Angular 4 routing weird behavior: not rendering child module unless on page refresh

Question

I've been searching for a solution to this weird behavior with no luck.

• There are no errors in the angular 4 console or the javascript console
  • Using Angular CLI (Angular 4)

I'm getting extremely weird behavior with the angular router. I'm attempting to load a child route, which has it's own module, from the parent AppModule. The route is at /products

At the /products module (products.module.ts): I have 3 routes:

1. /products/overview
2. /products/intro [redirected to from /products]
3. /products/product/:product

The products module is supposed to have it's own navbar UNDER the global AppModule's navbar, which is above the router-outlet in the products.component.html component template.

The main problem: When I load the page (not using an angular routerLink) to /products:

• both navbars are visible
• the page that is LOADED (ex /intro) has the navbar visible, but the child component (IntroComponent) is NOT visible
• HOWEVER, when I navigate to any other subroute within the /products module routes, (ex /overview or /product/:product): it renders just fine. So whatever route is loaded on a full page refresh is not visible.

The weirdest part: When I LOAD the page (refresh) on a route that isn't /products (ex /home) and then use the main navbar to navigate to /products:

• The navbar is not visible ?????
• The sub component (ex /intro component) IS visible

This has been causing me a great deal of hell for the past few days.

Now, some code:

app.module.ts [main AppModule]

    @NgModule({
    declarations: [
        AppComponent,
        HomeComponent,
        LoginComponent,
        SignupComponent,
        NotFoundComponent,
        LogoutComponent,
        ErrorComponent,
        AboutComponent,
        ApiComponent,
        StatusComponent,
        SupportComponent,
        CustomersComponent,
        JobsComponent,
        TosComponent
    ],
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,
        HttpModule,
        FormsModule,
        SharedModule,
        //ProductsModule,
        AppRoutingModule
    ],
    providers: [
        UserService,
        AuthGuard,
        ErrorService,
        NavbarService,
        MailerService,
        IOService,
    ],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule {
}

shared.module.ts -- This has my ViewAppComponent (which is just a router outlet with the global navbar) and other global components (like the navbar and footer that should be shown on all routes)

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    CommonModule,
      RouterModule
  ],
  declarations: [ViewAppComponent, FooterComponent, NavbarComponent],
  exports: [CommonModule, ViewAppComponent, FooterComponent, NavbarComponent]
})
export class SharedModule { }

app-routing.module.ts

const routes: Routes = [
    {
        path: '',
        component: ViewAppComponent,
        children: [
            {path: 'products', loadChildren: () => ProductsModule}, // where im trying to load my products module from the main module
            {path: 'home', component: HomeComponent},
            {path: 'about', component: AboutComponent},
            {path: 'api', component: ApiComponent},
            {path: 'status', component: StatusComponent},
            {path: 'support', component: SupportComponent},
            {path: 'customers', component: CustomersComponent},
            {path: 'jobs', component: JobsComponent},
            {path: 'tos', component: TosComponent},
            {path: 'signup', component: SignupComponent, canActivate: [AuthGuard]},
            {path: 'logout', component: LogoutComponent, canActivate: [AuthGuard]},
            {path: 'login', component: LoginComponent},
            {path: 'error', component: ErrorComponent, canActivate: [ErrorService]},
            {path: "404", component: NotFoundComponent},
            {path: '', redirectTo: '/home', pathMatch: 'full'},
        ]
    },
    {path: "admin", loadChildren: "./admin/admin.module#AdminModule"},
    {path: '**', redirectTo: '/404'}
];

@NgModule({
    imports: [RouterModule.forRoot(routes)],
    exports: [RouterModule]
})
export class AppRoutingModule {}

products.module.ts [main product module where im trying to load subroutes]

@NgModule({
    imports: [
        CommonModule,
        FormsModule,
        SharedModule,
        RouterModule,
        ProductsRoutingModule
    ],
    declarations: [ProductsComponent, OverviewComponent, IntroComponent, NavigationComponent, ProductComponent],
    exports: [
        ProductsComponent, OverviewComponent, IntroComponent, NavigationComponent, ProductComponent, RouterModule, ProductsRoutingModule
    ]
})
export class ProductsModule {
}

products-routing.module.ts [router for products submodule]

export const productRoutes: Routes = [
    {
        path: '',
        component: ProductsComponent,
        children: [
            {
                path: 'overview',
                component: OverviewComponent,
            },
            {
                path: 'intro',
                component: IntroComponent
            },
            {
                path: 'product/:product',
                component: ProductComponent
            },
            {
                path: '',
                redirectTo: '/products/intro',
                pathMatch: 'full'
            },
            {
                path: '**',
                redirectTo: '/404',
                pathMatch: 'full'
            }
        ]
    }
];

@NgModule({
    imports: [RouterModule.forChild(productRoutes)],
    exports: [RouterModule]
})
export class ProductsRoutingModule {}

products.component.html [template for products w/ outlet for subcomponents in products]

<h1>Products</h1>
<br/>
<app-product-navigation></app-product-navigation>
<br/>
<router-outlet></router-outlet>

navigation.component.html [app-product-navigation component template]

