Dynamic components in Angular are components that are instantiated and added to the application at runtime rather than during the initial rendering process. This allows for more flexible and dynamic user interfaces that can adapt to changing data or user interactions without the need for a full reload.
Key Characteristics of Dynamic Components
Runtime Instantiation: Unlike standard components, which are typically instantiated when the application loads, dynamic components are created at runtime based on specific conditions or actions, such as user interactions or data retrieval.
Programmatic Creation: Dynamic components are created programmatically using Angular's APIs such as ComponentFactoryResolver and ViewContainerRef. These APIs allow developers to create and embed components dynamically anywhere in the DOM.
Use Cases: They are particularly useful in scenarios where the component structure is not known at compile time or needs to change dynamically. Examples include loading different components based on user roles, displaying modal dialogs, or creating dashboard widgets that users can configure and rearrange.
Flexibility: Dynamic components provide a high degree of flexibility, enabling developers to create more interactive and responsive applications. They can be used to load new components on demand without reloading the entire application, which can lead to performance improvements in complex applications.
Implementation Overview
To implement a dynamic component in Angular, you typically follow these steps:
Define the Dynamic Component: Create the components that you might want to load dynamically.
Host Component: Create a host component where the dynamic components will be inserted. This host component should have a placeholder directive to mark where the components should be loaded.
Loading Components: Use ComponentFactoryResolver to resolve a component factory for each dynamic component. Then, use ViewContainerRef from the placeholder directive to create and insert the component instance into the DOM.
Data Binding and Interaction: Pass data to dynamic components and handle component interaction using Angular's input and output bindings.
Example
Here is a simplified example of how you might set up a dynamic component loader:
