What is entryComponents in angular ngModule?

This is for dynamically added components that are added using ViewContainerRef.createComponent(). Adding them to entryComponents tells the offline template compiler to compile them and create factories for them.

The components registered in route configurations are added automatically to entryComponents as well because router-outlet also uses ViewContainerRef.createComponent() to add routed components to the DOM.

Offline template compiler (OTC) only builds components that are actually used. If components aren't used in templates directly the OTC can't know whether they need to be compiled. With entryComponents you can tell the OTC to also compile this components so they are available at runtime.

What is an entry component? (angular.io)

NgModule docs (angular.io)

Defines the components that should be compiled as well when this component is defined. For each components listed here, Angular will create a ComponentFactory and store it in the ComponentFactoryResolver.

If you don't list a dynamically added component to entryComponents you'll get an error message a bout a missing factory because Angular won't have created one.

See also https://angular.io/docs/ts/latest/cookbook/dynamic-component-loader.html

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The other answers mention this but the basic summary is:

It's needed when a Component is NOT used in the html , ex:

For example with Angular Material Dialogs you use them indirectly, they are created inside the TS code and not the html:

openDialog() {
    const dialogRef = this.dialog.open(MyExampleDialog, { width: '250px'});
}

This requires you to register it as an entryComponent:

entryComponents: [MyExampleDialog]

Otherwise you get a error:

ERROR Error: No component factory found for MyExampleDialog. Did you add it to @NgModule.entryComponents?

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You won't get explanation better than Angular docs: entry-components and ngmodule-faq.

And below is the explanation from the angular docs.

An entry component is any component that Angular loads imperatively by type. A component loaded declaratively via its selector is not an entry component. Most application components are loaded declaratively. Angular uses the component's selector to locate the element in the template. It then creates the HTML representation of the component and inserts it into the DOM at the selected element. These aren't entry components. A few components are only loaded dynamically and are never referenced in a component template. The bootstrapped root AppComponent is an entry component. True, its selector matches an element tag in index.html. But index.html isn't a component template and the AppComponent selector doesn't match an element in any component template. Angular loads AppComponent dynamically because it's either listed by type in @NgModule.bootstrap or boostrapped imperatively with the module's ngDoBootstrap method. Components in route definitions are also entry components. A route definition refers to a component by its type. The router ignores a routed component's selector (if it even has one) and loads the component dynamically into a RouterOutlet. The compiler can't discover these entry components by looking for them in other component templates. You must tell it about them by adding them to the entryComponents list. Angular automatically adds the following types of components to the module's entryComponents: The component in the @NgModule.bootstrap list. Components referenced in router configuration. You don't have to mention these components explicitly, although doing so is harmless.

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As of Angular 9 entryComponents is no longer required thanks to Ivy allowing this feature to be deprecated and so can be removed from module declarations.

Deprecated APIs and features - entryComponents and ANALYZE_FOR_ENTRY_COMPONENTS no longer required

Previously, the entryComponents array in the NgModule definition was used to tell the compiler which components would be created and inserted dynamically. With Ivy, this isn't a requirement anymore and the entryComponents array can be removed from existing module declarations. The same applies to the ANALYZE_FOR_ENTRY_COMPONENTS injection token.

Angular Ivy

Ivy is the code name for Angular's next-generation compilation and rendering pipeline. With the version 9 release of Angular, the new compiler and runtime instructions are used by default instead of the older compiler and runtime, known as View Engine.

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The entryComponents array is used to define only components that are not found in html and created dynamically. Angular requires this hint to find entry component and compile them.

There are two main types of entry components:

The bootstrapped root component.

A component you specify in a route definition.

For more detailed information around entry components, please refer angular.io https://angular.io/guide/entry-components

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With Angular 13.1, EntryComponent is deprecated. Refs: https://github.com/angular/angular/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#1310-2021-12-09

See also: https://angular.io/guide/deprecations#entrycomponents-and-analyze_for_entry_components-no-longer-required

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A Bit of Background about entryComponent

entryComponent is any component Angular loads imperatively. You can declare entryComponent by bootstrapping it in NgModule or in route definitions.

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    FormsModule,
    HttpClientModule,
    AppRoutingModule
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent] // bootstrapped entry component
})

Documentation says below

To contrast the two types of components, there are components which are included in the template, which are declarative. Additionally, there are components which you load imperatively; that is, entry components.

Now to answer your specific question about entryComponents

There is entryComponents array in @NgModule file. You can use this to add entryComponents if component is bootstrapped using ViewContainerRef.createComponent().

That is you're creating components dynamically and not by bootstrapping or in template.

const componentFactory = this.componentFactoryResolver.resolveComponentFactory(myComp.component);
const viewContainerRef = this.compHost.viewContainerRef;
viewContainerRef.clear();
const componentRef = viewContainerRef.createComponent(componentFactory);

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