@Debug() decorator for Angular and Node.js

Debugging is very important task of software development process. However many times we forget to remove debugging related code before deploying in production environment.

In this story, I will introduce a new @Debug() decorator which can be used in Angular and Node.js with TypeScript projects.

ng-debug-decorator

Angular client

In Angular, we can use environment.production variable defined inside environment.ts and environment.prod.ts file. If you build your application using ng build command then it will be built in development mode and environment.production will be false. If you build it with ng build --prod command then it will be true.

So you can write debug code as below. Here sayBye() function will be called only in development mode. As soon as you build your application in production mode, this function will not get called.

@Debug() decorator

I have published a new decorator called @Debug() which we can apply on Angular application methods marking them for development purpose only. In below code, sayHi() method has @Debug decorator applied.

Usage

• Install ng-debug-decorator npm package by running below command in your Angular application

npm i --save-dev ng-debug-decorator

• Provide environment information to @SetupEnvironment(environment) decorator on ngOnInit() function of app.component.ts component.

Apply `@Debug()` decorator on Component/Service/(any TypeScript class) method(s)

• Build application in development mode by running command ng build.
• Navigate to dist folder and run website using any web server e.g. lite-server.
• You should see method being executed with @Debug() decorator
• Now, build applicatiojs n using ng build --prod command
• Navigate to dist folder and run website using any web server e.g. `lite-server`.
• Now you should not see output of method(s) on which @Debug() decorator is applied.

Here is the Angular client example repository:

ultrasonicsoft/ng-debug-decorator-client

Node.js client:

You can use @Debug() decorator in Node.js application with TypeScript support as well.

You can specify environment for Node.js application by setting up process.env.NODE_ENV variable value. To run application in specific environment, you can execute command NODE_ENV=production node . for production or NODE_ENV=development node . for development environment.

Usage

• Install ng-debug-decorator npm package by running below command in your Nod.ejs application

npm i ng-debug-decorator

• Import Debug() function from ng-debug-decorator package

import { Debug } from "ng-debug-decorator";

• Apply @Debug() decorator on class method’s

• Update package.json for specifying environment settings

"scripts": {
   "start": "NODE_ENV=development node ."
}

• Run application by executing command npm run start.

If you are in production environment then all methods with @Debug() method won’t get executed at runtime.

You can find source code for Node.js client in below repository.

ultrasonicsoft/node-debug-decorator-client