Angular Interview Questions & Answers
Angular Interview Questions & Answers
No. Questions
1 What is Angular?
3 What is TypeScript?
9 What is a template?
10 What is a module?
13 What is metadata?
16 What is a service
20 What is the option to choose between inline and external template file?
24 What is interpolation?
40 What is RxJS?
41 What is subscribing?
42 What is an observable?
43 What is an observer?
45 What is multicasting?
57 What are the mapping rules between Angular component and custom element?
Table of Contents
This uses use JavaScript to build the application Introduced the typescript to write the application
Difficulty in SEO friendly application development Ease to create SEO friendly applications
3. What is TypeScript?
TypeScript is a typed superset of JavaScript created by Microsoft that adds optional types, classes,
async/await, and many other features, and compiles to plain JavaScript. Angular built entirely in
TypeScript and used as a primary language. You can install it globally as
document.body.innerHTML = greeter(user);
i. Component: These are the basic building blocks of angular application to control HTML
views.
ii. Modules: An angular module is set of angular basic building blocks like component,
directives, services etc. An application is divided into logical pieces and each piece of code is
called as "module" which perform a single task.
iii. Templates: This represent the views of an Angular application.
iv. Services: It is used to create components which can be shared across the entire application.
v. Metadata: This can be used to add more data to an Angular class.
Now this directive extends HTML element behavior with a yellow background as below
Components are the most basic UI building block of an Angular app which formed a tree of Angular
components. These components are subset of directives. Unlike directives, components always have a
template and only one component can be instantiated per an element in a template. Let's see a simple
example of Angular component
@Component ({
selector: 'my-app',
template: ` <div>
<h1>{{title}}</h1>
<div>Learn Angular6 with examples</div>
</div> `,
})
Component Directive
To register a component we use @Component meta-data To register directives we use @Directive meta-
annotation data annotation
Only one component can be present per DOM element Many directives can be used per DOM element
9. What is a template?
A template is a HTML view where you can display data by binding controls to properties of an Angular
component. You can store your component's template in one of two places. You can define it inline
using the template property, or you can define the template in a separate HTML file and link to it in the
component metadata using the @Component decorator's templateUrl property. Using inline
template with template syntax,
@Component ({
selector: 'my-app',
template: '
<div>
<h1>{{title}}</h1>
<div>Learn Angular</div>
</div>
'
})
@Component ({
selector: 'my-app',
templateUrl: 'app/app.component.html'
})
Modules are logical boundaries in your application and the application is divided into separate
modules to separate the functionality of your application. Lets take an example of app.module.ts root
module declared with @NgModuledecorator as below,
@NgModule ({
imports: [ BrowserModule ],
declarations: [ AppComponent ],
bootstrap: [ AppComponent ]
})
export class AppModule { }
Angular application goes through an entire set of processes or has a lifecycle right from its initiation to
the end of the application. The representation of lifecycle in pictorial representation as
follows,
i. ngOnChanges: When the value of a data bound property changes, then this method is called.
ii. ngOnInit: This is called whenever the initialization of the directive/component after Angular
first displays the data-bound properties happens.
iii. ngDoCheck: This is for the detection and to act on changes that Angular can't or won't detect
on its own.
iv. ngAfterContentInit: This is called in response after Angular projects external content into the
component's view.
v. ngAfterContentChecked: This is called in response after Angular checks the content
projected into the component.
vi. ngAfterViewInit: This is called in response after Angular initializes the component's views and
child views.
vii. ngAfterViewChecked: This is called in response after Angular checks the component's views
and child views.
viii. ngOnDestroy: This is the cleanup phase just before Angular destroys the
directive/component.
Data binding is a core concept in Angular and allows to define communication between a component
and the DOM, making it very easy to define interactive applications without worrying about pushing
and pulling data. There are four forms of data binding(divided as 3 categories) which differ in the way
the data is flowing.
