Angular

State of Angular Ecosystem | December 2021

Published Dec 14, 2021

Updated Feb 13, 2023

5 min read

This article was written over 18 months ago and may contain information that is out of date. Some content may be relevant but please refer to the relevant official documentation or available resources for the latest information.

This is a recap from the event State of Angular Ecosystem, you can see the full watch on State of Angular Ecosystem | Dic 2021.

This event was hosted by Rob Ocel, Software Architect and Engineering Lead at This Dot.

What's is new on the Angular Ecosystem? What should be expect on the upcoming releases? How Angular ecosystem looks like in the future?

Also, we had this amazing panel:

Minko Gechev, Software engineer at Google, Angular Core team.
Ben Lesh, RxJS core team lead.
Mark Whitfeld, Software engineer at Stackblitz, NGXS corea team lead.
Brandon Roberts, Senior Angular Engineer, Nrwl & NgRx maintainer.
James Daniels, Developer Relations, Firebase.
Jessica Janiuk, Senior Software Engineer, Google.

RxJS updates (Ben Lesh)

Weeks ago was introduced RxJS 7.4, the latest version from the RxJS team, which has many features, but first of all, the bundle size compared between RxJS 6 vs RxJS 7 (if you include everything RxJS exports, included new features!) was cut by almost the half, so if you are thinking to switch between those versions, you should go ahead.

Now, v7 has tons of typings fixes/updates, but now requires TypeScript 4.2+.

Most of the new features included in the new version are:

Top-level exports
Multi-cast simplified
Improved retry ergonomics
Animation Frames
New tap features
AsyncIterable support

That's was most of the most importants features delivered on RxJS 7.4, but there is more such as:

Ajax/fetch improvements
Supporting for aborting promises & more...

Regarding in how many downloads has RxJS, the downloads has increased consideraly since RxJS 6 in 2018. Now we can 30M downloads a week, back then in 2018 they have only 10M per week.

Stackblitz (Mark Whitfeld)

Now Stackbliz has support for Angular v13, this was thanks to the upgrade of Stackblitz v2, which runs over web-containers.

This new upgrade to Stackblitz v2, avoid to have custom-code depending on which framework you are running, making Stackblitz more agnostic from the framework (Angular, React, Vue) you are using. In fact, there is no custom-code to support any of the most used frameworks.

NGXS (Mark Whitfeld)

Now NGXS has support for Angular v13, with this mayor release there are up-to-date with the latest version of Angular. They are working on deliver another big features too.

Angular Core (Minko Gechev, Jessica Janiuk)

Ivy

Ivy now its the default engine to run compilation in Angular, which lead us a huge increase of performance vs versions who runs other engines to compile Angular.

With the implementation of Ivy as default, we can see a:

90% reduction of computational resources.
-50 mins faster build for the biggest app in Google.
Improved debuggability and profiling.
More effective relation between Github issues vs Fixes, thanks to a huge effort from the Team.
New system for RFC process.

What's new in Angular v13?

With the recent release of Angular v13 some new features are delivered, which include:

Removal of IE11 support (no more polyfills file, yaaaay)
Modern angular package format.
- Partially compiled Angular
- Removed UMD bundles
- ES2020 output
Adobe font inlining
Webpack 5 cache
Dinamic validator control
Better a11y

What are we building next?

Some of the upcoming improvements are:

Extended analysis
Simplified factory API
Advanced guides
MDC Web

Standalone components

Maybe some of the biggest updates which are upcoming on the next versions of Angular are Standalone components, who will run without adding to any module. This Standalone component will be bootstrapped directly into the Angular module, and the bundle will be reduced significantly.

NgRx (Brandon Roberts)

The most recent version of NgRx added some new features as:

Angular v13 support
RxJS 7 support
Ivy compiled libraries support
Feature creators
Improved selectors
Contributors page

Nx (Brandon Roberts)

The recent release of Nx, which is v13.2, also now include Angular v13 support. Also NgRx v13, and NestJS 8 support was included in the most recen version. Now, there is a RxJS 7 upgrade option for Nx.

