The router in Angular 2+ makes it easy to define routes for your applications. Here are the steps to get started with basic routing in your apps:
If you create projects with the Angular CLI a base tag will be added by default in index.html, but you’ll want to add it yourself if you’re not using the Angular CLI. All you have to do is add this in the head of the document, before any style or script declaration:
<base href="/">
Next you’ll import RouterModule and Routes in your app module (app.module.ts) and define an array containing your routing configuration. RouterModule imported in the main app module makes the router available everywhere in your app. Also keep in mind that when your app grows you’ll probably want to define the routing configuration in a separate routing module to create better separation of concerns:
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { HttpModule } from '@angular/http';
import { RouterModule, Routes } from '@angular/router';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { ProfileComponent } from './profile/profile.component';
import { SettingsComponent } from './settings/settings.component';
import { HomeComponent } from './home/home.component';
const routes: Routes = [
{ path: '', component: HomeComponent },
{ path: 'profile', component: ProfileComponent },
{ path: 'settings', component: SettingsComponent }
];
The app component becomes a shell for your app and takes the <router-outlet> tag where the routing should be rendered. Anchor tags use the routerLink binding instead of the href attribute to point to specific routes. Below is what your app.component.ts would look like.
Notice also the use of the routerLinkActive binding, which will add the given class name to the currently active route, making it easy to style the active link with some CSS:
<nav>
<a routerLink="/"
routerLinkActive="active">Home</a>
<a routerLink="/profile"
routerLinkActive="active">Profile</a>
<a routerLink="/settings"
routerLinkActive="active">Settings</a>
</nav>
Thanks for learning with the DigitalOcean Community. Check out our offerings for compute, storage, networking, and managed databases.
Alligator.io is a developer-focused resource that offers tutorials and insights on a wide range of modern front-end technologies, including Angular 2+, Vue.js, React, TypeScript, Ionic, and JavaScript.
This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.
You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!
Get paid to write technical tutorials and select a tech-focused charity to receive a matching donation.
Full documentation for every DigitalOcean product.
The Wave has everything you need to know about building a business, from raising funding to marketing your product.
Stay up to date by signing up for DigitalOcean’s Infrastructure as a Newsletter.
New accounts only. By submitting your email you agree to our Privacy Policy
Scale up as you grow — whether you're running one virtual machine or ten thousand.
Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*
*This promotional offer applies to new accounts only.