Introducing to Angular 17: A Paradigm Shift in Front-End Development

Quick Summary: The Google Angular Team never fails to make the Angular developer community even more excited with the new release. Therefore, the latest version of the popular Angular framework – Angular v17 is here. In this article, we are going to talk about the overview of Angular v17 and its features, updates, and improvements. In the end, it will help you decide why you should migrate to Angular 17 and what features you can leverage.

Finally, after a long wait, the latest version of frontend framework - Angular, is here.

Angular v17!

Google team released the latest version of Angular – Angular 17 on November 6, 2023, creating a significant milestone for the front end development. While we previously covered the impressive updates and modifications in Angular 16 in our blog, the stakes are even higher this time with the latest Angular version.

Angular team has stepped up to deliver some of the excellent features to the front end community before we bid farewell to 2023.

One of the most exciting features of Angular 17 is the declarative control flow syntax. This actually helps developers with more efficient and expressive template syntax.

Furthermore, Angular 17 introduces deferrable views, allowing you to load and render views only when needed. However, we will cover new features and updates of Angular 17 in this article with examples.

The updates in Angular 17 are a result of the Angular team’s continuous improvement and efforts to address the challenges and feedback of the Angular community. With every new release and update of Angular, it continues to empower developers. Therefore, you can leverage the AngularJS development services to take the most advantage of new features.

In this article, we are going to talk about the new release of Angular 17. We will also discuss the latest updates and features in detail to elevate your Angular applications.

In addition, you can hire Angular developers from Radixweb to leverage features to create a robust web application.

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Introduction to Angular 17

The introduction of Angular v17 is not just about new releases or improvements; it’s a holistic renaissance that brings forward a suite of enhancements and a fresh identity for Angular.

The Angular team has been working hard to resolve challenges and deliver improved performance and developer experience on the modern web. That’s what made them introduce Angular’s reactivity system, Server Side Rendering (SSR), and many other features in Angular 17. Therefore, Angular 17 was released by Google team on November 6, 2023.

In addition, Angular 17 comes with Standalone Components and Signals as part of this movement. Angular 17 offers better Angular Renaissance as it comes with a new syntax for control flow, lazy loading of page parts, and better support for SSR. In addition, the CLI now relies on ESBuild, and thus enhances the build significantly.

In the coming days, they are planning to release Angular v17, including deferred views, built-in control flow, SSR enhancements, and view transitions API support. In fact, you will soon experience it once you install Angular on your system and migrate to Angular v17.

What’s New in Angular 17: Features and Updates

Angular 17 is the highly anticipated release for the Angular community, bringing many new exciting features, updates, and improvements. Let’s check out what are new features of Angular 17:

• New Syntax for Control Flow in Templates
• Automatic Migration to Build-in Control Flow
• Build Performance with ESBuild
• Enhanced Support for Server Side Rendering (SSR)
• Deferred Loading

New Syntax for Control Flow in Templates

Angular v17 introduces a new declarative control flow syntax that makes writing and managing complex conditional codes easier. The new control flow syntax is based on the @- syntax, which is similar to the syntax used in other programming languages like JavaScript and Python.

You can use the new declarative control flow syntax in Angular 17 with the following steps:

1. First step is to import the @angular/core module.
2. Add the @ prefix to the name of the control flow directive. It means that you have to use @if instead of NgIf.
3. Use the @ directive to wrap the content you wish to display conditionally.
4. Pass an expression to the @ directive to evaluate the condition. If the value of the expression is true, then the content inside the @ directive will be shown to you.

You can write the following code to display a message only if the isLoggedIn variable is true using @if directive.

In fact, to create more complex conditional logic, you can use the @else and @else if directives.

Here, we will show you a code to use the @if, @else if, and @else directives to display a different message based on the value of the available role.

Compared to the previous NgIf, NgFor, and NgSwitch directives, the new declarative control flow syntax is easier to understand and more expressive. Additionally, it facilitates the creation and upkeep of intricate conditional logic.

• Any kind of HTML content, including other directives, components, and templates, can be wrapped using the @ directive.
• The @ directive can also be used to regulate which elements on the page are shown. The @if directive, for instance, can be used to hide a button in the event that a particular condition is not met.
• The @ directive can be used to construct nested conditional statements. For instance, you might check if a user is logged in using the @if directive and then determine if they have a specific role by using a second @if directive inside the first @if directive.

