Tag: angular cli

Angular & Firebase for Fast, Easy Database Apps

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

I recently started working on a new personal project that needed a database, and I just wanted something quick & easy. I remembered a colleague mentioning Firebase in the past and decided to take a look. After playing with it for a few days, I really dig it. I love that you can set up a database for free within a few minutes, and access it directly from the frontend without having to introduce a separate API layer.

In this article, I’ll walk through steps required to create a new Angular application and connect it to a Firebase Cloudstore database. You’ll need to sign up with Firebase to create the database, but it’s free and painless. Let’s get to it!

We’ll begin by creating a new application using the Angular CLI:

$ ng new firebase-app
$ cd firebase-app

Next, we’ll create our Firebase Cloudstore database. Go to firebase.com, and create an account or sign in. Add a new project and Cloudstore database in test mode. Finally, add a web app to the project. When you do this, you’ll be presented with instructions for adding the Firebase SDK to your app, as shown below.


Copy/paste the configuration details into our applicaton’s app.module.ts file. (Don’t worry about putting it in the right spot–we’ll do that in a minute. Just get it in there so you have it.) Now it’s time to install the Firebase and the Angular Firebase module:

$ npm -i firebase @angular/fire

When you install @angular/fire a browser will open for you to authenticate with Firebase, and you’ll be given an authorization code. Copy/paste the code back to the command prompt to finish installing the module.

With the module installed, we complete the necessary changes in app.module.ts:

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { AngularFireModule } from '@angular/fire';
import { AngularFirestoreModule } from '@angular/fire/firestore'

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { DemoComponent } from './demo/demo.component';

// Your web app's Firebase configuration
var firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: "AIzaSyAx2cAfq9Pj3EzavXLkNc6_F9zWCyIayY4",
  authDomain: "ap-sample-1218e.firebaseapp.com",
  databaseURL: "https://ap-sample-1218e.firebaseio.com",
  projectId: "ap-sample-1218e",
  storageBucket: "ap-sample-1218e.appspot.com",
  messagingSenderId: "200601572991",
  appId: "1:200601572991:web:a335d1e106542870a9914a"
};
  
@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent,
    DemoComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    // Initialize Firebase
    AngularFireModule.initializeApp(firebaseConfig),
    AngularFirestoreModule,
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

At this point, we’re actually done with setup and fully functional, but let’s add a new component to demonstrate its usage:

$ ng g c demo

Open demo.component.ts, and add the following:

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { AngularFirestore } from '@angular/fire/firestore';
import { Observable } from 'rxjs';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-demo',
  templateUrl: './demo.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./demo.component.css']
})
export class DemoComponent implements OnInit {

  items: Observable<any[]>;
  
  constructor(
    private firestore: AngularFirestore
  ) { 
    this.items = this.firestore.collection('items').valueChanges();
  }

  ngOnInit(): void { }

  saveItem(value: string): Promise<any> {
    return this.firestore.collection('items').add({
      value: value
    });
  }
}

Add some simple markup to add & display items in demo.component.html:

<input #input type="text">
<button (click)="saveItem(input.value)">Add</button>

<ul>
    <li *ngFor="let item of items | async">
        {{item.value}}
    </li>
</ul>

Finally, remove boilerplate code from app.component.html and replace it with the demo component:

<app-demo></app-demo>

Now run the app. When values are submitted, they’re saved to our Firebase Cloudstore database, and the page will update in realtime as new records are added. Not bad for a few minutes of work!

$ ng serve --open

Make a Trello Clone in 15 Minutes

In the past weeks, I’ve written about how to make a drag & drop list using Angular CDK and how to enable dragging & dropping between multiple lists. Trello is the app that first comes to mind when I think of how this can be used to create a great experience.

At its core, a Trello board has just three pieces of functionality: create lists, create cards within the lists, and reorganize cards within and between the lists. The articles above give us all the tools we need to do this quickly ourselves, so let’s do it!

We’ll use the Angular CLI to do the following:

  1. Create a new app
  2. Add a list component
  3. Add a board component
  4. Make it pretty

Create New App

This first step’s pretty easy. We’re just going to use ng to create a new app and install the Angular CDK.

$ ng new lists-app --defaults
$ cd lists-app
$ npm install @angular/cdk

Do a quick check to make sure we’re starting in a good state:

$ ng serve --open

Add List Component

Now we’ll make our list component using ng generate component.

$ ng g c list

Hop into the code and make three changes. First, we need to import the DragDrop and Forms modules in src/app/app.module.ts:

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { DragDropModule } from '@angular/cdk/drag-drop';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { ListComponent } from './list/list.component';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent,
    ListComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    DragDropModule,
    FormsModule
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

Next, update src/app/list/list.component.ts to support drag/drop and dynamic creation of items. We’ll add the items array to store our list items, a drop function to handle our drop/drop event, and an onSubmit function to add new items to our list.

