- var _example = 'toh-5'; block includes include ../_util-fns - var _appRoutingTsVsAppComp = 'app.module.ts' - var _declsVsDirectives = 'declarations' - var _RoutesVsAtRouteConfig = 'Routes' - var _RouterModuleVsRouterDirectives = 'RouterModule' - var _redirectTo = 'redirectTo' :marked # Routing Around the App We received new requirements for our Tour of Heroes application: * Add a *Dashboard* view. * Navigate between the *Heroes* and *Dashboard* views. * Clicking on a hero in either view navigates to a detail view of the selected hero. * Clicking a *deep link* in an email opens the detail view for a particular hero. When we’re done, users will be able to navigate the app like this: figure.image-display img(src='/resources/images/devguide/toh/nav-diagram.png' alt="View navigations") :marked We'll add Angular’s *Router* to our app to satisfy these requirements. .l-sub-section :marked The [Routing and Navigation](../guide/router.html) chapter covers the router in more detail than we will in this tutorial. :marked Run the <live-example></live-example> for this part. +ifDocsFor('ts|js') .l-sub-section img(src='/resources/images/devguide/plunker-separate-window-button.png' alt="pop out the window" align="right" style="margin-right:-20px") :marked To see the URL changes in the browser address bar, pop out the preview window by clicking the blue 'X' button in the upper right corner: .l-main-section :marked ## Where We Left Off Before we continue with our Tour of Heroes, let’s verify that we have the following structure after adding our hero service and hero detail component. If not, we’ll need to go back and follow the previous chapters. block intro-file-tree .filetree .file angular-tour-of-heroes .children .file app .children .file app.component.ts .file app.module.ts .file hero.service.ts .file hero.ts .file hero-detail.component.ts .file main.ts .file mock-heroes.ts .file node_modules ... .file typings ... .file index.html .file package.json .file styles.css .file systemjs.config.js .file tsconfig.json .file typings.json block keep-app-running :marked ### Keep the app transpiling and running Open a terminal/console window and enter the following command to start the TypeScript compiler, start the server, and watch for changes: code-example(language="bash"). npm start :marked The application runs and updates automatically as we continue to build the Tour of Heroes. ## Action plan Here's our plan: * Turn `AppComponent` into an application shell that only handles navigation * Relocate the *Heroes* concerns within the current `AppComponent` to a separate `HeroesComponent` * Add routing * Create a new `DashboardComponent` * Tie the *Dashboard* into the navigation structure .l-sub-section :marked *Routing* is another name for *navigation*. The *router* is the mechanism for navigating from view to view. .l-main-section :marked ## Splitting the *AppComponent* Our current app loads `AppComponent` and immediately displays the list of heroes. Our revised app should present a shell with a choice of views (*Dashboard* and *Heroes*) and then default to one of them. The `AppComponent` should only handle navigation. Let's move the display of *Heroes* out of `AppComponent` and into its own `HeroesComponent`. ### *HeroesComponent* `AppComponent` is already dedicated to *Heroes*. Instead of moving anything out of `AppComponent`, we'll just rename it `HeroesComponent` and create a new `AppComponent` shell separately. The steps are to rename: * <span ngio-ex>app.component.ts</span> file to <span ngio-ex>heroes.component.ts</span> * `AppComponent` class to `HeroesComponent` * Selector `my-app` to `my-heroes` +makeExcerpt('app/heroes.component.ts (showing renamings only)', 'renaming') :marked ## Create *AppComponent* The new `AppComponent` will be the application shell. It will have some navigation links at the top and a display area below for the pages we navigate to. The initial steps are: * Create the file <span ngio-ex>app/app.component.ts</span>. * Define an <span if-docs="ts">exported</span> `AppComponent` class. * Add an `@Component` !{_decorator} above the class with a `my-app` selector. * Move the following from `HeroesComponent` to `AppComponent`: * `title` class property * `@Component` template `<h1>` element, which contains a binding to `title` * Add a `<my-heroes>` element to the app template just below the heading so we still see the heroes. * Add `HeroesComponent` to the `!{_declsVsDirectives}` !{_array} of `!{_AppModuleVsAppComp}` so Angular recognizes the `<my-heroes>` tags. * Add `HeroService` to the `providers` !{_array} of `!