How to use .forRoot() within feature modules hierarchy

Question

Can anyone please clarify to me how should I structure multiple nested feature modules hierarchy with .forRoot() calls?

For example what if I have modules like this:

- MainModule
- SharedModule
- FeatureModuleA
    - FeatureModuleA1
    - FeatureModuleA2
- FeatureModuleB

All feature modules has a .forRoot() static functions.

How should I define FeatureModuleA with somehow "transfer" the .forRoot() functions?

@NgModule({ 
  imports: [
    //- I can use .forRoot() calls here but this module not the root module
    //- I don't need to import sub-modules here, FeatureA only a wrapper
    //FeatureModuleA1.forRoot(), //WRONG!
    //FeatureModuleA2.forRoot(), //WRONG!
  ],
  exports: [
    //I cannot use .forRoot() calls here
    FeatureModuleA1, 
    FeatureModuleA2 
  ]
})
class FeatureModuleA {
  static forRoot(): ModuleWithProviders {
    return {
      //At this point I can set any other class than FeatureModuleA for root
      //So lets create a FeatureRootModuleA class: see below!
      ngModule: FeatureModuleA //should be: FeatureRootModuleA 
    };
  }
}

I can create another class for root usage then set it within the forRoot() function of FeatureModuleA:

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    //Still don't need any sub module within this feature module
  ]
  exports: [
    //Still cannot use .forRoot() calls but still need to export them for root module too:
    FeatureModuleA1, 
    FeatureModuleA2 
  ]
})
class FeatureRootModuleA { }

But how can I "transfer" .forRoot() calls within this special ModuleClass?

As I see I need to import all sub-modules directly into my root MainModule and call .forRoot() for each there:

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    FeatureModuleA1.forRoot(),
    FeatureModuleA2.forRoot(),
    FeatureModuleA.forRoot(),
    SharedModule.forRoot()
  ]
})
class MainModule { }

Am I right? Before you answer please take a look at this file: https://github.com/angular/material2/blob/master/src/lib/module.ts

As I know this repo maintained by the official angular team. So they solve the above with just importing all .forRoot() calls within a special MaterialRootModule module. I don't really understand how it would be applied for my own root module? What does the root and .forRoot really means here? Is that relative to the package and not to the actual web project?

Answer 1

Generally forRoot is used to add application/singleton services.

@NgModule({
  providers: [ /* DONT ADD HERE */ ]
})
class SharedModule {
  static forRoot() {
    return {
      ngModule: SharedModule,
      providers: [ AuthService ]
    }
  }
}

The reasoning is that if you add the AuthService to the providers in the @NgModule, it's possible for more than one to be created if you import the SharedModule into other modules.

I'm not 100% clear on whether the service would be created when the SharedModule is imported into an eagerly loaded module, but the explanation that the docs mentioned was in regards to lazily loaded modules. When you lazily load a module, all the providers will get created.

For this reason, we add a (by convention) forRoot method to signify that the method should only be called for the root (app) module, while for other module it should just be imported normally

@NgModule({
  imports: [SharedModule]
})
class FeatureModule {}

@NgModule({
  imports: [SharedModule.forRoot()]
})
class AppModule {}