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Configuring Routes

In Angular, routing is a significant aspect that helps us create Single Page Applications (SPAs). To create a seamless user experience, we need to configure routes and navigation within our application. In this tutorial, we're going to dive into the topic of 'Configuring Routes' in Angular.

What is Routing?​

Routing is a mechanism that enables navigation between different components within an application. When a user interacts with an application, they'll need to move from one view to another. This is where routing comes into play, guiding users from one component to the next based on their actions.

Setting Up the Angular Router​

Before we start configuring routes, it's important to ensure the Angular router is set up in our application. Here are the steps:

  1. First, we need to import the RouterModule and Routes in our application module or a specific feature module. We do this by adding the following lines in our app.module.ts file:
import { RouterModule, Routes } from '@angular/router';
  1. Next, we'll define our routes. Routes in Angular are just an array of objects, where each object represents a route.
const routes: Routes = [
  { path: 'routeName', component: ComponentName },
  // more routes here
];

In the above code, 'routeName' is the path you want in your URL to match the route, and 'ComponentName' is the name of the component you want to display when the URL matches the route.

  1. After defining our routes, we need to add them to our application. We do this by adding the RouterModule.forRoot() method in the imports array of the @NgModule decorator in the app.module.ts file.
@NgModule({
  imports: [ RouterModule.forRoot(routes) ],
  // other metadata here
})

Note: RouterModule.forRoot(routes) is used for configuring the router at the application's root level, whereas RouterModule.forChild(routes) is used for feature modules.

Route Parameters​

Sometimes, we need to pass data from one component to another during navigation. Angular router provides a way to do this through route parameters. Here is a sample route with a route parameter:

{ path: 'routeName/:id', component: ComponentName }

In the above code, ':id' is a route parameter. We can access this parameter in our component using the ActivatedRoute service.

Route Guards​

Angular router provides several interfaces to guard routes against unexpected navigation. These interfaces include CanActivate, CanDeactivate, and CanLoad. We can implement these interfaces to guard our routes.

404 Page​

If the application doesn't match any of the routes, we can redirect the user to a 404 page. Here is how to configure a wildcard route:

{ path: '**', component: PageNotFoundComponent }

In conclusion, configuring routes in an Angular application is an essential part of creating a smooth and efficient user experience. By understanding and implementing the concepts discussed in this tutorial, you'll be well on your way to mastering Angular routing. Happy coding!