Managing Multiple Environments in Angular Applications

Introduction

Managing multiple environments is an essential aspect of the development process, as it allows developers to create different configurations for testing, staging, and production environments. This blog post will guide you through the process of setting up multiple environments in an Angular application, streamlining the development and deployment process.

Overview of Angular Environments

Angular environments are useful for separating various stages of the development process. By default, Angular provides two environment files:

• environment.ts: Used during development and testing.
• environment.prod.ts: Used for production builds.

However, there are cases when additional environments are needed, such as staging or other testing environments. In this guide, we will demonstrate how to create a new environment called test.

Create a New Environment File

First, create a new environment file named environment.test.ts inside the /src/environments/ folder. This file will store the configuration specific to the test environment:

export const environment = {
  production: true,
  apiLink: 'https://localhost:5001'
};

Update angular.json File

Next, update the angular.json file inside the /src/ folder to include the new test environment configuration. Add the following lines to the configurations section:

{
  ...
  "projects": {
    "AngularMultiEnvironment": {
      ...
      "architect": {
        "build": {
          ...
          "configurations": {
            "production": {
              ...
            },
            "development": {
              ...
            },
            "test": {
              "budgets": [
                {
                  "type": "initial",
                  "maximumWarning": "500kb",
                  "maximumError": "1mb"
                },
                {
                  "type": "anyComponentStyle",
                  "maximumWarning": "2kb",
                  "maximumError": "4kb"
                }
              ],
              "fileReplacements": [
                {
                  "replace": "src/environments/environment.ts",
                  "with": "src/environments/environment.test.ts"
                }
              ],
              "outputHashing": "all"
            }
          },
          ...
        },
        ...
      }
    }
  },
  ...
}

This configuration will ensure that Angular uses the correct environment file when building the application for the test environment.

Build the Project with the New Environment

Now, build the project with the new environment using this command:

ng build --configuration=test

Upon successful completion, Angular will generate a build optimized for the test environment, using the configuration specified in environment.test.ts.

Access the Full Example

To access a complete example that demonstrates managing multiple environments in Angular applications, you can refer to this GitHub repository. This repository provides a step-by-step implementation of the concepts discussed in this guide, allowing you to see the process in action.

Conclusion

Managing multiple environments in Angular applications is crucial for streamlining the development and deployment process. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create additional environments to cater to different stages of your project, such as testing, staging, and production. This approach will help you maintain organized, efficient, and flexible code configurations across various environments, improving your overall development workflow.

Further Reading:

For more information and resources about Angular and managing multiple environments, you can refer to the following links:

1. Angular Official Documentation: Explore the extensive documentation on Angular’s features, best practices, and more: https://angular.io/docs
2. TypeScript Official Documentation: Learn more about TypeScript, its features, and usage: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/
3. Angular Environment Configuration: Dive deeper into Angular environment configuration and best practices: https://angular.io/guide/build#configuring-application-environments

Troubleshooting:

If you encounter any issues while following this tutorial, consider checking the following common problems and their solutions:

1. Angular build fails with unknown configuration: Make sure you have correctly defined your new environment configuration in the angular.json file and double-check the environment file’s path.
2. Environment variables not working as expected: Verify that you are importing the correct environment file in your application and that you have replaced the default environment import statement with the new one.

Feedback and Questions:

We’d love to hear your feedback on this tutorial! If you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can leave a comment below, or you can contact us through the following channels:

1. Email: shady@shadynagy.com
2. Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShadyNagy_
3. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shadynagy/

We’ll do our best to address any questions or concerns you may have. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you make the most of Angular and managing multiple environments in your applications!