Javascript – How to emit an event from grandchildren to grandparent in modern angular

angulareventsjavascripttypescript

If I have multiple levels of angular components, how can I use @Output to emit an event from child to the grand parent?

Grandparent:

<parent (handleClick)="grandmaHandleClick($event)">
<parent>
...
grandmaHandleClick(event) {
  console.log('grandma knows you clicked')
}

Parent:

<child (handleClick)="handleClick($event)">
</child>

Child:

<div (click)="onClick()">Click button
</div>
...
@Output() handleClick = new EventEmitter
onClick() {
  this.handleClick.emit('clicked a button')
}

I am trying to have it so that @Output can prop drill a few components deep, whats the best way to accomplish this, and can you provide example?

Best Answer

There could be 2 ways:

  1. Using @output:

Grandparent

<parent (notifyGrandParent)="grandmaHandleClick($event)">
<parent>
...
grandmaHandleClick(event) {
  console.log('grandma knows you clicked')
}

Parent:

<child (handleClick)="childEvent($event)">
</child>

@Output() notifyGrandParent= new EventEmitter();
childEvent(event) {
  this.notifyGrandParent.emit('event')
}

Child is implemented properly in the code so it is good to go.

  1. Using BehaviorSubject via Service: With this much level of nesting, you can actually create some service like EventService, and then create BehaviorSubject which can directly be subscribed by the GrandParent. Also, to make this service more component specific, you can keep this service in a module which will have other 3 components (GrandParent, Parent and Child)
export class EventService{

 private childClickedEvent = new BehaviorSubject<string>('');

  emitChildEvent(msg: string){
     this.childClickedEvent.next(msg)
  }

  childEventListner(){
     return this.childClickedEvent.asObservable();
   } 

}

and then in components:

ChildComponent

export class ChildComponent{
   constructor(private evtSvc: EventService){}

   onClick(){
     this.evtSvc.emitChildEvent('clicked a button')
   }
}

GrandParent

export class GrandComponent{
   constructor(private evtSvc: EventService){}

   ngOnInit(){
     this.evtSvc.childEventListner().subscribe(info =>{
         console.log(info); // here you get the message from Child component
      })
   }
}

Please note that, with @output event, you create a tight coupling of components and so a strong dependency (parent-child-grandchild) is created. If the component are not reusable and are only created to serve this purpose, then @output will also make sense because it'll convey the message to any new developer that they have parent-child relationship.

Creating a service to pass data also exposes the data to other components which can inject service in constructor.

So, the decision should be taken accordingly.

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