Angular has been quite proactive in releasing different updates to its web app framework. The latest version i.e. Angular 14 came back in June after the success of version 13.
The version number of Angular is increased based on the level of change it includes in the release.
1] Major release
This release retains crucial features. Here, minimal developer assistance is anticipated during the update. While updating to a new major release, developers have to run scripts, refactor code, run additional tests and learn new APIs.
2] Minor release
The minor release has smaller features. This release is completely supported and backward-compatible. No developer assistance is there during this update. However, there is an option to modify the app and library to begin using new APIs and features added in the update.
3] Patch Release
This release is basically a bug-fix release. It is low risk and no developer assistance is there during the update.
The versioning of Angular includes all 3 parts. For instance, 7.2.11 suggests Major Version 7, minor version 2, and patch release 11.
New features in Angular 14
Let us get insights into new features.
✦ Standalone Components
This new feature allows Angular developers to create reusable components that are built directly into the framework. These components are useful anywhere in the application.
Customization is the biggest benefit of the Standalone component. Also, it eliminates the necessity of using NgModules. Developers can get a preview of a new method for writing components.
Code Example:
import {Component} from ‘@angular/core’;
import {AppComponent} from ‘./app.component’;
@Component({ selector: ‘app’, template: `<h1>HelloFolks!</h1>`, }) export class AppComponent {}
The process of coding angular apps becomes easy with Standalone components.
✦ Typed Forms
In general, there are 2 methods to handle forms in Angular. These are either made using a template-driven approach and other is using a reactive approach. However, the new update is applicable to reactive forms.
✦ Strictly Typed Reactive Forms
The reactive forms types such as AbstractControl, FormControl, FormGroup, and FormArray now support generic parameter that allows strict typing of controls. An automatic migration will alter the existing use of these types of Untyped aliases that preserve existing behavior.
However, the initialValueIsDefault option for FormControl construction is deprecated in favor of the non-nullable option. This renaming aligns the FormControl constructor with other strictly typed APIs in relation to nullability.
Further, APIs that use any of ComponentFactorry or NgmoduleFactory is deprecated and replaced with new APIs that use component or NgModule classes directly.
✦ Streamlined Page Title accessibility
While building apps your page title specifically displays the content of your page. In the former release i.e. Angular 13, the method of adding a title was streamlined with the new Route.title property in the router. So, with Angular 14 there are no additional imports necessary while adding a title to your page.
✦ Latest primitives in the Angular CDK
Angular CDK is a library that offers a set of primitives for making components, services, and many other types of apps.
The latest version of CDK is open and retains new features such as:
❃ Angular Elements
A new method to make HTML elements is placed inside other components or used as a standalone as an <div> element.
❃ New FormBuilder
An angular form builder enables you to create forms easily.
You may find this helpful: AngularJS vs Angular: Major Differences Between Angular and AngularJS?
Additional Features in Angular 14
❃ Angular DevTools offline availability
Angular DevTools debugging extension is now utilized in offline mode also. Firefox users can get the extension under Mozilla’s Add.
❃ Angular CLI enhancement
Angular 14 has an exceptional feature of autocomplete. Typos are bound to happen while writing your code, this leads to Command-Line errors. To fix this issue ng completion in Version 14 contains real-time type-ahead autocompletion!
❃ Built-in improvements
Angular 14 now targets ES2020 by default. It has also added support for TypeScript 4.7. This allows CLI to deploy smaller code without any downgrade.
Another significant feature is that you can link to protected component members directly from templates. This provides more control over the public API surface of the reusable components.
❃ Optional injectors
When developing an embedded view using Angular 14, you can specify an optional injector via ViewContainerRef.createEmdebbdedView and TemplateRef.createEmbeddedView.
❃ Extended developer diagnostics
The newest version provides an extendable framework that allows better insights into your template and offers suggestions for probable improvements.
Updating to Latest Angular Version 14
You can start with the following command:
ng update @angular/core@14 @angular/cli@14
For proper steps from a specific version to Angular 14 visit Update Angular.
Wrapping up
Angular frequently rolls out updates and makes the framework better. If you are using an older version then Webbybutter suggests you make the switch to Version 14 for better app development.