AngularFire (James Daniels)

The official library from Firebase to Angular also release some of the next features:

Firebase v9 support, entirely tree-shakable support, RxJS 7 & Angular v13 support.
Firebase v8 compatibility.
Internally uses AngularFire, increased agility and less duplication.
Partial compilation, Ivy support.
Powerful new schematics

In the upcoming releases for AngularFire, the team is working to improve the next items:

Documentation drive
ng deploy capabilities
More schematics on the way...
Better bundling/rehydration
Prebuilt UI components

Conclusion

Angular v13 bring to us so many new features, therefore the Ecosystem of Angular is updating to support this new release.

Some of the most libraries used with Angular are pushing forward and taking the framework from Google to the next level.

Also the Angular team, is listening to the community and making the upcoming releases more beginner-friendly such as `Standalone components. As Angular dev, we celebrate the removal of IE11 support without that, we can take advantages of most CSS features who are not supported in that browser.

This Dot is a consultancy dedicated to guiding companies through their modernization and digital transformation journeys. Specializing in replatforming, modernizing, and launching new initiatives, we stand out by taking true ownership of your engineering projects.

We love helping teams with projects that have missed their deadlines or helping keep your strategic digital initiatives on course. Check out our case studies and our clients that trust us with their engineering.

About the author(s)

Daian Scuarissi
@asdaian @SDaian

Incremental Hydration in Angular

Incremental Hydration in Angular Some time ago, I wrote a post about SSR finally becoming a first-class citizen in Angular. It turns out that the Angular team really treats SSR as a priority, and they have been working tirelessly to make SSR even better. As the previous blog post mentioned, full-page hydration was launched in Angular 16 and made stable in Angular 17, providing a great way to improve your Core Web Vitals. Another feature aimed to help you improve your INP and other Core Web Vitals was introduced in Angular 17: deferrable views. Using the @defer blocks allows you to reduce the initial bundle size and defer the loading of heavy components based on certain triggers, such as the section entering the viewport. Then, in September 2024, the smart folks at Angular figured out that they could build upon those two features, allowing you to mark parts of your application to be server-rendered dehydrated and then hydrate them incrementally when needed - hence incremental hydration. I’m sure you know what hydration is. In short, the server sends fully formed HTML to the client, ensuring that the user sees meaningful content as quickly as possible and once JavaScript is loaded on the client side, the framework will reconcile the rendered DOM with component logic, event handlers, and state - effectively hydrating the server-rendered content. But what exactly does "dehydrated" mean, you might ask? Here's what will happen when you mark a part of your application to be incrementally hydrated: 1. Server-Side Rendering (SSR): The content marked for incremental hydration is rendered on the server. 2. Skipped During Client-Side Bootstrapping: The dehydrated content is not initially hydrated or bootstrapped on the client, reducing initial load time. 3. Dehydrated State: The code for the dehydrated components is excluded from the initial client-side bundle, optimizing performance. 4. Hydration Triggers: The application listens for specified hydration conditions (e.g., on interaction, on viewport), defined with a hydrate trigger in the @defer block. 5. On-Demand Hydration: Once the hydration conditions are met, Angular downloads the necessary code and hydrates the components, allowing them to become interactive without layout shifts. How to Use Incremental Hydration Thanks to Mark Thompson, who recently hosted a feature showcase on incremental hydration, we can show some code. The first step is to enable incremental hydration in your Angular application's appConfig using the provideClientHydration provider function: ` Then, you can mark the components you want to be incrementally hydrated using the @defer block with a hydrate trigger: ` And that's it! You now have a component that will be server-rendered dehydrated and hydrated incrementally when it becomes visible to the user. But what if you want to hydrate the component on interaction or some other trigger? Or maybe you don't want to hydrate the component at all? The same triggers already supported in @defer blocks are available for hydration: - idle: Hydrate once the browser reaches an idle state. - viewport: Hydrate once the component enters the viewport. - interaction: Hydrate once the user interacts with the component through click or keydown triggers. - hover: Hydrate once the user hovers over the component. - immediate: Hydrate immediately when the component is rendered. - timer: Hydrate after a specified time delay. - when: Hydrate when a provided conditional expression is met. And on top of that, there's a new trigger available for hydration: - never: When used, the component will remain static and not hydrated. The never trigger is handy when you want to exclude a component from hydration altogether, making it a completely static part of the page. Personally, I'm very excited about this feature and can't wait to try it out. How about you?...

