Most Common Design Patterns in Angular: What They Are and How to Apply Them

Imagine building a house without a blueprint. It would be chaotic, confusing, and there’s a high chance that things wouldn’t turn out the way you want them to. That’s where design patterns come in!

In software development, design patterns act as blueprints for building applications. They provide a roadmap for solving common problems that arise during the development process, making it easier and more efficient to build quality software.

When it comes to Angular, design patterns are a crucial aspect of building high-quality applications. Angular is a highly modular framework, which makes it easy to implement design patterns and create scalable, maintainable, and performant applications.

In short, design patterns provide structure, organization, and a solid foundation for your Angular projects. So, embrace them and watch your projects soar to new heights!

The Inversion of Control Pattern: Letting Angular Do the Heavy Lifting!

Imagine you’re carrying a heavy backpack full of supplies for a long hike. Suddenly, a helpful stranger offers to carry the backpack for you. This allows you to continue your journey without getting tired or carrying the weight on your own.

The Inversion of Control Pattern is a very popular design pattern in Angular and in general in application development. This pattern focuses on reversing the responsibility of creating and managing objects from one class to another. Instead of a class having the responsibility of creating and managing its dependencies, the main class provides the dependencies through a dependency injection container.

This means that the main class does not worry about how the dependencies are created or managed, but simply relies on the dependency injection container to provide them. This allows for greater flexibility in the code, as dependencies can be easily replaced and modified without affecting the main class.

In addition, the Inversion of Control Pattern also improves the clarity and readability of the code by separating the responsibility of creating and managing objects from the main logic of the application. This pattern is essential for large and complex applications, where dependency management can be a challenge.

In Angular, we can implement the Inversion of Control Pattern using the Dependency Injection approach. For example, we can have a main component that depends on a service that is responsible for fetching data from an API. Instead of having the main component take responsibility for creating and managing the service, we can use a Dependency Injection Container to provide the service to the component.

To do this, we first need to register the service in the Dependency Injection Container and then inject it into the main component through a constructor or a property. This means that the main component does not have to worry about how the service is created or managed, but instead trusts the Dependency Injection Container to provide it.

Additionally, by using the Inversion of Control Pattern, we can easily replace the service with a different implementation without affecting the main component. This improves the flexibility and scalability of our application and allows for a clear and clean separation of responsibilities between components and services.

Dependency Injection: A Secret Friend for Your Angular Application!

Imagine you’re having a party at your house and you want to invite your closest friends. But what if one of your friends needs to bring along their favorite toy to be comfortable? No problem! You can simply ask them what their favorite toy is and make sure it’s available at your house before they arrive.

That’s exactly what Dependency Injection does in Angular: it allows your components or services to “borrow” other components or services they need to function. Instead of creating everything from scratch within a component or service, you can simply borrow the objects you need.

This has several advantages:

• Improves the organization and readability of the code by separating the responsibilities of each component or service.
• Facilitates testing and maintenance of the code, as it is easier to change or replace a specific component or service without affecting others.
• Allows different components or services to share information and work together efficiently.

Let’s see it with an example

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { HttpClient } from '@angular/common/http';

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class DataService {

  constructor(private http: HttpClient) { }

  getData() {
    return this.http.get('https://api.example.com/data');
  }
}

In this example, we have a DataService that makes a GET request to an API to retrieve some data. The DataService class has a dependency on the HttpClient module, which is provided by Angular. Instead of creating an instance of HttpClient inside the DataService, we inject it using the constructor.

This way, the DataService class doesn't need to worry about how the HttpClient is created or managed. It simply relies on Angular's Dependency Injection to provide the HttpClient instance. This makes the code more flexible, as you can easily replace the HttpClient with a different implementation without affecting the DataService class.

Dependency Injection is like having a secret friend who helps your Angular application function better and more efficiently. So don’t hesitate to invite them to the party!

The Singleton Pattern: Your Trusty Companion in Angular!