i. From the Component to the DOM: Interpolation: {{ value }}: Adds the value of a property
from the component
Property binding: [property]=”value”: The value is passed from the component to the specified
property or simple HTML attribute
ii. From the DOM to the Component: Event binding: (event)=”function”: When a specific
DOM event happens (eg.: click, change, keyup), call the specified method in the component
<button (click)="logout()"></button>
iii. Two-way binding: Two-way data binding: [(ngModel)]=”value”: Two-way data binding
allows to have the data flow both ways. For example, in the below code snippet, both the
email DOM input and component email property are in sync
Metadata is used to decorate a class so that it can configure the expected behavior of the class. The
metadata is represented by decorators
@Component({
selector: 'my-component',
template: '<div>Class decorator</div>',
})
export class MyComponent {
constructor() {
console.log('Hey I am a component!');
}
}
@NgModule({
imports: [],
declarations: [],
})
export class MyModule {
constructor() {
console.log('Hey I am a module!');
}
}
ii. Property decorators Used for properties inside classes, e.g. @Input and @Output
import { Component, Input } from '@angular/core';
@Component({
selector: 'my-component',
template: '<div>Property decorator</div>'
})
iii. Method decorators Used for methods inside classes, e.g. @HostListener
@Component({
selector: 'my-component',
template: '<div>Method decorator</div>'
})
export class MyComponent {
@HostListener('click', ['$event'])
onHostClick(event: Event) {
// clicked, `event` available
}
}
iv. Parameter decorators Used for parameters inside class constructors, e.g. @Inject
@Component({
selector: 'my-component',
template: '<div>Parameter decorator</div>'
})
export class MyComponent {
constructor(@Inject(MyService) myService) {
console.log(myService); // MyService
}
}
Angular CLI(Command Line Interface) is a command line interface to scaffold and build angular apps
using nodejs style (commonJs) modules. You need to install using below npm command,
Below are the list of few commands, which will come handy while creating angular projects
TypeScript classes has a default method called constructor which is normally used for the initialization
purpose. Whereas ngOnInit method is specific to Angular, especially used to define Angular bindings.
Even though constructor getting called first, it is preferred to move all of your Angular bindings to
ngOnInit method. In order to use ngOnInit, you need to implement OnInit interface as below,
ngOnInit(){
//called after the constructor and called after the first ngOnChanges()
}
}
3. What is a service?
A service is used when a common functionality needs to be provided to various modules. Services
allow for greater separation of concerns for your application and better modularity by allowing you to
extract common functionality out of components. Let's create a repoService which can be used across
components,
fetchAll(){
return this.http.get('https://api.github.com/repositories').map(res =>
res.json());
}
}
Dependency injection (DI), is an important application design pattern in which a class asks for
dependencies from external sources rather than creating them itself. Angular comes with its own
dependency injection framework for resolving dependencies( services or objects that a class needs to
perform its function).So you can have your services depend on other services throughout your
application.
The AsyncPipe subscribes to an observable or promise and returns the latest value it has emitted.
When a new value is emitted, the pipe marks the component to be checked for changes. Let's take a
time observable which continuously updates the view for every 2 seconds with the current time.
@Component({
selector: 'async-observable-pipe',
template: `<div><code>observable|async</code>:
Time: {{ time | async }}</div>`
})
export class AsyncObservablePipeComponent {
time = new Observable(observer =>
setInterval(() => observer.next(new Date().toString()), 2000)
);
}
7. What is the option to choose between inline and external template file?
You can store your component's template in one of two places. You can define it inline using
the template property, or you can define the template in a separate HTML file and link to it in the
component metadata using the @Componentdecorator's templateUrl property. The choice between
inline and separate HTML is a matter of taste, circumstances, and organization policy. But normally we
use inline template for small portion of code and external template file for bigger views. By default, the
Angular CLI generates components with a template file. But you can override that with the below
command,
We use Angular ngFor directive in the template to display each item in the list. For example, here we
iterate over list of users,
The user variable in the ngFor double-quoted instruction is a template input variable
9. What is the purpose of ngIf directive?
Sometimes an app needs to display a view or a portion of a view only under specific circumstances.
The Angular ngIf directive inserts or removes an element based on a truthy/falsy condition. Let's take
an example to display a message if the user age is more than 18,
<p *ngIf="user.age > 18">You are not eligible for student pass!</p>
Note: Angular isn't showing and hiding the message. It is adding and removing the paragraph element
from the DOM. That improves performance, especially in the larger projects with many data bindings.
