725 lines
29 KiB
Plaintext
725 lines
29 KiB
Plaintext
include ../../../_includes/_util-fns
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:marked
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Let's start from zero and build a super simple Angular 2 application in TypeScript.
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.callout.is-helpful
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header Don't want TypeScript?
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:marked
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Although we're getting started in TypeScript, you can also write Angular 2 apps
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in JavaScript and Dart by selecting either of those languages from the combo-box in the banner.
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## See It Run!
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Running the [live example](/resources/live-examples/quickstart/ts/plnkr.html)
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is the quickest way to see an Angular 2 app come to life.
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Clicking that link fires up a browser, loads the sample in [plunker](http://plnkr.co/ "Plunker"),
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and displays a simple message:
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figure.image-display
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img(src='/resources/images/devguide/quickstart/my-first-app.png' alt="Output of quickstart app")
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:marked
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Here is the file structure:
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.filetree
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.file angular2-quickstart
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.children
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.file app
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.children
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.file app.component.ts
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.file main.ts
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.file index.html
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.file license.md
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:marked
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Functionally, it's an `index.html` and two TypeScript files in an `app/` folder.
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We can handle that!
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Of course we won't build many apps that only run in plunker.
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Let's follow a process that's closer to what we'd do in real life.
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1. Set up our development environment
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1. Write the Angular root component for our app
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1. Bootstrap it to take control of the main web page
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1. Write the main page (`index.html`)
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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We really can build the QuickStart from scratch in five minutes
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if we follow the instructions and ignore the commentary.
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Most of us will be interested in the "why" as well as the "how" and that will take longer.
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:marked
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Development Environment
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We'll need a place to stand (the application project folder),
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some TypeScript configuration, and some libraries for development and runtime.
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### Create a new project folder
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code-example(format="").
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mkdir angular2-quickstart
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cd angular2-quickstart
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:marked
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### Configure TypeScript
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We must guide the TypeScript compiler with very specific settings.
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Add a **tsconfig.json** file to the project folder and copy/paste the following:
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+makeJson('quickstart/ts/tsconfig.1.json', null, 'tsconfig.json')(format=".")
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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We explore the `tsconfig.json` in an [appendix below](#tsconfig)
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:marked
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### TypeScript Typings
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Many JavaScript libraries extend the JavaScript environment with features and syntax
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that the TypeScript compiler doesn't recognize natively. We teach it about these capabilities with
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[TypeScript type definition files](http://www.typescriptlang.org/Handbook#writing-dts-files)
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— *d.ts files* — which we identify in a `typings.json` file.
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Add a **typings.json** file to the project folder and copy/paste the following:
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+makeJson('quickstart/ts/typings.1.json', null, 'typings.json')(format=".")
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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We go a little deeper into *typings* in an [appendix below](#typings)
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:marked
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### Add the libraries we need
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We recommend the **npm** package manager for acquiring and managing our development libraries.
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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Don't have npm?
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[Get it now](https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/installing-node "Installing Node.js and updating npm")
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because we're going to use it now and repeatedly throughout this documentation.
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:marked
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Add a **package.json** file to the project folder and copy/paste the following:
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+makeJson('quickstart/ts/package.1.json', null, 'package.json')(format=".")
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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Itching to know the details? We explain in the [appendix below](#package-json)
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:marked
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Install these packages. Open a terminal window (command window in Windows) and
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run this npm command.
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code-example(format="").
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npm install
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:marked
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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Scary <span style="color:red; font-weight: bold">error messages in red</span> may appear **during** install.
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Ignore them. The install will succeed. See the [appendix below](#npm-errors) for more information.
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:marked
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**We're all set.** Let's write some code.
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Our First Angular Component
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The *Component* is the most fundamental of Angular concepts.
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A component manages a view - a piece of the web page where we display information
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to the user and respond to user feedback.
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Technically, a component is a class that controls a view template.
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We'll write a lot of them as we build Angular apps. This is our first attempt
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so we'll keep it ridiculously simple.
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### Create an application source sub-folder
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We like to keep our application code in a sub-folder off the root called `app/`.
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Execute the following command in the console window.
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code-example(format="").
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mkdir app
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cd app
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:marked
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### Add the component file
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Now add a file named **app.component.ts** and paste the following lines:
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/app.component.ts', null, 'app/app.component.ts')(format=".")
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:marked
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Let's review this file in detail, starting at the bottom where we define a class.
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### The Component class
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At the bottom of the file is an empty, do-nothing class named `AppComponent`.