{_AppModuleVsAppComp}` because we'll need it in every other view. * Remove `HeroService` from the `HeroesComponent` `providers` !{_array} since it has been promoted. * Add the supporting `import` statements for `AppComponent`. Our first draft looks like this: block app-comp-v1 +makeTabs( `toh-5/ts/app/app.component.1.ts, toh-5/ts/app/app.module.1.ts`, ',', `app/app.component.ts (v1), app/app.module.ts (v1)`) :marked The app still runs and still displays heroes. Our refactoring of `AppComponent` into a new `AppComponent` and a `HeroesComponent` worked! We have done no harm. :marked ## Add Routing We're ready to take the next step. Instead of displaying heroes automatically, we'd like to show them *after* the user clicks a button. In other words, we'd like to navigate to the list of heroes. We'll need the Angular *Router*. block angular-router :marked The Angular router is an external, optional Angular NgModule called `RouterModule`. The router is a combination of multiple provided services (`RouterModule`), multiple directives (`RouterOutlet, RouterLink, RouterLinkActive`), and a configuration (`Routes`). We'll configure our routes first. :marked ### Add the base tag Open `index.html` and add `<base href="/">` at the top of the `<head>` section. +makeExcerpt('index.html', 'base-href') .callout.is-important header base href is essential :marked See the *base href* section of the [Router](../guide/router.html#!#base-href) chapter to learn why this matters. a#configure-routes block router-config-intro :marked ### Configure routes Our application doesn't have any routes yet. We'll start by creating a configuration for the application routes. :marked *Routes* tell the router which views to display when a user clicks a link or pastes a URL into the browser address bar. Let's define our first route as a route to the heroes component: - var _file = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'app.component.ts' : 'app.module.2.ts' +makeExcerpt('app/' + _file + ' (heroes route)', 'heroes') - var _are = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'takes' : 'are' - var _routePathPrefix = _docsFor == 'dart' ? '/' : '' :marked The `!{_RoutesVsAtRouteConfig}` !{_are} !{_an} !{_array} of *route definitions*. We have only one route definition at the moment but rest assured, we'll add more. This *route definition* has the following parts: - **path**: the router matches this route's path to the URL in the browser address bar (`!{_routePathPrefix}heroes`). <li if-docs="dart"> **name**: the official name of the route; it *must* begin with a capital letter to avoid confusion with the *path* (`Heroes`).</li> - **component**: the component that the router should create when navigating to this route (`HeroesComponent`). .l-sub-section :marked Learn more about defining routes with `!{_RoutesVsAtRouteConfig}` in the [Routing](../guide/router.html) chapter. +ifDocsFor('ts|js') :marked ### Make the router available We've setup the initial route configuration. Now we'll add it to our `AppModule`. We'll add our configured `RouterModule` to the `AppModule` imports !{_array}. +makeExcerpt('app/app.module.2.ts (app routing)', '') .l-sub-section :marked We use the `forRoot` method because we're providing a configured router at the _root_ of the application. The `forRoot` method gives us the Router service providers and directives needed for routing, and performs the initial navigation based on the current browser URL. - var _heroesRoute = _docsFor == 'dart' ? "'Heroes'" : 'heroes' :marked ### Router Outlet If we paste the path, `/heroes`, into the browser address bar, the router should match it to the `!{_heroesRoute}` route and display the `HeroesComponent`. But where? We have to ***tell it where*** by adding a `<router-outlet>` element to the bottom of the template. `RouterOutlet` is one of the <span if-docs="ts">directives provided by</span> the `!{_RouterModuleVsRouterDirectives}`. The router displays each component immediately below the `<router-outlet>` as we navigate through the application. ### Router Links We don't really expect users to paste a route URL into the address bar. We add an anchor tag to the template which, when clicked, triggers navigation to the `HeroesComponent`. The revised template looks like this: +makeExcerpt('app/app.component.1.ts', 'template-v2') block routerLink :marked Notice the `routerLink` binding in the anchor tag. We bind the `RouterLink` directive (another of the `RouterModule` directives) to a string that tells the router where to navigate when the user clicks the link. Since our link is not dynamic, we define a *routing instruction* with a **one-time binding** to