@memberjunction/ng-container-directives

Angular directives for container management in MemberJunction applications, providing flexible and responsive layout utilities.

Overview

This package provides two essential directives for managing container layouts in Angular applications:

• mjContainer: Exposes a ViewContainerRef for dynamic component loading
• mjFillContainer: Automatically resizes elements to fill their parent containers with intelligent context awareness

Features

• mjContainer directive for view container management and dynamic component loading
• mjFillContainer directive for responsive filling of parent containers
• Automatic resizing on window resize events with dual debounce strategy
• Manual resize event handling via MJGlobal event system
• Customizable margin and dimension settings
• Smart context detection (automatically skips resizing in grids, hidden tabs, and elements with mjSkipResize)
• Efficient resize event handling with configurable debouncing
• Debug mode for troubleshooting resize behavior

Installation

npm install @memberjunction/ng-container-directives

Usage

Import the module in your application:

import { ContainerDirectivesModule } from '@memberjunction/ng-container-directives';

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    // ...
    ContainerDirectivesModule
  ]
})
export class YourModule { }

mjContainer

The mjContainer directive exposes a ViewContainerRef for dynamic component loading. This is particularly useful when you need to programmatically create and insert components into the DOM.

<div mjContainer></div>

In your component:

import { Component, ViewChild, ViewContainerRef } from '@angular/core';
import { Container } from '@memberjunction/ng-container-directives';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-your-component',
  template: `<div mjContainer></div>`
})
export class YourComponent {
  @ViewChild(Container, { static: true }) container!: Container;
  
  ngOnInit() {
    // Access the ViewContainerRef for dynamic component creation
    const viewContainerRef: ViewContainerRef = this.container.viewContainerRef;
    
    // Example: Create a dynamic component
    // const componentRef = viewContainerRef.createComponent(YourDynamicComponent);
  }
}

mjFillContainer

Use the mjFillContainer directive to make an element fill its parent container:

<!-- Basic usage (fills both width and height) -->
<div mjFillContainer>Content</div>

<!-- With custom settings -->
<div 
  mjFillContainer
  [fillWidth]="true"
  [fillHeight]="true"
  [rightMargin]="10"
  [bottomMargin]="20">
  Content with margins
</div>

<!-- Fill only width -->
<div 
  mjFillContainer
  [fillWidth]="true"
  [fillHeight]="false">
  Content that fills width only
</div>

Skip Resize

If you need to prevent the resize behavior for certain elements:

<!-- This element will not be resized by the directive -->
<div mjSkipResize>Content</div>

Manual Resize Triggering

You can trigger manual resizing using the MemberJunction global events:

import { MJGlobal, MJEventType } from '@memberjunction/global';

// Trigger resize
MJGlobal.Instance.RaiseEvent({
  event: MJEventType.ManualResizeRequest,
  args: null
});

Configuration

The mjFillContainer directive has several configuration options:

How It Works

The mjFillContainer directive dynamically calculates and sets element dimensions based on its parent container:

1. Parent container detection: The directive identifies the nearest block-level parent element.

2. Size calculation:

   • When fillWidth is true, it calculates the element's width based on its parent's width, accounting for the element's position within the parent and any rightMargin.
   • When fillHeight is true, it calculates height similarly, accounting for the bottomMargin.

3. Event handling: The directive listens for:

   • Window resize events (with two debounce times: 100ms during active resizing, 500ms after resizing completes)
   • Custom MJ application resize events via the MJGlobal event system

4. Context-aware behavior: The directive automatically skips resizing under certain conditions:

   • Elements with the mjSkipResize attribute (or any parent with this attribute)
   • Elements within a grid (role="grid")
   • Elements within hidden tabs (not currently active)
   • Elements with hidden or not displayed parents

Common Use Cases

When to Use [fillHeight]="true" [fillWidth]="false"

• Vertical scrollable areas where you want fixed width but dynamic height
• Content panels that should stretch to fill available vertical space
• Example: Sidebar navigation that fills vertical space but has fixed width

When to Use [fillHeight]="false" [fillWidth]="true"

• Horizontal elements like headers or toolbars that span full width
• Fixed-height components that need to adapt to different screen widths
• Example: Form controls that adjust width but maintain consistent height

When to Use Both (Default)

• Main content areas that should fill the entire available space
• Split panels or layouts that need to adapt to window resizing
• Example: Dashboards, content editors, or any primary workspace area

Performance Optimization

• Minimize unnecessary instances: Only apply to containers that truly need dynamic sizing
• Use mjSkipResize appropriately: Apply to elements that don't need resizing
• Consider debouncing: The directive already implements debouncing, but be aware of performance impact with many instances

Nested Containers

When nesting components with mjFillContainer:

1. The parent container should have the directive applied with appropriate settings
2. Child elements inherit the size constraints of their parents
3. Adjustments are calculated top-down, so parent resizing triggers child resizing
4. Example:

<div mjFillContainer [fillHeight]="true" class="main-container">
  <div class="header" style="height: 60px;">Header</div>
  <div mjFillContainer [fillHeight]="true" class="content-area">
    <!-- This will fill the remaining height after the header -->
    Content
  </div>
</div>

Dependencies

This package depends on:

• @memberjunction/core - Core MemberJunction utilities and logging
• @memberjunction/global - Global event system for manual resize triggers
• rxjs - For event handling and debouncing

Peer dependencies:

• @angular/common ^18.0.2
• @angular/core ^18.0.2
• @angular/router ^18.0.2

Troubleshooting

Element not resizing properly

• Check if any parent has mjSkipResize attribute
• Verify the element isn't within a grid (role="grid") or hidden tab
• Ensure parent elements have proper CSS display properties (must be 'block')
• Check z-index and overflow settings
• Verify parent visibility (elements with hidden or not displayed parents are skipped)

Flickering during resize

• This is usually caused by cascading resize calculations
• Try applying mjFillContainer only where necessary
• Use CSS transitions for smoother visual changes
• Consider the dual debounce strategy (100ms during resize, 500ms after)

Height calculation issues

• Ensure parent element has a defined height or position
• For full window height, apply directive to a root element
• Check for competing CSS that might override the directive's styles
• Note that padding is accounted for in calculations

Advanced Controls

For debugging or special cases, there are static properties on the FillContainer class:

import { FillContainer } from '@memberjunction/ng-container-directives';

// Disable resize globally (for all instances)
FillContainer.DisableResize = true;

// Enable resize debugging (logs to console)
FillContainer.OutputDebugInfo = true;

API Reference

Container Directive

@Directive({
  selector: '[mjContainer]'
})
export class Container {
  constructor(public viewContainerRef: ViewContainerRef) { }
}

FillContainer Directive

@Directive({
  selector: '[mjFillContainer]'
})
export class FillContainer {
  @Input() fillWidth: boolean = true;
  @Input() fillHeight: boolean = true;
  @Input() rightMargin: number = 0;
  @Input() bottomMargin: number = 0;
  
  static DisableResize: boolean = false;
  static OutputDebugInfo: boolean = false;
}

Contributing

When contributing to this package:

1. Follow the MemberJunction development guidelines
2. Ensure all TypeScript compiles without errors: npm run build
3. Update this README if adding new features or changing behavior
4. Add appropriate TSDoc comments to all public APIs