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When we're ready to build a substantive application,
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we can expand this class with properties and application logic.
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Our `AppComponent` class is empty because we don't need it to do anything in this QuickStart.
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### Modules
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Angular apps are modular. They consist of many files each dedicated to a purpose.
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Most application files *export* one thing such as a component.
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Our `app.component` file exports the `AppComponent`.
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/app.component.ts', 'export', 'app/app.component.ts (export)')(format=".")
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:marked
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The act of exporting turns the file into a module.
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The name of the file (without extension) is usually the name of the module.
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Accordingly, '*app.component*' is the name of our first module.
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A more sophisticated application would have child components that descended from
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`AppComponent` in a visual tree.
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A more sophisticated app would have more files and modules, at least as many as it had components.
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This Quickstart isn't sophisticated; one component is all we need.
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Yet modules play a fundamental organizational role in even this small app.
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Modules rely on other modules. In TypeScript Angular apps, when we need something
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provided by another module, we import it.
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When another module needs to refer to `AppComponent`, it imports the `AppComponent` *symbol* like this:
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/main.ts', 'app-component','app/main.ts (import)')(format=".")
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:marked
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Angular is also modular. It is a collection of library modules.
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Each library is itself a module made up of several, related feature modules.
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When we need something from Angular, we import it from an Angular library module.
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We need something from Angular right now to help us define metadata about our component.
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### Component Metadata
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A class becomes an Angular component when we give it metadata.
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Angular needs the metadata to understand how to construct the view
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and how the component interacts with other parts of the application.
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We define a component's metadata with the Angular `Component` function.
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We access that function by importing it from the primary Angular library,`angular2/core`.
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/app.component.ts', 'import', 'app/app.component.ts (import)')(format=".")
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:marked
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In TypeScript we apply that function to the class as a *decorator*
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by prefixing it with the **@** symbol and invoking it
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just above the component class:
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/app.component.ts', 'metadata', 'app/app.component.ts (metadata)')
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:marked
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`@Component` tells Angular that this class *is an Angular component*.
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The configuration object passed to the `@Component` method has two
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fields, a `selector` and a `template`.
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The `selector` specifies a simple CSS selector for a host HTML element named `my-app`.
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Angular creates and displays an instance of our `AppComponent`
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wherever it encounters a `my-app` element in the host HTML.
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.alert.is-helpful
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:marked
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Remember the `my-app` selector! We'll need that information when we write our `index.html`
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:marked
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The `template` property holds the component's companion template.
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A template is a form of HTML that tells Angular how to render a view.
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Our template is a single line of HTML announcing "My First Angular App".
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Now we need something to tell Angular to load this component.
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### Bootstrap it
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Add a new file , `main.ts`, to the `app/` folder as follows:
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/main.ts', null, 'app/main.ts')(format=".")
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:marked
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We need two things to launch the application:
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1. Angular's browser `bootstrap` function
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1. The application root component that we just wrote.
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We import both. Then we call `bootstrap`, passing in the **root component type**,
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`AppComponent`.
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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Learn why we import `bootstrap` from `angular2/platform/browser`
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and why we create a separate *main.ts* file in the [appendix below](#main).
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:marked
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We've asked Angular to launch the app in a browser with our component at the root.
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Where will Angular put it?
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Add the `index.html`
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Angular displays our application in a specific location on our `index.html`.
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It's time to create that file.
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We won't put our `index.html` in the `app/` folder.
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We'll locate it **up one level, in the project root folder**.
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code-example(format="").
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cd ..
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:marked
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Now create the`index.html` file and paste the following lines:
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/index.html', null, 'index.html')(format=".")
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:marked
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There are three noteworthy sections of HTML:
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1. We load the JavaScript libraries we need; learn about them [below](#libraries).
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2. We configure something called `System` and ask it to import the
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`main` file we just wrote.
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3. We add the `<my-app>` tag in the `<body>`. **This is where our app lives!**
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Something has to find and load our application modules. We're using **SystemJS** to do that.
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There are other choices and we're not saying SystemJS is the best. We like it and it works.
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The specifics of SystemJS configuration are out of bounds.
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We'll briefly describe this particular configuration in the [appendix below](#systemjs).
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When Angular calls the `bootstrap` function in `main.ts`, it reads the `AppComponent`
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metadata, finds the `my-app` selector, locates an element tag named `my-app`,
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and loads our application between those tags.
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Compile and run!
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Open a terminal window and enter this command:
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code-example(format="").