our route **path**. Looking back at the route configuration, we confirm that `'/heroes'` is the path of the route to the `HeroesComponent`. .l-sub-section :marked Learn more about dynamic router links and the *link parameters array* in the [Routing](../guide/router.html#link-parameters-array) chapter. :marked Refresh the browser. We see only the app title and heroes link. We don't see the heroes list. .l-sub-section :marked The browser's address bar shows `/`. The route path to `HeroesComponent` is `/heroes`, not `/`. We don't have a route that matches the path `/`, so there is nothing to show. That's something we'll want to fix. :marked We click the *Heroes* navigation link, the browser bar updates to `/heroes`, and now we see the list of heroes. We are navigating at last! At this stage, our `AppComponent` looks like this. +makeExample('app/app.component.1.ts', 'v2', 'app/app.component.ts (v2)') :marked The *AppComponent* is now attached to a router and displaying routed views. For this reason and to distinguish it from other kinds of components, we call this type of component a *Router Component*. :marked ## Add a *Dashboard* Routing only makes sense when we have multiple views. We need another view. Create a placeholder `DashboardComponent` that gives us something to navigate to and from. +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.1.ts (v1)', '') :marked We’ll come back and make it more useful later. ### Configure the dashboard route Go back to `!{_appRoutingTsVsAppComp}` and teach it to navigate to the dashboard. Import the dashboard component and add the following route definition to the `!{_RoutesVsAtRouteConfig}` !{_array} of definitions. - var _file = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'lib/app_component.dart' : 'app/app.module.3.ts' +makeExcerpt(_file + ' (Dashboard route)', 'dashboard') +ifDocsFor('ts|js') :marked Also import and add `DashboardComponent` to our `AppModule`'s `declarations`. +makeExcerpt('app/app.module.ts', 'dashboard') :marked #### !{_redirectTo} We want the app to show the dashboard when it starts and we want to see a nice URL in the browser address bar that says `/dashboard`. Remember that the browser launches with `/` in the address bar. block redirect-vs-use-as-default :marked We can use a redirect route to make this happen. Add the following to our array of route definitions: +makeExcerpt('app/app.module.3.ts','redirect') .l-sub-section :marked Learn about the *redirects* in the [Routing](../guide/router.html#!#redirect) chapter. :marked #### Add navigation to the template Finally, add a dashboard navigation link to the template, just above the *Heroes* link. - var _vers = _docsFor == 'dart' ? '' : '.1' +makeExcerpt('app/app.component' + _vers + '.ts', 'template-v3') .l-sub-section :marked We nestled the two links within `<nav>` tags. They don't do anything yet but they'll be convenient when we style the links a little later in the chapter. :marked To see these changes in your browser, go to the application root (`/`) and reload. The app displays the dashboard and we can navigate between the dashboard and the heroes. ## Dashboard Top Heroes Let’s spice up the dashboard by displaying the top four heroes at a glance. Replace the `template` metadata with a `templateUrl` property that points to a new template file. Set the `moduleId` property to `module.id` for module-relative loading of the `templateUrl`. +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.ts', 'templateUrl') :marked Create that file with this content: +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.html') :marked We use `*ngFor` once again to iterate over a list of heroes and display their names. We added extra `<div>` elements to help with styling later in this chapter. There's a `(click)` binding to a `gotoDetail` method we haven't written yet and we're displaying a list of heroes that we don't have. We have work to do, starting with those heroes. ### Share the *HeroService* We'd like to re-use the `HeroService` to populate the component's `heroes` !{_array}. Recall earlier in the chapter that we removed the `HeroService` from the `providers` !{_array} of `HeroesComponent` and added it to the `providers` !{_array} of `!{_AppModuleVsAppComp}`. That move created a singleton `HeroService` instance, available to *all* components of the application. Angular will inject `HeroService` and we'll use it here in the `DashboardComponent`. ### Get heroes Open <span ngio-ex>dashboard.component.ts</span> and add the requisite `import` statements. +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.2.ts','imports') :marked Now implement the `DashboardComponent` class like this: +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.2.ts (class)', 'component') :marked We've seen this kind of logic before in the `HeroesComponent`: * Define a `heroes` !