5 Essential Kendo UI for Angular Components You Need to Know

Luckily, today’s market is full of tools and products designed to make your life easier. A great example is the Kendo UI for Angular components library which has over 120 native components, including everything from simple controls and navigational elements to layout tools and complex data grids designed to help you to significantly speed up and simplify your UI development.  

Let me introduce the top five Kendo UI for Angular components users love the most for their ability to help them avoid long periods of learning and development time. You will find a sample code included to show you how easy the implementation is. Additionally, you can find hundreds more samples with code in the Kendo UI for Angular documentation. 

1. Data Grid 

Building a simple data table is straightforward, but embarking on a more complicated grid project could be a challenge. Here are a few things to consider:  

• Do you need advanced filtering, sorting, grouping, and aggregates?  
• How much data do you need to manage and is performance a concern?  
• What about features such as column freezing, row and column reordering, and resizing that enable users to organize their view?  
• Is there a need to export the grid data? 
• Do you need to enable users to input or modify data?  

The answer to these questions might be no for now but think of your product and its trajectory. Will you one day need to implement these features? Developing these features in house or even customizing a pre-existing table can take a team months, while maintaining it will take even longer. Add in attention to detail for styling and UX and you have a daunting task.  

For the time being, you might not need to meet all these requirements. However, it is worth considering if one day you need to implement these capabilities. Developing these from scratch might take months, while maintaining it could take even longer. Plus, you need to spend a lot of time on styling and UX, making the whole task even more overwhelming.  

The Kendo UI for Angular Data Grid has everything you need in terms of functionality, styling and maintenance out of the box with just a little code. You can choose which features to utilize, bind the component to different data sources, and tailor the view based on your specific preferences. You can also benefit from diffrent data-optimization features, including virtual scrolling, paging, and more. 

In the screenshot provided below, you can have a look at many of the essential Kendo UI for Angular Data Grid features in action, most of which can be enabled with a simple property. 

To showcase the simplicity of the implementation, let’s look at a common scenario. In the screenshot, you can see several popular features, such as grouping, filtering, and paging.  

And here is the required code for its implementation:  

import { Component } from "@angular/core";  import { customers } from "./customers";  @Component({    selector: "my-app",    template: `      <kendo-grid        [kendoGridBinding]="gridData"        [pageSize]="10"        [pageable]="true"        [sortable]="true"        [filterable]="true"        [groupable]="true"        [height]="420"      >        <kendo-grid-column field="CompanyName" [width]="140"></kendo-grid-column>        <kendo-grid-column field="ContactName" [width]="120"></kendo-grid-column>        <kendo-grid-column field="City" [width]="100"></kendo-grid-column>        <kendo-grid-column field="ContactTitle" [width]="130"></kendo-grid-column>      </kendo-grid>    `,  })  export class AppComponent {    public gridData: unknown[] = customers;  }

It’s as simple as that!  

Here are a couple of more resources that might be helpful:  

For even more advanced scenarios, you can utilize the Kendo UI for Angular Pivot Grid.  

2. Charts 

The next component on the list is the Angular Charts – the fundamental element in any data visualization scenario. The Kendo UI for Angular Charts collection includes a wide range of popular chart types, including everything from basic bar charts to more sophisticated financial and scientific charts. Each chart type is highly configurable, customizable, and capable of handling substantial amounts of data. The components also includes readily available features such as panning and zooming, file export, range selection, and more. 

Here is an example of a financial chart with a range slider used for data filtering: 

The following code is used to render the chart. As you can see, the component has a wide range of properties to enable you to tailor the chart to match your specific requirements. 

