343 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
343 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# `@Input()` and `@Output()` properties
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`@Input()` and `@Output()` allow Angular to share data between the parent context
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and child directives or components. An `@Input()` property is writable
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while an `@Output()` property is observable.
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<div class="alert is-helpful">
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See the <live-example></live-example> for a working example containing the code snippets in this guide.
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</div>
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Consider this example of a child/parent relationship:
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```html
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<parent-component>
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<child-component></child-component>
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</parent-component>
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```
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Here, the `<child-component>` selector, or child directive, is embedded
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within a `<parent-component>`, which serves as the child's context.
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`@Input()` and `@Output()` act as
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the API, or application programming interface, of the child
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component in that they allow the child to
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communicate with the parent. Think of `@Input()` and `@Output()` like ports
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or doorways—`@Input()` is the doorway into the component allowing data
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to flow in while `@Output()` is the doorway out of the component, allowing the
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child component to send data out.
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<div class="alert is-helpful">
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#### `@Input()` and `@Output()` are independent
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Though `@Input()` and `@Output()` often appear together in apps, you can use
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them separately. If the nested
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component is such that it only needs to send data to its parent, you wouldn't
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need an `@Input()`, only an `@Output()`. The reverse is also true in that if the
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child only needs to receive data from the parent, you'd only need `@Input()`.
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</div>
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{@a input}
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## How to use `@Input()`
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Use the `@Input()` decorator in a child component or directive to let Angular know
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that a property in that component can receive its value from its parent component.
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It helps to remember that the data flow is from the perspective of the
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child component. So an `@Input()` allows data to be input _into_ the
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child component from the parent component.
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<div class="lightbox">
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<img src="generated/images/guide/inputs-outputs/input.svg" alt="Input data flow diagram">
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</div>
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To illustrate the use of `@Input()`, edit these parts of your app:
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* The child component class and template
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* The parent component class and template
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### In the child
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To use the `@Input()` decorator in a child component class, first import
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`Input` and then decorate the property with `@Input()`:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.ts" region="use-input" header="src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.ts"></code-example>
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In this case, `@Input()` decorates the property <code class="no-auto-link">item</code>, which has
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a type of `string`, however, `@Input()` properties can have any type, such as
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`number`, `string`, `boolean`, or `object`. The value for `item` will come from the parent component, which the next section covers.
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Next, in the child component template, add the following:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.html" region="property-in-template" header="src/app/item-detail/item-detail.component.html"></code-example>
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### In the parent
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The next step is to bind the property in the parent component's template.
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In this example, the parent component template is `app.component.html`.
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First, use the child's selector, here `<app-item-detail>`, as a directive within the
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parent component template. Then, use [property binding](guide/property-binding)
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to bind the property in the child to the property of the parent.
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/app.component.html" region="input-parent" header="src/app/app.component.html"></code-example>
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Next, in the parent component class, `app.component.ts`, designate a value for `currentItem`:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/app.component.ts" region="parent-property" header="src/app/app.component.ts"></code-example>
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With `@Input()`, Angular passes the value for `currentItem` to the child so that `item` renders as `Television`.
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The following diagram shows this structure:
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<div class="lightbox">
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<img src="generated/images/guide/inputs-outputs/input-diagram-target-source.svg" alt="Property binding diagram">
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</div>
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The target in the square brackets, `[]`, is the property you decorate
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with `@Input()` in the child component. The binding source, the part
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to the right of the equal sign, is the data that the parent
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component passes to the nested component.
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The key takeaway is that when binding to a child component's property in a parent component—that is, what's
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in square brackets—you must
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decorate the property with `@Input()` in the child component.
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<div class="alert is-helpful">
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### `OnChanges` and `@Input()`
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To watch for changes on an `@Input()` property, use
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`OnChanges`, one of Angular's [lifecycle hooks](guide/lifecycle-hooks#onchanges).
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`OnChanges` is specifically designed to work with properties that have the
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`@Input()` decorator. See the [`OnChanges`](guide/lifecycle-hooks#onchanges) section of the [Lifecycle Hooks](guide/lifecycle-hooks) guide for more details and examples.
