Angular JS is an open-source front-end Javascript programming language built by Google to develop applications. It was launched initially in the year 2010 whereas its subsequent versions were numbered Angular 2 and onwards. This framework successfully gained support from the community of developers as Angular can make your static HTML pages more interactive. This has given immediate popularity to the angular development framework.
However, with the launch of new development frameworks, the limitations of the angular were highlighted the most. It made Google completely rewrite the framework and launch it again. This time it uses Typescript as the new language which solves all the issues regarding the previous version.
The decision of Google to shift from Javascript to Typescript paid off. This not only became helpful in avoiding all the setbacks of javascript but it also introduces some on-demand features for web developers. As a result, nowadays, approximately 40% of front-end developers use Angular.
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If you’re a developer grappling with Angular, don’t worry. Many online platforms now offer coding homework help, with a comprehensive list of services dedicated to solving Angular assignments and enhancing understanding of the language. Thus, with the right resources and dedication, mastering Angular is now much easier.
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Angular best practices and security tips
Given the very wide popularity of the angular framework, I decided to do some research and come up with Angular development best practices for the framework that can help the community of the developers.
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Use Angular CLI
One of the most powerful accessibility tools available for app development is Angular CLI. You can initialize, develop, scaffold, maintain, test, and debug your angular apps with this command-line interface tool of the angular framework. You can also build new components, directives, modules, services, and pipes using Angular CLI instead of creating all the files and folders manually.
# Install Angular CLI
npm install -g @angular/cli
# Check Angular CLI version
ng version
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Make Use of trackBy
The built-in angular directive -ngFor is used to create various templates as needed for each item in the collection.
< ul >
< li *ngFor=”let item of items;”>{{item.id}}< /li >
< /ul >
But the real problem with ngFor is that we need to change the iterative data as per the requirements. The problem will happen as the angular framework doesn’t keep any record of the iterated data. Even if the data is removed or added, the framework is oblivious to that too.
If you want to implement this then you need to release all the DOM elements related to the collection and add them again to the angular framework. While you are dealing with the massive collection of data, DOM manipulations can be very expensive. And that’s where trackBy comes in. It helps you avoid costly DOM manipulation. It can also provide a process that can avoid DOM altogether in which a unique identifier is given to each item of the collections. And this makes the use of trackBy one of the best angular practices for web app development.
@Component({
selector: ‘demo-app’,
template: `
< ul >
< li *ngFor=”let item of items;trackBy: trackByFunc”>{{item.id}}< /li >
< /ul >
< button (click)=”getAllItems()”>Click to Refresh< /button >
`,
})
export class DemoApp {
constructor() {
this.items = [{id: 10}, {id: 20}, {id: 30}];
}
getAllItems() {
this.items = this.getAllItemsFromServer();
}
getAllItemsFromServer() {
return [{id: 10}, {id: 20}, {id: 30}, {id: 40}];
}
trackByFunc(i, item) {
return item.id; // or i
}
}
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Follow consistent Angular coding styles
If you want to make the quality of your product up to proper coding standards then there are certain sets of rules that you need to follow. They are as mentioned below:
- Limit files to 400 Lines of code.
- Define small functions and limit them to no more than 75 lines.
- Have consistent names for all symbols. The recommended pattern is feature.type.ts.
- If the values of the variables are intact, then declare it with ‘const’.
- Use dashes to separate words in the descriptive name and use dots to separate the descriptive name from the type.
- Names of properties and methods should always be in lower camel case.
- Always leave one empty line between imports and modules; such as third-party and application imports and third-party modules and custom modules.
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Cache API calls
The responses from the API calls don’t change frequently when you make them. In such cases, you can imply one of the angular JS best practices like adding a caching mechanism to the system which stores the value from the API. But if the same API got another request and we get a response from the check then we need to make an API call and store the result if there is no value available in the cache. You can also propose a cache time for a few API calls as the values do not change that frequently. You can improve the speed of your angular application if you cache your API calls and avoid all the duplicate and unwanted API calls. You also need to ensure that you don’t download the same information repeatedly.
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State Management
State management is one of the most challenging tasks in the software development process. Now you can store the state of any form of data to manage state transitions with the help of angular state management. Angular has many state management libraries including NGRX, AKITA, NGXS, and many more. All of these angular libraries have different usages and purposes.
Before implying state management to your angular application, make sure it is suitable for it. Some advantages of utilizing state management are as mentioned below:
- It enables sharing of data between different components.
- It provides centralized control for state transition.
- The code will be clean and more readable.
- Makes it easy to debug when something goes wrong.
- Dev tools are available for tracing and debugging state management libraries
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HTTP-related Vulnerabilities
Talking about angular security best practices, if someone would want to access the data from web apps then Cross-site request forgery (CSRF or XSRF) and cross-site script inclusion (XSSI) are two kinds of vulnerabilities that could be attacked.
- CSRF (Cross-site request forgery)
With the help of any authenticated user of the site, attackers can exploit the vulnerability of Cross-site request forgery by making HTTP protocol requests to the server. In this process, the attackers work as a hidden mediator.
