Angular Content Not Rendering on Mobile Deployment via Capacitor

Below is a summary of common causes and solutions to consider when the Angular content displays correctly with ng serve but appears missing on mobile via Capacitor.

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1. Base href Issues

Angular routing relies on the base href specified in index.html. In a Capacitor app, the app is served from a local file (file:///) which may not resolve the same way as a web server.

• Check: Ensure the tag is correctly set in your index.html.

• Solution: If necessary, try using a hash-based router (set up HashLocationStrategy) to avoid problems with deep linking on file:// URLs.

  TYPESCRIPTCopied
  // In your AppModule:
  import { HashLocationStrategy, LocationStrategy } from '@angular/common';
  
  @NgModule({
    // ...
    providers: [{ provide: LocationStrategy, useClass: HashLocationStrategy }],
  })
  export class AppModule {}

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2. Routing and File URL Handling

When using file:// as the protocol, Angular’s HTML5 routing might not behave as expected. Using hash-based routing avoids making HTTP requests for abnormal paths during navigation.

• Action: Switch your routing LocationStrategy as described above or adjust deploy settings in capacitor.config.ts.
• Debug Tip: Use remote debugging (e.g., Chrome remote debugging for Android) to check for 404 errors in file requests that might cause the Angular components not to load.

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3. Async Data and Change Detection

Sometimes the data fetching from Firebase might run asynchronously. On mobile, especially with plugins involved, you might run into issues where Angular’s change detection is not triggered after a native API call.

• Check: Look for any console errors regarding Angular’s change detection or missing zones.

• Solution: Force Angular’s change detection if necessary using NgZone.

  TYPESCRIPTCopied
  import { NgZone } from '@angular/core';
  
  constructor(private ngZone: NgZone) {}
  
  someFirebaseCall() {
    firebaseCall().then(data => {
      this.ngZone.run(() => {
        this.data = data;
      });
    });
  }

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4. Plugin Interference

Since you’re using the @capacitor-firebase/authentication plugin:

• Check: Ensure that the plugin’s integration does not interfere with the Angular runtime. Some plugins may change or invoke native code that impacts your app’s rendering.
• Action: Temporarily disable the plugin to verify whether it affects the rendering. If it does, check the plugin’s documentation or raise an issue with its repository.

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5. Deployment Differences

The Capacitor build and deployment process sometimes results in file paths or environment differences between development (ng serve) and production builds.

• Action: Verify that the contents of the www folder are as expected and that no assets are missing.
• Tip: Build using ng build --prod or similar to mimic production and test locally with a simple HTTP server. Then, compare with the Capacitor-deployed version.

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Conclusion

The blank content can be due to several factors related to routing configuration (base href and location strategy), asynchronous data updates (zone issues), plugin interference, or deployment path differences. Start by checking the base href and switching to hash-based routing, then debug using remote tools to catch any runtime errors on the device.

Feel free to provide additional console logs or errors if further debugging is needed.