Real life angular inheritance example

#angular #typescript #refactoring #cleancode

Recently I have just added the possibility to share your code snippets with the world on Bookmarks.dev. I have noticed that the code to create and update code snippets, was too intertwined - trying to avoid code duplication I used initially just one component to create and update code snippets. Now, I just could not stand the too many conditional checks anymore, so I decided to split the functionality in two parts - one for handling updating and copy to mine, and the second for creating new snippets.

Because there is still some common functionality in both, like handling autocompletion of tags, I decided to use Angular component inheritance to avoid code duplication. In this blog post I will just show code examples for angular inheritance and name some of the angular particularities.

Source code for this post is available on Github

Common Base Form Component

First, I have defined a snippet base form class that handles tags loading and autocompletion, create initial snippets methods and navigation method:

import { Component, ElementRef, Input, OnInit, ViewChild } from '@angular/core';
import { Observable } from 'rxjs';
import { FormArray, FormBuilder, FormControl, FormGroup } from '@angular/forms';
import { snippet_common_tags } from '../shared/snippet-common-tags';
import { COMMA, ENTER } from '@angular/cdk/keycodes';
import { Snippet, CodeSnippet } from '../core/model/snippet';
import { map, startWith } from 'rxjs/operators';
import { MatChipInputEvent } from '@angular/material/chips';
import { MatAutocompleteActivatedEvent, MatAutocompleteSelectedEvent } from '@angular/material/autocomplete';
import { SuggestedTagsStore } from '../core/user/suggested-tags.store';
import { UserInfoStore } from '../core/user/user-info.store';
import { Params, Router } from '@angular/router';
import { textSizeValidator } from '../core/validators/text-size.validator';
import { HttpResponse } from '@angular/common/http';
import { throwError as observableThrowError } from 'rxjs/internal/observable/throwError';
import { PersonalSnippetsService } from '../core/personal-snippets.service';
import { ErrorService } from '../core/error/error.service';


@Component({
  template: ''
})
export class SnippetFormBaseComponent implements OnInit {

  snippetFormGroup: FormGroup;
  codeSnippetsFormArray: FormArray;
  userId = null;

  // chips
  selectable = true;
  removable = true;
  addOnBlur = true;

  autocompleteTagsOptionActivated = false;

  // Enter, comma, space
  separatorKeysCodes = [ENTER, COMMA];

  commonSnippetTags = snippet_common_tags;

  autocompleteTags = [];

  tagsControl = new FormControl();

  filteredTags: Observable<any[]>;

  @Input()
  snippet: Snippet;

  @ViewChild('tagInput', {static: false})
  tagInput: ElementRef;

  constructor(
    protected formBuilder: FormBuilder,
    protected personalSnippetsService: PersonalSnippetsService,
    protected suggestedTagsStore: SuggestedTagsStore,
    protected userInfoStore: UserInfoStore,
    protected router: Router,
    protected errorService: ErrorService
  ) {
  }

  ngOnInit(): void {
    this.userInfoStore.getUserInfo$().subscribe(userInfo => {
      this.userId = userInfo.sub;
      this.suggestedTagsStore.getSuggestedSnippetTags$(this.userId).subscribe(userTags => {

        this.autocompleteTags = userTags.concat(this.commonSnippetTags.filter((item => userTags.indexOf(item) < 0))).sort();

        this.filteredTags = this.tagsControl.valueChanges.pipe(
          startWith(null),
          map((tag: string | null) => {
            return tag ? this.filter(tag) : this.autocompleteTags.slice();
          })
        );
      });
    });
  }

  addTag(event: MatChipInputEvent): void {
    const input = event.input;
    const value = event.value;

    if ((value || '').trim() && !this.autocompleteTagsOptionActivated) {
      // if ((value || '').trim()) {
      this.formArrayTags.push(this.formBuilder.control(value.trim().toLowerCase()));
    }

    // Reset the input value
    if (input) {
      input.value = '';
    }

    this.tagsControl.setValue(null);
    this.formArrayTags.markAsDirty();
  }

  removeTagByIndex(index: number): void {
    if (index >= 0) {
      this.formArrayTags.removeAt(index);
    }
    this.formArrayTags.markAsDirty();
  }

  filter(name: string) {
    return this.autocompleteTags.filter(tag => tag.toLowerCase().indexOf(name.toLowerCase()) === 0);
  }

  optionActivated($event: MatAutocompleteActivatedEvent) {
    if ($event.option) {
      this.autocompleteTagsOptionActivated = true;
    }
  }

  selectedTag(event: MatAutocompleteSelectedEvent): void {
    this.formArrayTags.push(this.formBuilder.control(event.option.viewValue));
    this.tagInput.nativeElement.value = '';
    this.tagsControl.setValue(null);
    this.autocompleteTagsOptionActivated = false;
  }

  get formArrayTags() {
    return <FormArray>this.snippetFormGroup.get('tags');
  }

  createCodeSnippet(codeSnippet: CodeSnippet): FormGroup {
    return this.formBuilder.group({
      code: [codeSnippet.code, textSizeValidator(5000, 500)],
      comment: codeSnippet.comment
    });
  }

  createInitialCodeSnippet(): FormGroup {
    return this.formBuilder.group({
      code: ['', textSizeValidator(5000, 500)],
      comment: ['', textSizeValidator(1000, 30)]
    });
  }

  createEmptyCodeSnippet(): FormGroup {
    return this.formBuilder.group({
      code: ['', textSizeValidator(5000, 500)],
      comment: ['', textSizeValidator(1000, 30)]
    });
  }

  addEmptyCodeSnippet(index: number): void {
    this.codeSnippetsFormArray.insert(index + 1, this.createEmptyCodeSnippet());
  }

