How Is This Book Organized?
This book is divided into 11 chapters and one appendix:
Chapter 1, “Jumping into JavaScript,” provides sort of a JavaScript primer just in case you are not familiar with JavaScript. This chapter also walks you through the process of setting up a development environment with a Node.js server that you can use to follow along with some of the examples. You should at least check out the first few sections even if you are familiar with JavaScript so that you can create the development environment.
Chapter 2, “Getting Started with AngularJS,” covers the basics of the AngularJS framework. You will learn how AngularJS is organized and how to design AngularJS applications.
Chapter 3, “Understanding AngularJS Application Dynamics,” covers the basic structure of an AngularJS application. You will learn how to define modules and how dependency injection works in AngularJS.
Chapter 4, “Implementing the Scope as a Data Model,” covers the relationship between the data model in AngularJS called the scope and other AngularJS components. You also will learn how scope hierarchy works.
Chapter 5, “Using AngularJS Templates to Create Views,” covers the structure of AngularJS templates. You will learn how to add elements to the template that reflect data in the model and how to use filters to automatically format elements as they are rendered to the browser view.
Chapter 6, “Implementing Directives in AngularJS Views,” covers the built-in AngularJS directives. You will learn how to implement directives in various ways, from turning a simple JavaScript array into multiple HTML elements to binding elements on the web page directly to the scope model. You’ll also learn how to handle mouse and keyboard events in the controller.
Chapter 7, “Creating Your Own Custom Directives to Extend HTML,” covers creating custom AngularJS directives. You’ll learn how to build directives that can enhance the behavior of existing HTML elements as well as create completely new HTML elements that provide great interactions for users.
Chapter 8, “Using Events to Interact with Data in the Model,” covers the types of events you will encounter and how to manage them. You will learn how to create and handle your own custom events. This chapter also covers watching values in the scope model and taking action when they change.
Chapter 9, “Implementing AngularJS Services in Web Applications,” covers the built-in services that AngularJS provides. These services enable you to communicate with the web server using HTTP requests, interact with the browser, and implement animation of elements on the web page.
Chapter 10, “Creating Your Own Custom AngularJS Services,” covers the mechanics available in AngularJS to create your own custom services. Custom services are a great way to make functionality reusable because you can easily inject the functionality provided by custom services into multiple applications.
Chapter 11, “Creating Rich Web Application Components the AngularJS Way,” covers using AngularJS mechanisms to build richly interactive page elements. This chapter kind of acts as a review of all the others. You will learn about how to build expandable/collapsible elements, drag and drop functionality, zoomable images, tabbed panels, and star ratings using AngularJS.
Appendix A, “Testing AngularJS Applications,” discusses unit and end-to-end testing in AngularJS. This appendix provides some simple pointers for when you’re designing tests and also some links to additional resources.