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npm start
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:marked
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That command runs two parallel node processes
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1. The TypeScript compiler in watch mode
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1. A static server called **lite-server** that loads `index.html` in a browser
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and refreshes the browser when application files change
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In a few moments, a browser tab should open and display
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figure.image-display
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img(src='/resources/images/devguide/quickstart/my-first-app.png' alt="Output of quickstart app")
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:marked
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Congratulations! We are in business.
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### Make some changes
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Try changing the message to "My SECOND Angular 2 app".
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The TypeScript compiler and `lite-server` are watching.
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They should detect the change, recompile the TypeScript into JavaScript,
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refresh the browser, and display the revised message.
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It's a nifty way to develop an application!
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We close the terminal window when we're done to terminate both the compiler and the server.
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Final structure
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Our final project folder structure looks like this:
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.filetree
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.file angular2-quickstart
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.children
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.file app
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.children
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.file app.component.ts
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.file main.ts
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.file node_modules ...
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.file typings ...
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.file index.html
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.file package.json
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.file tsconfig.json
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.file typings.json
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:marked
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And here are the files:
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+makeTabs(`
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quickstart/ts/app/app.component.ts,
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quickstart/ts/app/main.ts,
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quickstart/ts/index.html,
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quickstart/ts/package.1.json,
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quickstart/ts/tsconfig.1.json,
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quickstart/ts/typings.1.json
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`,null,
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`app/app.component.ts, app/main.ts, index.html,package.json, tsconfig.json, typings.json`)
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:marked
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Wrap Up
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Our first application doesn't do much. It's basically "Hello, World" for Angular 2.
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We kept it simple in our first pass: we wrote a little Angular component,
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we added some JavaScript libraries to `index.html`, and launched with a
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static file server. That's about all we'd expect to do for a "Hello, World" app.
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**We have greater ambitions.**
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The good news is that the overhead of setup is (mostly) behind us.
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We'll probably only touch the `package.json` to update libraries.
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We'll likely open `index.html` only if we need to add a library or some css stylesheets.
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We're about to take the next step and build a small application that
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demonstrates the great things we can build with Angular 2.
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Join us on the [Tour of Heroes Tutorial](./tutorial)!
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Appendices
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The balance of this chapter is a set of appendices that
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elaborate on some of the points we covered quickly above.
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There is no essential material here. Continued reading is for the curious.
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<a id="ie-polyfills"></a>
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<a id="es6support"></a>
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<a id="libraries"></a>
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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## Appendix: Libraries
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We loaded the following scripts
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+makeExample('quickstart/ts/index.html', 'libraries', 'index.html')(format=".")
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:marked
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We began with Internet Explorer polyfills.
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IE requires polyfills to run
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an application that relies on ES2015 promises and dynamic module loading.
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Most applications need those capabilities and most applications
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should run in Internet Explorer.
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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We can substitute the following libraries from a CDN:
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+makeExample('router/ts/index.1.html','ie-cdn-polyfills')(format=".")
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:marked
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Next are the polyfills for Angular2, `angular2-polyfills.js`.
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Then the [SystemJS library](#systemjs) for module loading,
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followed by the Reactive Extensions RxJS library.
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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Our QuickStart doesn't use the Reactive Extensions
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but any substantial application will want them
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when working with observables.
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We added the library here in QuickStart so we don't forget later.
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:marked
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Finally, we loaded the web development version of Angular 2 itself.
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We'll make different choices as we gain experience and
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become more concerned about production qualities such as
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load times and memory footprint.
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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<a id="package-json"></a>
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## Appendix: package.json
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[npm](https://docs.npmjs.com/) is a popular package manager and Angular application developers rely on it
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to acquire and manage the libraries their apps require.
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We specify the packages we need in an npm [package.json](https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json) file.
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The Angular team suggests the packages listed in the `dependencies` and `devDependencies`
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sections listed in this file:
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+makeJson('quickstart/ts/package.1.json',{ paths: 'dependencies, devDependencies'}, 'package.json (dependencies)')(format=".")
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:marked
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.l-sub-section
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:marked
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There are other possible package choices.
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We're recommending this particular set that we know work well together.
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Play along with us for now.
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Feel free to make substitutions later to suit your tastes and experience.
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:marked
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A `package.json` has an optional **scripts** section where we can define helpful
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commands to perform development and build tasks.
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We've included a number of such scripts in our suggested `package.json`:
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+makeJson('quickstart/ts/package.1.json',{ paths: 'scripts'}, 'package.json (scripts)')(format=".")
