ElementRef in Angular 9|8|7 Using getElementById in Typescript

In this Angular 8/9 tutorial, we will understand how to use ElementRef getting element reference in the document or HTML template as we use document.getElementById() method in vanilla javascript.

# ElemementRef in detail

The ElemementRef is a class which can wrap around a specified DOM element to enhance its properties and methods available on a native element.

By defining an element as ElemementRef we access it as a nativeElement object.

# Using ElementRef class in Angular Typescript

Let’s check how to use ElemementRef interface in a class with the @ViewChild decorator to get element references.

You can create a new Angular application by running $ ng new angular-elementref-tutorial or go ahead with your current project.

For online development resources, you can open the Stackblitz online development solution.

Now in the app.component.html template add the following <div> element with a template reference variable #myDOMElement

<div #myDOMElement>
</div>

In the app.component.ts file, add following code

// app.component.ts
import { Component, ViewChild, ElementRef } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.component.scss']
})
export class AppComponent {

  title = "Angular ElementRef and @ViewChild Example";

  @ViewChild('myDOMElement', { static: true }) MyDOMElement: ElementRef;


  // If { static: true }
  ngOnInit() {
    console.log(this.MyDOMElement);
    this.MyDOMElement.nativeElement.innerHTML = "I am changed by ElementRef & ViewChild";
  }

  // if { static: false }
  ngAfterViewInit() {
    console.log(this.MyDOMElement);
    this.MyDOMElement.nativeElement.innerHTML = "I am changed by ElementRef & ViewChild";
  }

}

As we are going to place some text in the <div #myDOMElement></div>, so we need to import ElemementRef and ViewChild from @angular/core

Next, we will wrap the <div /> element with native methods using the template reference variable #myDOMElement. Define it in the @ViewChild decorator then get modified instance in the MyDOMElement and defining it with ElemementRef type.

@ViewChild('myDOMElement', { static: false }) MyDOMElement: ElementRef;

# How to use the static property?

Before Angular 8 we needed to get ElemementRef in the ngAfterViewInit() component lifecycle hook. But now we can set static to true and get element reference in the ngOnInit() component hook.

In latest version 9 you can remove the static property and use it in the ngAfterViewInit().

  @ViewChild('myDOMElement') MyDOMElement: ElementRef;

  ngAfterViewInit() {
    console.log(this.MyDOMElement);
    this.MyDOMElement.nativeElement.innerHTML = "I am changed by ElementRef & ViewChild";
  }</pre>
We have added both above you can play by setting it to false, the <code>MyDOMElement be result is undefined.

So now as you can see we can access the innerHTML method to set text in our div.

The following line

this.MyDOMElement.nativeElement.innerHTML = "I am changed by ElementRef & ViewChild";

is similar to the

 document.getElementById('myDOMElement') = "I am changed by ElementRef & ViewChild" 

which we use in native Javascript.

 
# How to dynamically define Template Reference Variable in Angular on a List?
There may be some situation where you want to have Template reference variables on dynamic elements like a list of items and add some sort of event listeners like (click) events etc.

In that case, the @ViewChildren decorator in combination with QueryList is used in the following way:
// app.component.ts
import { Component, ElementRef, ViewChildren, QueryList } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.component.scss']
})
export class AppComponent {

  dummyList = [];

  title = "Angular ElementRef and @ViewChild Example";

  @ViewChildren('myitems') items: QueryList<ElementRef>;

  constructor() {
    this.dummyList = [
      {
        value: "Esteban Gutmann IV",
      }, {
        value: "Bernardo Prosacco Jr.",
      }, {
        value: "Nicholaus Kulas PhD",
      }
    ];
  }

  getItemDetails(event, item, i) {
    console.log('item clicked : ', item);
    console.log('event : ', event);
    console.log('index of item : ', i);
    console.log('all items : ', this.items)
  }
}

In the template, we have a list with *ngFor a directive to iterate over dummyList object items. There is a (click) listener which is passing the item, index and event. You can use any information required.
<div *ngFor="let item of dummyList;let i = index" #myitems>

  <label (click)="getItemDetails($event,item, i)">{{ item.value }}</label>

</div></pre>

The <code>#myitems template reference is used will get the reference of all elements and keep them in the QueryList with the help of @ViewChildren decorator.
 
Conclusion: Here we discussed How to use ElementRef interface and @ViewChild decorator to get the reference of and element in DOM by using its #template reference variable.
 







 
Category: Angular