ActionStack Angular: A Centralized State Management Solution for Angular

ActionStack Angular is an Angular wrapper for the ActionStack state management library. It integrates ActionStack’s powerful state management features seamlessly into Angular applications, offering a modular and flexible way to handle global application state. With ActionStack Angular, developers can easily manage state through a centralized store, dispatch actions, and organize state into slices for better modularity and maintainability.

Important: The @actionstack/store package is re-exported by @actionstack/angular.
It is strongly recommended not to use @actionstack/store directly in your Angular project.
Always use the Angular-specific wrappers and modules provided by @actionstack/angular for proper integration and functionality.

Key Features

• Centralized State Management: Use a single store instance across the entire application to manage global state.
• Modular State Slices: Define and manage specific parts of the application state (slices) for better organization and scalability.
• Action Dispatching: Dispatch actions to modify the application state, making state updates predictable and traceable.
• State Selection: Select portions of the state as observables, allowing reactive updates to components.
• Feature Modules Support: Dynamically load and unload feature modules, encapsulating state management for specific parts of the application.
• Configurable Store: Customize store settings, including reducers, strategies, and enhancements, to meet specific application requirements.

Core Components

• StoreModule: The core module that configures and provides access to the store. It offers methods for setting up the store at the root level (forRoot()) and within feature modules (forFeature()).
• Store: The central store class for dispatching actions, selecting state, and managing modules. It supports state reading, dispatching system actions, and using async reducers.
• Slice: A class for managing a specific slice of state within the store. It provides methods for configuring the slice, dispatching actions, and selecting state.

Usage

StoreModule:

Registers the store at the root level and for feature modules.

import { EpicStore, storeEnhancer } from '@actionstack/angular/epics';
import { combineEnhancers } from '@actionstack/angular';
import { Store, STORE_ENHANCER, STORE_SETTINGS, StoreModule } from '@actionstack/angular';
import { epics } from '@actionstack/angular/epics';
import { perfmon } from '@actionstack/tools';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';

import { AppRoutingModule } from './app-routing.module';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { MessagesModule } from './messages/messages.module';
import { Action, applyMiddleware } from '@actionstack/angular';
import { HeroService } from './hero.service';

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    FormsModule,
    StoreModule.forRoot({
      reducer: rootReducer,
      dependencies: { heroService: HeroService },
    }),
    MessagesModule
  ],
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  providers: [
    { provide: STORE_SETTINGS, useValue: { dispatchSystemActions: true,
                                          awaitStatePropagation: false,
                                          enableMetaReducers: false,
                                          enableAsyncReducers: true,
                                          exclusiveActionProcessing: false }
    },
    { provide: EpicStore, useValue: Store },
    { provide: STORE_ENHANCER, useValue: 
        combineEnhancers(storeEnhancer, applyMiddleware(epics, perfmon)) }
  ],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}

or instead of use StoreModule use helper functions:

provideStore({
  reducer: rootReducer,
  dependencies: rootDependencies,
  metaReducers: [formsMetaReducer]
})

for feature module:

provideModule({
  slice: sliceName,
  reducer: reducer
})

Slice:

Defines slices of state for specific parts of the application, allowing for modular state management.

import { Slice } from '@actionstack/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-dashboard',
  templateUrl: './dashboard.component.html',
  styleUrls: [ './dashboard.component.css' ],
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule, RouterModule],
  providers: [Slice]
})
export class DashboardComponent implements OnInit {
  heroes$: Observable<Hero[]> = this.slice.select(selectTopHeroes());

  constructor(private slice: Slice) {
  }

  ngOnInit(): void {
    this.slice.setup({
      slice: slice,
      reducer: reducer,
      dependencies: { heroService: new HeroService() },
      strategy: "persistent"
    });

    this.slice.dispatch(loadHeroes());
  }

  ngOnDestroy(): void {
  }
}

Store:

Acts as the single source of truth for application state, providing a unified place to manage, update, and access state across the entire application.

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { Observable, Subscription, map, tap } from 'rxjs';
...
import { Store } from '@actionstack/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-hero-details',
  templateUrl: './hero-details.component.html',
  styleUrls: [ './hero-details.component.css' ]
})
export class HeroDetailsComponent implements OnInit {
  hero$!: Observable<Hero | undefined>;
  subscription: Subscription | undefined;

  constructor(
    private store: Store,
    private route: ActivatedRoute,
    private location: Location
  ) {}

  ngOnInit(): void {
    this.hero$ = this.store.select(heroSelector());

    this.subscription = this.route.paramMap.pipe(
      map(params => Number(params.get('id'))),
      tap(id => this.store.dispatch(loadHero(id)))
    ).subscribe();
  }

  goBack(): void {
    this.location.back();
  }

  ngOnDestroy() {
    if(this.subscription) {
      this.subscription.unsubscribe();
    }
  }
}

Benefits

• Seamless Integration: ActionStack Angular leverages Angular's dependency injection and module system for easy setup and configuration.
• Scalable State Management: With modular slices and dynamic feature modules, applications can grow without losing manageability.
• Customizable Store: Developers can fine-tune the store’s behavior to meet the specific needs of their application, using settings, reducers, and store enhancers.

Conclusion

ActionStack Angular provides a robust, flexible, and scalable solution for managing application state in Angular applications. By integrating seamlessly with Angular’s features and offering powerful state management capabilities, it helps developers build maintainable and high-performing applications.