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</div>
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{@a output}
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## How to use `@Output()`
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Use the `@Output()` decorator in the child component or directive to allow data to flow from
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the child _out_ to the parent.
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An `@Output()` property should normally be initialized to an Angular [`EventEmitter`](api/core/EventEmitter) with values flowing out of the component as [events](guide/event-binding).
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<div class="lightbox">
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<img src="generated/images/guide/inputs-outputs/output.svg" alt="Output diagram">
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</div>
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Just like with `@Input()`, you can use `@Output()`
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on a property of the child component but its type should be
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`EventEmitter`.
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`@Output()` marks a property in a child component as a doorway
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through which data can travel from the child to the parent.
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The child component then has to raise an event so the
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parent knows something has changed. To raise an event,
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`@Output()` works hand in hand with `EventEmitter`,
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which is a class in `@angular/core` that you
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use to emit custom events.
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When you use `@Output()`, edit these parts of your app:
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* The child component class and template
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* The parent component class and template
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The following example shows how to set up an `@Output()` in a child
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component that pushes data you enter in an HTML `<input>` to an array in the
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parent component.
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<div class="alert is-helpful">
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The HTML element `<input>` and the Angular decorator `@Input()`
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are different. This documentation is about component communication in Angular as it pertains to `@Input()` and `@Output()`. For more information on the HTML element `<input>`, see the [W3C Recommendation](https://www.w3.org/TR/html5/sec-forms.html#the-input-element).
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</div>
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## In the child
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This example features an `<input>` where a user can enter a value and click a `<button>` that raises an event. The `EventEmitter` then relays the data to the parent component.
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First, be sure to import `Output` and `EventEmitter`
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in the child component class:
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```js
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import { Output, EventEmitter } from '@angular/core';
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```
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Next, still in the child, decorate a property with `@Output()` in the component class.
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The following example `@Output()` is called `newItemEvent` and its type is
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`EventEmitter`, which means it's an event.
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/item-output/item-output.component.ts" region="item-output" header="src/app/item-output/item-output.component.ts"></code-example>
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The different parts of the above declaration are as follows:
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* `@Output()`—a decorator function marking the property as a way for data to go from the child to the parent
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* `newItemEvent`—the name of the `@Output()`
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* `EventEmitter<string>`—the `@Output()`'s type
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* `new EventEmitter<string>()`—tells Angular to create a new event emitter and that the data it emits is of type string. The type could be any type, such as `number`, `boolean`, and so on. For more information on `EventEmitter`, see the [EventEmitter API documentation](api/core/EventEmitter).
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Next, create an `addNewItem()` method in the same component class:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/item-output/item-output.component.ts" region="item-output-class" header="src/app/item-output/item-output.component.ts"></code-example>
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The `addNewItem()` function uses the `@Output()`, `newItemEvent`,
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to raise an event in which it emits the value the user
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types into the `<input>`. In other words, when
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the user clicks the add button in the UI, the child lets the parent know
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about the event and gives that data to the parent.
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### In the child's template
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The child's template has two controls. The first is an HTML `<input>` with a
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[template reference variable](guide/template-reference-variables) , `#newItem`,
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where the user types in an item name. Whatever the user types
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into the `<input>` gets stored in the `#newItem` variable.
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/item-output/item-output.component.html" region="child-output" header="src/app/item-output/item-output.component.html"></code-example>
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The second element is a `<button>`
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with an [event binding](guide/event-binding). You know it's
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an event binding because the part to the left of the equal
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sign is in parentheses, `(click)`.
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The `(click)` event is bound to the `addNewItem()` method in the child component class which
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takes as its argument whatever the value of `#newItem` is.
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Now the child component has an `@Output()`
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for sending data to the parent and a method for raising an event.
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The next step is in the parent.
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## In the parent
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In this example, the parent component is `AppComponent`, but you could use
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any component in which you could nest the child.
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The `AppComponent` in this example features a list of `items`
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in an array and a method for adding more items to the array.
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/app.component.ts" region="add-new-item" header="src/app/app.component.ts"></code-example>
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The `addItem()` method takes an argument in the form of a string
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and then pushes, or adds, that string to the `items` array.