{_array} property. * Inject the `HeroService` in the constructor and hold it in a private `!{_priv}heroService` field. * Call the service to get heroes inside the Angular `ngOnInit` lifecycle hook. The noteworthy differences: we cherry-pick four heroes (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th) and stub the `gotoDetail` method until we're ready to implement it. Refresh the browser and see four heroes in the new dashboard. .l-main-section :marked ## Navigate to Hero Details Although we display the details of a selected hero at the bottom of the `HeroesComponent`, we don't yet *navigate* to the `HeroDetailComponent` in the three ways specified in our requirements: 1. from the *Dashboard* to a selected hero. 1. from the *Heroes* list to a selected hero. 1. from a "deep link" URL pasted into the browser address bar. Adding a hero-detail route seems like an obvious place to start. ### Routing to a hero detail We'll add a route to the `HeroDetailComponent` in `!{_appRoutingTsVsAppComp}` where our other routes are configured. The new route is a bit unusual in that we must tell the `HeroDetailComponent` *which hero to show*. We didn't have to tell the `HeroesComponent` or the `DashboardComponent` anything. At the moment the parent `HeroesComponent` sets the component's `hero` property to a hero object with a binding like this. code-example(language="html"). <my-hero-detail [hero]="selectedHero"></my-hero-detail> :marked That clearly won't work in any of our routing scenarios. Certainly not the last one; we can't embed an entire hero object in the URL! Nor would we want to. ### Parameterized route We *can* add the hero's `id` to the URL. When routing to the hero whose `id` is 11, we could expect to see an URL such as this: code-example(format=''). /detail/11 :marked The `/detail/` part of that URL is constant. The trailing numeric `id` part changes from hero to hero. We need to represent that variable part of the route with a *parameter* (or *token*) that stands for the hero's `id`. ### Configure a Route with a Parameter Here's the *route definition* we'll use. - var _file = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'app/app.component.ts' : 'app/app.module.3.ts' +makeExcerpt(_file + ' (hero detail)','hero-detail') :marked The colon (:) in the path indicates that `:id` is a placeholder to be filled with a specific hero `id` when navigating to the `HeroDetailComponent`. +ifDocsFor('dart') .l-sub-section :marked Remember to import the hero detail component before creating this route. :marked We're finished with the application routes. We won't add a `'Hero Detail'` link to the template because users don't click a navigation *link* to view a particular hero. They click a *hero* whether that hero is displayed on the dashboard or in the heroes list. We'll get to those *hero* clicks later in the chapter. There's no point in working on them until the `HeroDetailComponent` is ready to be navigated *to*. That will require an `HeroDetailComponent` overhaul. .l-main-section :marked ## Revise the *HeroDetailComponent* Before we rewrite the `HeroDetailComponent`, let's review what it looks like now: +makeExample('toh-4/ts/app/hero-detail.component.ts', null, 'app/hero-detail.component.ts (current)') :marked The template won't change. We'll display a hero the same way. The big changes are driven by how we get the hero. block route-params :marked We will no longer receive the hero in a parent component property binding. The new `HeroDetailComponent` should take the `id` parameter from the `params` observable in the `ActivatedRoute` service and use the `HeroService` to fetch the hero with that `id`. :marked First, add the requisite imports: - var _vers = _docsFor == 'dart' ? '' : '.1' +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component' + _vers + '.ts', 'added-imports', '') - var _ActivatedRoute = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'RouteParams' : 'ActivatedRoute' :marked Let's have the `!{_ActivatedRoute}` service, the `HeroService` and the `Location` service injected into the constructor, saving their values in private fields: +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component.ts (constructor)', 'ctor') :marked We tell the class that we want to implement the `OnInit` interface. +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component.ts', 'implement', '')(format=".") block ngOnInit :marked Inside the `ngOnInit` lifecycle hook, we use the `params` observable to extract the `id` parameter value from the `ActivatedRoute` service and use the `HeroService` to fetch the hero with that `id`. +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component.ts', 'ngOnInit') block extract-id :marked Notice how we extract the `id` by calling the `forEach` method which will deliver our !