Building your first generic Angular component

TL;DR: Building generic components in Angular requires careful consideration of trade-offs. This guide covers when to build them, how to design them effectively, and best practices for implementation, testing, and maintenance. Prerequisites To get the most out of this article, you should have: Basic understanding of Angular components and services Familiarity with TypeScript generics Experience building simple Angular applications 1. Introduction Building generic, reusable components in Angular can be both rewarding and challenging. While they promise to reduce duplication and standardize interfaces across your application, they also come with significant complexity and maintenance considerations. This guide will help you decide whether creating a generic component is right for your situation, and if so, how to approach it effectively. We'll explore best practices, common pitfalls, and technical considerations to ensure your component serves its users well. Who this article is for Angular developers looking to build reusable component libraries Team leads considering standardizing UI components across projects Developers who find themselves duplicating similar components across an application Anyone interested in modern Angular component architecture 2. Should You Build a Generic Component? Before diving into implementation, consider these reasons why you might want to reconsider: Resource constraints: It's time consuming and maybe you don't have enough capacity for this Existing solutions: There are a lot of open source analogues that can be used; don't need to reinvent the wheel again. I suggest you make a proper research. It could save you a lot of effort. Responsibility creep: Generic components often try to cover too many responsibilities at once. This happens when people blindly follow the DRY rule. It's better to split functionality into separate specific components. It's okay to repeat some code.

Mar 27, 2025 - 13:42

Building your first generic Angular component

TL;DR: Building generic components in Angular requires careful consideration of trade-offs. This guide covers when to build them, how to design them effectively, and best practices for implementation, testing, and maintenance.

Prerequisites

To get the most out of this article, you should have:

Basic understanding of Angular components and services
Familiarity with TypeScript generics
Experience building simple Angular applications

1. Introduction

Building generic, reusable components in Angular can be both rewarding and challenging. While they promise to reduce duplication and standardize interfaces across your application, they also come with significant complexity and maintenance considerations. This guide will help you decide whether creating a generic component is right for your situation, and if so, how to approach it effectively. We'll explore best practices, common pitfalls, and technical considerations to ensure your component serves its users well.

Who this article is for

Angular developers looking to build reusable component libraries
Team leads considering standardizing UI components across projects
Developers who find themselves duplicating similar components across an application
Anyone interested in modern Angular component architecture

2. Should You Build a Generic Component?

Before diving into implementation, consider these reasons why you might want to reconsider:

Resource constraints: It's time consuming and maybe you don't have enough capacity for this
Existing solutions: There are a lot of open source analogues that can be used; don't need to reinvent the wheel again. I suggest you make a proper research. It could save you a lot of effort.
Responsibility creep: Generic components often try to cover too many responsibilities at once. This happens when people blindly follow the DRY rule. It's better to split functionality into separate specific components. It's okay to repeat some code.