8 built-in Angular Pipes in Angular 4 that you should know

Angular is a mature technology with introduction to new way to build applications. Think of Angular Pipes as modernized version of filters comprising functions or helps used to format the values within the template. Pipes in Angular are basically extension of what filters were in Angular v1. There are many useful built-in Pipes we can use easily in our templates. In today’s tutorial we will learn about Built-in Pipes as well as create our own custom user-defined pipe.

Angular Pipes - overview

Pipes allows us to format the values within the view of the templates before it's displayed.

For example, in most modern applications, we want to display terms, such as today, tomorrow, and so on and not system date formats such as April 13 2017 08:00. Let's look more real-world scenarios.

You want the hint text in the application to always be lowercase? No problem; define and use lowercasePipe. In weather app, if you want to show month name as MAR or APR instead of full month name, use DatePipe.

Cool, right? You get the point. Pipes helps you add your business rules, so you can transform the data before it's actually displayed in the templates.

A good way to relate Angular Pipes is similar to Angular 1.x filters. Pipes do a lot more than just filtering.

We have used Angular Router to define Route Path, so we have all the Pipes functionalities in one page. You can create in same or different apps. Feel free to use your creativity.

In Angular 1.x, we had filters--Pipes are replacement of filters.

Defining a Pipe

The pipe operator is defined with a pipe symbol (|) followed by the name of the pipe:

{{  appvalue  |  pipename  }}

The following is an example of a simple lowercase pipe:

{{"Sridhar  Rao"  |  lowercase}}

In the preceding code, we are transforming the text to lowercase using the lowercase pipe. Now, let's write an example component using the lowercase pipe example:

@Component({
selector:  'demo-pipe', template:  `
Author  name  is  {{authorName  |  lowercase}}
`
})
export  class  DemoPipeComponent  {
authorName  =  'Sridhar  Rao';
}

Let's analyze the preceding code in detail:

We are defining a DemoPipeComponent component class

We are creating string variable authorName and assigning the value 'Sridhar Rao'.

In the template view, we display authorName, but before we print it in the UI we transform it using the lowercase pipe

Run the preceding code, and you should see the screenshot shown as follows as an output:

Well done! In the preceding example, we have used a Built-in Pipe. In next sections, you will learn more about the Built-in Pipes and also create a few custom Pipes.

Note that the pipe operator only works in your templates and not inside controllers.

Built-in Pipes

Angular Pipes are modernized version of Angular 1.x filters. Angular comes with a lot of predefined Built-in Pipes.

We can use them directly in our views and transform the data on the fly.

The following is the list of all the Pipes that Angular has built-in support for: DatePipe

DecimalPipe

CurrencyPipe

LowercasePipe and UppercasePipe

JSON Pipe

SlicePipe

async Pipe

In the following sections, let's implement and learn more about the various pipes and see them in action.

DatePipe

DatePipe, as the name itself suggest, allows us to format or transform the values that are date related.

DatePipe can also be used to transform values in different formats based on parameters passed at runtime.

The general syntax is shown in the following code snippet:

{{today  |  date}}  /  prints  today's  date  and  time
{{  today  |  date:'MM-dd-yyyy'  }}  /prints  only  Month  days  and  year
{{  today  |  date:'medium'  }}
{{  today  |  date:'shortTime'  }}  /  prints  short  format

Let's analyze the preceding code snippets in detail:

As explained in the preceding section, the general syntax is variable followed with a (|) pipe operator followed by name of the pipe operator

We use the date pipe to transform the today variable

Also, in the preceding example, you will note that we are passing few parameters to the pipe operator. We will cover passing parameters to the pipe in the following section

Now, let's create a complete example of the date pipe component. The following is the code snippet for implementing the DatePipe component:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';

@Component({
template:  `
<h5>Built-In  DatePipe</h5>
<ol>
<li>
<strong>DatePipe  example  expression</strong>
<p>Today  is  {{today  |  date}}
<p>{{  today  |  date:'MM-dd-yyyy'  }}


<p>{{  today  |  date:'medium'  }}
<p>{{  today  |  date:'shortTime'  }}
</li>
</ol>
`,
})

Let's analyze the preceding code snippet in detail:

We are creating a PipeComponent component class.

We define a today variable.

In the view, we are transforming the value of variable into various expressions based on different parameters.

Run the application, and we should see the output as shown in the following screenshot:

We learned the date pipe in this section. In the following sections, we will continue to learn and implement other Built-in Pipes and also create some custom user-defined pipes.

DecimalPipe

In this section, you will learn about yet another Built-in Pipe--DecimalPipe.

DecimalPipe allows us to format a number according to locale rules. DecimalPipe can also be used to transform a number in different formats.