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { CdkDragDrop, moveItemInArray, transferArrayItem } from '@angular/cdk/drag-drop';
import { NgForm } from '@angular/forms';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-list',
  templateUrl: './list.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./list.component.css']
})
export class ListComponent implements OnInit {

  items: string[] = [];

  constructor() { }

  ngOnInit(): void {
  }

  drop(event: CdkDragDrop<string[]>) {
    if (event.previousContainer === event.container) {
      moveItemInArray(
        event.container.data,
        event.previousIndex,
        event.currentIndex);
    } else {
      transferArrayItem(
        event.previousContainer.data,
        event.container.data,
        event.previousIndex,
        event.currentIndex);
    }
  }

  onSubmit(newItemForm: NgForm) {
    this.items.push(newItemForm.value.newItem);
    newItemForm.reset();
  }
}

The third step is to change our markup in src/app/list/list.component.html. This is just two parts, displaying the drag-&-droppable list items and accepting input for new items.

<div cdkDropList [cdkDropListData]="items" (cdkDropListDropped)="drop($event)">
    <div *ngFor="let item of items" cdkDrag>{{item}}</div>
</div>
<form #newItemForm="ngForm" (ngSubmit)="onSubmit(newItemForm)">
    <input name="newItem" ngModel type="text" placeholder="Enter a new item"><button type="submit">Add Item</button>
</form>

That’s it for our list component, but let’s make one more change to app/app.component.html so we can test. Replace its entire contents with the following:

<app-list></app-list>

Now let’s do another check-in. We should be able to add items to our list and move them around via drag & drop.

$ ng serve --open

Add Board Component

Once again, we look to ng generate component to create our board component.

$ ng g c board

Just like the list component allows for dynamic creation of list items, we want our board component to allow dynamic creation of lists. So, let’s modify src/app/board/board.component.ts to support this:

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { ListComponent } from '../list/list.component';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-board',
  templateUrl: './board.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./board.component.css']
})
export class BoardComponent implements OnInit {

  lists: ListComponent[] = [];

  constructor() { }

  ngOnInit(): void {
  }

  addList() {
    var newList = new ListComponent();
    this.lists.push(newList);
  }
}

And make the markup changes in src/app/board/board.component.html. One thing to note is the use of cdkDropListGroup. This makes all the lists connected and allows dragging & dropping between them.

<button (click)="addList()">Add List</button>
<div class="list-container" cdkDropListGroup>
    <app-list *ngFor="let list of lists"></app-list>
</div>

We’ll also modify src/app/board/board.component.css so that lists will be added horizontally.

.list-container {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: row;
}

Finally, we’ll update app.component.html to use our board component instead of a single list:

<app-board></app-board>

Our board component is complete, so let’s do another check-in.

$ ng serve --open

Make It Pretty

At this point, the hard part’s done. We have our core functionality implemented. We can add lists, add items to the lists, and move the items around. Now let’s make it look nice!

Begin by installing Angular Material:

$ ng add @angular/material

Then import the MatCard, MatButton, and MatInput modules in src/app.module.ts:

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { DragDropModule } from '@angular/cdk/drag-drop';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { MatButtonModule } from '@angular/material/button';
import { MatCardModule } from '@angular/material/card';
import { MatInputModule } from '@angular/material/input';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { ListComponent } from './list/list.component';
import { BoardComponent } from './board/board.component';
import { BrowserAnimationsModule } from '@angular/platform-browser/animations';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent,
    ListComponent,
    BoardComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    DragDropModule,
    FormsModule,
    BrowserAnimationsModule,
    MatButtonModule,
    MatCardModule,
    MatInputModule
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

Now we can use mat-card, mat-raised-button, and mat-form-field in src/app/list/list.component.html:

<div class="container">
    <div class="list" cdkDropList [cdkDropListData]="items" (cdkDropListDropped)="drop($event)">
        <mat-card class="list-item" *ngFor="let item of items" cdkDrag>
            <mat-card-content>
                <p>{{item}}</p>
            </mat-card-content>
        </mat-card>
    </div>
    <form #newItemForm="ngForm" (ngSubmit)="onSubmit(newItemForm)">
        <mat-form-field>
            <input matInput name="newItem" ngModel type="text" placeholder="Enter a new item">
        </mat-form-field>
        <button mat-raised-button type="submit" color="accent">Add Item</button>
    </form>
</div>

And we’ll add a little CSS to src/app/list/list.component.css:

