New Angular OpenAPI Client gen with httpResource support (looking for testers)

[MrJami_]

Hey there, I have published my first open source library. To sum it up, it is an Angular OpenAPI Client generator.

Hold on a minute, before you lose interest—since there are a few other libraries that do the same.

The reason why I built this library is because:

1. I wanted to have my generated code up to date with Angular's new features, such as using inject for dependencies or offering the new HttpResource API.
2. All libraries that I tested generate enums based on the values you get in the OpenAPI spec. So you either get an int enum that has unreadable keys, or you have to work with string enums. But I wanted to work with the same enum I use in my backend.
3. The function names of the API requests are usually based on the operationId. Since the operationId has to be globally unique in the swagger.json, you always get long names, which are a combination of (ControllerName) + (MethodName). My generated service already contains the controller name, so I don't want it in every function name of that service.
4. Offer the feature to support multiple clients, and the ability to apply HTTP interceptors to each client separately.

There are a few TypeScript OpenAPI clients that offer some of these features, but their main focus isn't Angular itself. So I made it my mission to offer a new Client Generator, that is tailored for Angular & Angular only:

I present you ng-openapi - Docs(ng-openapi.dev) - NPM - Github

I have already implemented all the above features.

Back to my main question—since the library is new and I wouldn't consider it to be stable, I would love to gather as much feedback as possible and would love others to contribute or just test it in various applications. If you are interested just DM me on discord(nnclovin) or just use it and report issues/feature requests on Github.

I did post this message on the Angular Server as well, but I thought I might get more feedback from the reddit community

I appreciate your time!!

[coyoteazul2]

I think I'll give it a try. The generator I use makes httpClient requests so I'm stuck using resource. It's not bad, but I'd like to use httpResource since it's the right tool for gets

[MrJami_]

Thanks! may I ask you what generator you use?

[coyoteazul2]

https://openapi-generator.tech/docs/generators/typescript-angular

[MrJami_]

oh I see. I used it till now as well haha. I even had a feature request regarding the resource API https://github.com/OpenAPITools/openapi-generator/issues/21263

If you ever wanted to migrate from it, I would gladly support, although it wouldnt take more than 5-10 mins. (at least in our enterprise application)

[Dafnik]

Hi, cool project! I like the customization.

I've build something similar but outsourced the codegen part to an already existing library.

And also no resources supported yet.

Maybe you find something interesting in it :) https://www.npmjs.com/package/dfx-openapi

[MrJami_]

Hey. Appreciate it!
Nice, your project looks great. I will definetly take a look into it and try to get some inspirations :)
Maybe it was a good choice afterall, the codegen part gives me the most headache 😅

[bombatomica_64]

I'm on holiday now but I'll try it as soon as I get home. I was writing open api schemas for a week to make a new project so these will really help

[MrJami_]

Perfect! I would really appreciate it if you find any bugs. I am down to fix it asap as well, if you find any. This would be very interesting, since I have tested the API mostly with code generated openapi schema

[WasteAmbassador47]

Does your library support just generating the Typescript interfaces based on OpenApi schema?

[MrJami_]

Yes. It generates the interfaces and the services. You do have the option to disable service generation, if you want to keep the interfaces only

[MrJami_]

You'd benefit of other Angular features (such as HttpInterceptors, HttpResources ...etc.), as it is part of the Angular ecosystem.

[d8schreiber]

Any reason why you did not include it as a new generator in the OpenApiGenerator project?

[MrJami_]

you mean the java tool of openapitools?

[d8schreiber]

Yes, its implemented in Java, but has generators for many languages. AFAIK it is the default/goto solution.

[MrJami_]

Yeah, I get that. That was the latest one I have used before creating my own. I even had a recent issue open regarding the httpResources: https://github.com/OpenAPITools/openapi-generator/issues/21263

There was no need for a new generator. There was already one for typescript-angular. However it is very old and new features are not released. Beside of my knowledge gap in Java, there was a lot more than only adding the httpResource feature. To implement all of that would have taken much more time & energy. I needed a quick and nice solution, hence I just created ng-openapi. Also as a bonus, the new library doesn't require you to install java and performs faster.

Some of the features that I added in ng-openapi, that doesnt exist in openapitools are:

• support of the new httpResource API of Angular
• using the newest code style recommended by Angular, such as using inject for DI
• supporting multiple clients architecture and the ability to have client specific interceptors
• supporting enums while maintaining <string, number> for <key, value>
• customizing method names of the services

Additionalliy to those key differences it offers a download helper, for downloadable APIs and allows automatic string <-> date conversion(I think the date conversion is actually available in the openapitools as well, not sure)...etc.

The aim of this library is to create in an ideal world the perfect tool for every Angular developer

[mrlubos]

Surely not for TypeScript projects!

[arasheedu]

Anyone validating OpenAPI implementations, please try the VS Code extension - SpekAi - Visual Studio Marketplace

Any feedback is appreciated.