For example, when an authenticated user logs into the website, the attacker will try to make that user an HTTP request by clicking an unknown link. In this way, attackers can secretly get access to sensitive information from that request. And if the victim user is an administrator of any site then the attacker will get access to all the information available or accessed by the administrator on that website.
Authentication tokens are used with a cookie to prevent such types of attacks. So when an HTTP request is made, the server will compare all the token data from the cookie and prevent any kind of access to the token that is not authorized.
- XSSI (Cross-site Script Inclusion)
For this type of attack, vulnerable scripts are used. Using third-party scripts coming from an untrusted domain is responsible for it as they are not secure. Taking that as an advantage, hackers add their executable code to the script. So when the user is executing the script in his/her domain, there are full chances that essential information will get compromised.
Apart from this, attackers can also add an API URL through a script tag. If you want to fetch this type of convention and remove the string “)]}’,\n” from all code automatically to make it non-executable then use the HttpClient library provided by the angular framework.
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Keep Updating Angular Libraries
With the help of angular best practices, you can get better results day in and day out. And one such practice is to keep updating your angular libraries. Frequently, angular offers updates to enrich the existing functionalities and to provide better performance.
The updates keep coming very often with better security features and resolved issues. So you should keep your angular libraries up to date. Taking maximum advantage of the angular framework will keep your system flexible.
Unless in the case of utmost need, never make any changes in your Angular Core Module. Because if you modify or make a change in any files of the Angular Core module then this will affect the security of the framework and you may have to face some protection issues. The default behavior of the current system will get changed or even the existing functionalities can get harmed if any unsure changes are made in the default content of the angular framework.
So, if you want to change or fix your existing issues then you should inform the angular community about it and also make them aware that they can only make changes if it does not affect any existing features.
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Naming Conventions
In terms of maintainability and readability, naming conventions are very important. The Angular style guide also mentions how you can follow general naming conventions.
According to the Angular style guide, naming conventions are hugely important to maintainability and readability. Following general naming conventions are specified by the Angular style guide. It is as stated below:
- Do use consistent names for all symbols.
- Do follow a pattern that describes the symbol’s feature then its type. The recommended pattern is feature.type.ts.
- Do use dashes to separate words in the descriptive name.
- Do use dots to separate the descriptive name from the type.
- Do use conventional type names including .service, .component, .pipe, .module, and .directive. Invent additional type names if you must but take care not to create too many.
If you want to find the content at a glance then naming conventions can help you by offering a consistent way for it. Consistency is crucial for any project and it is of as much importance for the team too. Tremendous efficiency can be gained if the consistency is spread across the whole company.
Naming conventions will also help you find any desired code not only in a faster way but also makes it easy to understand. Naming conventions simply mean to name the files and folders so that they can convey their intent. For example, the name – app/heroes/hero-list.component.ts shows that it contains a component that manages a list of heroes.
The guidelines are provided to make sure that when you look at a filename, you can clearly understand the purpose and the types of content in the file. For example, the files with the name hero.component.ts and hero.service.ts can be identified as the files for component and services for something called a hero in the project respectively.
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Single Responsibility Principle
In these kinds of angular best practices, you would be using a computer programming principle that says that every module, class, and function should have responsibility for each part of the functionality provided by the software. Also, all these responsibilities need to be compacted by the class.
Expert angular developers apply the single responsibility principle to all the components, services, symbols, and more. This is used to clean the app which results in an application easier to read, test, and maintain. The angular style guide mentions that the functions should not exceed the limitations of 75 lines of code. But if there is any method larger than that then it needs to be broken down into multiple files or methods. In which, each file should not exceed the limitation of 400 lines of code.
As we already discussed, the angular development company builds one component per file which makes it easier for the users to read and maintain the components as the application grows with time. Collisions with teams in source control can also be avoided using this single responsibility principle.
Angular developers also use this principle to find hidden bugs that often arise when multiple components are combined in a file. These bugs can end up sharing variables or they can create some unwanted closures or unwanted coupling with dependencies. A single component that facilitates lay loading with the router needs to be the default export for its file. In general, this principle is used to make your code with lesser mistakes, easier to read, and reusable.
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Use lint rules for Typescript and SCSS
The last angular best practice on our list is using lint rules for Typescript and SCSS. tslint and stylelint have some built-in options that force a program to become more cleaner and consistent. Lint rules are already widely supported by all modern editors. But you can also customize your own lint rules and configurations. That is to ensure that the readability and the consistency of the code are up to your required standards.
- To name some built-in options of tslint: no-any, no-magic-numbers, no-debugger, no-console, etc.
- To name some built-in options of stylelint: color-no-invalid-hex, selector-max-specificity, function-comma-space-after, declaration-colon-space-after, etc.
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I’m hopeful that you would find it useful. I have written this article to shed some light on the insights of angular development and the angular best practices you can use during the development process to get better results.
I know I couldn’t cover all the best practices but of course, I did manage to cover the ones that are widely used. If you do know of others or are using any angular security practices, let me know in the comments section below. I’m very eager to hear from you.
