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API > @angular/core

ApplicationRef

A reference to an Angular application running on a page.

      
      interface ApplicationRef {
  componentTypes: Type<any>[]
  components: ComponentRef<any>[]
  isStable: Observable<boolean>
  viewCount
  bootstrap<C>(componentOrFactory: ComponentFactory<C> | Type<C>, rootSelectorOrNode?: any): ComponentRef<C>
  tick(): void
  attachView(viewRef: ViewRef): void
  detachView(viewRef: ViewRef): void
}

Properties

Property Description
componentTypes: Type<any>[] Read-only.

Get a list of component types registered to this application. This list is populated even before the component is created.
components: ComponentRef<any>[] Read-only.

Get a list of components registered to this application.
isStable: Observable<boolean> Read-only.

Returns an Observable that indicates when the application is stable or unstable.

See also:

  • Usage notes for examples and caveats when using this API.
viewCount Read-only.

Returns the number of attached views.

Methods

bootstrap()

Bootstrap a new component at the root level of the application.
bootstrap<C>(componentOrFactory: ComponentFactory<C> | Type<C>, rootSelectorOrNode?: any): ComponentRef<C>
      
      bootstrap<C>(componentOrFactory: ComponentFactory<C> | Type<C>, rootSelectorOrNode?: any): ComponentRef<C>
Parameters
componentOrFactory ComponentFactory | Type
rootSelectorOrNode any

Optional. Default is undefined.
Returns

ComponentRef<C>

Usage Notes

Bootstrap process

When bootstrapping a new root component into an application, Angular mounts the specified application component onto DOM elements identified by the componentType's selector and kicks off automatic change detection to finish initializing the component.

Optionally, a component can be mounted onto a DOM element that does not match the componentType's selector.

Example
@Component({selector: 'my-app', template: 'Hello World'}) class MyApp { } const myPlatformFactory = createPlatformFactory(platformBrowserDynamic, 'myPlatform'); myPlatformFactory().bootstrapModule(MyApp); 
      
      @Component({selector: 'my-app', template: 'Hello World'})
class MyApp {
}

const myPlatformFactory = createPlatformFactory(platformBrowserDynamic, 'myPlatform');
myPlatformFactory().bootstrapModule(MyApp);

tick()

Invoke this method to explicitly process change detection and its side-effects.
tick(): void
      
      tick(): void
Parameters

There are no parameters.

Returns

void

In development mode, tick() also performs a second change detection cycle to ensure that no further changes are detected. If additional changes are picked up during this second cycle, bindings in the app have side-effects that cannot be resolved in a single change detection pass. In this case, Angular throws an error, since an Angular application can only have one change detection pass during which all change detection must complete.

attachView()

Attaches a view so that it will be dirty checked. The view will be automatically detached when it is destroyed. This will throw if the view is already attached to a ViewContainer.
attachView(viewRef: ViewRef): void
      
      attachView(viewRef: ViewRef): void
Parameters
viewRef ViewRef
Returns

void

detachView()

Detaches a view from dirty checking again.
detachView(viewRef: ViewRef): void
      
      detachView(viewRef: ViewRef): void
Parameters
viewRef ViewRef
Returns

void

Usage notes

isStable examples and caveats

Note two important points about isStable, demonstrated in the examples below:

  • the application will never be stable if you start any kind of recurrent asynchronous task when the application starts (for example for a polling process, started with a setInterval, a setTimeout or using RxJS operators like interval);
  • the isStable Observable runs outside of the Angular zone.

Let's imagine that you start a recurrent task (here incrementing a counter, using RxJS interval), and at the same time subscribe to isStable.

constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef) { appRef.isStable.pipe( filter(stable => stable) ).subscribe(() => console.log('App is stable now'); interval(1000).subscribe(counter => console.log(counter)); } 
      
      constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef) {
  appRef.isStable.pipe(
     filter(stable => stable)
  ).subscribe(() => console.log('App is stable now');
  interval(1000).subscribe(counter => console.log(counter));
}

In this example, isStable will never emit true, and the trace "App is stable now" will never get logged.

If you want to execute something when the app is stable, you have to wait for the application to be stable before starting your polling process.

constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef) { appRef.isStable.pipe( first(stable => stable), tap(stable => console.log('App is stable now')), switchMap(() => interval(1000)) ).subscribe(counter => console.log(counter)); } 
      
      constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef) {
  appRef.isStable.pipe(
    first(stable => stable),
    tap(stable => console.log('App is stable now')),
    switchMap(() => interval(1000))
  ).subscribe(counter => console.log(counter));
}

In this example, the trace "App is stable now" will be logged and then the counter starts incrementing every second.

Note also that this Observable runs outside of the Angular zone, which means that the code in the subscription to this Observable will not trigger the change detection.

Let's imagine that instead of logging the counter value, you update a field of your component and display it in its template.

constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef) { appRef.isStable.pipe( first(stable => stable), switchMap(() => interval(1000)) ).subscribe(counter => this.value = counter); } 
      
      constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef) {
  appRef.isStable.pipe(
    first(stable => stable),
    switchMap(() => interval(1000))
  ).subscribe(counter => this.value = counter);
}

As the isStable Observable runs outside the zone, the value field will be updated properly, but the template will not be refreshed!

You'll have to manually trigger the change detection to update the template.

constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef, cd: ChangeDetectorRef) { appRef.isStable.pipe( first(stable => stable), switchMap(() => interval(1000)) ).subscribe(counter => { this.value = counter; cd.detectChanges(); }); } 
      
      constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef, cd: ChangeDetectorRef) {
  appRef.isStable.pipe(
    first(stable => stable),
    switchMap(() => interval(1000))
  ).subscribe(counter => {
    this.value = counter;
    cd.detectChanges();
  });
}

Or make the subscription callback run inside the zone.

constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef, zone: NgZone) { appRef.isStable.pipe( first(stable => stable), switchMap(() => interval(1000)) ).subscribe(counter => zone.run(() => this.value = counter)); } 
      
      constructor(appRef: ApplicationRef, zone: NgZone) {
  appRef.isStable.pipe(
    first(stable => stable),
    switchMap(() => interval(1000))
  ).subscribe(counter => zone.run(() => this.value = counter));
}