Mar 14, 2025

3 mins

AngularJavaScript

Exploring Angular Forms: A New Alternative with Signals

Exploring Angular Forms: A New Alternative with Signals In the world of Angular, forms are essential for user interaction, whether you're crafting a simple login page or a more complex user profile interface. Angular traditionally offers two primary approaches: template-driven forms and reactive forms. In my previous series on Angular Reactive Forms, I explored how to harness reactive forms' power to manage complex logic, create dynamic forms, and build custom form controls. A new tool for managing reactivity - signals - has been introduced in version 16 of Angular and has been the focus of Angular maintainers ever since, becoming stable with version 17. Signals allow you to handle state changes declaratively, offering an exciting alternative that combines the simplicity of template-driven forms with the robust reactivity of reactive forms. This article will examine how signals can add reactivity to both simple and complex forms in Angular. Recap: Angular Forms Approaches Before diving into the topic of enhancing template-driven forms with signals, let’s quickly recap Angular's traditional forms approaches: 1. Template-Driven Forms: Defined directly in the HTML template using directives like ngModel, these forms are easy to set up and are ideal for simple forms. However, they may not provide the fine-grained control required for more complex scenarios. Here's a minimal example of a template-driven form: ` ` 2. Reactive Forms: Managed programmatically in the component class using Angular's FormGroup, FormControl, and FormArray classes; reactive forms offer granular control over form state and validation. This approach is well-suited for complex forms, as my previous articles on Angular Reactive Forms discussed. And here's a minimal example of a reactive form: ` ` Introducing Signals as a New Way to Handle Form Reactivity With the release of Angular 16, signals have emerged as a new way to manage reactivity. Signals provide a declarative approach to state management, making your code more predictable and easier to understand. When applied to forms, signals can enhance the simplicity of template-driven forms while offering the reactivity and control typically associated with reactive forms. Let’s explore how signals can be used in both simple and complex form scenarios. Example 1: A Simple Template-Driven Form with Signals Consider a basic login form. Typically, this would be implemented using template-driven forms like this: ` ` This approach works well for simple forms, but by introducing signals, we can keep the simplicity while adding reactive capabilities: ` ` In this example, the form fields are defined as signals, allowing for reactive updates whenever the form state changes. The formValue signal provides a computed value that reflects the current state of the form. This approach offers a more declarative way to manage form state and reactivity, combining the simplicity of template-driven forms with the power of signals. You may be tempted to define the form directly as an object inside a signal. While such an approach may seem more concise, typing into the individual fields does not dispatch reactivity updates, which is usually a deal breaker. Here’s an example StackBlitz with a component suffering from such an issue: Therefore, if you'd like to react to changes in the form fields, it's better to define each field as a separate signal. By defining each form field as a separate signal, you ensure that changes to individual fields trigger reactivity updates correctly. Example 2: A Complex Form with Signals You may see little benefit in using signals for simple forms like the login form above, but they truly shine when handling more complex forms. Let's explore a more intricate scenario - a user profile form that includes fields like firstName, lastName, email, phoneNumbers, and address. The phoneNumbers field is dynamic, allowing users to add or remove phone numbers as needed. Here's how this form might be defined using signals: ` > Notice that the phoneNumbers field is defined as a signal of an array of signals. This structure allows us to track changes to individual phone numbers and update the form state reactively. The addPhoneNumber and removePhoneNumber methods update the phoneNumbers signal array, triggering reactivity updates in the form. ` > In the template, we use the phoneNumbers signal array to dynamically render the phone number input fields. The addPhoneNumber and removePhoneNumber methods allow users to reactively add or remove phone numbers, updating the form state. Notice the usage of the track function, which is necessary to ensure that the ngFor directive tracks changes to the phoneNumbers array correctly. Here's a StackBlitz demo of the complex form example for you to play around with: Validating Forms with Signals Validation is critical to any form, ensuring that user input meets the required criteria before submission. With signals, validation can be handled in a reactive and declarative manner. In the complex form example above, we've implemented a computed signal called formValid, which checks whether all fields meet specific validation criteria. The validation logic can easily be customized to accommodate different rules, such as checking for valid email formats or ensuring that all required fields are filled out. Using signals for validation allows you to create more maintainable and testable code, as the validation rules are clearly defined and react automatically to changes in form fields. It can even be abstracted into a separate utility to make it reusable across different forms. In the complex form example, the formValid signal ensures that all required fields are filled and validates the email and phone numbers format. This approach to validation is a bit simple and needs to be better connected to the actual form fields. While it will work for many use cases, in some cases, you might want to wait until explicit "signal forms" support is added to Angular. Tim Deschryver started implementing some abstractions around signal forms, including validation and wrote an article about it. Let's see if something like this will be added to Angular in the future. Why Use Signals in Angular Forms? The adoption of signals in Angular provides a powerful new way to manage form state and reactivity. Signals offer a flexible, declarative approach that can simplify complex form handling by combining the strengths of template-driven forms and reactive forms. Here are some key benefits of using signals in Angular forms: 1. Declarative State Management: Signals allow you to define form fields and computed values declaratively, making your code more predictable and easier to understand. 2. Reactivity: Signals provide reactive updates to form fields, ensuring that changes to the form state trigger reactivity updates automatically. 3. Granular Control: Signals allow you to define form fields at a granular level, enabling fine-grained control over form state and validation. 4. Dynamic Forms: Signals can be used to create dynamic forms with fields that can be added or removed dynamically, providing a flexible way to handle complex form scenarios. 5. Simplicity: Signals can offer a simpler, more concise way to manage form states than traditional reactive forms, making building and maintaining complex forms easier. Conclusion In my previous articles, we explored the powerful features of Angular reactive forms, from dynamic form construction to custom form controls. With the introduction of signals, Angular developers have a new tool that merges the simplicity of template-driven forms with the reactivity of reactive forms. While many use cases warrant Reactive Forms, signals provide a fresh, powerful alternative for managing form state in Angular applications requiring a more straightforward, declarative approach. As Angular continues to evolve, experimenting with these new features will help you build more maintainable, performant applications. Happy coding!...

