Best Practices to follow in Angular Development– Part II

Best Practices to follow in Angular Development– Part II
In our last blog, i.e. Best Practices to follow in Angular Development in 2020– Part I, we had outlined numerous Angular app development practices that could be highly beneficial to the Angular developers. These included the following:
  • Rules for Angular Coding Styles
  • Top Security Practices to be followed in Angular
  • Routing and related Practices to be considered in Angular
  • How to prevent memory Leaks
  • How to use Template Directive
  • Utilization of noteworthy accessibility tool- Angular CLI
So, this blog is the continuation of Part I and here, you will get a glimpse of a few more important tips and tricks that ease out the development process in Angular as well as result in an impeccable end-product. Do read the Part I blog here.

Ideal Tips and Tricks for Angular App Development Process

Taking the advantage of ES6 features
In Angular, one of the JS versions-ECMAScript, gets updated with interesting features and functionalities in every release of Angular. ES6 is its latest version and has vital features available for efficient development.
  • ‘let and const’ instead of ‘var’: By making use of ‘let and const‘ rather than ‘var‘ helps you prevent the issues related to var. Developers can use ‘let‘in a normal situation and the value doesn’t get changed, then ‘const’ should be in its place.
  • Spread operator: ES6 also comes with a ‘spread operator’ (depicted by three dots (…)) and is commonly used for arrays; but can also help in some common tasks. It helps ‘iterable‘ that can be, sets, strings, arrays, etc. to spread in the receiver.
Naming conventions
Naming conventions improves the readability and maintainability to a great extent. It helps the Angular app developers to find the required code, filenames, folders, etc. faster and makes the understanding easier. So, follow the below-mentioned naming conventions, as indicated by the Angular style guide:
  • Use consistent names for all the available symbols.
  • In the descriptive names, make use of dashes for separating words
  • Follow a certain pattern that explains the features of the symbol first and then its type. The recommended pattern- feature.type.ts.
  • Make use of dots for separating the descriptive name from the type.
  • Also, make use of conventional type names like.component, .service, .module, .directive, .pipe, etc.
Maintaining the folder structure properly
It is of utmost importance to maintain a proper folder structure during Angular app development that can easily adapt to any modifications done during the development process. For instance:
— app
|– modules
|– home
|– [+] components
|– [+] pages
|– home-routing.module.ts
|– home.module.ts
|– core
|– [+] authentication
|– [+] footer
|– [+] guards
|– [+] http
|– [+] interceptors
|– [+] mocks
|– [+] services
|– [+] header
|– core.module.ts
|– ensureModuleLoadedOnceGuard.t
|– logger.service.ts
|
|– shared
|– [+] components
|– [+] directives
|– [+] pipes
|– [+] models
|
|– [+] configs
|– assets
|– scss
|– [+] partials
|– _base.scss
|– styles.scss
Using state management libraries
In Angular, state management is useful for the management of state transitions as it helps store the state of any kind of data. Several state management libraries like NGXS, NGRX, Akita, etc. are available and they come with different usages, purposes, states, etc. Amongst all of these, NGXS is one of the most widely preferred libraries since it has an easier learning curve and is highly stable as compared to others.
Using the right operators
Using appropriate operators in Angular is essential for various situations, especially when the flattening operators are used with the observables. So, follow the below ways for this:
  • Try to use mergeMap for handling all the emissions concurrently if you are willing to handle one emission after the other goes for concatMap.
  • Try to use switchMap when you want to ignore the previous emissions because of the new ones.
  • For canceling the new emissions, try using an operator called exhaustMap.
Utilizing service workers for a responsive app
Service workers are especially helpful in making the apps interactive and responsive. They help in converting the SPAs into PWAs by integrating native features into them. They help in providing a native experience to the apps. They help in caching the version completely when the web pages are refreshed. Service workers also load the new or latest cached code in other tabs. They also download resources when the content is changed. Service workers can be used with any version of Angular above the fifth version.
Isolation of all the API hacks
For fixing the bugs and issues in the APIs, it is essential to have the hacks in components and also to isolate the API hacks in one place. This will help in keeping the hacks close to the API and thus, minimum code will have to deal with the un-hacked code. It also helps the Angular developers to find these hacks easily while fixing the bugs.
Using Smart vs. Dummy Components
Separating the smart and dummy components is another important practice that every Angular app development company should follow. Dummy components are utilized only for presentation purposes, so they do not know where the data comes from. In such scenarios, using smart components that can inherit the presentation logic of dummy components is the best approach.
Ensuring proper documentation as much as possible
Last but not the least, it is a great practice to document the code, methods used, variables, etc. wherever possible. This helps other Angular developers to understand the logic and purpose of the code; which in turn improves code readability and management. Also, documenting the role and the applications of every variable and method is a good practice. For methods, every single parameter needs to be defined with multi-line comments specifying in brief about the tasks that the method accomplishes.