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:marked
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We've seen how we can run the compiler and a server at the same time with this command:
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code-example(format="").
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npm start
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:marked
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We execute npm scripts in that manner: `npm run` + *script-name*. Here's what these scripts do:
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* `npm run tsc` - run the TypeScript compiler once
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* `npm run tsc:w` - run the TypeScript compiler in watch mode;
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the process keeps running, awaiting changes to TypeScript files and re-compiling when it sees them.
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* `npm run lite` - run the [lite-server](https://www.npmjs.com/package/lite-server),
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a light-weight, static file server, written and maintained by [John Papa](http://johnpapa.net/)
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with excellent support for Angular apps that use routing.
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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<a id="npm-errors"></a>
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## Appendix: Npm errors and warnings
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All is well if there are no console messages starting with `npm ERR!` *at the end* of **npm install**.
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There might be a few `npm WARN` messages along the way — and that is perfectly fine.
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We often see an `npm WARN` message after a series of `gyp ERR!` messages.
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Ignore them. A package may try to re-compile itself using `node-gyp`.
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If the re-compile fails, the package recovers (typically with a pre-built version)
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and everything works.
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Just make sure there are no `npm ERR!` messages at the very end of `npm install`.
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<!-- Move this to the Style Guide when we have one -->
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.l-main-section
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:marked
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<a id="tsconfig"></a>
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## Appendix: TypeScript configuration
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We added a TypeScript configuration file (`tsconfig.json`) to our project to
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guide the compiler as it generates JavaScript files.
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Get details about `tsconfig.json` from the official
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[TypeScript wiki](https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/tsconfig.json).
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The options and flags in the file we provided are essential.
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We'd like a moment to discuss the `noImplicitAny` flag.
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TypeScript developers disagree about whether it should be `true` or `false`.
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There is no correct answer and we can change the flag later.
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But our choice now can make a difference in larger projects so it merits
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discussion.
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When the `noImplicitAny` flag is `false`,
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the compiler silently defaults the type of a variable to `any` if it cannot infer
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the type based on how the variable is used. That's what we mean by "implicitly `any`".
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When the `noImplicitAny` flag is `true` and the TypeScript compiler cannot infer
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the type, it still generates the JavaScript files but
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it also reports an error.
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In this QuickStart and many of the other samples in this Developer Guide
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we set the `noImplicitAny` flag to `false`.
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Developers who prefer stricter type checking should set the `noImplicitAny` flag to `true`.
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We can still set a variable's type to `any` if
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that seems like the best choice. We'd be doing so explicitly after
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giving the matter some thought.
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If we set the `noImplicitAny` flag to `true`, we may get implicit index errors as well.
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If we feel these are more annoying than helpful,
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we can suppress them with the following additional flag.
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```
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"suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors":true
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
|
|
<a id="typings"></a>
|
|
.l-main-section
|
|
:marked
|
|
## Appendix: TypeScript Typings
|
|
Many libraries such as jQuery, the Jasmine testing library, and Angular itself,
|
|
add material to the JavaScript environment that the TypeScript compiler doesn't recognize.
|
|
When the compiler doesn't recognize something, it throws an error.
|
|
|
|
We use [TypeScript type definition files](http://www.typescriptlang.org/Handbook#writing-dts-files)
|
|
— *d.ts files* — to tell the compiler about the libraries we load.
|
|
|
|
TypeScript-aware editors leverage these same definition files to display type information about library features.
|
|
|
|
Many libraries include their definition files in their npm packages where both the TypeScript compiler and editors
|
|
can find them. Angular is one such library.
|
|
Peek into the `node_modules/angular2/` folder to see several `...d.ts` files that describe parts of Angular.
|
|
|
|
**We do nothing to get *typings* files for library packages with bundled *d.ts* files.**
|
|
|
|
Sadly, many libraries — jQuery, Jasmine, and Lodash among them — do *not* include `d.ts` files in their npm packages.
|
|
Fortunately, either their authors or community contributors have created separate *d.ts* files for these libraries and
|
|
published them in well-known locations.
|
|
The *typings* tool can find and fetch these files for us.
|
|
|
|
We installed the [typings](https://github.com/typings/typings/blob/master/README.md) tool
|
|
with npm (find it in the `package.json`) and added an npm script
|
|
to run that tool automatically after *npm* installation completes.
|
|
+makeJson('quickstart/ts/package.1.json', {paths: 'scripts.postinstall'}, 'package.json (postinstall)')(format=".")