Oct 4, 2024

5 mins

AngularJavaScript

Sharing Signals and Stores: Context API in SolidJS

Introduction Welcome to our latest blog post on SolidJS, where we delve into the world of the Context API. Context API is a popular and versatile feature in SolidJS, allowing developers to pass data and functions through the component tree without the need for props drilling. In this post, we will discuss how SolidJS implements the Context API, including the creation of contexts, sharing Signals and stores, and utilizing them within the components. Whether you are a seasoned developer, or just starting out, this post will provide valuable insights into the use of Context API in SolidJS and what are the advantages in the Reactivity ecosystem. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and let's dive in! What is SolidJS? SolidJS is a unique and powerful JavaScript framework that is quickly gaining popularity among developers. One of the key features that sets SolidJS apart from other frameworks is its reactive nature. How about reactivity? Reactivity is a programming paradigm through which the application automatically updates and re-renders when the data changes. This means that developers do not have to manually update the view when the data changes, saving a lot of time and effort. SolidJS achieves this reactivity by using a virtual DOM which is a lightweight representation of the actual DOM. This virtual DOM is then used to update the actual DOM, making the process of updating the view much faster and more efficient. Performance Another advantage of SolidJS is its performance. SolidJS is designed to be fast and efficient thanks to its use of a virtual DOM and a functional programming approach. By using functional components and immutability, SolidJS is able to optimize the process of re-rendering, resulting in a smoother and more responsive user experience. In addition to its reactivity and performance, SolidJS also has a small footprint and a simple API. The framework is lightweight and easy to learn, making it a great choice for developers of all skill levels. Signals: SolidJS Signals are a powerful feature that allow for easy communication between different parts of your application. They are similar to events or hooks in other frameworks, but with a few key differences. One of the key advantages of Signals in SolidJS is that they are fully reactive, meaning that they automatically update and re-render when the data changes. This makes it easy to create responsive and dynamic applications without having to manually update the view. To use Signals in SolidJS, you need to first create a signal by using the createSignal function. ` Store In SolidJS, a store works similar to other frontend frameworks. To keep things light, SolidJS creates underlying Signals only for properties that are accessed under tracking scopes. All Signals in Stores are created lazily as requested. The createStore call takes the initial value, and returns a read/write tuple similar to Signals. The first element is the store proxy which is readonly, and the second is a setter function. What About context? SolidJS provides a context API to pass data around without relying on passing props; this is useful in sharing Signals and Stores as described above. According to SolidJS docs: “Using Context has the benefit of being created as part of the reactive system and managed by it.” Getting Started: First, let’s create our context: ` Then we can consume our recently Context created: ` To use context, we'll first wrap our App component in order to provide it globally: ` We can now consume the context and our components will look like this: ` ` Conclusion In this article, we were able to use the contextAPI to share the props we want across the app, and benefit from the performance of Reactivity because of that. This will make our application more readable, but also brings some additional benefits to the app which are as follows: - avoid passing props down through multiple levels of the component tree. - reducing the number of re-renders that occur when props are passed down. - by isolating state and props to a specific context, you can make your code more organized and easier to understand. - components that use the Context API are more easily tested. Would you like to learn more about Signals and Stores, or SolidJS in general? You can see in detail how this was maximized in one of This Dot Labs' open source project starter.dev GitHub Showcases....