Imagine you have a very special friend who is always willing to help you at any time with anything. This friend is someone you trust and know will always be there for you.

That’s exactly what the Singleton pattern is in Angular: a component or service that is instantiated only once and is available to all other components or services that need it. This way, all components can share the same information and work together in a coordinated manner.

This has several advantages:

• Ensures that all components have access to the same information and avoids errors or inconsistencies in the application.
• Improves the efficiency and performance of the application, as unnecessary multiple instances of a component or service are not created.
• Facilitates problem-solving and code maintenance, as all components can access the same information and achieve a common goal.

The Singleton Pattern in Angular can be implemented by creating a singleton service. A singleton service is a service that is only instantiated once during the lifetime of the application. This means that every component that injects the same service will receive a reference to the same instance, ensuring that the service has only one instance throughout the entire application.

For example, we can create a singleton service that handles all the authentication and authorization logic in our application. To create a singleton service, we can use the providedIn property in the @Injectable decorator to set the value to ‘root’. This ensures that the service is only instantiated once and is available throughout the entire application.

Here is an example implementation of a singleton service in Angular:

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class AuthService {

  // authentication and authorization logic

  constructor() { }
}j

In this example, we have created a singleton service named AuthService. By setting providedIn to ‘root’, we ensure that the service is only instantiated once and is available throughout the entire application.

The Singleton pattern is like having a trusty friend in your Angular application who is always willing to help you and ensures that all components work together in a coordinated manner. Invite your Singleton friend to the party!

The Factory Pattern: Customizing Your Angular Components!

Imagine you’re building a custom car from scratch. You have the option to choose from different engines, wheels, and other components to create the perfect car for your needs.

That’s exactly what the Factory pattern does in Angular: it allows you to create custom components by combining different parts and features. The Factory pattern is a way of creating objects that provides a common interface for creating objects in a superclass, but allows subclasses to alter the type of objects that will be created.

This has several advantages:

• Increases the flexibility and adaptability of the code, as you can create custom components with different features and functions.
• Improves the modularity and scalability of the code, as you can create and reuse components as needed.
• Facilitates the testing and debugging of the code, as you can isolate and test individual components separately.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class CarFactory {
  createCar(type: string) {
    switch (type) {
      case 'sports':
        return new SportsCar();
      case 'luxury':
        return new LuxuryCar();
      default:
        throw new Error('Invalid car type');
    }
  }
}

class SportsCar {
  drive() {
    console.log('Driving a sports car');
  }
}

class LuxuryCar {
  drive() {
    console.log('Driving a luxury car');
  }
}

In this example, we have a CarFactory service that provides a createCar method. This method takes a string argument that represents the type of car to create, and returns an instance of either a SportsCar or a LuxuryCar. This allows us to decouple the creation of car objects from the consumer of the cars, making it easier to change the implementation or add new types of cars in the future.

In our component, we can use the CarFactory like this:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { CarFactory } from './car-factory.service';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: '<button (click)="driveCar()">Drive car</button>'
})
export class AppComponent {
  constructor(private carFactory: CarFactory) {}

  driveCar() {
    const car = this.carFactory.createCar('sports');
    car.drive();
  }
}

Here, we inject the CarFactory service into the component using its constructor, and use it to create a SportsCar when the button is clicked. The component doesn't need to know how the SportsCar is created, it just knows that it can get one from the CarFactory.

The Factory pattern in Angular is like building a custom car from scratch, allowing you to choose different parts and features to create the perfect component for your needs. Get ready to hit the road with your custom-built Angular components!

The Observer Pattern: Keeping Your Angular Components in Sync!

Imagine you have a group of friends who are all going to a concert together. You want to make sure everyone stays in sync, so you appoint a designated person to keep everyone informed of any updates or changes.

That’s exactly what the Observer pattern does in Angular: it keeps components in sync by allowing them to observe and respond to changes in the data or state of other components. This pattern involves defining a one-to-many dependency between objects, so that when one object changes state, all its dependents are notified and updated automatically.

