does angular have the "computed property" feature like in vue.js?
I will try to improve upon Andzej Maciusovic
's hoping to obtain a canonical answer. Indeed VueJS has a feature called computed property that can be quickly shown using an example:
<template>
<div>
<p>A = <input type="number" v-model="a"/></p>
<p>B = <input type="number" v-model="b"/></p>
<p>C = <input type="number" v-model="c"/></p>
<p>Computed property result: {{ product }}</p>
<p>Function result: {{ productFunc() }}</p>
</div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
data () {
return {
a: 2,
b: 3,
c: 4
}
},
computed: {
product: function() {
console.log("Product called!");
return this.a * this.b;
}
},
methods: {
productFunc: function() {
console.log("ProductFunc called!");
return this.a * this.b;
}
}
}
</script>
Whenever the user changes input value for a
or b
, both product
and productFunc
are logging to console. If user changes c
, only productFunc
is called.
Coming back to Angular, mobxjs really helps with this issue:
- Install it using
npm install --save mobx-angular mobx
- Use
observable
andcomputed
attributes for bound properties
TS file
import { observable, computed } from 'mobx-angular';
@Component({
selector: 'home',
templateUrl: './home.component.html',
animations: [slideInDownAnimation]
})
export class HomeComponent extends GenericAnimationContainer {
@observable a: number = 2;
@observable b: number = 3;
@observable c: number = 4;
getAB = () => {
console.log("getAB called");
return this.a * this.b;
}
@computed get AB() {
console.log("AB called");
return this.a * this.b;
}
}
Markup
<div *mobxAutorun>
<p>A = <input type="number" [(ngModel)]="a" /> </p>
<p>B = <input type="number" [(ngModel)]="b" /> </p>
<p>C = <input type="number" [(ngModel)]="c" /> </p>
<p> A * B = {{ getAB() }}</p>
<p> A * B (get) = {{ AB }}</p>
</div>
If a
or b
is changed, AB
is called once and getAB
several times. If c
is changed, only getAB
is called. So, this solution is more efficient even when computation must be performed.
While this is already answered but I think this is not very good answer and users should not use getters as computed properties in angular. Why you may ask? getter is just sugar syntax for function and it will be compiled to plain function, this means that it will be executed on every change detection check. This is terrible for performance because property is recomputed hundred of times on any change.
Take a look at this example: https://plnkr.co/edit/TQMQFb?p=preview
@Component({
selector: 'cities-page',
template: `
<label>Angular computed properties are bad</label>
<ng-select [items]="cities"
bindLabel="name"
bindValue="id"
placeholder="Select city"
[(ngModel)]="selectedCityId">
</ng-select>
<p *ngIf="hasSelectedCity">
Selected city ID: {{selectedCityId}}
</p>
<p><b>hasSelectedCity</b> is recomputed <b [ngStyle]="{'font-size': calls + 'px'}">{{calls}}</b> times</p>
`
})
export class CitiesPageComponent {
cities: NgOption[] = [
{id: 1, name: 'Vilnius'},
{id: 2, name: 'Kaunas'},
{id: 3, name: 'Pabradė'}
];
selectedCityId: any;
calls = 0;
get hasSelectedCity() {
console.log('hasSelectedCity is called', this.calls);
this.calls++;
return !!this.selectedCityId;
}
}
If you really want to have computed properties you can use state container like mobx
class TodoList {
@observable todos = [];
@computed get unfinishedTodoCount() {
return this.todos.filter(todo => !todo.finished).length;
}
}
mobx has @computed decorator so getter property will be cached and recalculated only when needed