(Legacy) Angular rich text editor component

CKEditor 5 consists of the ready-to-use editor builds and the CKEditor 5 Framework upon which the builds are based.

Currently, the CKEditor 5 component for Angular supports integrating CKEditor 5 only via builds. Integrating CKEditor 5 built from source is not possible yet due to the lack of ability to adjust webpack configuration in angular-cli.

# Supported Angular versions

Because of the breaking changes in the Angular library output format, the @ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular package is released in the following versions to support various Angular ecosystems:

CKEditor 5 version	Angular version	Details
Actively supported versions
^6	13+	Requires CKEditor 5 in version 37 or higher.
Past releases (no longer maintained)
^5	13+	Requires Angular in version 13+ or higher. Lower versions are no longer maintained.
^5	13+	Requires Angular in version 13+ or higher. Lower versions are no longer maintained.
^4	9.1+	Requires CKEditor 5 in version 34 or higher.
^3	9.1+	Requires Node.js in version 14 or higher.
^2	9.1+	Migration to TypeScript 4. Declaration files are not backward compatible.
^1	5.x - 8.x	Angular versions are no longer maintained.

All available Angular versions are listed on npm, where they can be pulled from.

# Quick start

In your existing Angular project, install the CKEditor 5 WYSIWYG editor component for Angular:

npm install --save @ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular

Install one of the CKEditor 5 predefined builds or create a custom one.

This tutorial assumes that you picked @ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic:

npm install --save @ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic

The @ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular package requires the following peer dependencies, with a version of at least 37.0.0:

• @ckeditor/ckeditor5-core,
• @ckeditor/ckeditor5-engine,
• @ckeditor/ckeditor5-utils,
• @ckeditor/ckeditor5-watchdog.

Keep in mind that they must have the same version as the editor build.

Install all the required peer dependencies:

npm install --save @ckeditor/ckeditor5-core @ckeditor/ckeditor5-engine @ckeditor/ckeditor5-utils @ckeditor/ckeditor5-watchdog

Now, add CKEditorModule to modules whose components will be using the <ckeditor> component in their templates.

// app.module.ts

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { CKEditorModule } from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular';

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

@NgModule( {
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    CKEditorModule
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [ AppComponent ]
} )
export class AppModule { }

Import the editor build in your Angular component and assign it to a public property to make it accessible from the template:

// app.component.ts

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic';

@Component( {
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: [ './app.component.css' ]
} )
export class AppComponent {
  title = 'angular';
  public Editor = ClassicEditor;
}

Finally, use the <ckeditor> tag in the template to run the rich text editor:

<!-- app.component.html -->

<ckeditor [editor]="Editor" data="<p>Hello, world!</p>"></ckeditor>

Rebuild your application and CKEditor 5 should greet you with a “Hello, world!”

# Using the Document editor build

If you want to use the document editor build, you need to add the toolbar to the DOM manually.

// app.component.ts

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import DecoupledEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-decoupled-document';

@Component( {
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: [ './app.component.css' ]
} )
export class AppComponent {
  title = 'angular';
  public Editor = DecoupledEditor;

  public onReady( editor: DecoupledEditor ): void {
    const element = editor.ui.getEditableElement()!;
    const parent = element.parentElement!;

    parent.insertBefore(
      editor.ui.view.toolbar.element!,
      element
    );
  }
}

And then, in the template:

<!-- app.component.html -->

<ckeditor [editor]="Editor" data="<p>Hello, world!</p>" (ready)="onReady($event)"></ckeditor>

# Using a custom CKEditor 5 build

If you want to add more plugins to an existing build or customize something that cannot be controlled with the editor configuration you need to create a custom build first, as described in the Building the editor from source guide.

By completing the above tutorial you should get a generated ckeditor.js file (and corresponding translation files). In the next step you should copy it to the src directory and import it to the component file.

// app.component.ts

import * as Editor from 'path/to/the/ckeditor';

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public Editor = Editor;
    // ...
}

Note that to allow importing JavaScript files without providing their corresponding types you need to set allowJs to true in the tsconfig.json file. Also, make sure that you target ES6 or higher, otherwise you are likely to end up with a weird transpilation error in the production build.

// tsconfig.json

"compilerOptions": {
    "allowJs": true,
    "target": "es2015"
    // other options
}

# Integrating a build from the online builder

This guide assumes that you have created a zip archive with the editor built using the CKEditor 5 online builder.