  removeCodeSnippet(index: number) {
    this.codeSnippetsFormArray.removeAt(index);
  }

  createSnippet(snippet: Snippet, copyToMine: boolean, popup: any) {
    snippet.userId = this.userId;
    const now = new Date();
    snippet.lastAccessedAt = now;
    if (copyToMine) {
      delete snippet['_id'];
      snippet.createdAt = now
    }

    this.personalSnippetsService.createSnippet(this.userId, snippet)
      .subscribe(
        response => {
          const headers = response.headers;
          // get the snippet id, which lies in the "location" response header
          const lastSlashIndex = headers.get('location').lastIndexOf('/');
          const newSnippetId = headers.get('location').substring(lastSlashIndex + 1);
          snippet._id = newSnippetId;
          const queryParmas = popup ? {popup: popup} : {};
          this.navigateToSnippetDetails(snippet, queryParmas)
        },
        (error: HttpResponse<any>) => {
          this.errorService.handleError(error.body.json());
          return observableThrowError(error.body.json());
        }
      );
  }

  navigateToSnippetDetails(snippet: Snippet, queryParams: Params): void {
    const link = [`./my-snippets/${snippet._id}/details`];
    this.router.navigate(link, {
      state: {snippet: snippet},
      queryParams: queryParams
    });
  }

}

Inheriting components

The UpdateSnippetFormComponent and CreateSnippetFormComponent components will
inherit from it.

Let's take have a look at one of them, for example at CreateSnippetFormComponent, and discuss the particularities

// imports ignored for brevity

@Component({
  selector: 'app-save-snippet-form',
  templateUrl: './create-snippet-form.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./create-snippet-form.component.scss']
})
export class CreateSnippetFormComponent extends SnippetFormBaseComponent implements OnInit {

  snippetFormGroup: FormGroup;
  codeSnippetsFormArray: FormArray;
  userId = null;

  @Input()
  snippet$: Observable<Snippet>;

  @ViewChild('tagInput', {static: false})
  tagInput: ElementRef;

  snippet: Snippet;

  @Input()
  code; // value of "desc" query parameter if present

  @Input()
  title; // value of "title" query parameter if present

  @Input()
  sourceUrl; // value of "url" query parameter if present

  @Input()
  tagsStr; // tags received - string with comma separated values

  @Input()
  comment; // comment received via query

  @Input()
  popup; // if it's popup window

  constructor(
    protected formBuilder: FormBuilder,
    protected personalSnippetsService: PersonalSnippetsService,
    protected suggestedTagsStore: SuggestedTagsStore,
    protected userInfoStore: UserInfoStore,
    private userDataStore: UserDataStore,
    private logger: Logger,
    protected router: Router,
    private route: ActivatedRoute,
    protected errorService: ErrorService,
    private webpageInfoService: WebpageInfoService,
    private stackoverflowHelper: StackoverflowHelper,
  ) {
    super(formBuilder, personalSnippetsService, suggestedTagsStore, userInfoStore, router, errorService);
  }

  ngOnInit(): void {
    super.ngOnInit();
    this.buildInitialForm();
    this.codeSnippetsFormArray = this.snippetFormGroup.get('codeSnippets') as FormArray;

    if (this.sourceUrl) {
      const stackoverflowQuestionId = this.stackoverflowHelper.getStackoverflowQuestionIdFromUrl(this.sourceUrl);
      if (stackoverflowQuestionId) {
        this.webpageInfoService.getStackoverflowQuestionData(stackoverflowQuestionId).subscribe((webpageData: WebpageInfo) => {
            if (webpageData.tags) {
              for (let i = 0; i < webpageData.tags.length; i++) {
                this.formArrayTags.push(this.formBuilder.control(webpageData.tags[i]));
              }

              this.tagsControl.setValue(null);
              this.formArrayTags.markAsDirty();
            }
          },
          error => {
            console.error(`Problems when scraping data for stackoverflow id ${stackoverflowQuestionId}`, error);
          });
      }
    }

    this.setTagsFromQueryParameter();
  }

  private setTagsFromQueryParameter() {
    if (this.tagsStr) {
      const tags: String[] = this.tagsStr.split(',');
      for (let i = 0; i < tags.length; i++) {
        this.formArrayTags.push(this.formBuilder.control(tags[i].trim()));
      }

      this.tagsControl.setValue(null);
      this.formArrayTags.markAsDirty();
    }
  }

  buildInitialForm(): void {
    this.snippetFormGroup = this.formBuilder.group({
      title: [this.title ? this.title : '', Validators.required],
      tags: this.formBuilder.array([], [tagsValidator, Validators.required]),
      codeSnippets: new FormArray([this.createInitialCodeSnippet()]),
      sourceUrl: this.sourceUrl ? this.sourceUrl : '',
      public: false
    });

  }

  createInitialCodeSnippet(): FormGroup {
    return this.formBuilder.group({
      code: [this.code ? this.code : '', textSizeValidator(5000, 500)],
      comment: [this.comment ? this.comment : '', textSizeValidator(1000, 30)]
    });
  }

}

extends keyword is used to mark the inheritance - CreateSnippetFormComponent extends SnippetFormBaseComponent
you need to define all the properties of the parent constructor in the child as protected too, and call the constructor with the super keyword right at the beginning of the constructor - super(formBuilder, personalSnippetsService, suggestedTagsStore, userInfoStore, router, errorService);
to trigger the functionality of the ngOnInit of the parent component, you need to call it with the super keyword in the child component too (otherwise it will just get overwritten) - super.ngOnInit();

For a more detailed explanations of class inheritance in Typescript visit the "Classes" section from the typescript handbook

You can see the create code snippet form in action in the following gif:

If you have found this useful, please show some love and give us a star on Github

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Real life angular inheritance example

Common Base Form Component

Inheriting components

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