Angular.js

AngularJS Accordion Example

Hello readers, accordions are the HTML components used to expand and collapse the content divided into different sections. In this tutorial, we will see how to make the accordion tabs in the angular framework.

1. Introduction

1.1 What is AngularJS?

AngularJS is a JavaScript MVC or Model-View-Controller framework developed by Google that lets developers build well structured, easily testable, and maintainable front-end applications. Before we start with the creation of a real application using the angular framework, let us see the important parts of an angular application.

1.1.1 Templates

In angular, a template is an HTML with added markups. The angular library compiles the templates and renders the resultant HTML page.

1.1.2 Directives

Directives are the markers (i.e. attributes) on a DOM element that tell angular to attach a specific behavior to that DOM element or even transform the DOM element and its children. Most of the directives in the angular library start with the prefix ng. Below is the list of important directives that are available in the angular library.

  • ng-app: The ng-app directive is a starting point. If the angular framework finds the ng-app directive anywhere in the HTML document, it bootstraps (i.e. initializes) itself and compiles the HTML template
  • ng-init: The ng-init directive initialize the application data
  • ng-model: The ng-model directive binds an HTML element to a property on the $scope object. It also binds the values of angular application data to the HTML input controls
  • ng-bind: The ng-bind directive binds the angular application data to the HTML tags

1.1.3 Expressions

An expression is like a JavaScript code usually wrapped inside the double curly braces such as {{ expression }}. The angular library evaluates the expression and produces a result.

1.2 What is Accordion?

An accordion is an HTML component used to show and hide the content divided into different sections. This structure allows developers to create simple items, tasks or categories. In this tutorial, we have used the below directives to make a jQuery-like accordion.

  • The ng-clickangular directive links each accordion content
  • The ng-show angular directive displays the accordion content based on the ng-click
  • The ng-init angular directive initialize the application data and evaluates the first accordion on the page load

These new APIs make developer’s life easier, really! But it would be difficult for a beginner to understand this without an example. Therefore, let us create a simple accordion application using the angular library.

2. AngularJS Accordion Example

Here is a step-by-step guide for implementing the accordion part in angular applications.

2.1 Tools Used

We are using Eclipse Kepler SR2, JDK 8 and Maven. Having said that, we have tested the code against JDK 1.7 and it works well.

2.2 Project Structure

Firstly, let’s review the final project structure if you are confused about where you should create the corresponding files or folder later!

Fig. 1: Application Project Structure
Fig. 1: Application Project Structure

2.3 Project Creation

This section will show how to create a Java-based Maven project with Eclipse. In Eclipse Ide, go to File -> New -> Maven Project.

Fig. 2: Create Maven Project
Fig. 2: Create Maven Project

In the New Maven Project window, it will ask you to select project location. By default, ‘Use default workspace location’ will be selected. Just click on next button to proceed.

Fig. 3: Project Details
Fig. 3: Project Details

Select the ‘Maven Web App’ Archetype from the list of options and click next.

Fig. 4: Archetype Selection
Fig. 4: Archetype Selection

It will ask you to ‘Enter the group and the artifact id for the project’. We will enter the details as shown in the below image. The version number will be by default: 0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.

Fig. 5: Archetype Parameters
Fig. 5: Archetype Parameters

Click on Finish and the creation of a maven project is completed. If you see, it has downloaded the maven dependencies and a pom.xml file will be created. It will have the following code:

pom.xml

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
	<groupId>AngularJsAccordion</groupId>
	<artifactId>AngularJsAccordion</artifactId>
	<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
	<packaging>war</packaging>
</project>

Let’s start building the application!

3. Application Building

Let’s create an application to understand the basic building blocks of the angular accordion.

3.1 Load the Angular framework

Since it is a pure JavaScript framework, we should add its reference using the <script> tag.

