Angular elements overview
Angular elements are Angular components packaged as custom
elements (also called Web Components), a web standard for de�ning
new HTML elements in a framework-agnostic way.
For the sample application that this page describes, see the
live example / download example.
Custom elements are a Web Platform feature currently supported by
Chrome, Edge (Chromium-based), Firefox, Opera, and Safari, and
available in other browsers through poly�lls (see Browser Support). A
custom element extends HTML by allowing you to de�ne a tag whose
content is created and controlled by JavaScript code. The browser
maintains a CustomElementRegistry of de�ned custom elements,
which maps an instantiable JavaScript class to an HTML tag.
The @angular∕elements package exports a
createCustomElement() API function that provides a bridge from
Angular's component interface and change detection functionality to the
built-in DOM API.
Transforming a component to a custom element makes all of the
required Angular infrastructure available to the browser. Creating a
custom element is simple and straightforward, and automatically
connects your component-de�ned view with change detection and data
binding, mapping Angular functionality to the corresponding built-in
HTML equivalents.
We are working on custom elements that can be used by web
apps built on other frameworks. A minimal, self-contained
version of the Angular framework is injected as a service to
support the component's change-detection and data-binding
functionality. For more about the direction of development,
check out this video presentation .
Using custom elements
Custom elements bootstrap themselves - they start automatically when
they are added to the DOM, and are automatically destroyed when
removed from the DOM. Once a custom element is added to the DOM
for any page, it looks and behaves like any other HTML element, and
does not require any special knowledge of Angular terms or usage
conventions.
DETAILS
Easy dynamic Transforming a component to a custom
content in an element provides a straightforward path to
Angular creating dynamic HTML content in your
application Angular application. HTML content that you
add directly to the DOM in an Angular
application is normally displayed without
Angular processing, unless you define a
dynamic component, adding your own code to
connect the HTML tag to your application
data, and participate in change detection. With
a custom element, all of that wiring is taken
care of automatically.
Content-rich If you have a content-rich application, such as
applications the Angular app that presents this
documentation, custom elements let you give
your content providers sophisticated Angular
functionality without requiring knowledge of
Angular. For example, an Angular guide like
this one is added directly to the DOM by the
Angular navigation tools, but can include
special elements like <code-snippet> that
perform complex operations. All you need to
tell your content provider is the syntax of your
custom element. They don't need to know
anything about Angular, or anything about your
component's data structures or
implementation.
How it works
Use the createCustomElement() function to convert a component
into a class that can be registered with the browser as a custom
element. After you register your con�gured class with the browser's
custom-element registry, use the new element just like a built-in HTML
element in content that you add directly into the DOM:
message="Use Angular!"
When your custom element is placed on a page, the browser creates an
instance of the registered class and adds it to the DOM. The content is
provided by the component's template, which uses Angular template
syntax, and is rendered using the component and DOM data. Input
properties in the component correspond to input attributes for the
element.
Transforming components to
custom elements
Angular provides the createCustomElement() function for converting
an Angular component, together with its dependencies, to a custom
element. The function collects the component's observable properties,
along with the Angular functionality the browser needs to create and
destroy instances, and to detect and respond to changes.
The conversion process implements the NgElementConstructor
interface, and creates a constructor class that is con�gured to produce
a self-bootstrapping instance of your component.
Use the built-in customElements.define() function to register the
con�gured constructor and its associated custom-element tag with the
browser's CustomElementRegistry . When the browser encounters
the tag for the registered element, it uses the constructor to create a
custom-element instance.
Avoid using the @Component selector as the custom-element
tag name. This can lead to unexpected behavior, due to
Angular creating two component instances for a single DOM
element: One regular Angular component and a second one
using the custom element.
Mapping
A custom element hosts an Angular component, providing a bridge
between the data and logic de�ned in the component and standard
DOM APIs. Component properties and logic maps directly into HTML
attributes and the browser's event system.
• The creation API parses the component looking for input
properties, and de�nes corresponding attributes for the custom
element. It transforms the property names to make them
compatible with custom elements, which do not recognize case
distinctions. The resulting attribute names use dash-separated
lowercase. For example, for a component with
@Input('myInputProp') inputProp , the corresponding custom
element de�nes an attribute my-input-prop .
• Component outputs are dispatched as HTML Custom Events ,
with the name of the custom event matching the output name. For
example, for a component with @Output() valueChanged =
new EventEmitter() , the corresponding custom element
dispatches events with the name valueChanged , and the emitted
data is stored on the event's detail property. If you provide an
alias, that value will be used instead; for example,
@Output('myClick') clicks = new
EventEmitter<string>(); results in dispatch events with the
name myClick .
For more information, see Web Component documentation for
Creating custom events .
Browser support for custom
elements
The recently-developed custom elements Web Platform feature is
currently supported natively in a number of browsers.
BROWSER CUSTOM ELEMENT SUPPORT
Chrome Supported natively.
Edge (Chromium-based) Supported natively.
