Getting started with Angular Mention component

25 Jul 20248 minutes to read

This section explains how to create a simple Mention component and demonstrates the basic usage of the Mention component in an Angular environment.

To get started quickly with angular Mention component using angular CLI, you can check the video below.

Dependencies

The list of dependencies required to use the Mention component in your application is given below:

|-- @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-base
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-data
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-angular-base
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns
        |-- @syncfusion/ej2-lists
        |-- @syncfusion/ej2-popups

Setup Angular environment

You can use Angular CLI to setup your Angular applications. To install Angular CLI use the following command.

npm install -g @angular/cli

Create an Angular application

Start a new Angular application using below Angular CLI command.

ng new my-app
cd my-app

Installing Syncfusion Mention package

Syncfusion packages are distributed in npm as @syncfusion scoped packages. You can get all the Angular Syncfusion package from npm link.

Currently, Syncfusion provides two types of package structures for Angular components,

Ivy library distribution package format
Angular compatibility compiler(Angular’s legacy compilation and rendering pipeline) package.

Ivy library distribution package

Syncfusion Angular packages(>=20.2.36) has been moved to the Ivy distribution to support the Angular Ivy rendering engine and the package are compatible with Angular version 12 and above. To download the package, use the below command.

Add @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns package to the application.

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns --save

Angular compatibility compiled package(ngcc)

For Angular version below 12, you can use the legacy (ngcc) package of the Syncfusion Angular components. To download the ngcc package use the below.

Add @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns@ngcc package to the application.

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns@ngcc --save

To mention the ngcc package in the package.json file, add the suffix -ngcc with the package version as below.

@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns:"20.3.47-ngcc"

Note: If the ngcc tag is not specified while installing the package, the Ivy Library Package will be installed and this package will throw a warning.

Adding Mention module

Import Mention module into Angular application(app.module.ts) from the package @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns [src/app/app.module.ts].

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';

// Import the MentionModule for the Mention component from the dropdown package.
import { MentionModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';

@NgModule({
  imports: [ BrowserModule, MentionModule ], // Registering EJ2 Mention Module.
  declarations: [ AppComponent ],
  bootstrap: [ AppComponent ]
})
export class AppModule { }

Adding CSS reference

The following CSS files are available in ../node_modules/@syncfusion package folder. Add Mentions component’s styles as given below in style.css.

@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css';

Adding Mention component

Modify the template in the [src/app/app.component.ts] file to render the Mention component. Add the Angular Mention by using <ejs-mention> selector in template section of the app.component.ts file. To use the Mention component properly, the target property should be configured so that it renders the Mention component in the configured element.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  // Specifies the template string for the Mention component
  template: `
  <label style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: 600;">Comments</label>
  <!--Element which is the Mention component's target to list the suggestions-->
  <div id="mentionElement" style="min-height: 100px; border: 1px solid #D7D7D7; border-radius: 4px; padding: 8px; font-size: 14px; width: 600px;"></div>
  <ejs-mention [target]='mentionTarget'></ejs-mention>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // Defines the target in which the Mention component is rendered.
    public mentionTarget: "#mentionElement";
}

Binding data source

After initializing, populate the data in Mention using the dataSource property. Here, an array of string values is passed to the Mention component.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
    selector: 'app-root',
    // Specifies the template string for the Mention component
    template: `
    <label id="comment" >Comments</label>
    <!--Element which is the Mention component's target to list the suggestions-->
    <div id="mentionElement" placeholder = "Type @ and tag user"></div>
    <ejs-mention [dataSource]='userData' [target]='mentionTarget'></ejs-mention>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // Defines the array of data.
    public userData: string[] = ['Selma Rose', 'Garth', 'Robert', 'William', 'Joseph'];
    // Defines the target in which the Mention component is rendered.
    public mentionTarget: string = "#mentionElement";
}

Running the application

Run the application in the browser using the following command:

ng serve

The following example shows a basic Mention component.

app.component.ts
main.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms'
import { MentionModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
imports: [
        FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, MentionModule
    ],


standalone: true,
    selector: 'app-root',
    // Specifies the template string for the Mention component
    template: `
    <label id="comment" >Comments</label>
    <!--Element which is the Mention component's target to list the suggestions-->
    <div id="mentionElement" placeholder = "Type @ and tag user"></div>
    <ejs-mention [dataSource]='userData' [target]='mentionTarget'></ejs-mention>`,
    
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // Defines the array of data.
    public userData: string[] = ['Selma Rose', 'Garth', 'Robert', 'William', 'Joseph'];
    // Defines the target in which the mention component is rendered.
    public mentionTarget:string = "#mentionElement";
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));

Display Mention character

By using the showMentionChar property, the text content can be displayed along with the mention character. You can customize the mention character by using the mentionChar property in the Mention component.

By default, the mentionChar is @ and the showMentionChar property is disabled.

The following example displays the text content along with the mention character configured as #.

app.component.ts
main.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms'
import { MentionModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns'



import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
imports: [
        FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, MentionModule
    ],


standalone: true,
    selector: 'app-root',
    // Specifies the template string for the Mention component
    template: `
    <label id="comment" >Comments</label>
    <!--Element which is the Mention component's target to list the suggestions-->
    <div id="mentionElement" placeholder = "Type @ and select your comments"></div>
    <ejs-mention [dataSource]='userData' [target]='mentionTarget' [showMentionChar]="true" [mentionChar]="mentionCharacter"></ejs-mention>`,

})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // Defines the array of data.
    public userData: string[] = ['Selma Rose', 'Garth', 'Robert', 'William', 'Joseph'];
    // Defines the target in which the mention component is rendered.
    public mentionTarget: string = "#mentionElement";
    public mentionCharacter: string = "#";
}
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import 'zone.js';
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent).catch((err) => console.error(err));