.container {
    margin-right: 10px;
}

.container button {
    margin-left: 5px;
}

.list {
    padding: 10px;
    max-width: 100%;
    border: solid 1px #ccc;
    min-height: 60px;
    display: block;
    background: #fafafa;
    border-radius: 4px;
    overflow: hidden;
}

.cdk-drag-preview {
    box-sizing: border-box;
    border-radius: 4px;
    box-shadow: 0 5px 5px -3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 8px 10px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 14px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
}

.cdk-drag-placeholder {
    opacity: 0;
}

.cdk-drag-animating {
    transition: transform 250ms cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1);
}

.list-item {
    margin: 5px;
}

.list-item:last-child {
    border: none;
}

Then we’ll do some similar things to src/app/board/board.component.html and board.component.css:

<button (click)="addList()" mat-raised-button color="primary">Add List</button>
<div class="list-container" cdkDropListGroup>
    <app-list *ngFor="let list of lists"></app-list>
</div>

button {
    margin: 10px;
}

.list-container {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: row;
    margin: 10px;
}

Now we’ve got fancy buttons, some input animations, and shadows while dragging, and it looks quite nice!

That’s where we’ll leave it today. The code I wrote while constructing this post can be found here.

E2E Angular Drag & Drop App in 5 Steps

Image by sachin_21 from Pixabay

Drag & drop is one of the best enhancements you can implement to give your app a modern feel and provide a great user experience, and Angular’s Component Dev Kit (CDK) makes it really easy to do. In this article, we’ll build a new Angular app from scratch using the Angular CLI and add a drag & drop todo list component.

Prereqs: Make sure you have the Angular CLI installed. You can test by running the command ng --version. If you need to install it, run the command npm install -g @angular/cli. (If you have problems installing on Linux, maybe this article can help!)

Step 1: Create a new app

Create a new app using the Angular CLI. We’ll also install the Angular CDK, and make sure it all works:

$ ng new my-app --defaults
$ cd my-app
$ npm install @angular/cdk
$ ng serve --open

Step 2: Import DragDropModule

In order to make use of Angular CDK’s drag & drop module, we need to import it. Open app.module.ts and import DragDropModule by making the following two edits:

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { DragDropModule } from '@angular/cdk/drag-drop';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    DragDropModule
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

Step 3: Add a new component

Now we’ll use the Angular CLI again to add a new component:

$ ng generate component todo-list

Next we need to modify the component to handle the drop event. We’ll also add some hard-coded test data to work with. Open todo-list.component.ts and make the following changes:

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import {CdkDragDrop, moveItemInArray} from '@angular/cdk/drag-drop';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-todo-list',
  templateUrl: './todo-list.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./todo-list.component.css']
})
export class TodoListComponent implements OnInit {
  tasks = [
    'Cleaning',
    'Gardening',
    'Shopping'
  ];

  constructor() { }

  ngOnInit(): void {
  }

  drop(event: CdkDragDrop<string[]>) {
    moveItemInArray(this.tasks, event.previousIndex, event.currentIndex);
  }
}

We also need to modify the component HTML. Update the contents of todo-list.component.html to be the following:

<div cdkDropList class="example-list" (cdkDropListDropped)="drop($event)">
    <div class="example-box" *ngFor="let task of tasks" cdkDrag>{{task}}</div>
</div>

Step 4: Use the new component

At this point, we’re actually done adding the basic drag & drop functionality, so let’s use our new component. Replace the entire contents of app.component.html with this:

<app-todo-list></app-todo-list>

Now, head back out to your terminal, re-launch the app, and–voila!–you’ve got drag & drop!

$ ng serve --open

(Optional) Step 5: Make it pretty

Sure it’s functional, but it doesn’t look very good! Spruce it up by adding the following CSS to todo-list.component.css:

.example-list {
  width: 500px;
  max-width: 100%;
  border: solid 1px #ccc;
  min-height: 60px;
  display: block;
  background: white;
  border-radius: 4px;
  overflow: hidden;
}

.example-box {
  padding: 20px 10px;
  border-bottom: solid 1px #ccc;
  color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: space-between;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  cursor: move;
  background: white;
  font-size: 14px;
}

.cdk-drag-preview {
  box-sizing: border-box;
  border-radius: 4px;
  box-shadow: 0 5px 5px -3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2),
              0 8px 10px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14),
              0 3px 14px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
}

.cdk-drag-placeholder {
  opacity: 0;
}

.cdk-drag-animating {
  transition: transform 250ms cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1);
}

.example-box:last-child {
  border: none;
}

.example-list.cdk-drop-list-dragging .example-box:not(.cdk-drag-placeholder) {
  transition: transform 250ms cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1);
}

Ah, that feels a little better!