Unpack it into you application’s main directory. The directory with the editor build cannot be placed inside the src/ directory as Node will return an error. Because of that, we recommend placing the directory next to the src/ and node_modules/ folders:

├── ckeditor5
│   ├── build
│   ├── sample
│   ├── src
│   ├── ...
│   ├── package.json
│   └── webpack.config.js
├── node_modules
├── src
├── ...
└── package.json

Then, add the package located in the ckeditor5 directory as a dependency of your project:

npm install ./ckeditor5

Now, import the build in your application:

// app.component.ts

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import Editor from 'ckeditor5-custom-build/build/ckeditor';

@Component( {
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.component.css']
} )
export class AppComponent {
  title = 'customEditor';
  public Editor = Editor;
}

# Using the editor with collaboration plugins

The easiest way to integrate collaboration plugins in an Angular application is to create a custom build first and then import it from the Angular application. See Using a custom CKEditor 5 build.

# Integration with ngModel

The component implements the ControlValueAccessor interface and works with the ngModel. Here is how to use it:

Create some model in your component to share with the editor:

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public model = {
        editorData: '<p>Hello, world!</p>'
    };
    // ...
}

Use the model in the template to enable a two–way data binding:

<ckeditor [(ngModel)]="model.editorData" [editor]="Editor"></ckeditor>

# Supported @Input properties

The following @Input properties are supported by the CKEditor 5 rich text editor component for Angular:

# editor (required)

The Editor which provides the static create() method to create an instance of the editor:

<ckeditor [editor]="Editor"></ckeditor>

# config

The configuration of the editor:

<ckeditor [config]="{ toolbar: [ 'heading', '|', 'bold', 'italic' ] }" ...></ckeditor>

# data

The initial data of the editor. It can be a static value:

<ckeditor data="<p>Hello, world!</p>" ...></ckeditor>

or a shared parent component’s property

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public editorData = '<p>Hello, world!</p>';
    // ...
}

<ckeditor [data]="editorData" ...></ckeditor>

# tagName

The tag name of the HTML element on which the rich text editor will be created.

The default tag is <div>.

<ckeditor tagName="textarea" ...></ckeditor>

# disabled

Controls the editor’s read–only state:

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public isDisabled = false;
    // ...
    toggleDisabled() {
        this.isDisabled = !this.isDisabled
    }
}

<ckeditor [disabled]="isDisabled" ...></ckeditor>

<button (click)="toggleDisabled()">
    {{ isDisabled ? 'Enable editor' : 'Disable editor' }}
</button>

# watchdog

An instance of the ContextWatchdog class that is responsible for providing the same context to multiple editor instances and restarting the whole structure in case of crashes.

import CKSource from 'path/to/custom/build';

const Context = CKSource.Context;
const Editor = CKSource.Editor;
const ContextWatchdog = CKSource.ContextWatchdog;

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public editor = Editor;
    public watchdog: any;
    public ready = false;

    ngOnInit() {
        const contextConfig = {};

        this.watchdog = new ContextWatchdog( Context );

        this.watchdog.create( contextConfig )
            .then( () => {
                this.ready = true;
            } );
    }
}

<div *ngIf="ready">
    <ckeditor [watchdog]="watchdog" ...></ckeditor>
    <ckeditor [watchdog]="watchdog" ...></ckeditor>
    <ckeditor [watchdog]="watchdog" ...></ckeditor>
</div>

# editorWatchdogConfig

If the watchdog property is not used, EditorWatchdog will be used by default. editorWatchdogConfig property allows for passing a config to that watchdog.

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public myWatchdogConfig = {
        crashNumberLimit: 5,
        // ...
    };
    // ...
}

<ckeditor [editorWatchdogConfig]="myWatchdogConfig" ...></ckeditor>

# disableTwoWayDataBinding

Allows disabling the two-way data binding mechanism. The default value is false.

The reason for the introduction of this option are performance issues in large documents. By default, while using the ngModel directive, whenever the editor’s data is changed, the component must synchronize the data between the editor instance and the connected property. This results in calling the editor.getData() function, which causes a massive slowdown while typing in large documents.

This option allows the integrator to disable the default behavior and only call the editor.getData() method on demand, which prevents the slowdowns. You can read more in the relevant issue.

# Supported @Output properties

The following @Output properties are supported by the CKEditor 5 rich text editor component for Angular:

# ready

Fired when the editor is ready. It corresponds with the editor#ready event.
It is fired with the editor instance.

