Webpack loader for AngularJs components


Keywords
angular, component, template, webpack, loader, angular-components, angularjs, ng-component-loader, ng-loader
License
MIT
Install
npm install ng-loader@3.1.0

Documentation

ng-loader Downloads Version License

ng-loader is a loader for Webpack that can transform *.ng files into AngularJs Components.

Note: ng-loader@1.0.0 had a different purpose than version 2.*, it was currently migrated to ng-module-loader.

What is Webpack?

webpack is a tool to build JavaScript modules in your application. To start using webpack from its cli or api, follow the Installation instructions. webpack simplifies your workflow by quickly constructing a dependency graph of your application and bundling them in the right order. webpack can be configured to customise optimisations to your code, to split vendor/css/js code for production, run a development server that hot-reloads your code without page refresh and many such cool features. Learn more about why you should use webpack.

Understanding Loaders

Loaders are transformations that are applied on a resource file of your application. They are functions (running in Node.js) that take the source of a resource file as the parameter and return the new source. Learn more about loaders.

Install

npm install --save-dev ng-loader 

Usage

Use the loader either via your Webpack config.

Via webpack config (recommended)

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.ng$/,
        use: [ 'ng-loader' ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Passing parameters:

	{
        test: /\.ng$/, 
        use: ['ng-loader?map=false']
    }

Angular Component

In AngularJS, a Component is a special kind of directive that uses a simpler configuration which is suitable for a component-based application structure.

This makes it easier to write an app in a way that's similar to using Web Components or using the new Angular's style of application architecture.

Advantages of Components:

  • simpler configuration than plain directives
  • promote sane defaults and best practices
  • optimized for component-based architecture
  • writing component directives will make it easier to upgrade to Angular

You can see the full documentation here.

The *.ng file

A *.ng file is a custom file format that uses HTML-like syntax to describe a angular component. Each *.ng file consists of three types of top-level language blocks: <template>, <script> and <style>:

<!-- ./src/components/my-component.ng -->
<template>
    <h1 class="ui header">
        {{ $ctrl.description }}
    </h1>
</template>

<script>
    export default {
        controller(){
            this.description = 'A AngularJs Component!'
        }
    }
</script>

<style lang="sass">
    @import '~semantic-ui';
</style>

ng-loader will parse the file, extract each language block, pipe them through other loaders if necessary, and finally assemble them back into a CommonJS module whose module.exports is a AngularJs Component options object.

Language Blocks

<template>

  • Default language: html.

  • Each *.ng file can contain at most one <template> block at a time.

  • Contents will be extracted as a string and used as the template option for the compiled AngularJs Component.

<script>

  • Default language: js (ES2015 is supported automatically if babel-loader or buble-loader is detected).

  • Each *.ng file can contain at most one <script> block at a time.

  • The script is executed in a CommonJS like environment (just like a normal .js module bundled via Webpack), which means you can require() other dependencies. And with ES2015 support, you can also use the import and export syntax.

    // tag script inside ng file ./src/components/my-component.ng
    exports default {
        controller () {
            this.description = 'A AngularJs Component';
        }
    };

Registering your component:

import * as angular from 'angular';

import myComponent from './components/my-component.ng';

angular.module('app', []).component('myComponent', myComponent);

You can also return an array with the component data. The first item represents the component name and the second component options.

    // tag script inside ng file ./src/components/my-component.ng
    exports default ['myComponent', {
        controller: () => {
            this.description = 'AngularJs';
        }
    }];

and register as follows

import * as angular from 'angular';

import myComponent from './components/my-component.ng';

angular.module('app', []).component.apply(this, myComponent);

// ES2015
// .component(...myComponent)

<style>

  • Default Language: css;
  • Multiple <style> tags are supported in a single *.ng file;
  • By default, contents will be extracted and dynamically inserted into the document's <head> as an actual <style> tag using style-loader;

The component

<my-component></my-component>

Hot Reload

This feature is provided by ng-hot-reload-api

Syntax Highlighting

You can treat *.ng files as HTML in your editor.

License

MIT