angular / angular/components

cdk-virtual-scroll: newly-rendered list items seem to inherit internal state from the _templateCache

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#15,838 4 comments 28 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
area: cdk/scrolling P4
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Description

#### What is the expected behavior?

New components rendered by `CdkVirtualForOf` are pristine by default.

#### What is the current behavior?

New components created by `CdkVirtualForOf` within the `` inherit internal state of recycled views by default.

#### What are the steps to reproduce?

https://stackblitz.com/edit/angular-virtual-scrolling-with-component-state

1. Click on *Data Item 3*
1. Scroll down
1. Observe *Data Item 12* is "active"
1. Scroll down
1. Observe *Data Item 23* is "active".
1. Scroll up
1. Observe *Data Item 10* is "active" (a different one, now)

#### Which versions of Angular, Material, OS, TypeScript, browsers are affected?

```
Angular CLI: 7.3.8
Node: 11.12.0
OS: win32 x64
Angular: 7.2.12
... animations, common, compiler, compiler-cli, core, forms
... http, language-service, platform-browser
... platform-browser-dynamic, platform-server, router
... service-worker

Package Version
-----------------------------------------------------------
@angular-devkit/architect 0.13.6
@angular-devkit/build-angular 0.13.6
@angular-devkit/build-optimizer 0.13.6
@angular-devkit/build-webpack 0.13.6
@angular-devkit/core 7.1.4
@angular-devkit/schematics 7.1.4
@angular/cdk 7.3.7
@angular/cli 7.3.8
@angular/pwa 0.11.4
@ngtools/webpack 7.3.6
@schematics/angular 7.1.4
@schematics/update 0.13.8
rxjs 6.4.0
typescript 3.2.4
webpack 4.29.0
```

- Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 10.0.17763 N/A Build 17763
- Chrome Version 73.0.3683.103 (Official Build) (64-bit)
- FireFox Developer Edition 67.0b9 (64-bit)

#### Is there anything else we should know?

Surely this is the very intent of [view recycling](https://github.com/angular/material2/blob/master/src/cdk/scrolling/scrolling.md#view-recycling), but it seems very strange that the default behaviour of `*cdkVirtualFor` is very different from `*ngFor`: my bound parameters changed, the data rendered via the `@Input()` changed, so why didn't the internal state reset?

It's more than _template_ caching, which most of us would take to mean the HTML: it caches whole components and internal state.

Obviously, setting `templateCacheSize: 0` fixes this problem.

Maybe simply highlighting this in the documentation might help, since you have to read between the lines to understand what's happening? Perhaps I'm the only one with this expectation. 🤷‍♂️

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Reproduce the state leakage with the linked StackBlitz, then inspect CdkVirtualForOf and the templateCacheSize view-recycling behavior. Determine whether recycled components should reset internal state or whether the behavior needs clearer documentation, and verify the chosen outcome against the reported scrolling steps.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
angular, typescript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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