Note that this method might be called multiple times. Apart from initialization, it is also called whenever the editor is restarted after a crash. Do not keep the reference to the editor instance internally, because it will change in case of restart. Instead, you should use watchdog.editor property.

# change

Fired when the content of the editor has changed. It corresponds with the editor.model.document#change:data event.
It is fired with an object containing the editor and the CKEditor 5 change:data event object.

<ckeditor [editor]="Editor" (change)="onChange($event)"></ckeditor>

import * as ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic';
import { ChangeEvent } from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular/ckeditor.component';

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public Editor = ClassicEditor;

    public onChange( { editor }: ChangeEvent ) {
        const data = editor.getData();

        console.log( data );
    }
    ...
}

# blur

Fired when the editing view of the editor is blurred. It corresponds with the editor.editing.view.document#blur event.
It is fired with an object containing the editor and the CKEditor 5 blur event data.

# focus

Fired when the editing view of the editor is focused. It corresponds with the editor.editing.view.document#focus event.
It is fired with an object containing the editor and the CKEditor 5 focus event data.

# error

Fired when the editor crashes. Once the editor is crashed, the internal watchdog mechanism restarts the editor and fires the ready event.

# Styling

The CKEditor 5 rich text editor component for Angular can be styled using the component style sheet or using a global style sheet. See how to set the CKEditor 5 component’s height using these two approaches.

# Setting the height via the component style sheet

First, create a (S)CSS file in the parent component’s directory and style the given editor’s part preceded by the :host and ::ng-deep pseudo selectors:

/* src/app/app.component.css */

:host ::ng-deep .ck-editor__editable_inline {
    min-height: 500px;
}

Then in the parent component add the relative path to the above style sheet:

/* src/app/app.component.ts */

@Component( {
    // ...
    styleUrls: [ './app.component.css' ]
} )

# Setting the height via a global style sheet

To style the component using a global style sheet, first, create it:

/* src/styles.css */

.ck-editor__editable_inline {
    min-height: 500px;
}

Then, add it in the angular.json configuration file:

"architect": {
    "build": {
        "options": {
            "styles": [
                { "input": "src/styles.css" }
            ]
        }
    }
}

# Setting the placeholder

To display the placeholder in the main editable element, set the placeholder field in the CKEditor 5 rich text editor component configuration:

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public config = {
        placeholder: 'Type the content here!'
    }
}

# Accessing the editor instance

The CKEditor 5 rich text editor component provides all the functionality needed for most use cases. When access to the full CKEditor 5 API is needed you can get the editor instance with an additional step.

To do this, create a template reference variable #editor pointing to the <ckeditor> component:

<ckeditor #editor [editor]="Editor" ...></ckeditor>

Then get the <ckeditor> component using a property decorated by @ViewChild( 'editor' ) and access the editor instance when needed:

@Component()
export class MyComponent {
    @ViewChild( 'editor' ) editorComponent: CKEditorComponent;

    public getEditor() {
        // Warning: This may return "undefined" if the editor is hidden behind the `*ngIf` directive or
        // if the editor is not fully initialised yet.
        return this.editorComponent.editorInstance;
    }
}

# Localization

The CKEditor 5 rich text editor component can be localized in two steps.

# Loading translation files

First, you need to add translation files to the bundle. This step can be achieved in two ways:

By importing translations for given languages directly in your component file:

import '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic/build/translations/de';
import * as ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic';
// More imports.
// ...

By adding paths to translation files to the "scripts" array in angular.json:

"architect": {
    "build": {
        "options": {
            "scripts": [ "node_modules/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic/build/translations/de.js" ]
        }
    }
}

# Configuring the language

Then, you need to configure the editor to use the given language:

@Component( {
    // ...
} )
export class MyComponent {
    public Editor = ClassicEditor;
    public config = {
        language: 'de'
    };
}

For advanced usage see the Setting the UI language guide.

# Common issues

# zone.js

There is a repeatable issue with zone.js library when upgrading to new Angular versions. The ngOnDestroy handler crashes throwing:

ERROR Error: Uncaught (in promise): TypeError: Cannot read property 'data-ck-expando' of undefined
TypeError: Cannot read property 'data-ck-expando' of undefined

Workaround: in polyfills.js import zone.js using import zone.js/dist/zone.js instead of import 'zone.js'.
More details:

• https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular/issues/109
• https://github.com/angular/angular/tree/master/packages/zone.js#breaking-changes-since-zonejs-v0111

# Contributing and reporting issues

The source code of the CKEditor 5 rich text editor component for Angular is available on GitHub in https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5-angular.