Key Takeaways:

Every release of Angular comes with some exciting features that the developer community and the Angular app development companies must be aware of. These will help in proactively avoiding blunders during development and keeping the applications bug-free.
Do have a look at our blogs for more knowledge on Angular:
That is all for today!
I hope this blog will be useful to every software company providing Angular app development services during the development of their Angular projects. In case you have some more tips and tricks to share with us, do comment below.
We would like to hear about it!

Expert Guidance on debugging React Native Apps: Recommended Practices and Handy Tools!

Expert Guidance on debugging React Native Apps: Recommended Practices and Handy Tools!
react native developers
Debugging is one of the crucial activity during the software development. It refers to the process of identifying an error in a software application that causes performance issues, then analyzing the issue, and finally resolving it. Debugging allows you to validate your code and fix issues before pushing a software application into the production stage. However, debugging issues are likely to arise during various phases – development, testing, and even production/post-deployment. And, implementing the right debugging tools and methodologies will speed up development and enhance the efficiency of the end-product.
Coming to React Native debugging; the framework is made up of different environments, the most prominent being Android and iOS. As a result, it becomes challenging to debug apps due to multiple platforms involved. Moreover, React Native offers a huge variety of tools for debugging which seems confusing for many, particularly newbies. This post guides you through some effective practices and useful React Native and React debugger tools that will help you to identify issues and fix them like an expert.

React Native Debugging Methodologies and Best Practices

Identifying and Addressing Console Errors, Warnings, and Logs
Console errors and warnings are visible in the form of on-screen notifications with a red or yellow badge.
Errors
Errors will be displayed inside a RedBox with the command console.error(). This RedBox contains a description of the error and also a suggestion on how to resolve the error. Take a look at this example. If you write a style property that the React Native framework doesn’t support, or if you write a property meant to be used for a particular element (like a backroundImage needs to be set for the element View), then the RedBox shows an error along with the list of supported style properties that can be applied to the View.
Warnings
Warnings will be displayed inside a YellowBox with the command console.warn()Such warnings include information on performance-related issues and deprecated code. Most of these warnings indicate some bad practice within your code. Examples of warnings include a notification about the presence of an eventListener that isn’t being removed, the presence of deprecated features and dependencies, etc.
Logs
For issuing logs, either use the command react-native log-android or use the Chrome console with the command console.log(string str)
React Native developers can hide the notifications concerning errors and warnings with the command LogBox.ignoreAllLogs() whenever needed, like during product demos. You can also hide the notifications on the basis of per-log with the command LogBox.ignoreLogs(). This method works in scenarios when a noisy warning cannot be resolved like the ones in a third-party dependency. But, whenever you ignore logs, make sure to create a task for fixing those ignored logs later.