{_array} of route parameters. - var _str2int = _docsFor == 'dart' ? '<code>int.parse</code> static method' : 'JavaScript (+) operator' :marked The hero `id` is a number. Route parameters are *always strings*. So we convert the route parameter value to a number with the !{_str2int}. ### Add *HeroService.getHero* The problem with this bit of code is that `HeroService` doesn't have a `getHero` method! We better fix that quickly before someone notices that we broke the app. Open `HeroService` and add a `getHero` method that filters the heroes list from `getHeroes` by `id`: +makeExcerpt('app/hero.service.ts', 'getHero') :marked Let's return to the `HeroDetailComponent` to clean up loose ends. ### Find our way back We can navigate *to* the `HeroDetailComponent` in several ways. How do we navigate somewhere else when we're done? The user could click one of the two links in the `AppComponent`. Or click the browser's back button. We'll add a third option, a `goBack` method that navigates backward one step in the browser's history stack using the `Location` service we injected previously. +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component.ts', 'goBack') - var _CanDeactivateGuard = _docsFor == 'dart' ? '<em>routerCanDeactivate</em> hook' : '<em>CanDeactivate</em> guard' - var _CanDeactivateGuardUri = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'angular2.router/CanDeactivate-class' : 'router/index/CanDeactivate-interface' .l-sub-section :marked Going back too far could take us out of the application. That's acceptable in a demo. We'd guard against it in a real application, perhaps with the [!{_CanDeactivateGuard}](../api/!{_CanDeactivateGuardUri}.html). :marked Then we wire this method with an event binding to a *Back* button that we add to the bottom of the component template. +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component.html', 'back-button', '') :marked Modifing the template to add this button spurs us to take one more incremental improvement and migrate the template to its own file, called <span ngio-ex>hero-detail.component.html</span>: +makeExample('app/hero-detail.component.html') :marked We update the component metadata with a `templateUrl` pointing to the template file that we just created. +makeExcerpt('app/hero-detail.component.ts', 'templateUrl') :marked Refresh the browser and see the results. .l-main-section :marked ## Select a *Dashboard* Hero When a user selects a hero in the dashboard, the app should navigate to the `HeroDetailComponent` to view and edit the selected hero. In the dashboard template we bound each hero's click event to the `gotoDetail` method, passing along the selected `hero` entity. +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.html', 'click') :marked We stubbed the `gotoDetail` method when we rewrote the `DashboardComponent`. Now we give it a real implementation. +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.ts','gotoDetail') - var _pathVsName = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'name' : 'path' :marked The `gotoDetail` method navigates in two steps: 1. Set a route *link parameters !{_array}* 1. Pass the !{_array} to the router's navigate method For navigation, we wrote router links <span if-docs="dart">as *link parameters !{_array}s*</span> in the [`AppComponent` template](#router-links). Those link<span if-docs="dart"> parameters !{_array}</span>s had only one element, the !{_pathVsName} of the destination route. This link parameters !{_array} has two elements, the ***!{_pathVsName}*** of the destination route and a ***route parameter*** <span if-docs="dart">with an `id` field</span> set to the value of the selected hero's `id`. The two !{_array} items align with the ***!{_pathVsName}*** and ***:id*** token in the parameterized hero detail route definition we added to `!{_appRoutingTsVsAppComp}` earlier in the chapter: - var _file = _docsFor == 'dart' ? 