span (click)="countClick()">this</span> {{ clickCounter }} times.</
</div>
(click) - This is a click event, which means if the element is clicked, it will call the function
countClick() which doesn't yet exist.
{{ clickCounter }} this is interpolation. clickCounter is a property (not yet defined) that will display data
that's retrieved from the component.
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clickCounter: number = 0;
constructor() { }
ngOnInit() {
}
countClick() {
this.clickCounter += 1;
}
Next, we created the function which will increment the clickCounter property by 1.
Before we give it a shot, let's give this some style. Visit the home.component.scss file and specify:
span {
font-weight: bold;
background: lightgray;
padding: .3em .8em;
cursor: pointer;
}
.play-container {
padding: 3em;
border: 1px solid lightgray;
margin-bottom: 1em;
input {
padding: 1em;
margin-bottom: 2em;
}
}
Save all of the files you just modified, and give it a shot!
First, the template is retrieving the clickCounter property from the component. Then, if you click on the span
element, it is communicating data from the template to the component!
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<div class="play-container">
<p>
<input type="text" [(ngModel)]="name"><br>
<strong>You said: </strong> {{ name }}
</p>
</div>
In order for ngModel to work correctly, we need to import it into our /src/app/app.module.ts:
// other imports
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
@NgModule({
...
imports: [
BrowserModule,
AppRoutingModule,
FormsModule // add this
],
providers: [],
bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
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clickCounter: number = 0;
name: string = ''; // add this
If you save it and begin to type within the textfield, you will see that it displays in the line beneath it in real
time. This is two-way data binding because it's both setting and retreiving the property to and from the
component/template!
ng-template
What about working with if and else within your templates? We can use ng-template for that.
<div class="play-container">
<ng-template [ngIf]="clickCounter > 4" [ngIfElse]="none">
<p>The click counter <strong>IS GREATER</strong> than 4.</p>
</ng-template>
<ng-template #none>
<p>The click counter is <strong>not greater</strong> than 4.</p>
</ng-template>
</div>
First, we use property binding [ngIf] and bind it to an expression clickCounter > 4.
If that expression isn't true, it will call upon a template called none with ngIfElse.
If that expression is true, it will show the HTML within the initial ng-template block.
Give it a shot by clicking the span element until it reaches 5 or more and you will see it work in action.
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Awesome!
Style Binding
Sometimes, you want to modify the appearance of your UI based on events that occur in your app. This is
where class and style binding come into play.
With inline style binding, you wrap it in brackets (property binding) and specify style. and then the name of
the CSS property. You bind them to an expression (we're using clickCounter > 4, or this could be a boolean
value too) and then a ternary operator ? where the first value is used if it's true, and the second value after
the colon is used for false.
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If you save, it will initially show the play container block as light gray. If you click our span button a few times,
it will turn yellow.
Try it out now, and you will notice both CSS properties change.
Note: You can specify [ngStyle]="someObject" instead, if you wish to specify that logic in the component
instead of the template.
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Class Binding
If you wish to add or remove entire classes that are defined in your CSS, you can do this with class binding.
Modify the current .play-container we've been working with, to the following:
.active {
background-color: yellow;
border: 4px solid black;
}
setClasses() {
let myClasses = {
active: this.clickCounter > 4,
notactive: this.clickCounter <= 4
};
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return myClasses;
}
We added the notactive class here, so we should define it in the component's CSS file as well:
.notactive {
background-color: lightgray;
}
Services
Services are special components that are reusable throughout your app. We're going to create a service for
the purpose of communicating with an API to fetch some data and display it on our lists page.
ng g s http
Notice "g s", these are just shorthand terms for "generate service". The name we're giving this service is
"http".
@Injectable({
providedIn: 'root'
})
export class HttpService {
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constructor() { }
}
It looks similar to a component, except the import is an Injectable instead of a Component, and the decator is
based on this @Injectable.
constructor() { }
myMethod() {
return console.log('Hey, what is up!');
}
}
Next, in /src/list/list.component.ts:
ngOnInit() {
this._http.myMethod();
}
ngOnInit() is a lifecycle hook that is fired when the component loads. So, we're saying, run our .method() from
the service when the component loads.
If you click to the list link in the navigation and view your console in the web developer tools, you will see
"Hey, what is up!" output.
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@Injectable({
providedIn: 'root'
})
export class HttpService {
getBeer() {
return this.http.get('https://api.openbrewerydb.org/breweries')
}
}
First, we import the HttpClient, then we create an instance of it through dependency injection, and then we
create a method that returns the response from the API. Simple!
@NgModule({
imports: [
BrowserModule,
AppRoutingModule,
FormsModule,
HttpClientModule // Add here
],
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brews: Object;
ngOnInit() {
this._http.getBeer().subscribe(data => {
this.brews = data
console.log(this.brews);
}
);
}
The service returns an observable, which means we can subscribe to it within the component. In the return,
we can pass the data to our brews object.
Next, visit the list template file and add the following:
<h1>Breweries</h1>
<ul *ngIf="brews">
<li *ngFor="let brew of brews">
<p class="name">{{ brew.name }}</p>
<p class="country">{{ brew.country }}</p>
<a class="site" href="{{ brew.website_url }}">site</a>
</li>
</ul>
After that, it's a simple matter of iterating through the results with interpolation!
Let's style this with CSS real quickly in this component's .scss file:
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ul {
list-style-type: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
li {
background: rgb(238, 238, 238);
padding: 1em;
margin-right: 10px;
width: 20%;
height: 200px;
margin-bottom: 1em;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
p {
margin: 0;
}
p.name {
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 1.2rem;
}
p.country {
text-transform: uppercase;
font-size: .9rem;
flex-grow: 1;
}
}
}
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Deployment
Let's say that we're happy with our app and we want to deploy it.
We first have to create a production build with the Angular CLI. Visit the console and issue the following
command:
This will create a /dist folder. We can even run it locally with something like lite-server. To install lite-server:
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> lite-server
At this point, you have a number of options for deploying it (Github Pages, Netlify, your own hosting, etc..).
Closing
We've just scratched the surface here, but you also learned ton. I suggest recreating another app using
everything you've learned here before proceeding with more of the intermediate to advance topics. That way,
you can really commit the fundamental stuff to memory through repition.
Enjoy!
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mihail_coscodan@mail.ru
So I did just that, downloaded a tarball, extracted it ... and... checked the website nodejs.org for
installation instructions, clicked on docs ... no where are their any installation instructions. So i
check the readme.md file in the extracted tarball, which, has no installation instructions. So I google
how to install node in linux and find this: https://tecadmin.net/instal...
So I install node according to those instructions and now have node 13.1.0 and npm 6.12.1 yay, I'm
now ready to go!
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now ready to go!
neither of which I will remember the next time I try to do something with node *sigh*
Assuming the node version manager or config changes work, I should be good, but it is now an
hour past the time I sat down to watch this beginners video .. and I'm only 3 mins into it, very
frustrating.
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
or
or
And if next day you needed node 10 again just nvm use 10 since you already have it installed.
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