fix(ivy): ng-container with ViewContainerRef creates two comments (#30611)

With Ivy, injecting a `ViewContainerRef` for a `<ng-container>` element
results in two comments generated in the DOM. One comment as host
element for the `ElementContainer` and one for the generated `LContainer`
which is needed for the created `ViewContainerRef`.

This is problematic as developers expect the same anchor element for
the `LContainer` and the `ElementContainer` in order to be able to move
the host element of `<ng-container>` without leaving the actual
`LContainer` anchor element at the original location.

This worked differently in View Engine and various applications might
depend on the behavior where the `ViewContainerRef` shares the anchor
comment node with the host comment node of the `<ng-container>`. For
example `CdkTable` from `@angular/cdk` moves around the host element of
a `<ng-container>` and also expects embedded views to be inserted next
to the moved `<ng-container>` host element.

See: f8be5329f8/src/cdk/table/table.ts (L999-L1016)

Resolves FW-1341

PR Close #30611

packages/core/src/render3/view_engine_compatibility.ts

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import {assertDefined, assertGreaterThan, assertLessThan} from '../util/assert';
 
 import {NodeInjector, getParentInjectorLocation} from './di';
 import {addToViewTree, createEmbeddedViewAndNode, createLContainer, renderEmbeddedTemplate} from './instructions/shared';
-import {ACTIVE_INDEX, CONTAINER_HEADER_OFFSET, LContainer, NATIVE} from './interfaces/container';
+import {ACTIVE_INDEX, CONTAINER_HEADER_OFFSET, LContainer} from './interfaces/container';
 import {TContainerNode, TElementContainerNode, TElementNode, TNode, TNodeType, TViewNode} from './interfaces/node';
 import {RComment, RElement, isProceduralRenderer} from './interfaces/renderer';
 import {CONTEXT, LView, QUERIES, RENDERER, TView, T_HOST} from './interfaces/view';
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import {getParentInjectorTNode} from './node_util';
 import {getLView, getPreviousOrParentTNode} from './state';
 import {getParentInjectorView, hasParentInjector} from './util/injector_utils';
 import {findComponentView} from './util/view_traversal_utils';
-import {getComponentViewByIndex, getNativeByTNode, isComponent, isLContainer, isRootView, viewAttachedToContainer} from './util/view_utils';
+import {getComponentViewByIndex, getNativeByTNode, isComponent, isLContainer, isRootView, unwrapRNode, viewAttachedToContainer} from './util/view_utils';
 import {ViewRef} from './view_ref';
 
 
@@ -313,8 +313,15 @@ export function createContainerRef(
     lContainer = slotValue;
     lContainer[ACTIVE_INDEX] = -1;
   } else {
-    const commentNode = hostView[RENDERER].createComment(ngDevMode ? 'container' : '');
+    let commentNode: RComment;
+    // If the host is an element container, the native host element is guaranteed to be a
+    // comment and we can reuse that comment as anchor element for the new LContainer.
+    if (hostTNode.type === TNodeType.ElementContainer) {
+      commentNode = unwrapRNode(slotValue) as RComment;
+    } else {
       ngDevMode && ngDevMode.rendererCreateComment++;
+      commentNode = hostView[RENDERER].createComment(ngDevMode ? 'container' : '');
+    }
 
     // A container can be created on the root (topmost / bootstrapped) component and in this case we
     // can't use LTree to insert container's marker node (both parent of a comment node and the

packages/core/test/acceptance/i18n_spec.ts

@@ -937,14 +937,14 @@ onlyInIvy('Ivy i18n logic').describe('runtime i18n', () => {
       fixture.detectChanges();
       expect(q.query.length).toEqual(1);
       expect(toHtml(fixture.nativeElement))
-          .toEqual(`<div-query><!--ng-container-->Contenu<!--container--></div-query>`);
+          .toEqual(`<div-query>Contenu<!--ng-container--></div-query>`);
 
       // Disable ng-if
       fixture.componentInstance.visible = false;
       fixture.detectChanges();
       expect(q.query.length).toEqual(0);
       expect(toHtml(fixture.nativeElement))
-          .toEqual(`<div-query><!--ng-container-->Contenu<!--container--></div-query>`);
+          .toEqual(`<div-query>Contenu<!--ng-container--></div-query>`);
     });
   });
 });

packages/core/test/acceptance/view_container_ref_spec.ts

@@ -61,6 +61,59 @@ describe('ViewContainerRef', () => {
          expect(fixture.componentInstance.foo).toBeAnInstanceOf(TemplateRef);
        });
 
+    it('should use comment node of host ng-container as insertion marker', () => {
+      @Component({template: 'hello'})
+      class HelloComp {
+      }
+
+      @NgModule({entryComponents: [HelloComp], declarations: [HelloComp]})
+      class HelloCompModule {
+      }
+
+      @Component({
+        template: `
+          <ng-container vcref></ng-container>
+        `
+      })
+      class TestComp {
+        @ViewChild(VCRefDirective, {static: true}) vcRefDir !: VCRefDirective;
+      }
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule(
+          {declarations: [TestComp, VCRefDirective], imports: [HelloCompModule]});
+      const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(TestComp);
+      const {vcref, cfr, elementRef} = fixture.componentInstance.vcRefDir;
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      expect(fixture.nativeElement.innerHTML)
+          .toMatch(/<!--(ng-container)?-->/, 'Expected only one comment node to be generated.');
+
+      const testParent = document.createElement('div');
+      testParent.appendChild(elementRef.nativeElement);
+
+      expect(testParent.textContent).toBe('');
+      expect(testParent.childNodes.length).toBe(1);
+      expect(testParent.childNodes[0].nodeType).toBe(Node.COMMENT_NODE);
+
+      // Add a test component to the view container ref to ensure that
+      // the "ng-container" comment was used as marker for the insertion.
+      vcref.createComponent(cfr.resolveComponentFactory(HelloComp));
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      expect(testParent.textContent).toBe('hello');
+      expect(testParent.childNodes.length).toBe(2);
+
+      // With Ivy, views are inserted before the container comment marker.
+      if (ivyEnabled) {
+        expect(testParent.childNodes[0].nodeType).toBe(Node.ELEMENT_NODE);
+        expect(testParent.childNodes[0].textContent).toBe('hello');
+        expect(testParent.childNodes[1].nodeType).toBe(Node.COMMENT_NODE);
+      } else {
+        expect(testParent.childNodes[0].nodeType).toBe(Node.COMMENT_NODE);
+        expect(testParent.childNodes[1].nodeType).toBe(Node.ELEMENT_NODE);
+        expect(testParent.childNodes[1].textContent).toBe('hello');
+      }
+    });
   });
 
   describe('insert', () => {
@@ -1668,7 +1721,9 @@ class VCRefDirective {
 
   // Injecting the ViewContainerRef to create a dynamic container in which
   // embedded views will be created
-  constructor(public vcref: ViewContainerRef, public cfr: ComponentFactoryResolver) {}
+  constructor(
+      public vcref: ViewContainerRef, public cfr: ComponentFactoryResolver,
+      public elementRef: ElementRef) {}
 
   createView(s: string, index?: number): EmbeddedViewRef<any> {
     if (!this.tplRef) {