Firefox Supported natively.
Opera Supported natively.
Safari Supported natively.
To add the @angular∕elements package to your workspace, run the
following command:
npm install @angular∕elements --save
Example: A Popup Service
Previously, when you wanted to add a component to an application at
runtime, you had to de�ne a dynamic component, and then you would
have to load it, attach it to an element in the DOM, and wire up all of the
dependencies, change detection, and event handling, as described in
Dynamic Component Loader.
Using an Angular custom element makes the process much simpler and
more transparent, by providing all of the infrastructure and framework
automatically —all you have to do is de�ne the kind of event handling
you want.
You do still have to exclude the component from compilation, if you are not
going to use it in your application.
The following Popup Service example application de�nes a component
that you can either load dynamically or convert to a custom element.
FILES DETAILS
popup.component.ts Defines a simple pop-up element that
displays an input message, with
some animation and styling.
popup.service.ts Creates an injectable service that
provides two different ways to invoke
the PopupComponent ; as a dynamic
component, or as a custom element
Notice how much more setup is
required for the dynamic-loading
method.
app.component.ts Defines the application's root
component, which uses the
PopupService to add the pop-up to
the DOM at run time. When the
application runs, the root
component's constructor converts
PopupComponent to a custom
element.
For comparison, the demo shows both methods. One button adds the
popup using the dynamic-loading method, and the other uses the
custom element. The result is the same; only the preparation is
different.
popup.component.ts popup.service.ts app.component.ts
{ , , , ,
} '@angular∕core';
{animate, state, style, transition, trigger}
'@angular∕animations';
@Component({
standalone: ,
selector: 'my-popup',
: `
<span>Popup: {{ message }}<∕span>
<button type="button"
(click)="closed.next()">✖<∕button>
`,
animations: [
trigger('state', [
state('opened', style({transform:
'translateY(0%)'})),
state('void, closed', style({transform:
'translateY(100%)', opacity: 0})),
transition('* => *', animate('100ms ease-in')),
]),
],
styles: [
`
:host {
position: absolute;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
background: #009cff;
height: 48px;
padding: 16px;
display: flex;
justify-content: space-between;
align-items: center;
border-top: 1px solid black;
font-size: 24px;
}
}
button {
border-radius: 50%;
}
`,
],
})
{
@HostBinding('@state')
state: 'opened' | 'closed' = 'closed';
@Input()
message(): {
._message;
}
message(message: ) {
._message = message;
.state = 'opened';
}
_message = '';
@Output()
closed = <void>();
}
Typings for custom elements
Generic DOM APIs, such as document.createElement() or
document.querySelector() , return an element type that is
appropriate for the speci�ed arguments. For example, calling
document.createElement('a') returns an HTMLAnchorElement ,
which TypeScript knows has an href property. Similarly,
document.createElement('div') returns an HTMLDivElement ,
which TypeScript knows has no href property.
When called with unknown elements, such as a custom element name
( popup-element in our example), the methods return a generic type,
such as HTMLElement , because TypeScript can't infer the correct type
of the returned element.
Custom elements created with Angular extend NgElement (which in
turn extends HTMLElement ). Additionally, these custom elements will
have a property for each input of the corresponding component. For
example, our popup-element has a message property of type
string .
There are a few options if you want to get correct types for your custom
elements. Assuming you create a my-dialog custom element based
on the following component:
@Component(…)
{
@Input() content: string;
}
The most straightforward way to get accurate typings is to cast the
return value of the relevant DOM methods to the correct type. For that,
use the NgElement and WithProperties types (both exported from
@angular∕elements ):
aDialog = document.createElement('my-dialog')
as & <{content: string}>;
aDialog.content = 'Hello, world!';
aDialog.content = 123; ∕∕ <-- ERROR: TypeScript knows
this should be a string.
aDialog.body = 'News'; ∕∕ <-- ERROR: TypeScript knows
there is no `body` property on `aDialog`.
This is a good way to quickly get TypeScript features, such as type
checking and autocomplete support, for your custom element. But it can
get cumbersome if you need it in several places, because you have to
cast the return type on every occurrence.
An alternative way, that only requires de�ning each custom element's
type once, is augmenting the HTMLElementTagNameMap , which
TypeScript uses to infer the type of a returned element based on its tag
name (for DOM methods such as document.createElement() ,
document.querySelector() , etc.):
declare global {
{
'my-dialog': & <{content:
string}>;
'my-other-element': & <{foo:
'bar'}>;
…
}
}
Now, TypeScript can infer the correct type the same way it does for built-
in elements:
document.createElement('div') ∕∕--> HTMLDivElement
(built-in element)
document.querySelector('foo') ∕∕--> Element (unknown
element)
document.createElement('my-dialog') ∕∕--> NgElement &
WithProperties<{content: string}> (custom element)
document.querySelector('my-other-element') ∕∕-->
NgElement & WithProperties<{foo: 'bar'}> (custom
element)
