Using Standalone Components

[joeskeen]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

According to the Issues list, it should theoretically be possible to create a NativeScript Angular application that contains standalone components; however, I have yet to figure out how to do that without crashing the application.

If you look at the application that is generated using ng new today, everything is standalone, from the main.ts down. It seems that currently @nativescript/angular only supports bootstrapping a module, as opposed to an application/component. If I want my main app component to be a standalone component, I can import it into the AppModule:

@NgModule({
  imports: [NativeScriptModule, AppRoutingModule, AppComponent],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent],

but then it creates the compile error AppComponent class is a standalone component, which can not be used in the @NgModule.bootstrap array. Use the bootstrapApplication function for bootstrap instead.

When I remove the bootstrap option:

The module AppModule was bootstrapped, but it does not declare '@NgModule.bootstrap' components nor a "ngDoBootstrap" method. Please define one of these.

This happens even if I provide an ngDoBootstrap() function:

export class AppModule {
  ngDoBootstrap() {
    console.log('ngDoBootstrap');
  }
}

OK, so Angular wants an App Module when bootstrapped to have a non-standalone component to bootstrap. Let's try that:

@Component({
  selector: 'ns-root',
  template: `<GridLayout><Label text="hello"></Label></GridLayout>`,
})
export class RootComponent {}

@NgModule({
  imports: [NativeScriptModule, AppRoutingModule],
  declarations: [RootComponent],
  bootstrap: [RootComponent],
  schemas: [NO_ERRORS_SCHEMA],
})
export class AppModule {}

This works, but as soon as you try to drop in your standalone component:

@Component({
  selector: 'ns-root',
  template: `<ns-app></ns-app>`,
})
export class RootComponent {}

@NgModule({
  imports: [NativeScriptModule, AppRoutingModule, AppComponent],
  declarations: [RootComponent],
  bootstrap: [RootComponent],
  schemas: [NO_ERRORS_SCHEMA],
})
export class AppModule {}

You get a nasty error (at least on my Android Emulator):

System.err: An uncaught Exception occurred on "main" thread.
  System.err: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{org.nativescript.tracker/com.tns.NativeScriptActivity}: com.tns.NativeScriptException: Calling js method onCreate failed
  System.err: Error: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Cannot add a null child view to a ViewGroup
  System.err:
  System.err: StackTrace:
  System.err: setActivityContent(file: src/webpack:/tracker/node_modules/@nativescript/core/ui/frame/callbacks/activity-callbacks.js:234:0)
  System.err:   at onCreate(file: src/webpack:/tracker/node_modules/@nativescript/core/ui/frame/callbacks/activity-callbacks.js:46:0)
  System.err:   at onCreate(file: src/webpack:/tracker/node_modules/@nativescript/core/ui/frame/activity.android.js:24:0)
  System.err:   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:4048)
  System.err:   at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:4235)
  System.err:   at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:112)
  System.err:   at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeNonLifecycleItem(TransactionExecutor.java:174)
  System.err:   at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeTransactionItems(TransactionExecutor.java:109)
  System.err:   at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:81)
  System.err:   at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2636)
  System.err:   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:107)
  System.err:   at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
  System.err:   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
  System.err:   at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8705)
  System.err:   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
  System.err:   at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:580)
  System.err:   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:886)
  System.err: Caused by: com.tns.NativeScriptException: Calling js method onCreate failed
  System.err: Error: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Cannot add a null child view to a ViewGroup
  System.err:   at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethodNative(Native Method)
  System.err:   at com.tns.Runtime.dispatchCallJSMethodNative(Runtime.java:1302)
  System.err:   at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethodImpl(Runtime.java:1188)
  System.err:   at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethod(Runtime.java:1175)
  System.err:   at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethod(Runtime.java:1153)
  System.err:   at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethod(Runtime.java:1149)
  System.err:   at com.tns.NativeScriptActivity.onCreate(NativeScriptActivity.java:57)
  System.err:   at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:9002)
  System.err:   at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:8980)
  System.err:   at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1526)
  System.err:   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:4030)
  System.err:   ... 13 more
  System.err: Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Cannot add a null child view to a ViewGroup
  System.err:   at android.view.ViewGroup.addView(ViewGroup.java:5077)
  System.err:   at android.view.ViewGroup.addView(ViewGroup.java:5057)
  System.err:   at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatDelegateImpl.setContentView(AppCompatDelegateImpl.java:719)
  System.err:   at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity.setContentView(AppCompatActivity.java:207)
  System.err:   ... 24 more

Describe the solution you'd like

A clear and concise example of how to develop a NativeScript Angular app, using standalone components.

[akhil02hero]

@joeskeen

@component({
selector: 'ns-root',
template: <GridLayout><Label text="Hello from Root Component"></Label><ns-app></ns-app></GridLayout>,
standalone: true,
imports: [CommonModule, AppComponent]
})
export class RootComponent {}

can you try importing the App Component into the Root Component

[joeskeen]

@akhil02hero but if you make the RootComponent standalone, you get the error I referenced earlier:

RootComponent class is a standalone component, which can not be used in the @NgModule.bootstrap array. Use the bootstrapApplication function for bootstrap instead.

The whole reason I made a RootComponent to hold the AppComponent was so RootComponent could be non-standalone (and thus work).