Debugging using React Native’s built-in Debug Mode

Check out how to utilize the built-in debug mode offered by the React Native eco-system employing browsers like Safari or Chrome.
Debugging with Chrome
Install these react-devtools for supporting React Native: Yarn and NPM. Then use the development mode to open the in-app developer menu; here you start the debugging process by activating the debug option.
From the Developer Menu, select the option Debug JS Remotely. This action opens up a channel to a JS debugger. A new tab opens; here, from the Chrome menu, choose Tools – Developer Tools; for opening the devtools.
The other most prominent options to utilize in the in-app developer menu to debug apps are:
Enable Live Reload: for automatically reloading the app, Enable Hot Reloading: for identifying the modifications that result in a changed file, and Start Systrace starts the Android marker-based profiling tool. The option Toggle Inspector helps in toggling an inspector interface. This way, developers can inspect UI elements present on the screen and examine their properties. Then an interface is presented; this interface contains other tabs such as networking for displaying the HTTP calls as well as a performance-related tab. The option Show Perf Monitor tracks your app’s performance.
Debugging with Safari
Your app’s iOS version can be debugged using Safari, and here, you do not have to enable “Debug JS Remotely”. Simply open Preferences and then select the following options:
  • Preferences
  • Advanced
  • Show Develop menu in the menu bar
Next, choose the JSContext of your application:
Develop – Simulator – JSContext
Now, the Web Inspector of Safari is going to open and you would be able to view a Debugger and a Console. And, each time you reload the app, either manually or by using the fast refresh (live reload), a new JSContext will get created. Remember to select the option Automatically Show Web Inspectors for JSContexts; otherwise, the latest JSContext will be selected manually.

Prominent React/React Native Debugger Tools

React DevTools
This set of React tools is employed for debugging the component hierarchy of React and works well for front-end operations. Using this toolset, you can view what’s there deep within your component tree – select the options state of the component and edit the current props.
React Developer Tools are the extension to the browsers Firefox and Chrome. However, to debug apps built in React Native, you need to use an autonomous version of React DevTools and run this command on your terminal – npm install –g react-devtools. Then launch the app by running the command react-devtools; select the option Show Inspector from the in-app developer menu for examining the app’s UI elements.
If Redux is used, then you need to use React DevTools along with ReduxDev Tools to fully understand your component’s state. For this, Redux DevTools need to be separately installed and here, the tool React Native Debugger proves quite useful as well.
React Native Debugger
The React Native Debugger is immensely beneficial if Redux is used during React Native app development. This is a standalone tool that functions on Linux, Windows, and macOS. This tool is used for logging or deleting Async Storage content, detecting as well as diagnosing performance issues, and examining network requests.
The best part is that it integrates React DevTools as well as Redux DevTools within a single app and so, there’s no need for using two separate applications to debug apps for the React and Redux environments. The tool offers interfaces where you can examine and debug React elements and also view Redux logs and the related actions.
React Native debugger outshines Chrome DevTools in employing the toggle inspector for inspecting React Native elements. Besides, React Native debugger provides the functionality for editing styles; this feature is not present in Chrome DevTools.
Flipper
Flipper is a cross-platform tool used to debug JavaScript apps as well as the device and JS logs. It launches simulators for managing devices, can connect with several devices simultaneously to debug apps across multiple platforms, and involves a single-step debugging process including watchpoints and breakpoints.
Flipper edits the components on the fly, then reflects those edits in real-time within the application, and integrates with the app’s Layout Inspector. Its capability of integrated launch management enables developers to define configurations and employ them for unit testing, without having to replicate configurations in several places. Moreover, comes with a plugin-based architecture and myriad handy features; more features are expected in the coming years.
With Flipper, you can view, inspect, and control your apps using a simple desktop interface. Flipper can be used as it is or extended employing the plugin API.
Check this blog to gain more insights on other important tools for debugging React Native apps!

Bottom Line

The aforesaid tools and methodologies enable you to debug apps more efficiently and flawlessly, just like a pro. These tools and best practices work wonders to speed up development, enhance developer productivity, and improve the performance of the end product.
Would you like to team up with skilled app developers who comprehend the functioning of your React Native apps, identify issues at once, and fix bugs instantly? If yes, then Biz4Solutions, a distinguished outsourcing software development company is worth a try! We specialize in offering competent React Native development services and take care of the entire product lifecycle from app ideation to maintenance post-deployment.