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Perform Angular server-side (pre-)rendering with Cloud Build

Author(s): @johnlabarge ,   Published: 2018-11-08

John LaBarge | Solutions Architect | Google

Contributed by Google employees.

This tutorial shows you how to pre-generate server-side rendered Angular pages using Cloud Build. Server-side rendering helps facilitate web crawlers (SEO), improve performance on mobile and low-powered devices, and show the first page quickly.

push new angular code to source repository

Prerequisites

  1. A Google Cloud account (Get a trial account here.)
  2. The necessary permissions; either:
    1. Project editor access to an existing project
    2. Create a new project permissions in an existing organization

(OPTIONAL) Create a project with a billing account attached

This task helps you setup a new Google Cloud project in which to run an Angular application. (You can also use an existing project and skip to the next step.)

PROJECT=[NEW PROJECT NAME]
ORG=[YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME]
FOLDER=[YOUR FOLDER NAME]
BILLING_ACCOUNT=[YOUR_BILLING_ACCOUNT_NAME]
ZONE=[COMPUTE ZONE YOU WANT TO USE]
ACCOUNT=[GOOGLE ACCOUNT YOU WANT TO USE] or $(gcloud config get-value account)
ORG_NUMBER=$(gcloud organizations list --format="value(name)" --filter="(displayName='$ORG')")
FOLDER_NUMBER=$(gcloud alpha resource-manager folders list --format="value(name)" --organization=$ORG_NUMBER --filter="displayName=$FOLDER")
PROJECT_CREATE_OPTIONS="--organization=${ORG_NUMBER}"
if [ ! -z "$FOLDER" ]; then
PROJECT_CREATE_OPTIONS="--folder=${FOLDER_NUMBER}"
fi
gcloud projects create ${PROJECT} ${PROJECT_CREATE_OPTIONS}
gcloud beta billing projects link $PROJECT --billing-account=$(gcloud alpha billing accounts list --format='value(name)' --filter="(displayName='$BILLING_ACCOUNT')")
gcloud config configurations create --activate $PROJECT
gcloud config set project $PROJECT
gcloud config set compute/zone $ZONE
gcloud config set account $ACCOUNT

Set the project variable (Skip this step if you created a new project above.)

To specify the project that you will use, replace [CONFIGURATION NAME] with the name of the project configuration:

gcloud config configurations activate [CONFIGURATION NAME]
PROJECT=$(gcloud config get-value project)

For more information on configurations see configurations.

Enable the services required for the tutorial

gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable sourcerepo.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable containerregistry.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable cloudbuild.googleapis.com

Download the test Angular application, Tour of Heroes

  1. Download and unzip the test application:

    curl -L https://angular.io/generated/zips/universal/universal.zip > universal.zip
unzip universal.zip -d angular-app
cd angular-app

  2. Create a local Git repository for the sample code:

    curl -L https://github.com/angular/angular/blob/master/.gitignore > .gitignore
git init
git add .
git commit -m "first"

Create a Cloud Source repository for your copy of the test Angular application

You will create a repository called tour-of-heroes-universal

gcloud source repos create tour-of-heroes-universal

Make prerender changes to the Angular application

  1. Download the webpack prerender config file:

    curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/community/master/tutorials/cloudbuild-angular-universal/webpack.prerender.config.js

  2. Add the prerender webpack configuration file to Git:

    git add webpack.prerender.config.js

  3. Download the Typescript config file for prerendering:

    curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/community/master/tutorials/cloudbuild-angular-universal/prerender.tsconfig.json

  4. Add the Typescript config file for prerendering:

    git add prerender.tsconfig.json

  5. Download the prerender Typescript file:

    curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/community/master/tutorials/cloudbuild-angular-universal/prerender.ts

  6. Add the prerender Typescript file to Git:

    git add prerender.ts

  7. Modify the package.json file to add the prerender steps.

    Note that jq is a tool for editing JSON and is installed in Cloud Shell by default. If you are going through this tutorial on your workstation, see jq installation for instructions on installing jq on your workstation.

    SCRIPT_ADDITIONS=$(echo '  {
"build:prerender": "npm run build:client-and-server-bundles && npm run compile:prerender && npm run generate:prerender",
"generate:prerender": "npm run webpack:prerender && node dist/prerender.js",
"compile:prerender": "tsc -p prerender.tsconfig.json",
"webpack:prerender": "webpack --config webpack.prerender.config.js"
}')
cat package.json | jq --argjson additions "$SCRIPT_ADDITIONS" '.scripts = .scripts+$additions' >tmpfile
cp tmpfile package.json
rm tmpfile

  8. Add the package.json changes to Git:

    git add package.json

  9. Commit your changes to the Git repository:

    git commit -m "pregenerate changes"

Configure a Cloud Storage bucket and load balancer to host your Angular application on Cloud CDN

  1. Create the content Cloud Storage bucket:

    gsutil mb gs://$PROJECT-angular-app

  2. Create the backend bucket:

    gcloud compute backend-buckets create $PROJECT-angular-app-backend \
--gcs-bucket-name=$PROJECT-angular-app \
--enable-cdn