The general syntax is shown as follows:

appExpression  |  number  [:digitInfo]

In the preceding code snippet, we use the number pipe, and optionally, we can pass the parameters.

Let's look at how to create a DatePipe implementing decimal points. The following is an example code of the same:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';
@Component({
template:  `
state_tax  (.5-5):  {{state_tax  |  number:'.5-5'}}
state_tax  (2.10-10):  {{state_tax  |  number:'2.3-3'}}
`,
})
export  class  PipeComponent  {
state_tax:  number  =  5.1445;
}

Let's analyze the preceding code snippet in detail:

We defie a component class--PipeComponent.

We define a variable--state_tax.

We then transform state_tax in the view.

The first pipe operator tells the expression to print the decimals up to five decimal places.

The second pipe operator tells the expression to print the value to three decimal places.

The output of the preceding pipe component example is given as follows:

Undoubtedly, number pipe is one of the most useful and used pipe across various applications. We can transform the number values specially dealing with decimals and floating points.

CurrencyPipe

Applications that intent to cater to multi-national geographies, we need to show country- specific codes and their respective currency values. That's where CurrencyPipe comes to our rescue.

The CurrencyPipe operator is used to append the country codes or currency symbol in front of the number values.

Take a look the code snippet implementing the CurrencyPipe operator:

{{  value  |  currency:'USD'  }}

Expenses in INR:

{{  expenses  |  currency:'INR'  }}

Let's analyze the preceding code snippet in detail:

The first line of code shows the general syntax of writing a currency pipe.

The second line shows the currency syntax, and we use it to transform the expenses value and append the Indian currency symbol to it.

So now that we know how to use a currency pipe operator, let's put together an example to display multiple currency and country formats.

The following is the complete component class, which implements a currency pipe operator:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';

@Component({
selector:  'currency-pipe', template:  `
<h5>Built-In  CurrencyPipe</h5>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Salary  in  USD:  {{  salary  |  currency:'USD':true  }}</p>
<p>Expenses  in  INR:  {{  expenses  |  currency:'INR':false  }}</p>
</li>
</ol>
`
})

export  class  CurrencyPipeComponent  {
salary:  number  =  2500;
expenses:  number  =  1500;
}

Let's analyze the the preceding code in detail:

We created a component class, CurrencyPipeComponent, and declared few variables, namely salary and expenses.

In the component template, we transformed the display of the variables by adding the country and currency details.

In the first pipe operator, we used 'currency : USD', which will append the ($) dollar symbol before the variable.

In the second pipe operator, we used 'currency : 'INR':false', which will add the currency code, and false will tell not to print the symbol.

Launch the app, and we should see the output as shown in the following screenshot:

In this section, we learned about and implemented CurrencyPipe. In the following sections, we will keep exploring and learning about other Built-in Pipes and much more.

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';

@Component({
selector:  'currency-pipe', template:  `
<h5>Built-In  CurrencyPipe</h5>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Salary  in  USD:  {{  salary  |  currency:'USD':true  }}</p>
<p>Expenses  in  INR:  {{  expenses  |  currency:'INR':false  }}</p>
</li>
</ol>
`
})

export  class  CurrencyPipeComponent  {
salary:  number  =  2500;
expenses:  number  =  1500;
}

The LowercasePipe and UppercasePipe, as the name suggests, help in transforming the text into lowercase and uppercase, respectively.

Take a look at the following code snippet:

Author is Lowercase

{{authorName  |  lowercase  }}

Author in Uppercase is

{{authorName  |  uppercase  }}

Let's analyze the preceding code in detail:

The first line of code transforms the value of authorName into a lowercase using the lowercase pipe

The second line of code transforms the value of authorName into an uppercase using the uppercase pipe.

Now that we saw how to define lowercase and uppercase pipes, it's time we create a complete component example, which implements the Pipes to show author name in both lowercase and uppercase.

Take a look at the following code snippet:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';

@Component({
selector:  'textcase-pipe', template:  `
<h5>Built-In  LowercasPipe  and  UppercasePipe</h5>
<ol>
<li>
<strong>LowercasePipe  example</strong>
<p>Author  in  lowercase  is  {{authorName  |  lowercase}}
</li>
<li>
<strong>UpperCasePipe  example</strong>
<p>Author  in  uppercase  is  {{authorName  |  uppercase}}
</li>
</ol>
`
})
export  class  TextCasePipeComponent  {
authorName  =  "Sridhar  Rao";
}

Let's analyze the preceding code in detail:

We create a component class, TextCasePipeComponent, and define a variable authorName.

In the component view, we use the lowercase and uppercase pipes.

The first pipe will transform the value of the variable to the lowercase text.