You can use the following syntax for declarative control flow syntax:

Use the following syntax for deferrable views:

Use the following syntax for View Transition API:

Automatic Migration to Build-in Control Flow

If you want to migrate your code to the new control flow syntax automatically, there is a schematic in the @angular/core package:

Build Performance with ESBuild

Generally, the Angular CLI is used to generate bundles using webpack. Nevertheless, more recent and quicker tools are currently posing a threat to webpack.

Angular 17 comes with a stable version of Angular CLI by default for new Angular projects with the Application Builder. After reading the detailed installation guide, you can install Angular CLI on your Windows system.

You can easily move to ESBuild for your existing projects. For that, you have to update your angular.json file with the following code:

In fact, -esbuild needs to be added at the end. For the most part, ng serve and ng build should function normally, albeit much more quickly. The former builds npm packages only when necessary, using the vite dev server to speed up processes. The CLI team also included several further performance enhancements.

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Enhanced Support for Server Side Rendering (SSR)

Angular 17 offers better support for server-side rendering (SSR). Hence, if you create a new project using ng new, a --ssr switch is now available. If this is not used, the CLI asks whether it should set up SSR:

Add @angular/ssr package to enable SSR later with the following code:

As @angular scope makes evident, the Angular team is the source of this package.

In addition to rendering on the server side, a call to ng serve launches a development server that provides the bundles needed for browser functioning. In addition to handling bundles for both worlds, a call to ng build --ssr builds a basic Node.js server whose source code uses the schematics mentioned above.

If you don’t want to execute a Node.js server, you can use ng build --prerender to prerender the individual routes of the application during build.

Deferred Loading

Angular's "Defer" feature is a new template syntax that allows developers to define the circumstances under which specific elements or components should load. This is more advanced than the conventional lazy loading methods, which usually load components in response to changes in the path.

You can now use "Defer" to delay component loading in reaction to user inputs, like clicks or hovers, or even when certain conditions are satisfied in your application logic.

Some of the interesting key features of Defer are:

Conditional Loading: You can set conditions for when dependencies should load using "Defer." This lowers initial load times and conserves resources because components can wait to load until they are actually needed.

Standalone Dependencies: For a dependency to be deferred, it must be standalone. If the dependency is not standalone or is referenced outside of the @defer block, it will load immediately.

Integration with Loading Blocks: Loading blocks can be utilized in conjunction with the "Defer" feature. These blocks allow you to set the placeholder or spinner that will appear during the delayed dependencies load.

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Other Features of Angular 17

Angular 17 also introduces some other new features and updates, such as:

• Angular 17 now extends support for custom element bindings and element providers.
• The latest version of Angular 17 comes with better support for internationalization and accessibility.
• The router now supports the View Transitions API.
• Animations can now be loaded lazily.
• The ng g interceptor statement generates functional interceptors.
• When reading signals in templates, a diagnostic now warns the user if the getter call was forgotten (for example, {{ products }} instead of {{ products() }}).
• A change to a data-bound Signal makes Angular just to mark the components directly affected by this change (=components that data-brind this Signal) as dirty. This differs from the traditional behavior that marks all parents as dirty. Utilizing this in conjunction with OnPush enhances performance. Furthermore, this represents an initial step towards the envisioned more precise change detection.
• The Angular CLI generates standalone pipes, standalone components, and standalone directives. By default, ng new also offers independent component bootstrapping. The –standalone false switch has the ability to disable the behavior.
• First released in Angular 12, the Ivy compiler is the next version of the Angular compiler. You can see several enhancements of the Ivy compiler in Angular 17, increasing its speed and effectiveness.

How to Install Angular 17?

You can install Angular 17 using the npm (Node Package Manager). This comes with multiple Angular tools.

Execute the following command in the CLI.

Using this command, you can easily install Angular CLI’s latest version on your system

Migrate to Angular 17 with RadixwebAngular 17 is a significant release of the Angular framework, which comes with many new features and improvements that make it easier to build and maintain complex web applications.The Angular Team at Google has released some amazing updates and enhancements that will delight developers and business owners.With the release of Angular 17, Angular Renaissance advances. The notable feature – control flow syntax simplifies the structure of templates. The new reconciliation algorithm with the new control flow improves re-rendering performance drastically.The best part of Angular 17 is deferred loading, which allows you to load less important pages later. This helps you enhance the initial page load. Better updates and improvements are on the horizon as the Angular team continues to improve and push the boundaries of what is possible.So, if you are a developer, it’s time for you to implement Angular 17 or migrate your existing project to the latest version of Angular 17. If you are a product owner, you can hire AngularJS developers from Radixweb to unlock the full potential of this powerful front end framework. Partnering with the best web application development company – Radixweb, will help you take advantage of the latest Angular 17 update.