This has several advantages:

• Increases the cohesion and maintainability of the code, as components are kept in sync and updated automatically.
• Enhances the performance and efficiency of the application, as updates are propagated automatically without manual intervention.
• Improves the usability and user experience of the application, as the components respond to changes in real-time and provide an updated view of the data.

The Observer pattern in Angular can be implemented using the Angular event system. For example, let’s consider a component that needs to be notified when a certain event occurs. In this case, the component can subscribe to an event emitted by a service and get notified whenever the event occurs.

Here’s an example implementation:

// Service
import { Injectable, EventEmitter } from '@angular/core';

@Injectable({ providedIn: 'root' })
export class DataService {
    private data: any;
    dataChanged = new EventEmitter<any>();

    setData(data: any) {
        this.data = data;
        this.dataChanged.emit(this.data);
    }

    getData() {
        return this.data;
    }
}

// Component
import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { DataService } from './data.service';

@Component({
    selector: 'app-observer-component',
    template: {{ data }} })
export class ObserverComponent implements OnInit {
    data: any;

    constructor(private dataService: DataService) { }

    ngOnInit() {
        this.dataService.dataChanged.subscribe(data => {
            this.data = data;
        });
    }
}

In this example, the ObserverComponent subscribes to the dataChanged event emitted by the DataService. Whenever the data in the DataService changes, the dataChanged event is emitted and the ObserverComponent is notified and updates its own data accordingly.

The Observer pattern in Angular is like having a designated person keep your group of friends in sync, ensuring that everyone stays informed of updates and changes. Keep your Angular components in sync with the Observer pattern!

The Decorator Pattern: Customizing Your Angular Components on the Fly!

Imagine you’re at a custom clothing store, where you can choose from a variety of colors, patterns, and styles to create your perfect outfit. With the Decorator pattern in Angular, you can customize your components in the same way, by adding or modifying features and functions on the fly.

The Decorator pattern is a structural design pattern that allows you to add new behavior or responsibilities to an object dynamically, without affecting the behavior of other objects from the same class. It involves using a set of decorator classes that are used to wrap concrete components.

This has several advantages:

• Increases the flexibility and adaptability of the code, as you can add or modify features and functions on the fly without affecting other components.
• Improves the modularity and scalability of the code, as you can use the decorator classes to wrap different components and add new functionality as needed.
• Facilitates the testing and debugging of the code, as you can isolate and test individual components and their behavior separately.

The Decorator Pattern in Angular can be implemented using a custom decorator, which is a special kind of declaration that can be attached to a class, method, property or parameter. Here's an example:

import { Injectable, Injector } from '@angular/core';

@Injectable()
export class LoggingService {
  log(message: string) {
    console.log(`LoggingService: ${message}`);
  }
}

export function LoggingDecorator(loggingService: LoggingService) {
  return function(target: any, key: string, descriptor: PropertyDescriptor) {
    const originalMethod = descriptor.value;

    descriptor.value = function(...args: any[]) {
      loggingService.log(`${key} method called with arguments: ${args}`);
      const result = originalMethod.apply(this, args);
      loggingService.log(`${key} method finished with result: ${result}`);
      return result;
    };

    return descriptor;
  };
}

@Injectable()
export class DataService {
  constructor(private loggingService: LoggingService) {}

  @LoggingDecorator(LoggingService)
  getData() {
    // some data processing logic
    return 'data';
  }
}

In this example, the LoggingService is a simple service that logs messages to the console. The LoggingDecorator is a custom decorator that takes an instance of the LoggingService and returns a new property descriptor. The descriptor is applied to the getData method of the DataService, effectively wrapping the original method with logging logic. This way, every time the getData method is called, it will log messages before and after the method execution.

The Decorator pattern in Angular is like shopping at a custom clothing store, where you can choose from a variety of colors, patterns, and styles to create your perfect component. Customize your Angular components on the fly with the Decorator pattern!