The second pipe will transform the value of the variable to uppercase text.

Run the application, and we should see the output as shown in the following screenshot:

In this section, you learned how to use lowercase and uppercase pipes to transform the values.

JSON Pipe

Similar to JSON filter in Angular 1.x, we have JSON Pipe, which helps us transform the string into a JSON format string.

In lowercase or uppercase pipe, we were transforming the strings; using JSON Pipe, we can transform and display the string into a JSON format string.

The general syntax is shown in the following code snippet:

<pre>{{  myObj  |  json  }}</pre>

Now, let's use the preceding syntax and create a complete component example, which uses the JSON Pipe:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';

@Component({
template:  `
<h5>Author  Page</h5>
<pre>{{  authorObj  |  json  }}</pre>
`
})
export  class  JSONPipeComponent  {
authorObj:  any; constructor()  { this.authorObj  =  { name:  'Sridhar  Rao', 
website:  'http://packtpub.com', Books:  'Mastering  Angular2'
};
}
}

Let's analyze the preceding code in detail:

We created a component class JSONPipeComponent and authorObj and assigned the JSON string to the variable.

In the component template view, we transformed and displayed the JSON string.

Run the app, and we should see the output as shown in the following screenshot:

JSON is soon becoming defacto standard of web applications to integrate between services and client technologies. Hence, JSON Pipe comes in handy every time we need to transform our values to JSON structure in the view.

Slice pipe

Slice Pipe is very similar to array slice JavaScript function. It gets a sub string from a strong certain start and end positions.

The general syntax to define a slice pipe is given as follows:

{{email_id  |  slice:0:4  }}

In the preceding code snippet, we are slicing the e-mail address to show only the first four characters of the variable value email_id.

Now that we know how to use a slice pipe, let's put it together in a component. The following is the complete complete code snippet implementing the slice pipe:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core'; 
@Component({
selector:  'slice-pipe', template:  `
<h5>Built-In  Slice  Pipe</h5>
<ol>
<li>
<strong>LowercasePipe  example</strong>
<p>  Email  Id  is  {{  emailAddress  }}
</li>
<li>
<strong>LowercasePipe  example</strong>
<p>Sliced  Email  Id  is  {{emailAddress  |  slice  :  0:  4}}
</li>
</ol>
`
})
export  class  SlicePipeComponent  {
emailAddress  =  "[email protected]";
}

Let's analyze the preceding code snippet in detail:

We are creating a class SlicePipeComponent.

We defined a string variable emailAddress and assign it a value, [email protected].

Then, we applied the slice pipe to the {{emailAddress | slice : 0: 4}} variable.

We get the sub string starting 0 position and get four characters from the variable value of emailAddress.

Run the app, and we should the output as shown in the following screenshot:

SlicePipe is certainly a very helpful Built-in Pipe specially dealing with strings or substrings.

async Pipe

async Pipe allows us to directly map a promises or observables into our template view. To understand async Pipe better, let me throw some light on an Observable first.

Observables are Angular-injectable services, which can be used to stream data to multiple sections in the application. In the following code snippet, we are using async Pipe as a promise to resolve the list of authors being returned:

<ul  id="author-list">
<li  *ngFor="let  author  of  authors  |  async">
<!--  loop  the  object  here  -->
</li>
</ul>

The async pipe now subscribes to the observable (authors) and retrieve the last value. Let's look at examples of how we can use the async pipe as both promise and an observable.

Add the following lines of code in our app.component.ts file:

getAuthorDetails():  Observable<Author[]>  {
return  this.http.get(this.url).map((res:  Response)  =>  res.json());
}

getAuthorList():  Promise<Author[]>  {
return  this.http.get(this.url).toPromise().then((res:  Response)  =>
res.json());
}

Let's analyze the preceding code snippet in detail:

We created a method called getAuthorDetails and attached an observable with the same. The method will return the response from the URL--which is a JSON output.

In the getAuthorList method, we are binding a promise, which needs to be resolved or rejected in the output returned by the url called through a http request.

In this section, we have seen how the async pipe works. You will find it very similar to dealing with services. We can either map a promise or an observable and map the result to the template.

To summarize, we demonstrated Angular Pipes by explaining in detail about various built-in Pipes such as DatePipe, DecimalPipe, CurrencyPipe, LowercasePipe and UppercasePipe, JSON Pipe, SlicePipe, and async Pipe.

[box type="note" align="" class="" width=""]The above article is an excerpt from the book Expert Angular, written by Sridhar Rao, Rajesh Gunasundaram, and Mathieu Nayrolles. This book will help you learn everything you need to build highly scalable and robust web applications using Angular 4. What are you waiting for, check out the book now to become an expert Angular developer![/box]

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