How to Create a Dynamic Table with Angular: Display Data from an API

Learn how to create an interactive table in Angular that dynamically displays data retrieved from an API. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the essentials!
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How to Create a Dynamic Table with Angular: Display Data from an API

Creating a table to display data from an API in Angular can sometimes be a bit perplexing, particularly if you're new to Angular or web development in general. In this guide, we'll break down the process of building a dynamic table with header and data rows sourced from an API call. We'll look at the common mistakes and the correct approach, so you can get your table up and running smoothly.

Understanding the Problem

You might have tried using a loop to populate your table headers and data but encountered an unexpected result where all your headers and data ended up displaying vertically instead of in a structured table format. This can be quite confusing, especially if you are not aware of how the <div> elements are rendered in HTML.

Potential Mistake

In your initial attempt, you tried using <div> inside the <table>, which is not how tables are supposed to be structured in HTML. Instead of a row of headers and a row of data, your setup resulted in each header and data being rendered in a block format, leading to a layout like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This is not the desired outcome when creating a traditional table view.

Crafting the Solution

To correctly display your data in rows and columns, here's how you should structure your Angular template. We'll be using the *ngFor directive to iterate through your data and display it properly within the table.

Step 1: Set Up Your Table Structure

Here’s a refined version of your table code that correctly uses <tr> for table rows and <th> and <td> for headers and data cells.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Explanation of the Code

<table class="table">: This initiates the table structure, where you can apply styles using CSS classes if needed.

<tr> for Rows: Each <tr> represents a different row within the table.

<th> for Headers: The table header is populated by iterating over apiResp, which should return an array of objects that contain both headers and data.

*ngFor: This Angular directive loops through the apiResp, allowing you to retrieve and display each value dynamically.

Step 3: Getting Data from the API

Make sure your component is properly configured to call the API and fill the apiResp array with the necessary data. Here’s an example of how you could set it up:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This code uses Angular's HttpClient to fetch data from an API and assigns it to the apiResp property, which your template can then use to display the contents of the API response.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you’ll have successfully set up a dynamic table in Angular that displays data from an API in an organized way. Remember that structure is key when working with tables—always ensure that you're using <tr>, <th>, and <td> appropriately to achieve the desired layout. Happy coding!