<nav class="navbar navbar-info" role="navigation">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <div class="navbar-header">
      <button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#products-navbar-collapse">
        <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
      </button>
    </div>

    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="products-navbar-collapse">
      <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
        <li routerLinkActive="active"><a routerLink="/products/intro">Intro</a></li>
        <li routerLinkActive="active"><a routerLink="/products/overview">Overview</a></li>
        <li class="dropdown">
          <a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">Products <b class="caret"></b></a>
          <ul class="dropdown-menu">
            <li routerLinkActive="active"><a routerLink="/products/product/reflex">Reflex</a></li>
            <li routerLinkActive="active"><a routerLink="/products/product/override">Project Override</a></li>
          </ul>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </div>
  </div>
</nav>
<br/>

I'll also provide my package.json dependencies for versions, I'm using ng serve for testing.

  "dependencies": {
    "@agm/core": "1.0.0-beta.0",
    "@angular/animations": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/cdk": "2.0.0-beta.10",
    "@angular/common": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/compiler": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/core": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/forms": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/http": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/material": "2.0.0-beta.10",
    "@angular/platform-browser": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/platform-server": "4.3.1",
    "@angular/router": "4.3.1",
    "angular2-material-datepicker": "0.5.0",
    "animate.css": "3.5.2",
    "arrive": "2.3.1",
    "bootstrap": "3.3.5",
    "bootstrap-material-design": "0.5.10",
    "bootstrap-notify": "3.1.3",
    "bootstrap-select": "1.12.2",
    "bootstrap-tagsinput": "0.7.1",
    "chartist": "0.9.4",
    "chartist-plugin-zoom": "0.4.0",
    "core-js": "2.4.1",
    "datatables": "1.10.12",
    "datatables.net-bs": "1.10.12",
    "datatables.net-responsive": "2.1.1",
    "eonasdan-bootstrap-datetimepicker": "4.17.47",
    "fullcalendar": "3.4.0",
    "googleapis": "19.0.0",
    "jasny-bootstrap": "3.1.3",
    "jquery": "1.12.4",
    "moment": "2.18.1",
    "moment-timezone": "0.4.0",
    "ng2-nouislider": "1.6.1",
    "ng2-select": "1.2.0",
    "ngx-chips": "1.4.6",
    "nouislider": "9.2.0",
    "rxjs": "^5.4.2",
    "twitter-bootstrap-wizard": "1.2.0",
    "typescript": "2.3.4",
    "validate": "3.0.1",
    "web-animations-js": "2.2.2",
    "zone.js": "0.8.4"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@angular/cli": "1.4.2",
    "@angular/compiler-cli": "4.3.1",
    "@types/bootstrap": "3.3.32",
    "@types/chartist": "0.9.34",
    "@types/jasmine": "2.5.38",
    "@types/jquery": "1.10.31",
    "@types/node": "6.0.73",
    "codelyzer": "2.0.0",
    "jasmine-core": "2.5.2",
    "jasmine-spec-reporter": "3.2.0",
    "karma": "1.4.1",
    "karma-chrome-launcher": "2.0.0",
    "karma-cli": "1.0.1",
    "karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "0.2.0",
    "karma-jasmine": "1.1.0",
    "karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "0.2.2",
    "node-sass": "^4.5.3",
    "protractor": "5.1.0",
    "ts-node": "2.0.0",
    "tslint": "4.5.0",
    "typescript": "2.3.4"
  }
}

This is my first 'looking for help' post on stackoverflow, so let me know if there's anything I can improve.

I've tried to research various forms and tutorials and referenced the angular docs for routing

Edit: Adding some pictures for more clarification of the situation

Home page: http://prntscr.com/gskex5

Products [/products/intro] (navigated to using routerLink): http://prntscr.com/gskf2h (the products navbar is missing) On refresh, the navbar becomes visible, but the intro component is gone: http://prntscr.com/gskfaq

However, when I click on another component in the products nav, it works properly: http://prntscr.com/gskfhf

if I refresh, the component disappears, and the nav is left: http://prntscr.com/gskfna and now, for whatever reason, if i go back to intro, it works properly: http://prntscr.com/gskfra

So basically, whatever route is loaded when the page is initially loaded, it has a problem [component is not visible]. If the initially loaded route is not /products; the product navbar is not visible.

Answer 1

For this rather weird situation, I was able to fix this weird behavior by generating a fresh Angular 4 app with angular-cli: ng new

I'm guessing it had something to do with the version of Angular I was running.

For my new project, the @angular versions are set to **^4.0.0*.

In the old project, the versions were set to 4.3.1

I would guess it has something to do with one of the changes in the bugfixes for v4.3.1:

• router: canDeactivate guards should run from bottom to top (1ac78bf), closes #15657
• router: should navigate to the same url when config changes (4340bea), closes #15535
• router: should run resolvers for the same route concurrently (ec89f37), closes #14279
• router: terminal route in custom matcher (5d275e9)

TL;DR

use the latest stable version of ng4