'app/app.component.ts' : 'app/app.module.3.ts' +makeExcerpt(_file + ' (hero detail)', 'hero-detail') :marked The `DashboardComponent` doesn't have the router yet. We obtain it in the usual way: import the `router` reference and inject it in the constructor (along with the `HeroService`): +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.ts ()','import-router', '') +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.ts', 'ctor', '') :marked Refresh the browser and select a hero from the dashboard; the app should navigate directly to that hero’s details. .l-main-section :marked ## Select a Hero in the *HeroesComponent* We'll do something similar in the `HeroesComponent`. That component's current template exhibits a "master/detail" style with the list of heroes at the top and details of the selected hero below. +makeExample('toh-4/ts/app/app.component.ts','template', 'app/heroes.component.ts (current template)')(format=".") :marked Delete the `<h1>` at the top (forgot about it during the `AppComponent`-to-`HeroesComponent` conversion). Delete the last line of the template with the `<my-hero-detail>` tags. We'll no longer show the full `HeroDetailComponent` here. We're going to display the hero detail on its own page and route to it as we did in the dashboard. But we'll throw in a small twist for variety. When the user selects a hero from the list, we *won't* go to the detail page. We'll show a *mini-detail* on *this* page instead and make the user click a button to navigate to the *full detail *page. ### Add the *mini-detail* Add the following HTML fragment at the bottom of the template where the `<my-hero-detail>` used to be: +makeExcerpt('app/heroes.component.html', 'mini-detail', '') :marked After clicking a hero, the user should see something like this below the hero list: figure.image-display img(src='/resources/images/devguide/toh/mini-hero-detail.png' alt="Mini Hero Detail" height="70") :marked ### Format with the *uppercase* pipe Notice that the hero's name is displayed in CAPITAL LETTERS. That's the effect of the `uppercase` pipe that we slipped into the interpolation binding. Look for it right after the pipe operator ( | ). +makeExcerpt('app/heroes.component.html', 'pipe', '') :marked Pipes are a good way to format strings, currency amounts, dates and other display data. Angular ships with several pipes and we can write our own. .l-sub-section :marked Learn about pipes in the [Pipes](../guide/pipes.html) chapter. :marked ### Move content out of the component file We are not done. We still have to update the component class to support navigation to the `HeroDetailComponent` when the user clicks the *View Details* button. This component file is really big. Most of it is either template or CSS styles. It's difficult to find the component logic amidst the noise of HTML and CSS. Let's migrate the template and the styles to their own files before we make any more changes: 1. *Cut-and-paste* the template contents into a new <span ngio-ex>heroes.component.html</span> file. 1. *Cut-and-paste* the styles contents into a new <span ngio-ex>heroes.component.css</span> file. 1. *Set* the component metadata's `templateUrl` and `styleUrls` properties to refer to both files. 1. *Set* the `moduleId` property to `module.id` so that 'templateUrl` and `styleUrls` are relative to the component. .l-sub-section :marked The `styleUrls` property is !{_an} !{_array} of style file names (with paths). We could list multiple style files from different locations if we needed them. block heroes-component-cleanup //- Only relevant for Dart. +makeExcerpt('app/heroes.component.ts (revised metadata)', 'metadata') :marked Now we can see what's going on as we update the component class along the same lines as the dashboard: 1. Import the `router` 1. Inject the `router` in the constructor (along with the `HeroService`) 1. Implement the `gotoDetail` method by calling the `router.navigate` method with a two-part hero-detail link parameters !{_array}. Here's the revised component class: +makeExcerpt('app/heroes.component.ts', 'class') :marked Refresh the browser and start clicking. We can navigate around the app, from the dashboard to hero details and back, for heroes list to the mini-detail to the hero details and back to the heroes again. We can jump back and forth between the dashboard and the heroes. We've met all of the navigational requirements that propelled this chapter. .l-main-section :marked ## Styling the App The app is functional but pretty ugly. Our creative designer team provided some CSS files to make it look better. ### A Dashboard with Style The designers think we should display the dashboard heroes in a row of rectangles. They've given us ~60 lines of CSS for this purpose including some simple media queries for responsive design. If we paste these ~60 lines into the component `styles` metadata, they'll completely obscure the component logic. Let's not do that. It's easier to edit CSS in a separate `*.css` file anyway. Add a <span ngio-ex>dashboard.component.css</span> file to the `!