There are lots of libraries and frameworks you can use when building browser based JavaScript applications. Probably the most popular library is jQuery. But while jQuery makes it easy to write cross browser user interface code that manipulates the DOM it’s UI focus makes it less then perfect for large business applications. One of the JavaScript based MVC frameworks that has been gaining a lot of popularity for creating business applications is AngularJS. Wen using AngularJS you get the benefit of a powerful data-binding framework that guides you towards a proper application model with a proper separation between the UI layer and the business layer. It also contains a powerful dependency injection framework making code much more testable than before. In this session Maurice de Beijer will show you how to get started with AngularJS and how productive you can be when creating line of business applications.

1. Getting started with AngularJS
Maurice de Beijer

2. Who am I?
• Maurice de Beijer
• The Problem Solver
• Microsoft Integration MVP
• Freelance developer
• DevelopMentor instructor
• Twitter:
@mauricedb
• Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/theproblemsolver/
• Web:
http://www.TheProblemSolver.nl
• E-mail:
mauricedb@develop.com
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3. What are we going to cover?
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What is AngularJS?
Getting started
Directives
Routing
Services
• Demos at: http://bit.ly/lidnugng
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4. What is AngularJS?
• AngularJS is an MVC framework for browser based apps
– Open source and originally developed at Google
• The clean architecture has attracted a large following quickly
– Version 1.0 was released in June 2012
– Currently at 1.2.0
• The goal is building CRUD style business applications
– Not as suitable for games etc
• Use declarative programming for UI and imperative
programming for the logic
– The application is wired together in a declarative way
• Supports modern desktop and mobile browsers
– Internet Explorer version 8 and above
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5. Key features
• Model View Controller architecture
– A well known and proven architecture
• Declarative two way data binding
– Automatically synchronizes values between Model and View
• Dynamic templates
– Makes it very easy to update the user interface
• Dependency injections
– Code dependencies are automatically injected where needed
• Extends HTML with directives
– Lots of powerful standard directives or create your own
• Build with testing in mind
– Makes it much easier to unit test different parts
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6. Bootstrapping
• Automatic bootstrapping
– Add a reference to AngularJS
– Add the ngApp attribute
• Manual bootstrapping is also possible
– Gives you more control
– For example when using AMD/RequireJS
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7. The MVC of AngularJS
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8. Model
• The business data
• Exposed to the view through the $scope
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9. View
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The user interface layer
Data binds to the model
Calls functions on the controller
Use declarative directives for reusable code
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10. Controller
• Glues the view and the model together
• Provides additional functionality
• Uses additional services for reusable logic
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11. Services
• Services are reusable pieces of business logic
– Separation results in reuse and testability
• Created as singleton objects
– Inject by AngularJS using dependency injection
• Services are created as part of a module
– One module can take a dependency on another module
• Modules are groupings of related functionality
– Also used to bootstrap the application
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12. Standard Services
• Many general purpose services provided by AngularJS
– $http
• Used for XMLHttpRequest handling
– $location
• Provide information about the current URL
– $q
• A promise/deferred module for asynchronous requests
– $routeProvider
• Configure routes in an SPA
– $log
• Logging service
– Many more
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13. Dependency injection
• AngularJS uses dependency injection to decouple modules
– Dependencies are automatically injected by the framework
• Based on the parameter name
• JavaScript is often minified in production
– Need to provide AngularJS with some extra hints
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14. Standard directives
• Directives allow you to enhance HTML with new capabilities
– Start using HTML as a domain specific language
• AngularJS comes with a long list of standard directives
– ngApp
– ngBind
– ngModel
– ngRepeat
– ngClick
– ngEnable/ngDisable
– ngHide/ngShow
– ngView
– …
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15. Custom directives
• Turn HTML into your Domain Specific Language
– Use templates to embed complete blocks
• Can use either attributes, elements, CSS classes or comments
• Directives let you interact with the DOM
– The place for jQuery code
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16. Routing
• Used to create SPA style application
– The page can change without using the server
• The ngView is often used to render a template
– HTML templates loaded when needed
– Can also be pre loaded as script with type="text/ng-template"
• The $routeProvider service is used to configure the route
• The $location service can be used to navigate
– Using an anchor tag is also possible
• The $routeParams service can be used to retrieve parameters
– Properties named in the route URL template
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17. $http service
• The basic service for doing all HTTP requests
– The building block for all AJAX requests
• Can be used as a function
– $http(config)
• Provides a number of shortcut methods
– $http.post(url, config)
– $http.get(url, config)
– $http.put(url, config)
– $http.delete(url, config)
• Uses the promises API as the result
– Provided by the $q service
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18. $resource
• Creates a service for working with RESTful services
– Much easier than using the $http object
• Standard functions are already preconfigured
– Only the common HTTP PUT is missing
• Requires a dependency on ngResource
– Located in angular-resource.js
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19. Unit testing AJAX code
• The $httpBackend is the service that is responsible
– Use the XMLHttpRequest object
• There is a second version in the ngMock module
– Used for unit testing code that does HTTP requests
• Can be configured to fake HTTP requests
– Or verify that HTTP calls where made
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20. Conclusion
• AngularJS is a complete framework for client side applications
– Based on the standard MVC design pattern
• Two way data binding makes it easy to build data entry forms
• Dependency injection makes it easy to separate modules
• Build with testing in mind
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21. Questions
?
The presentation and source code will be available
http://msmvps.com/blogs/theproblemsolver/
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