|
|
:marked
|
|
This *typings* tool command installs the *d.ts* files that we identified in `typings.json`:
|
|
+makeJson('quickstart/ts/typings.1.json', null, 'typings.json')(format=".")
|
|
:marked
|
|
We identified only one *typings* file in this QuickStart, the *d.ts* file for
|
|
[es6-shim](https://github.com/paulmillr/es6-shim/blob/master/README.md) that brings ES2015/ES6
|
|
capabilities to our ES5 browsers.
|
|
QuickStart itself doesn't need this shim but many of the documentation samples do
|
|
and most of us would be disappointed if typical ES2015 features didn't work out-of-the-box.
|
|
|
|
We can also run the *typings* tool ourselves. The following command lists the locally installed typings files.
|
|
code-example(format="").
|
|
npm run typings -- list
|
|
:marked
|
|
The following command installs the typings file for the Jasmine test library and updates the `typings.config`
|
|
so we that we get it automatically the next time.
|
|
code-example(format="").
|
|
npm run typings -- install jasmine --ambient --save
|
|
.l-sub-section
|
|
:marked
|
|
The [–– option](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/run-script) is important;
|
|
it tells npm to pass all arguments to the right of `--` to the *typings* command.
|
|
|
|
Learn about the features of the *typings* tool at its [site on github](https://github.com/typings/typings/blob/master/README.md).
|
|
:marked
|
|
#### Typing file collisions
|
|
|
|
The TypeScript compiler does not tolerate redefinition of a type. For example, it throws an error if it's given two definitions for
|
|
the `Promise` type.
|
|
|
|
Double definitions are common. In fact, the `typings` tool deliberately creates
|
|
duplicate sets of typings (for reasons best explained elsewhere).
|
|
Look in the project structure for the *typings folder* where we should find something like:
|
|
.filetree
|
|
.file typings
|
|
.children
|
|
.file browser
|
|
.children
|
|
.file ambient
|
|
.children
|
|
.file es6-shim
|
|
.children
|
|
.file es6-shim.d.ts
|
|
.children
|
|
.file main
|
|
.children
|
|
.file ambient
|
|
.children
|
|
.file es6-shim
|
|
.children
|
|
.file es6-shim.d.ts
|
|
.children
|
|
.file browser.d.ts
|
|
.file main.d.ts
|
|
:marked
|
|
The `es6-shim` typings are duplicated and the `browser.d.ts` and `main.d.ts` have overlapping content.
|
|
|
|
We must tell the compiler to ignore one or the other.
|
|
We removed the `main` set from consideration in the `exclude` section of our `tsconfig.json` file:
|
|
+makeJson('quickstart/ts/tsconfig.1.json', {paths: 'exclude'}, 'tsconfig.json (exclude)')(format=".")
|
|
:marked
|
|
|
|
|
|
.l-main-section
|
|
:marked
|
|
<a id="systemjs"></a>
|
|
## Appendix: SystemJS Configuration
|
|
|
|
The QuickStart uses [SystemJS](https://github.com/systemjs/systemjs) to load application
|
|
and library modules.
|
|
There are alternatives that work just fine including the well-regarded [webpack](https://webpack.github.io/).
|
|
SystemJS happens to be a good choice but we want to be clear that it was a choice and not a preference.
|
|
|
|
All module loaders require configuration and all loader configuration
|
|
becomes complicated rather quickly as soon as the file structure diversifies and
|
|
we start thinking about building for production and performance.
|
|
|
|
We suggest becoming well-versed in the loader of your choice.
|
|
.l-sub-section
|
|
:marked
|
|
Learn more about SystemJS configuration [here](https://github.com/systemjs/systemjs/blob/master/docs/config-api.md).
|
|
:marked
|
|
With those cautions in mind, what are we doing here?
|
|
+makeExample('quickstart/ts/index.html', 'systemjs', 'index.html (System configuration)')(format=".")
|
|
:marked
|
|
The `packages` node tells SystemJS what to do when it sees a request for a
|
|
module from the `app/` folder.
|
|
|
|
Our QuickStart makes such requests when one of its
|
|
application TypeScript files has an import statement like this:
|
|
+makeExample('quickstart/ts/app/main.ts', 'app-component', 'main.ts (excerpt)')(format=".")
|
|
:marked
|
|
Notice that the module name (after `from`) does not mention a filename extension.
|
|
The `packages:` configuration tells SystemJS to default the extension to 'js', a JavaScript file.
