Creating Reusable and Extendable Components

In modern web development, the essence of maintainability and efficiency lies in the ability to craft components that can be effortlessly reused and extended. This not only streamlines the development process but also ensures consistency and maintainability across your applications. So, in this chapter, we will get into the concept of creating reusable and extendable components in Angular applications utilizing PrimeNG building blocks.

While PrimeNG does offer a vast selection of prebuilt reusable components, there are instances where creating custom Angular components becomes necessary. Custom components provide tailored functionality, allowing you to implement specific application requirements and integrate with existing code. They also enable UI customization, ensuring a unique visual design and user interface. Additionally, custom components allow for performance optimization and cater to domain-specific needs that may not be covered...

Technical requirements

This chapter contains various working code samples on how to create reusable and extendable components. You can find the related source code in the chapter-11 folder of the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Next-Level-UI-Development-with-PrimeNG/tree/main/apps/chapter-11.

Introducing reusable and extendable components

At its core, the foundation of reusable and extendable components in Angular is built upon Angular components themselves. The only difference is that we build them in a way that allows us to encapsulate functionality and user interface elements that can be easily reused and extended in different parts of our application. By combining reusability and extensibility, we can create components that promote code reuse, maintainability, and flexibility.

In this section, we will explore why they are important and the best practices for building Angular components.

Why are reusable and extendable components important?

Reusable and extendable components offer several benefits in the development process:

• Firstly, they promote code organization and modularity by breaking down complex functionality into smaller, reusable units. This improves code maintainability and makes it easier to debug and test individual components.
• Secondly...

Getting to know StyleClass

PrimeNG StyleClass is a powerful feature provided by the PrimeNG library for Angular applications. It allows you to manage CSS classes declaratively, making it easier to apply dynamic styles, handle animations, and toggle classes on elements. This feature enhances the flexibility and customizability of Angular components, enabling you to create visually appealing and interactive user interfaces.

Why use PrimeNG StyleClass?

PrimeNG StyleClass is particularly useful when working with custom components in Angular. It provides a straightforward and efficient way to apply styles and manipulate classes based on various conditions or events. Using PrimeNG StyleClass, you can dynamically change the appearance and behavior of components, enhancing the user experience and adding interactivity to their applications.

One of the key advantages of PrimeNG StyleClass is its ability to handle animations during component transitions. By defining enter and leave classes...

Utilizing PrimeBlocks for creating UI clocks

PrimeBlocks (https://blocks.primeng.org) is a collection of prebuilt UI blocks crafted with PrimeFlex developed by PrimeNG. These blocks are designed to simplify the development process by providing ready-to-use UI elements that are commonly used in web applications. PrimeBlocks offers a variety of UI blocks, including Navbar, Breadcrumbs, Tabs, Footer, Notification, Dialog, and more. These UI blocks are highly customizable and can be easily integrated into your Angular projects:

Figure 11.2 – PrimeBlocks options

PrimeBlocks offers both a free version and paid versions with distinct features. The free version provides a limited selection of options to choose from, while the paid versions offer an extensive collection of over 400 ready-to-use UI blocks. In addition to the UI blocks’ codes, the paid versions also include valuable extras such as Figma files, lifetime support, and unlimited updates...

Creating reusable and extendable components

As a developer, one of our key goals is to write clean, maintainable, and reusable code. In this section, we will explore the concept of creating reusable and extendable components. We’ll take an example of a block from PrimeBlocks and discuss how we can make it more flexible and adaptable for different use cases.

Here is the Stats block from PrimeBlocks with four different stats:

Figure 11.6 – PrimeBlocks Stats

After clicking the Code button, we can see that there are four different elements for four stats, which can be reduced and reused:

Figure 11.7 – PrimeBlocks Stats code

The provided image showcases four stats in the UI (labeled from 1 to 4), each created using nearly identical HTML blocks. This approach results in repetition and makes maintenance challenging. For instance, if you need to make styling changes, you would have to modify the code in...

Crafting your own components with PrimeNG

Creating your own components is a fundamental aspect of modern web development. While prebuilt components can be convenient, there are situations where building custom components is necessary to meet specific requirements. In this part, we will explore the reasons behind creating custom components and learn how to leverage PrimeNG to craft your custom components.

Note

Always ensure that your custom components are accessible, responsive, and user friendly. Test them across different devices and browsers to ensure a consistent experience.

Why create custom components?

Pre-built components, such as those offered by PrimeNG, Bootstrap, or Material, are fantastic. They save time, ensure consistency, and often come with built-in accessibility features. However, there are scenarios where they might not be the perfect fit:

• Unique design requirements: Your application might have a design that doesn’t align with the styles...

Summary

Throughout our journey, we delved deep into the realm of creating reusable and extendable components. The essence of this chapter was to empower you with the knowledge and techniques to craft components that can be reused across multiple parts of an application or even across different projects, all while maintaining the flexibility to extend and customize them as needed.

In this chapter, we explored why, despite the plethora of pre-built components available, there’s often a need to craft our own. Whether it’s to meet unique design requirements, cater to specific functional needs, or optimize performance, custom components have their place in our developer toolkit.

Moreover, using PrimeNG, we saw how to enhance our custom components. From creating a custom component to understanding the power of PrimeBlocks and StyleClass, PrimeNG proved to be an invaluable asset.

As we transition to our next topic, we’ll be diving into internationalization and...