Angular recognizes the value as unsafe and automatically sanitizes it, which removes the <script> tag
but keeps safe content such as the text content of the <script> tag. This way it eliminates the risk of
script injection attacks. If you still use it then it will be ignored and a warning appears in the browser
console. Let's take an example of innerHtml property binding which causes XSS vulnerability,
Interpolation is a special syntax that Angular converts into property binding. It’s a convenient
alternative to property binding. It is represented by double curly braces({{}}). The text between the
braces is often the name of a component property. Angular replaces that name with the string value of
the corresponding component property. Let's take an example,
<h3>
{{title}}
<img src="{{url}}" style="height:30px">
</h3>
In the example above, Angular evaluates the title and url properties and fills in the blanks, first
displaying a bold application title and then a URL.
A template expression produces a value similar to any Javascript expression. Angular executes the
expression and assigns it to a property of a binding target; the target might be an HTML element, a
component, or a directive. In the property binding, a template expression appears in quotes to the
right of the = symbol as in [property]="expression". In interpolation syntax, the template expression is
surrounded by double curly braces. For example, in the below interpolation, the template expression is
{{username}},
A template statement responds to an event raised by a binding target such as an element, component,
or directive. The template statements appear in quotes to the right of the = symbol
like (event)="statement". Let's take an example of button click event's statement
In the above expression, editProfile is a template statement. The below JavaScript syntax expressions
are not allowed.
.new
i. increment and decrement operators, ++ and --
ii. operator assignment, such as += and -=
iii. the bitwise operators | and &
iv. the template expression operators
Binding types can be grouped into three categories distinguished by the direction of data flow. They
are listed as below,
Event
From view-to- 1. (target)="statement" 2. on-
Data direction Syntax Type
source(One-way) target="statement"
A pipe takes in data as input and transforms it to a desired output. For example, let us take a pipe to
transform a component's birthday property into a human-friendly date using date pipe.
@Component({
selector: 'app-birthday',
template: `<p>Birthday is {{ birthday | date }}</p>`
})
export class BirthdayComponent {
birthday = new Date(1987, 6, 18); // June 18, 1987
}
A pipe can accept any number of optional parameters to fine-tune its output. The parameterized pipe
can be created by declaring the pipe name with a colon ( : ) and then the parameter value. If the pipe
accepts multiple parameters, separate the values with colons. Let's take a birthday example with a
particular format(dd/mm/yyyy):
@Component({
selector: 'app-birthday',
template: `<p>Birthday is {{ birthday | date | 'dd/mm/yyyy'}}</p>` //
18/06/1987
})
export class BirthdayComponent {
birthday = new Date(1987, 6, 18);
}
Note: The parameter value can be any valid template expression, such as a string literal or a
component property.
You can chain pipes together in potentially useful combinations as per the needs. Let's take a birthday
property which uses date pipe(along with parameter) and uppercase pipes as below
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
@Component({
selector: 'app-birthday',
template: `<p>Birthday is {{ birthday | date:'fullDate' | uppercase}}
</p>` // THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1987
})
export class BirthdayComponent {
birthday = new Date(1987, 6, 18);
}
Apart from built-inn pipes, you can write your own custom pipe with the below key characteristics,
.A pipe is a class decorated with pipe metadata @Pipe decorator, which you import from the core Angular
library For example,
@Pipe({name: 'myCustomPipe'})
ii. The pipe class implements the PipeTransform interface's transform method that accepts an
input value followed by optional parameters and returns the transformed value. The structure
of pipeTransform would be as below,
interface PipeTransform {
transform(value: any, ...args: any[]): any
}
iii. The @Pipe decorator allows you to define the pipe name that you'll use within template
expressions. It must be a valid JavaScript identifier.
You can create custom reusable pipes for the transformation of existing value. For example, let us
create a custom pipe for finding file size based on an extension,
@Pipe({name: 'customFileSizePipe'})
export class FileSizePipe implements PipeTransform {
transform(size: number, extension: string = 'MB'): string {
return (size / (1024 * 1024)).toFixed(2) + extension;
}
}
Now you can use the above pipe in template expression as below,
template: `
<h2>Find the size of a file</h2>
<p>Size: {{288966 | customFileSizePipe: 'GB'}}</p>
`
20. What is the difference between pure and impure pipe?
A pure pipe is only called when Angular detects a change in the value or the parameters passed to a
pipe. For example, any changes to a primitive input value (String, Number, Boolean, Symbol) or a
changed object reference (Date, Array, Function, Object). An impure pipe is called for every change
detection cycle no matter whether the value or parameters changes. i.e, An impure pipe is called often,
as often as every keystroke or mouse-move.