|
|
|
|
That makes sense because we transpile TypeScript to JavaScript
|
|
*before* running the application.
|
|
|
|
.l-sub-section
|
|
:marked
|
|
In the live example on plunker we transpile (AKA compile) to JavaScript in the browser
|
|
on the fly. That's fine for a demo. That's not our preference for development or production.
|
|
|
|
We recommend transpiling (AKA compiling) to JavaScript during a build phase
|
|
before running the application for several reasons including:
|
|
|
|
* We see compiler warnings and errors that are hidden from us in the browser.
|
|
|
|
* Pre-compilation simpifies the module loading process and
|
|
it's much easier to diagnose problem when this is a separate, external step.
|
|
|
|
* Pre-compilation means a faster user experience because the browser doesn't waste time compiling.
|
|
|
|
* We iterate development faster because we only re-compile changed files.
|
|
We notice the difference as soon as the app grows beyond a handful of files.
|
|
|
|
* Pre-compilation fits into a continuous integration process of build, test, deploy.
|
|
:marked
|
|
The `System.import` call tells SystemJS to import the `main` file
|
|
(`main.js` ... after transpiling `main.ts`, remember?).
|
|
`main` is where we tell Angular to launch the application.
|
|
We also catch and log launch errors to the console.
|
|
|
|
All other modules are loaded upon request
|
|
either by an import statement or by Angular itself.
|
|
|
|
.l-main-section
|
|
:marked
|
|
<a id="main"></a>
|
|
## Appendix: **main.ts**
|
|
|
|
### Bootstrapping is platform-specific
|
|
We import the `bootstrap` function from `angular2/platform/browser`,
|
|
not `angular2/core`. There's a good reason.
|
|
|
|
We only call "core" those capabilities that are the same across all platform targets.
|
|
True, most Angular applications run only in a browser and we'll call the bootstrap function from
|
|
this library most of the time. It's pretty "core" if we're always writing for a browser.
|
|
|
|
But it is possible to load a component in a different enviroment.
|
|
|
|
We might load it on a mobile device with [Apache Cordova](https://cordova.apache.org/) or [NativeScript](https://www.nativescript.org/).
|
|
|
|
We might wish to render the first page of our application on the server
|
|
to improve launch performance or facilitate
|
|
[SEO](http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf).
|
|
|
|
These targets require a different kind of bootstrap function that we'd import from a different library.
|
|
|
|
### Why do we create a separate ***main.ts*** file?
|
|
|
|
The *main.ts* file is tiny. This is just a QuickStart.
|
|
We could have folded its few lines into the `app.component` file
|
|
and spared ourselves some complexity.
|
|
|
|
We didn't for what we believe to be good reasons:
|
|
1. Doing it right is easy
|
|
1. Testability
|
|
1. Reusability
|
|
1. Separation of concerns
|
|
1. We learned about import and export
|
|
|
|
### It's easy
|
|
Sure it's an extra step and an extra file. How hard is that in the scheme of things?
|
|
|
|
We'll see that a separate `main.ts` is beneficial for *most* apps
|
|
even if it isn't critical for the QuickStart.
|
|
Let's develop good habits now while the cost is low.
|
|
|
|
### Testability
|
|
We should be thinking about testability from the beginning
|
|
even if we know we'll never test the QuickStart.
|
|
|
|
It is difficult to unit test a component when there is a call to `bootstrap` in the same file.
|
|
As soon as we load the component file to test the component,
|
|
the `bootstrap` function tries to load the application in the browser.
|
|
It throws an error because we're not expecting to run the entire application,
|
|
just test the component.
|
|
|
|
Relocating the `bootstrap` function to `main.ts` eliminates this spurious error
|
|
and leaves us with a clean component module file.
|
|
|
|
### Reusability
|
|
We refactor, rename, and relocate files as our application evolves.
|
|
We can't do any of those things while the file calls `bootstrap`.
|
|
We can't move it.
|
|
We can't reuse the component in another application.
|
|
We can't pre-render the component on the server for better performance.
|
|
|
|
### Separation of concerns
|
|
A component's responsibility is to present and manage a view.
|
|
|
|
Launching the application has nothing to do with view management.
|
|
That's a separate concern. The friction we're encountering in testing and reuse
|
|
stems from this unnecessary mix of responsibilities.
|
|
|
|
### Import/Export
|
|
|
|
While writing a separate `main.ts` file we learned an essential Angular skill:
|
|
how to export from one module and import into another.
|
|
We'll do a lot of that as we learn more Angular.
|