  3. Create a multi-regional IP address:

    gcloud compute addresses create angular-app-ip --global
ANGULAR_APP_IP=$(gcloud compute addresses list  --filter="name=angular-app-ip" --format="value(address)")

  4. Create the URL map:

    gcloud compute url-maps create web-map --default-backend-bucket $PROJECT-angular-app-backend

  5. Create the HTTP proxy:

    gcloud compute target-http-proxies create http-lb-proxy \
--url-map web-map

  6. Create the forwarding rule:

    gcloud compute forwarding-rules create http-content-rule \
--address angular-app-ip \
--global \
--target-http-proxy http-lb-proxy \
--ports 80

Create the Cloud Build file and add it to the Git repository

  1. Give the Cloud Build account Cloud Storage admin access:

    CLOUD_BUILD_ACCOUNT=$(gcloud projects get-iam-policy $PROJECT --filter="(bindings.role:roles/cloudbuild)"  --flatten="bindings[].members" --format="value(bindings.members[])")
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT   --member $CLOUD_BUILD_ACCOUNT  --role roles/storage.admin

  2. Create the cloudbuild.yaml file:

     cat <<CLOUDBUILD_FILE>cloudbuild.yaml
 steps:
 - id: install_packages
   name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/npm'
   args:
   - 'install'
 - id: prerender_browser_files
   name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/npm'
   args:
   - 'run'
   - 'build:prerender'
   waitFor:
   - install_packages
 - id: copy_prerendered_files
   name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/gsutil'
   args: ['cp','-r','dist/browser/*', '\${_ANGULAR_APP_BUCKET_PATH}']
   waitFor:
   - prerender_browser_files
 - id: set_website_configuration
   name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/gsutil'
   args: ['web', 'set', '-m', 'index.html','\${_ANGULAR_APP_BUCKET_PATH}']
   waitFor:
   - copy_prerendered_files
 - id: set_permissions_for_website_files
   name: 'gcr.io/cloud-builders/gsutil'
   args: ['acl','ch','-u','AllUsers:R','-r', '\${_ANGULAR_APP_BUCKET_PATH}']
   waitFor:
   - copy_prerendered_files
 CLOUDBUILD_FILE

  3. Add and commit cloudbuild.yaml to the Git repository:

    git add cloudbuild.yaml && git commit -m "add cloudbuild.yaml"

Create a build trigger that will build, test and deploy your application to the Cloud CDN

You can create a trigger on the build triggers page of the Cloud Console by following these steps:

  1. Click Create Trigger.
  2. In the Name field, enter angular-universal-tour.
  3. Under Event, select Push to a tag.
  4. Under Source, select tour-of-heroes-universal as your Repository and the tag to match as your Tag.
  5. Under Build Configuration, select Cloud Build configuration file (yaml or json).
  6. In the Cloud Build configuration file location, enter cloudbuild.yaml.
  7. Under Substitution variables, click + Add variable.
  8. In the Variable field enter _ANGULAR_APP_BUCKET_PATH and in Value enter gs://[PROJECT]-angular-app, where [PROJECT] is the name of your project.
  9. Click Create to save your build trigger.

Add your tour-of-heroes Cloud Source repository as a remote repository with the name 'google'

  1. (OPTIONAL: Only if not running in Cloud Shell) Set up your Google credentials for Git:

    gcloud init && git config --global credential.https://source.developers.google.com.helper gcloud.sh

  2. Add the google cloud repository as a remote:

    git remote add google \
https://source.developers.google.com/p/$PROJECT/r/tour-of-heroes-universal

Run the build trigger and deploy the application

  1. Tag the repository:

    git tag v0.0

  2. Push the repository to google:

    git push google master && git push google --tags

Once the build and deployment finish, check that the website is deployed

  1. Open the Cloud Build console to show the build progress.
  2. Find the build that is in progress and click the link to view its progress.

  3. Once the build finishes, find the IP address of the load balancer you created above:

    gcloud compute addresses list  --filter="name=angular-app-ip" --format="value(address)"

  4. Point your browser at http://[ANGULAR_APP_IP], replacing [ANGULAR_APP_IP] with the IP address retrieved above.

Cleanup

  1. Delete the load balancer:

    gcloud compute forwarding-rules delete http-content-rule --global --quiet

gcloud compute target-http-proxies delete http-lb-proxy --quiet

gcloud compute url-maps delete web-map  --quiet

gcloud compute addresses delete angular-app-ip --global --quiet

  2. Delete the Cloud Storage bucket:

    gcloud compute backend-buckets delete $PROJECT-angular-app-backend --quiet

gsutil rm gs://$PROJECT-angular-app/**
gsutil rb gs://$PROJECT-angular-app

  3. Delete the build trigger:

    1. Navigate to the build triggers page of the Cloud Console
    2. On the line of the build trigger "tour-of-heroes-universal", select the menu trigger button
    3. Select Delete

  4. Delete the Cloud Source repository:

    gcloud source repos delete tour-of-heroes-universal --quiet

  5. (OPTIONAL) Disable APIs:

    gcloud services disable sourcerepo.googleapis.com
gcloud services disable containerregistry.googleapis.com
gcloud services disable cloudbuild.googleapis.com

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