@Component({    selector: "my-app",    template: `      <kendo-chart        (selectEnd)="onSelectEnd($event)"        [transitions]="transitions"        [categoryAxis]="[          {            categories: categories,            min: min,            max: max,            labels: { step: step },            majorGridLines: { step: step },            majorTicks: { step: step }          },          {            categories: categories,            name: 'navigatorAxis',            labels: { step: navigatorStep },            majorGridLines: { step: navigatorStep },            majorTicks: { step: navigatorStep },            pane: 'navigator',            select: { from: min, to: max }          }        ]"        [valueAxis]="[{}, { name: 'valueNavigatorAxis', pane: 'navigator' }]"        [panes]="[{}, { name: 'navigator', height: 100 }]"      >        <kendo-chart-series>          <kendo-chart-series-item            type="line"            style="smooth"            [data]="data"            [markers]="{ visible: false }"          >          </kendo-chart-series-item>          <kendo-chart-series-item            type="area"            style="smooth"            [data]="data"            axis="valueNavigatorAxis"            categoryAxis="navigatorAxis"          >          </kendo-chart-series-item>        </kendo-chart-series>      </kendo-chart>    `,  })

You can find below the code needed to implement the filtering:  

export class AppComponent {    public data: number[] = [];    categories: number[] = [];    public transitions = false;    public navigatorStep: number;    public step: number;    public min = 0;    public max = 20;    constructor() {      const startYear = 2000;      for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {        this.categories.push(startYear + i);        this.data.push(Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));      }      // set the navigator ticks and labels step to prevent the axis from becoming too cluttered      this.navigatorStep = Math.floor(this.categories.length / 10);    }    public onSelectEnd(args: SelectEndEvent): void {      // set the axis range displayed in the main pane to the selected range      this.min = args.from;      this.max = args.to;      // stop the animations      this.transitions = false;      // set the main axis ticks and labels step to prevent the axis from becoming too cluttered      this.step = Math.floor((this.max - this.min) / 10);    }  }

Here are a few additional resources to help you along the way:  

The Kendo UI for Angular also includes Gauges, Sparklines, and a TileLayout component to serve as a dashboard container. 

3. Scheduler  

The next game-changing component is the Kendo UI for Angular Scheduler, also called an event calendar. This feature-rich component has everything you might need to cover different scheduling scenarios, including multiple calendar views, the ability for users to add and edit appointments, and managing multiple resources. It is very easy-to-implement and customize, resembling the Microsoft Outlook calendar.  

Below is a very traditional calendar view built with the Angular Scheduler.  

And you can achieve all of it with just a little code: 

import { Component } from "@angular/core";  import { SchedulerEvent } from "@progress/kendo-angular-scheduler";  import { sampleData, displayDate } from "./events-utc";  @Component({    selector: "my-app",    template: `      <kendo-scheduler        [kendoSchedulerBinding]="events"        [selectedDate]="selectedDate"        scrollTime="08:00"        style="height: 600px;"      >        <kendo-scheduler-day-view> </kendo-scheduler-day-view>        <kendo-scheduler-week-view> </kendo-scheduler-week-view>        <kendo-scheduler-month-view> </kendo-scheduler-month-view>        <kendo-scheduler-timeline-view> </kendo-scheduler-timeline-view>        <kendo-scheduler-agenda-view> </kendo-scheduler-agenda-view>      </kendo-scheduler>    `,  })  export class AppComponent {    public selectedDate: Date = displayDate;    public events: SchedulerEvent[] = sampleData;  }

In the following example, you can take a look at a more advanced scenario of a team calendar. Notice the color coding for the different elements.  

Want to learn more? 

For even more advance project management functionality, you can have a look at the Kendo UI for Angular Gantt Chart component.  

4. Date Pickers 

The date pickers might seems like a simple task, but I bet many of you have struggled with them. Building a modern and functional calendar that appears inside a dropdown or fits on a small screen could represent a significant challenge.  

Kendo UI for Angular offers a wide collection of date pickers and inputs that render calendars and/or time input controls, enabling users to easily pick dates, times, and ranges.  

Let’s look at the traditional Kendo UI for Angular DatePicker. Incorporating the calendar in the screen shot below in a form is a straightforward process. 

