How to use Angular Material with VS2017 SPA Templates

Question

I'm building an Angular2 app using the SPA templates and JavaScriptServices provided by Microsoft (https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/webdev/2017/02/14/building-single-page-applications-on-asp-net-core-with-javascriptservices/).

I'd like to use Angular Material as opposed to Bootstrap for styling/themeing, however I'm unable to get it to work.

Following the setup guide (https://material.angular.io/guide/getting-started) is straightforward enough, however when it comes to including the theme assets (@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/...) from the npm package in the wwwroot dist output to make them available to the app I'm at a complete loss.

I assume it's simply a case of modifying the WebPack configuration, however after an hour or two of tinkering and google searches I'm no closer to understanding what to do.

Can anybody point me in the right direction?

NB. Please don't suggest copying the files I need to the wwwroot or linking to a CDN etc.

user_185123 · Answer

In webpack.config.vendor.js add the following two entries:

const nonTreeShakableModules = [
    ...
    "@angular/material",
    "@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/deeppurple-amber.css"
];

Re-run webpack via:

webpack --config webpack.config.vendor.js

Source: Adding Angular Material in ASP.NET Core Angular SPA Template by Fiyaz Hasan

user_1138519 · Answer

I think I've possibly found a more complete/comprehensive way to achieve this...

Close your Visual Studio solution
Open the project folder and delete the node_modules directory
Open up a command prompt for the project directory
Run npm install --save @angular/material @angular/cdk in command prompt
Run npm install --save @angular/animations in command prompt
Upgrade the @angular and rxjs packages to the latest/compatible versions in package.json. This is a headache. I have no idea which are the right versions and which are wrong!
Run npm install in command prompt

Update webpack.config.vendor.js, adding the following two values

const nonTreeShakableModules = [
    ...
    '@angular/material',
    '@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/deeppurple-amber.css'
];

Run webpack --config webpack.config.vendor.js in command prompt
Open the solution in Visual Studio
Build the solution, after which you should be able to use it, having followed the "Getting Started" guide at https://material.angular.io/guide/getting-started

I've checked in a vaguely working version to GitHub - it can be found at https://github.com/alterius/AngularMaterial2DotNetCoreSPA

user_636234 · Answer

There is a new template available now and it is much better than the old template. I also ran into a lot of issues in the old version of template provided by Visual Studio. The new template is available in ASP.Net Core 2.1 by default else you need to follow instructions in below link.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/spa/angular?view=aspnetcore-2.1&tabs=visual-studio

If you are looking for a working example with EF Core 2, Angular Material and ASP.Net Core Web API please refer below link

http://hive.rinoy.in/building-a-web-app-using-asp-net-core-2-and-angular5-frameworks/

How to use Angular Material with VS2017 SPA Templates

3 Answers