<script type="text/javascript" src="resource/js/angular_v1.6.0.js"></script>

3.2 Define the Angular application

Next, we will define the angular application using the <ng-app>and <ng-init>directives. The <ng-init> directive evaluates the expression in the current scope and by-default displays the first accordion.

index.jsp

<div ng-app = "myApp"ng-init="accordion=1">
 ...
</div>

3.3 Complete Application

Complete the above steps and I will show you how to use the angular accordion with real-life practices. Let’s see the code snippet.

index.jsp

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
	<head>
	    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
	    <title>AngularJS Accordion</title>
	
	    <!-- AngularJs Javascript File -->
	    <script type="text/javascript" src="resource/js/angular_v1.6.0.js"></script>
	    <script type="text/javascript" src="resource/js/accordion.js"></script>
	
	    <!-- Bootstrap Css -->
	    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.webcodegeeks.com/wp-content/litespeed/localres/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXhjZG4uYm9vdHN0cmFwY2RuLmNvbS8=bootstrap/4.0.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">
	    <link rel="stylesheet" href="resource/css/accordion.min.css">
	</head>	
	<body>
	    <div id="angularAccordion" class="container">
	        <h1 align="center" class="text-primary">AngularJS - Accordion Example</h1>
	        <hr />
	
	        <div ng-app="myApp" ng-init="accordion=1">
	            <!------ DIRECTIVE HEADER ------>
	            <h3 class="accordion" ng-class="{active:accordion==1}">
	                <a class="pointer" ng-click="accordion = 1">
	               		<span class="sectionText">Section 1</span>
	               	</a>
	            </h3>
	            <p class="accordion-content text-info" ng-show="accordion==1">Mus. Eget iaculis ridiculus ante nascetur lorem. Id. Fusce interdum.</p>
	
	            <!------ COLLAPSIBLE HEADER #1 ------>
	            <h3 class="accordion" ng-class="{active:accordion==2}">
	                <a class="pointer" ng-click="accordion = 2">
	               		<span class="sectionText">Section 2</span>
	               	</a>
	            </h3>
	            <p class="accordion-content text-info" ng-show="accordion==2">Fringilla curae; hymenaeos nisl dapibus at Condimentum natoque nisi luctus. Donec lectus pede, urna netus condimentum litora.</p>
	
	            <!------ COLLAPSIBLE HEADER #2 ------>
	            <h3 class="accordion" ng-class="{active:accordion==3}">
	                <a class="pointer" ng-click="accordion = 3">
	               		<span class="sectionText">Section 3</span>
	               	</a>
	            </h3>
	            <p class="accordion-content text-info" ng-show="accordion==3">Vulputate ad habitant sem nostra ullamcorper eros accumsan cubilia consectetuer fames, ad class.</p>
	        </div>
	    </div>
	</body>
</html>

4. Run the Application

As we are ready for all the changes, let us compile the project and deploy the application on the Tomcat7 server. To deploy the application on Tomat7, right-click on the project and navigate to Run as -> Run on Server.

Fig. 6: How to Deploy Application on Tomcat
Fig. 6: How to Deploy Application on Tomcat

Tomcat will deploy the application in its web-apps folder and shall start its execution to deploy the project so that we can go ahead and test it in the browser.

5. Project Demo

Open your favorite browser and hit the following URL. The output page using the angular accordion will be displayed.

http://localhost:8082/AngularJsAccordion/

Server name (localhost) and port (8082) may vary as per your Tomcat configuration.

Fig. 7: Accordion in Angular framework
Fig. 7: Accordion in the Angular framework

That’s all for this post. Happy Learning!!

6. Conclusion

In this section, developers learned how to create a simple accordion application using the angular library. Developers can download the sample application as an Eclipse project in the Downloads section.

7. Download the Eclipse Project

This was an example of an accordion in the angular framework.

Download
You can download the full source code of this example here: AngularJsAccordion

Yatin

The author is graduated in Electronics & Telecommunication. During his studies, he has been involved with a significant number of projects ranging from programming and software engineering to telecommunications analysis. He works as a technical lead in the information technology sector where he is primarily involved with projects based on Java/J2EE technologies platform and novel UI technologies.
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