Mar 10, 2023

3 mins

SolidJS

AI Is Speeding Up Development. But Where Are the New Bottlenecks?

AI is accelerating development, but it’s also exposing everything else that’s broken. At the Leadership Exchange, leaders unpacked how AI is reshaping the SDLC and what organizations need to address beyond just coding to make adoption successful. Moderated by Rob Ocel, VP of Innovation at This Dot Labs, the panel featured Itai Gerchikov at Anthropic and Harald Kirschner, Principal Product Manager for GitHub Copilot & VS Code at Microsoft. Panelists explored the current state of AI adoption across the software development lifecycle and shared practical insights into how organizations can effectively integrate AI tools. Panelists discussed how companies are investing in AI tools, skills, and managed competency programs to support developers. While AI can dramatically accelerate coding, the panel emphasized that adoption affects every stage of the SDLC. Bottlenecks now appear in testing, DevOps, product delivery, and marketing as AI speeds up development. Organizations that address technical debt and process inefficiencies are better positioned to extract maximum value from AI tools. The conversation also focused on opportunities and risks. Security, governance, and workforce education were highlighted as critical factors for adoption. Panelists stressed that AI initiatives should be aligned with broader business goals rather than pursued in isolation. They noted that companies experimenting at the cutting edge need to consider organizational readiness just as carefully as technical capabilities. Panelists also explored how leading organizations are navigating the early stages of adoption. Those ahead of the curve are using structured experimentation, prioritizing process improvements, and continuously evaluating outcomes to refine their AI strategies. Learning from these early adopters allows other organizations to anticipate emerging trends and prepare for the next phase of AI adoption rather than simply replicating past approaches. Key Takeaways - Investing in AI skills and tools should be done thoughtfully, with clear alignment to business objectives. - Examining the full SDLC helps identify bottlenecks that AI may accelerate or expose. - Organizations can gain a competitive advantage by learning from early adopters and planning for where AI adoption is heading. AI adoption is not just a technical initiative; it is a strategic transformation that requires attention to people, process, and technology. Organizations that balance innovation with operational discipline will be best positioned to capture the full potential of AI across the software lifecycle. Seeing similar challenges in your own SDLC? Let’s compare notes. Join us at an upcoming Leadership Exchange or reach out to continue the conversation. Tracy can be reached at tlee@thisdot.co....

Mar 27, 2026

2 mins

AI AdoptionAILeadership ExchangeEngineering Leadership

Let's innovate together!

We're ready to be your trusted technical partners in your digital innovation journey.

Whether it's modernization or custom software solutions, our team of experts can guide you through best practices and how to build scalable, performant software that lasts.