DevExtreme Angular - Create a DevExtreme Application

If you are starting a project from scratch, use the DevExtreme Angular Template. It is a simple application with a navigation menu and several sample views in a responsive layout (see live preview).

You can generate the application with the DevExtreme CLI:

npx -p devextreme-cli devextreme new angular-app app-name
cd app-name
npm run start

The application already contains the DataGrid and Form UI components. You can find their configurations in the src\pages\display-data\display-data.component.html and src\pages\profile\profile.component.html files correspondingly. The following instructions show how to employ any other DevExtreme UI component using the Button UI component as an example:

1. Import the DevExtreme UI component's module in the NgModule where you are going to use it. Open the src\app\app-routing.module.ts file and add the following code:

   app-routing.module.ts

   // ...
   import { ..., DxButtonModule } from 'devextreme-angular';
   
   @NgModule({
       imports: [ ..., DxButtonModule ],
       // ...
   })
   export class AppModule { }

2. Configure the DevExtreme UI component in the markup. Add the following code to the src\app\pages\home\home.component.html file:

   home.component.html

   <!-- ... -->
   <dx-button
       text="Click me"
       (onClick)="helloWorld()">
   </dx-button>
   <!-- ... -->

3. Declare callback functions, event handlers, and binding properties in the application class. In this example, we declare the onClick event handler in the src\app\pages\home\home.component.ts file:

   home.component.ts

   // ...
   export class AppComponent {
       helloWorld() {
           alert('Hello world!');
       }
   }

If you go to the Home view in the browser, you should see the Button.

For further information about DevExtreme Angular components, refer to the following resources:

• Component Configuration Syntax
• Demos
• API Reference

For more information about the structure and contents of the DevExtreme Angular Template, continue reading this article.

The application includes two layouts. The only difference between them is where the toolbar is located.

• Outer Toolbar (default)
  

• Inner Toolbar
  

To generate a new application with an inner toolbar, set the --layout flag to side-nav-inner-toolbar:

npx devextreme-cli new angular-app app-name --layout=side-nav-inner-toolbar

To switch to another layout after the application is created, open the src\app\app.component.html file and replace the app-side-nav-outer-toolbar element with app-side-nav-inner-toolbar:

<app-side-nav-inner-toolbar title="{{appInfo.title}}">
    <!-- Layout content is here -->
</app-side-nav-inner-toolbar>

Run the following command to add a new view. --icon specifies an icon from the DevExtreme icon library.

npx devextreme add view view-name [--icon=IconName]

You can find the added view under the src\app\pages folder. This command also creates a navigation menu item for the added view in the src\app\app-navigation.ts file.

Edit the src\app\app-navigation.ts file to configure navigation menu items. Each item configuration can have the following fields:

• text - the item's text

• icon - the item's icon

• path - a navigation path associated with the item

• items - child items

{
    text: 'Category',
    icon: 'folder',
    items: [{
        text: 'About',
        path: '/about'
    }]
}

In the closed state, the navigation menu is partially visible because it displays item icons. If the items do not have icons, you can hide the menu. To do this, open the SideNavOuterToolbarComponent or SideNavInnerToolbarComponent (depending on the layout) and change the updateDrawer() function as follows:

// ...
export class SideNavInnerToolbarComponent implements OnInit {
    // ...
    updateDrawer() {
        // ...
        this.minMenuSize = 0;
    }
}

The application template uses the DevExtreme Toolbar component. The Toolbar is part of the HeaderComponent whose configuration is in the src\app\shared\components\header directory. To add a custom toolbar item, open the header.component.html file in this directory and add a dxi-item element inside dx-toolbar. Refer to the items help section for information on dxi-item attributes.

The following code adds a search button to the toolbar:

<header>
    <dx-toolbar class="header-toolbar">
        <!-- ... -->
        <dxi-item
            location="after"
            widget="dxButton"
            [options]="{
                icon: 'search',
                onClick: startSearch
            }">
        </dxi-item>
        <!-- ... -->
    </dx-toolbar>
</header>

export class HeaderComponent {
    // ...
    @Output()
    search = new EventEmitter<void>();

    startSearch = () => {
        this.search.emit();
    }
}

<app-header ... 
    (search)="search()">
</app-header>
<!-- ... -->

export class SideNavOuterToolbarComponent implements OnInit {
    // ...
    search() {
        console.log("search");
    }
}

In the code above, the button click handler is declared in the SideNavOuterToolbarComponent. This component is applied when the outer toolbar layout is used. If the application uses the inner toolbar layout, add the same code to the SideNavInnerToolbarComponent.

The DevExtreme Angular Template uses a main theme for the view content and an additional theme (color swatch) for the navigation menu. To switch to another theme, open the src\themes\metadata.base.json or src\themes\metadata.additional.json file and assign a theme name to the baseTheme field:

{
    // ...
    "baseTheme": "material.blue.light",
    // ...
}

You can find all theme names in the Predefined Themes help topic.

Run the following command to rebuild themes:

npm run build-themes

You can use the DevExtreme ThemeBuilder to create custom themes based on predefined themes. Follow the steps below:

1. Import src\themes\metadata.base.json or src\themes\metadata.additional.json to the ThemeBuilder.

2. Customize the theme.

3. Export theme metadata to the initial file (see Postpone Customization).

Run the following command to rebuild themes:

npm run build-themes

Color swatches are secondary color schemes used alongside a primary color scheme.

In the DevExtreme Angular Template, a color swatch is applied to the navigation menu and is configured in the src\themes\metadata.additional.json file. To apply this color swatch to an element, add the dx-swatch-additional class to this element:

<div class="dx-swatch-additional">
    <!-- Your content here -->
</div>

Theme variables are defined in the src\themes\generated\variables.base.scss and src\themes\generated\variables.additional.scss files. Apply them to custom elements, so that the elements have a uniform appearance with the rest of the application.

The following code applies the $base-accent variable as the background-color of my-element:

// Your SCSS file
@import "../../../themes/generated/variables.base.scss";

#my-element {
    background-color: $base-accent;
}

To generate an application without views and a navigation menu, use the --empty flag:

npx devextreme-cli new angular-app app-name --empty

To make the generated application work in Internet Explorer 11, do the following:

1. Install and enable polyfills

   npm install --save classlist.js core-js

   src/polyfills.ts

   // ...
   import 'core-js/es/array';
   import 'classlist.js';
   // ...

2. Include IE 11 as a supported browser
   Open the .browserslistrc file and change not IE 11 to IE 11.

3. Modify the start and build commands

   package.json

   {
     // ...
     "scripts": {
       // ...
       // "start": "ng serve", 
       // "build": "ng build",
       "start": "node --max_old_space_size=4096 node_modules/@angular/cli/bin/ng serve --prod",
       "build": "node --max_old_space_size=4096 node_modules/@angular/cli/bin/ng build --prod",
       // ...
     }
   }

4. Lower the target ECMAScript version

   tsconfig.json

   {
     // ...
     // "target": "es2015",
     "target": "es5",
     // ...
   }