The Strategy Pattern: Choosing the Right Algorithm for Your Angular Component!

Imagine you have a collection of different tools, each designed to perform a specific task. With the Strategy pattern in Angular, you can choose the right algorithm or strategy for your component, depending on the task at hand.

The Strategy pattern is a behavioral design pattern that defines a set of algorithms, encapsulates each one as an object, and makes them interchangeable. The client can choose which algorithm to use, depending on the situation, without affecting the behavior of other objects from the same class.

This has several advantages:

• Increases the flexibility and adaptability of the code, as you can choose the right algorithm or strategy for your component, depending on the task at hand.
• Improves the maintainability and scalability of the code, as you can add or modify algorithms as needed, without affecting the behavior of other objects.
• Facilitates the testing and debugging of the code, as you can isolate and test individual algorithms and their behavior separately.

The Strategy Pattern in Angular can be implemented by creating a strategy interface and several concrete implementations of that interface. Here's an example:

export interface SortStrategy {
  sort(data: any[]): any[];
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class BubbleSortStrategy implements SortStrategy {
  sort(data: any[]): any[] {
    // implementation of the bubble sort algorithm
    return data;
  }
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class QuickSortStrategy implements SortStrategy {
  sort(data: any[]): any[] {
    // implementation of the quick sort algorithm
    return data;
  }
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class DataService {
  private sortStrategy: SortStrategy;

  constructor(private bubbleSortStrategy: BubbleSortStrategy, private quickSortStrategy: QuickSortStrategy) {
    this.sortStrategy = bubbleSortStrategy;
  }

  setSortStrategy(sortStrategy: SortStrategy) {
    this.sortStrategy = sortStrategy;
  }

In this example, the SortStrategy interface defines the sort method that all concrete strategies must implement. The BubbleSortStrategy and QuickSortStrategy are concrete implementations of the SortStrategy interface. The DataService is a service that has a private property to store the current sort strategy and a public method to switch between strategies. The sortData method uses the current sort strategy to sort the data. By using the Strategy Pattern, the sorting algorithm can be changed dynamically at runtime without affecting the rest of the code.

The Strategy pattern in Angular is like having a collection of different tools, each designed to perform a specific task. Choose the right algorithm for your Angular component with the Strategy pattern!

The Command Pattern: Issuing Orders to Your Angular Components!

Imagine you’re in charge of a team of workers, and you need to give them specific tasks to perform. With the Command pattern in Angular, you can issue orders to your components, telling them exactly what to do and when to do it.

The Command pattern is a behavioral design pattern that allows you to encapsulate requests or actions as objects, queue or log requests, and execute them later. The client can issue commands to the objects, without knowing the details of their execution.

This has several advantages:

• Increases the flexibility and adaptability of the code, as you can issue commands to your components, without knowing the details of their execution.
• Improves the modularity and scalability of the code, as you can add or modify commands as needed, without affecting the behavior of other objects.
• Facilitates the testing and debugging of the code, as you can isolate and test individual commands and their behavior separately.

The Command Pattern in Angular can be implemented by creating a command interface and several concrete implementations of that interface. Here's an example:

export interface Command {
  execute(data: any): void;
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class SaveCommand implements Command {
  execute(data: any) {
    console.log(`Saving data: ${data}`);
  }
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class LoadCommand implements Command {
  execute(data: any) {
    console.log(`Loading data: ${data}`);
  }
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class DataService {
  private command: Command;

  constructor(private saveCommand: SaveCommand, private loadCommand: LoadCommand) {
    this.command = saveCommand;
  }

  setCommand(command: Command) {
    this.command = command;
  }

  executeCommand(data: any) {
    this.command.execute(data);
  }
}

In this example, the Command interface defines the execute method that all concrete commands must implement. The SaveCommand and LoadCommand are concrete implementations of the Command interface. The DataService is a service that has a private property to store the current command and a public method to switch between commands. The executeCommand method uses the current command to execute the operation. By using the Command Pattern, the behavior of the system can be changed dynamically at runtime without affecting the rest of the code.