{_appDir}` folder and reference that file in the component metadata's `styleUrls` !{_array} property like this: +makeExcerpt('app/dashboard.component.ts (styleUrls)', 'css') :marked ### Stylish Hero Details The designers also gave us CSS styles specifically for the `HeroDetailComponent`. Add a <span ngio-ex>hero-detail.component.css</span> to the `!{_appDir}` folder and refer to that file inside the `styleUrls` !{_array} as we did for `DashboardComponent`. Let's also remove the `hero` property `@Input` !{_decorator} <span if-docs="ts">and its import</span> while we are at it. Here's the content for the aforementioned component CSS files. block css-files +makeTabs( `toh-5/ts/app/hero-detail.component.css, toh-5/ts/app/dashboard.component.css`, null, `app/hero-detail.component.css, app/dashboard.component.css`) :marked ### Style the Navigation Links The designers gave us CSS to make the navigation links in our `AppComponent` look more like selectable buttons. We cooperated by surrounding those links in `<nav>` tags. Add a <span ngio-ex>app.component.css</span> file to the `!{_appDir}` folder with the following content. +makeExcerpt('app/app.component.css (navigation styles)', '') .l-sub-section block router-link-active :marked **The *routerLinkActive* directive** The Angular Router provides a `routerLinkActive` directive we can use to add a class to the HTML navigation element whose route matches the active route. All we have to do is define the style for it. Sweet! +makeExcerpt('app/app.component.ts (active router links)', 'template') :marked Set the `AppComponent`’s `styleUrls` property to this CSS file. +makeExcerpt('app/app.component.ts','styleUrls') :marked ### Global application styles When we add styles to a component, we're keeping everything a component needs — HTML, the CSS, the code — together in one convenient place. It's pretty easy to package it all up and re-use the component somewhere else. We can also create styles at the *application level* outside of any component. Our designers provided some basic styles to apply to elements across the entire app. These correspond to the full set of master styles that we introduced earlier (see [QuickStart, "Add some style"](../quickstart.html#!#add-some-style)). Here is an excerpt: +makeExcerpt('styles.css (excerpt)', 'toh') - var styles_css = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/angular/angular.io/master/public/docs/_examples/styles.css' :marked Create the file <span ngio-ex>styles.css</span>, if it doesn't exist already. Ensure that it contains the [master styles given here](!{styles_css}). If necessary, also edit <span ngio-ex>index.html</span> to refer to this stylesheet. +makeExcerpt('index.html (link ref)', 'css') :marked Look at the app now. Our dashboard, heroes, and navigation links are styling! figure.image-display img(src='/resources/images/devguide/toh/dashboard-top-heroes.png' alt="View navigations") .l-main-section :marked ## Application structure and code Review the sample source code in the <live-example></live-example> for this chapter. Verify that we have the following structure: block file-tree-end .filetree .file angular-tour-of-heroes .children .file app .children .file app.component.css .file app.component.ts .file app.module.ts .file dashboard.component.css .file dashboard.component.html .file dashboard.component.ts .file hero.service.ts .file hero.ts .file hero-detail.component.css .file hero-detail.component.html .file hero-detail.component.ts .file heroes.component.css .file heroes.component.html .file heroes.component.ts .file main.ts .file mock-heroes.ts .file node_modules ... .file typings ... .file index.html .file package.json .file styles.css .file systemjs.config.js .file tsconfig.json .file typings.json .l-main-section :marked ## Recap ### The Road Behind We travelled a great distance in this chapter - We added the Angular *Router* to navigate among different components. - We learned how to create router links to represent navigation menu items. - We used router link parameters to navigate to the details of user selected hero. - We shared the `HeroService` among multiple components. - We moved HTML and CSS out of the component file and into their own files. - We added the `uppercase` pipe to format data. ### The Road Ahead We have much of the foundation we need to build an application. We're still missing a key piece: remote data access. In the next chapter, we’ll replace our mock data with data retrieved from a server using http.