Every application has at least one Angular module, the root module that you bootstrap to launch the
application is called as bootstrapping module. It is commonly known as AppModule. The default
structure of AppModule generated by AngularCLI would be as follows,
/* JavaScript imports */
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { HttpClientModule } from '@angular/common/http';
Observables are declarative which provide support for passing messages between publishers and
subscribers in your application. They are mainly used for event handling, asynchronous programming,
and handling multiple values. In this case, you define a function for publishing values, but it is not
executed until a consumer subscribes to it. The subscribed consumer then receives notifications until
the function completes, or until they unsubscribe.
Most of the Front-end applications communicate with backend services over HTTP protocol using
either XMLHttpRequest interface or the fetch() API. Angular provides a simplified client HTTP API
known as HttpClient which is based on top of XMLHttpRequest interface. This client is avaialble
from @angular/common/http package. You can import in your root module as below,
import { HttpClientModule } from '@angular/common/http';
The major advantages of HttpClient can be listed as below,
Below are the steps need to be followed for the usage of HttpClient.
ii. Inject the HttpClient into the application: Let's create a userProfileService(userprofile.service.ts)
as an example. It also defines get method of HttpClient
@Injectable()
export class UserProfileService {
constructor(private http: HttpClient) { }
}
getUserProfile() {
return this.http.get(this.userProfileUrl);
}
iii. Create a component for subscribing service: Let's create a component called
UserProfileComponent(userprofile.component.ts) which inject UserProfileService and invokes
the service method,
fetchUserProfile() {
this.userProfileService.getUserProfile()
.subscribe((data: User) => this.user = {
id: data['userId'],
name: data['firstName'],
city: data['city']
});
}
Since the above service method returns an Observable which needs to be subscribed in the
component.
The response body doesn't may not return full response data because sometimes servers also return
special headers or status code which which are important for the application workflow. Inorder to get
full response, you should use observe option from HttpClient,
getUserResponse(): Observable<HttpResponse<User>> {
return this.http.get<User>(
this.userUrl, { observe: 'response' });
}
Now HttpClient.get() method returns an Observable of typed HttpResponse rather than just the JSON
data.
If the request fails on the server or failed to reach the server due to network issues then HttpClient will
return an error object instead of a successful reponse. In this case, you need to handle in the
component by passing error object as a second callback to subscribe() method. Let's see how it can be
handled in the component with an example,
fetchUser() {
this.userService.getProfile()
.subscribe(
(data: User) => this.userProfile = { ...data }, // success path
error => this.error = error // error path
);
}
It is always a good idea to give the user some meaningful feedback instead of displaying the raw error
object returned from HttpClient.
RxJS is a library for composing asynchronous and callback-based code in a functional, reactive style
using Observables. Many APIs such as HttpClient produce and consume RxJS Observables and also
uses operators for processing observables. For example, you can import observables and operators for
using HttpClient as below,
// Execute with the observer object and Prints out each item
myObservable.subscribe(myObserver);
// => Observer got a next value: 1
// => Observer got a next value: 2
// => Observer got a next value: 3
// => Observer got a next value: 4
// => Observer got a next value: 5
// => Observer got a complete notification
An Observable is a unique Object similar to a Promise that can help manage async code. Observables
are not part of the JavaScript language so we need to rely on a popular Observable library called RxJS.
The observables are created using new keyword. Let see the simple example of observable,
interface Observer<T> {
closed?: boolean;
next: (value: T) => void;
error: (err: any) => void;
complete: () => void;
}
A handler that implements the Observer interface for receiving observable notifications will be passed
as a parameter for observable as below,
myObservable.subscribe(myObserver);
Note: If you don't supply a handler for a notification type, the observer ignores notifications of that
type.