The rendering and configuration require just a few lines of code. 

import { Component } from "@angular/core";  @Component({    selector: "my-app",    template: `      <div class="example-config">        Selected value is: {{ value | kendoDate : "MM/dd/yyyy" }}      </div>      <div class="example-wrapper" style="min-height: 400px">        <p>Select a date:</p>        <kendo-datepicker [(value)]="value"></kendo-datepicker>        <p>          (use Alt+↓ to open the calendar, ← and → to navigate, ↑ to increment and          ↓ to decrement the value)        </p>      </div>    `,    styles: [      `        kendo-datepicker {          width: 170px;        }      `,    ],  })

Here is a more advanced example of the DatePicker utilized to filter data in a dashboard.  

Interested in learning more?  

5. Rich Content Editor  

Finally, let’s explore one of the most complex components – the Kendo UI for Angular Rich Content Editor. Some applications need to enable users to enter content. While some demand just simple text, others require more advanced capabilities, such as formatting, styling, image editing, tables, and more. The content management and messaging scenarios are two popular examples. In such cases, the Kendo UI for Angular Rich Text Editor can make your life much easier. 

With its great flexibility,  the component has everything you need in an editor, including a toolbar, code view, and much more. It even offers a formatting cleanup button enabling you to clean all the unnecessary markup you get when pasting from Microsoft Word. You have the possibility to enable or disable certain features, so users get exactly what they need.  

The screenshot provided below illustrates an example of the Editor with its key features enabled.  

Embedding the editor in its default state is pretty easy: 

import { Component } from "@angular/core";  @Component({    selector: "my-app",    template: `      <kendo-editor [value]="value" style="height: 570px;"></kendo-editor>    `,  })

Want to learn More? 

Third-Party Libraries – Myth or Reality? 

There are many misconceptions when it comes to UI component libraries in general and Kendo UI in particular. The Kendo UI team is aware of these concerns and invests a lot of effort to make sure that Kendo UI users are fully satisfied with the components.  

Let’s look at a few: 

Myth: It’s Not Possible to Customize the Components 
Reality: Each Kendo UI for Angular component comes with straightforward configuration options exposed as simple properties to enable you to easily control the appearance and behavior. In case you need to make even more advanced customizations, HTML templates (ng-template) are supported. Kendo UI is built with extensibility in mind. Our main priority is to make sure that your styles will be able to seamlessly over-ride ours, making our components living and breathing parts of your application.  

Myth: Third-Party Components Will Result in Inconsistent UI  
Reality: Kendo UI has four built-in themes, including Kendo UI Default, Material, Bootstrap, and Fluent), which are consistently applied across all components. You have the option to choose between multiple color swatches and tailor them even further by using the Progress ThemeBuilder tool to fully match your brand style.  

Myth: The Documentation Is Rarely Beneficial  

Reality: The Kendo UI components are meticulously documented, including a live example for almost every feature. Additionally, you can benefit from comprehensive demos that illustrate how to extend the components or combine them together. 

Myth: The Commercial UI Libraries Are Not Worth the Price Considering There Are Many Free Alternatives Out There  

Reality: While open-source libraries have zero initial cost, they tend to consume more time and resources in the long term. Commercial solutions have many advantages: 

• Advanced UI components, not available in open-source toolkits  
• Professional support (in the case of Kendo UI – the same engineers who build the actual product) 
• Reliability – commercial libraries come with stable codebase and readiness to resolve any reported bug  
• Comprehensive documentation and learning resources  
• Easy customization – commercial libraries like Kendo UI enables easy customization both in terms of UI styling and functionality 

To Sum It All Up 

Every time you get a set of requirements, you are probably wondering “how am I going to build that?”. Should you do it in house or look for a third-party component library to simplify your life. As always, you should carefully consider your requirements and available resources and plan accordingly.  

In case you project requires extensive functionality going beyond an ordinary website, Kendo UI might be the perfect fit. Over the past 10 years or more, its team’s mission has been to free developers from tedious tasks and eliminate any additional work along the way. The great UI styling and detailed documentation is what sets Kendo UI apart from the rest.  

Trying Kendo UI for Angular is easy and free, and you get access to professional support during the trial. You can get started in a few easy steps with the Getting Started tutorial. 

Instead of wondering “How am I going to build that?”, take a look at Kendo UI first and see the benefits yourself. 

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