The Command pattern in Angular is like being in charge of a team of workers, and giving them specific tasks to perform. Issue orders to your Angular components with the Command pattern!

The Builder Pattern: Constructing Complex Angular Components with Ease!

Imagine you’re building a complex structure, like a house, and you need to assemble different parts and components to create a final product. With the Builder pattern in Angular, you can construct complex components with ease, by breaking down the construction process into smaller, more manageable parts.

The Builder pattern is a creational design pattern that allows you to separate the construction of a complex object from its representation, by constructing the object step by step. The client can define the type of object to be constructed, and the builder will construct the object accordingly.

This has several advantages:

• Increases the readability and maintainability of the code, as you can break down the construction process into smaller, more manageable parts.
• Improves the modularity and scalability of the code, as you can add or modify components as needed, without affecting the behavior of other objects.
• Facilitates the testing and debugging of the code, as you can isolate and test individual components and their behavior separately.

The Builder Pattern in Angular can be implemented by creating a builder class that is responsible for constructing objects. Here's an example:

export class User {
  name: string;
  age: number;
  email: string;

  constructor(builder: UserBuilder) {
    this.name = builder.name;
    this.age = builder.age;
    this.email = builder.email;
  }
}

export class UserBuilder {
  private name: string;
  private age: number;
  private email: string;

  withName(name: string): UserBuilder {
    this.name = name;
    return this;
  }

  withAge(age: number): UserBuilder {
    this.age = age;
    return this;
  }

  withEmail(email: string): UserBuilder {
    this.email = email;
    return this;
  }

  build(): User {
    return new User(this);
  }
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class UserService {
  constructor(private userBuilder: UserBuilder) { }

  createUser(name: string, age: number, email: string): User {
    return this.userBuilder
      .withName(name)
      .withAge(age)
      .withEmail(email)
      .build();
  }
}

In this example, the User class has a constructor that takes a UserBuilder instance as an argument. The UserBuilder class has methods to set the properties of a User instance and a build method that returns the User instance. The UserService is a service that uses the UserBuilder to create a User instance. By using the Builder Pattern, the process of creating objects is separated from the rest of the code, making the code easier to maintain and less prone to errors.

The Builder pattern in Angular is like building a complex structure, like a house, and breaking down the construction process into smaller, more manageable parts. Construct complex Angular components with ease using the Builder pattern!

Conclusion and Practical Recommendations for Applying Design Patterns in Real-World Angular Projects:

After exploring the different design patterns in Angular, it’s time to bring it all together and see how these patterns can be applied in real-world projects. Here are some practical recommendations:

1. Identify the problem: Before applying any design pattern, identify the problem that you want to solve. Make sure the pattern you choose fits the problem you want to solve.
2. Choose the right pattern: Don’t just apply any design pattern because it looks good. Choose the right pattern that fits the problem you want to solve.
3. Keep it simple: Don’t over-engineer your solution. Keep it simple and don’t add unnecessary complexity to your solution.
4. Be flexible: Be open to change and be flexible. Design patterns are meant to be flexible, so don’t be afraid to modify or adapt your solution as needed.
5. Practice, practice, practice: The more you practice applying design patterns, the more comfortable you’ll become with them. Try applying different patterns in different projects and see how they work.

In conclusion, applying design patterns in Angular can help you solve common problems, increase the modularity, maintainability, and scalability of your code. By following these practical recommendations, you can start applying design patterns in your real-world projects today!

Did you enjoy the post? Do you think there’s anything that could be improved or done differently? Don’t hesitate to leave it in the comments! You can also connect with me on my Twitter, facebook y LinkedIn accounts. ☺

Don’t forget to share it and feel free to give it a clap or two! 👏