feat: search and install Schematics

Start with packages/@angular/cli/tasks/schematic-search.ts and the linked prototype commit, then compare its behavior with the RFC's ng search examples. Review how the NPM registry and Schematics package identification are expected to work, including the note that installation was implemented through ng add. Done criteria remain to be agreed for search, interactive selection, package discovery, and local installation.

RFC: Search and install Angular CLI Schematics

tl;dr

The goal of this proposal is to add a new ng command allowing to search and install Angular CLI Schematics right from the command line, using the NPM registry. Read below for more technical details.

Longer version

The Angular CLI has introduced support for Schematics allowing developers to easily extend or even completely change the default behavior of the Angular CLI commands. With Schematics, we can (for instance)...

• use the official ng update command to update the Angular dependencies of a project (and more).
• use the Nrwl Nx Workspace to scaffold enterprise-grade Angular applications with proven project structure and patterns.
• use your own Schematics to transform any Feature module to a Lazy Loading Feature module.

More generally, you can use Schematics to "[...] transforms to your project, such as create a new component or updating your code to fix breaking changes in a dependency. Or maybe you want to add a new configuration option or framework to an existing project". Read more on the angular.io.

The Angular community has already started creating custom Schematics, here are some of them:

• @nrwl/schematics
• @ngrx/schematics
• @ionic-angular/schematics
• @nativescript/schematics
• @angular-extensions/schematics
• @ssilvert/keycloak-schematic
• @decerto/schematics
• @michael.warneke/ng-schematics
• material-schematics
• ngx-schematics-collection
• angular-crud
• custom-schematics
• ng-schematics-utils
• enterprise-angular-generator

We expect the number of the Angular CLI Schematics to grow; hence, the goal of this thread is to discuss the ability to add a new ng command allowing to (right from the command line):

Note: the commands used below ng search ** are just for illustration purposes!

0. Searching for available Schematics

> ng search foo_
● foo_abc     (description)      (popularity index)
○ foo_def     (description)      (popularity index)   
○ foo_ghi     (description)      (popularity index)
○ foo_ijk     (description)      (popularity index)

1. Interactively search for Schematics

> ng search
? Find and install Angular CLI Schematics: foo_
● foo_abc     (description)      (popularity index)
○ foo_def     (description)      (popularity index)   
○ foo_ghi     (description)      (popularity index)
○ foo_ijk     (description)      (popularity index)

2. Interactively installing Schematics

> ng search 
? Find and install Angular CLI Schematics: bar_ [ENTER]
● bar_def     (description)      (popularity index)   
○ bar_ijk     (description)      (popularity index)

Installing packages for tooling via npm...

3. Install Schematics
   NOTE: This was implemented via the ng add command.

> ng schematics install foo_abc foo_ghi
Installing...

In order for this search to be done, we will leverage the NPM infrastructure and use the public registry as the database and we need to be able to identify what NPM packages are actually Angular CLI Schematics. Here are different proposals:

1. Use the current schematics property in the package.json, eg. see example:

{
  ...
  "schematics": "./src/collection.json"
}

2. Use an NPM named scope, eg. @ngxschematics (ngx being the community reserved prefix we agreed on (cc @IgorMinar) — @schematics is already reserved for the official Schematics made by the Angular team). The community NPM scope (@ngxschematics) would obviously be owned (and maintained) by the Angular core team. So (community) Schematics authors will have to send PRs to that repository to make their Schematics available (listed) in the Angular CLI search command (discussed here). This approach is similar to the DefinitelyTyped project (@types/**).

3. Have some sort of a "Market Place for Schematics" (out of the scope of this proposal). This could be merged with the previous solution.

4. Community Schematics authors would have to tag their schematics with an explicit set of tags, eg. (angular, schematics). Community Schematics that aren't tagged using these keywords won't be listed by the Angular CLI search command (discussed here).

Other topics to cover (later) are:

1. list, update or remove local Schematics.
2. Replace an active Schematic, eg. defaults, with a new one.

The search process would be done by using 3rd party search APIs that interface with the NPM registry (offering probably better performances?), here are some of them:

1. npms.io
2. npmsearch.com
3. github.com/algolia/npm-search
4. npm search

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Similar projects (inspiration):

• https://github.com/maticzav/emma-cli
• https://microsoft.github.io/TypeSearch/
• Vue CLI search command

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Please use Github's emoji to express your interest in this draft.

cc @hansl @Brocco @filipesilva

[UPDATE] working prototype (https://github.com/manekinekko/angular-cli/blob/search-install-schematics/packages/%40angular/cli/tasks/schematic-search.ts)

[UPDATE] upgrade ptotype to v6.0.0-rc.6 (https://github.com/manekinekko/angular-cli/commit/37063374c731386b460fff925183a9d461d0a364)