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### In the parent's template
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Next, in the parent's template, bind the parent's
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method to the child's event. Put the child selector, here `<app-item-output>`,
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within the parent component's
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template, `app.component.html`.
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/app.component.html" region="output-parent" header="src/app/app.component.html"></code-example>
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The event binding, `(newItemEvent)='addItem($event)'`, tells
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Angular to connect the event in the child, `newItemEvent`, to
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the method in the parent, `addItem()`, and that the event that the child
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is notifying the parent about is to be the argument of `addItem()`.
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In other words, this is where the actual hand off of data takes place.
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The `$event` contains the data that the user types into the `<input>`
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in the child template UI.
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Now, in order to see the `@Output()` working, add the following to the parent's template:
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```html
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<ul>
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<li *ngFor="let item of items">{{item}}</li>
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</ul>
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```
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The `*ngFor` iterates over the items in the `items` array. When you enter a value in the child's `<input>` and click the button, the child emits the event and the parent's `addItem()` method pushes the value to the `items` array and it renders in the list.
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## `@Input()` and `@Output()` together
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You can use `@Input()` and `@Output()` on the same child component as in the following:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/app.component.html" region="together" header="src/app/app.component.html"></code-example>
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The target, `item`, which is an `@Input()` property in the child component class, receives its value from the parent's property, `currentItem`. When you click delete, the child component raises an event, `deleteRequest`, which is the argument for the parent's `crossOffItem()` method.
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The following diagram is of an `@Input()` and an `@Output()` on the same
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child component and shows the different parts of each:
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<div class="lightbox">
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<img src="generated/images/guide/inputs-outputs/input-output-diagram.svg" alt="Input/Output diagram">
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</div>
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As the diagram shows, use inputs and outputs together in the same manner as using them separately. Here, the child selector is `<app-input-output>` with `item` and `deleteRequest` being `@Input()` and `@Output()`
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properties in the child component class. The property `currentItem` and the method `crossOffItem()` are both in the parent component class.
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To combine property and event bindings using the banana-in-a-box
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syntax, `[()]`, see [Two-way Binding](guide/two-way-binding).
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## `@Input()` and `@Output()` declarations
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Instead of using the `@Input()` and `@Output()` decorators
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to declare inputs and outputs, you can identify
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members in the `inputs` and `outputs` arrays
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of the directive metadata, as in this example:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/in-the-metadata/in-the-metadata.component.ts" region="metadata" header="src/app/in-the-metadata/in-the-metadata.component.ts"></code-example>
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While declaring `inputs` and `outputs` in the `@Directive` and `@Component`
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metadata is possible, it is a better practice to use the `@Input()` and `@Output()`
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class decorators instead, as follows:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/input-output/input-output.component.ts" region="input-output" header="src/app/input-output/input-output.component.ts"></code-example>
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See the [Decorate input and output properties](guide/styleguide#decorate-input-and-output-properties) section of the
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[Style Guide](guide/styleguide) for details.
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<div class="alert is-helpful">
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If you get a template parse error when trying to use inputs or outputs, but you know that the
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properties do indeed exist, double check
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that your properties are annotated with `@Input()` / `@Output()` or that you've declared
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them in an `inputs`/`outputs` array:
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<code-example language="bash">
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Uncaught Error: Template parse errors:
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Can't bind to 'item' since it isn't a known property of 'app-item-detail'
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</code-example>
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</div>
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{@a aliasing-io}
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## Aliasing inputs and outputs
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Sometimes the public name of an input/output property should be different from the internal name. While it is a best practice to avoid this situation, Angular does
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offer a solution.
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### Aliasing in the metadata
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Alias inputs and outputs in the metadata using a colon-delimited (`:`) string with
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the directive property name on the left and the public alias on the right:
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/aliasing/aliasing.component.ts" region="alias" header="src/app/aliasing/aliasing.component.ts"></code-example>
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### Aliasing with the `@Input()`/`@Output()` decorator
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You can specify the alias for the property name by passing the alias name to the `@Input()`/`@Output()` decorator. The internal name remains as usual.
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<code-example path="inputs-outputs/src/app/aliasing/aliasing.component.ts" region="alias-input-output" header="src/app/aliasing/aliasing.component.ts"></code-example>
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