Observable Promise
Declarative: Computation does not start until subscription so that they can be run Execute immediately
whenever you need the result on creation
Subscribe method is used for error handling which makes centralized and predictable Push errors to the
error handling child promises
Multi-casting is the practice of broadcasting to a list of multiple subscribers in a single execution. Let's
demonstrate the multi-casting feature,
You can handle errors by specifying an error callback on the observer instead of relying on try/catch
which are ineffective in asynchronous environment. For example, you can define error callback as
below,
myObservable.subscribe({
next(num) { console.log('Next num: ' + num)},
error(err) { console.log('Received an errror: ' + err)}
});
The subscribe() method can accept callback function definitions in line, for next, error, and complete
handlers is known as short hand notation or Subscribe method with positional arguments. For
example, you can define subscribe method as below,
myObservable.subscribe(
x => console.log('Observer got a next value: ' + x),
err => console.error('Observer got an error: ' + err),
() => console.log('Observer got a complete notification')
);
The RxJS library also provides below utility functions for creating and working with observables.
RxJS provides creation functions for the process of creating observables from things such as promises,
events, timers and Ajax requests. Let us explain each of them with an example,
50. What will happen if you do not supply handler for observer?
Normally an observer object can define any combination of next, error and complete notification type
handlers. If you don't supply a handler for a notification type, the observer just ignores notifications of
that type.
Angular elements are Angular components packaged as custom elements(a web standard for defining
new HTML elements in a framework-agnostic way). Angular Elements hosts an Angular component,
providing a bridge between the data and logic defined in the component and standard DOM APIs,
thus, providing a way to use Angular components in non-Angular environments.
Since Angular elements are packaged as custom elements the browser support of angular elements is
same as custom elements support. This feature is is currently supported natively in a number of
browsers and pending for other browsers.
Custom elements (or Web Components) are a Web Platform feature which extends HTML by allowing
you to define a tag whose content is created and controlled by JavaScript code. The browser maintains
a CustomElementRegistry of defined custom elements, which maps an instantiable JavaScript class
to an HTML tag. Currently this feature is supported by Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari, and available
in other browsers through polyfills.
No, custom elements bootstrap (or 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.
iv.App registers custom element with browser: Use the createCustomElement() function to convert a
component into a class that can be registered with the browser as a custom element.
v. App adds custom element to DOM: Add custom element just like a built-in HTML element
directly into the DOM.
vi. Browser instantiate component based class: Browser creates an instance of the registered
class and adds it to the DOM.
vii. Instance provides content with data binding and change detection: The content with in
template is rendered using the component and DOM data. The flow chart of the custom
elements functionality would be as
follows,
.Build custom element class: Angular provides the createCustomElement() function for converting an
Angular component (along with its dependencies) to a custom element. The conversion process
implements NgElementConstructor interface, and creates a constructor class which is used to produce a self-
bootstrapping instance of Angular component.
i. Register element class with browser: It uses customElements.define() JS function, to
register the configured 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. The detailed structure
would be as
follows,
What are the mapping rules between Angular component and custom element?
The Component properties and logic maps directly into HTML attributes and the browser's event
system. Let us describe them in two steps,
.The createCustomElement() API parses the component input properties with corresponding attributes for the
custom element. For example, component @Input('myInputProp') converted as custom element attribute my-
input-prop.
i. The Component outputs are dispatched as HTML Custom Events, with the name of the custom
event matching the output name. For example, component @Output() valueChanged = new
EventEmitter() converted as custom element with dispatch event as "valueChanged".
You can use the NgElement and WithProperties types exported from @angular/elements. Let's see
how it can be applied by comparing with Angular component, The simple container with input
property would be as below,
@Component(...)
class MyContainer {
@Input() message: string;
}
After applying types typescript validates input value and their types,
Dynamic components are the components in which components location in the application is not
defined at build time.i.e, They are not used in any angular template. But the component is instantiated
and placed in the application at runtime.
You can use CLI command ng generate directive to create the directive class file. It creates the
source file(src/app/components/directivename.directive.ts), the respective test file(.spec.ts) and declare
the directive class file in root module.
Let's take simple highlighter behavior as a example directive for DOM element. You can create and
apply the attribute directive using below steps,
.Create HighlightDirective class with the file name src/app/highlight.directive.ts. In this file, we need to
import Directive from core library to apply the metadata and ElementRef in the directive's constructor to
inject a reference to the host DOM element ,
@Directive({
selector: '[appHighlight]'
})
export class HighlightDirective {
constructor(el: ElementRef) {
el.nativeElement.style.backgroundColor = 'red';
}
}
ii. Apply the attribute directive as an attribute to the host element(for example,
)
<p appHighlight>Highlight me!</p>
iii. Run the application to see the highlight behavior on paragraph element
ng serve