Componentless routes

Most of the routes in the configuration have either the redirectTo or component properties set, but some have neither. For instance, look at path: ':folder'  route in the configuration below:

{
  path: ':folder',
  children: [
    {
      path: '',
      component: ConversationsCmp
    },
    {
      path: ':id',
      component: ConversationCmp,
      children: [
        { path: 'messages', component: MessagesCmp },
        { path: 'messages/:id', component: MessageCmp }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

We called such routes componentless routes. Their main purpose is to consume URL segments, provide some data to its children, and do it without instantiating any components.

The parameters captured by a componentless route will be merged into their children's parameters. The data resolved by a componentless route will be merged as well. In this example, both the child routes will have the folder parameter...