Button Group

The Ignite UI for Angular Button Group component is used to organize buttons into styled button groups with horizontal/vertical alignment, single/multiple selection and toggling.

Angular Button Group Example

Usage

First Steps

The Button Group is exported as an NgModule, thus you will need to import the IgxButtonGroupModule inside your AppModule:

// app.module.ts

import { IgxButtonGroupModule } from 'igniteui-angular';
// import { IgxButtonGroupModule } from '@infragistics/igniteui-angular'; for licensed package

@NgModule({
    imports: [
        ...
        IgxButtonGroupModule,
        ...
    ]
})
export class AppModule {}

Add Button Group

Use the igx-buttongroup selector to wrap your buttons and display them into a button group. If you want a button to be selected by default, use the selected property:

<!-- sample.component.html -->
<igx-buttongroup>
    <button igxButton>
        <igx-icon>format_align_left</igx-icon>
    </button>
    <button igxButton>
        <igx-icon>format_align_center</igx-icon>
    </button>
    <button igxButton>
        <igx-icon>format_align_right</igx-icon>
    </button>
    <button igxButton [selected]="true">
        <igx-icon>format_align_justify</igx-icon>
    </button>
</igx-buttongroup>

Examples

Alignment

Use the alignment input property to set the orientation of the buttons in the button group.

//sample.component.ts
import { ButtonGroupAlignment } from 'igniteui-angular';
// import { ButtonGroupAlignment } from '@infragistics/igniteui-angular'; for licensed package

...
public alignment = ButtonGroupAlignment.vertical;
...

<!-- sample.component.html -->
<igx-buttongroup [alignment]="alignment">
    <button igxButton>Sofia</button>
    <button igxButton>London</button>
    <button igxButton [selected]="true">New York</button>
    <button igxButton>Tokyo</button>
</igx-buttongroup>

Multiple selection

Use the the multiSelection input property to enable the multiple selection in the button group.

<!-- sample.component.html -->
<igx-buttongroup [multiSelection]="true">
    <button igxButton>
        <igx-icon>format_bold</igx-icon>
    </button>
    <button igxButton>
        <igx-icon>format_italic</igx-icon>
    </button>
    <button igxButton>
        <igx-icon>format_underlined</igx-icon>
    </button>
</igx-buttongroup>

Display Density

The displayDensity input property is used to control the display density of a button group. This will set the style for the buttons in the group to cosy, compact or comfortable (default value) accordingly.

Note

The display density of a button within a button group is not changed if it is explicitly specified.

// sample.component.ts
...
public displayDensity = 'comfortable';
public displayDensities;

public ngOnInit() {
    this.displayDensities = [
        { label: 'compact', selected: this.displayDensity === 'compact', togglable: true },
        { label: 'cosy', selected: this.displayDensity === 'cosy', togglable: true },
        { label: 'comfortable', selected: this.displayDensity === 'comfortable', togglable: true }
    ];
}

public selectDensity(event) {
    this.displayDensity = this.displayDensities[event.index].label;
}
...

<!-- sample.component.html -->
<igx-buttongroup [values]="displayDensities" 
                 [displayDensity]="displayDensity"
                 (selected)="selectDensity($event)">
</igx-buttongroup>

Custom toggle buttons

Use the values input property to set an array of customized buttons in the button group.

// sample.component.ts

interface IButton {
    ripple?: string;
    label?: string;
    disabled?: boolean;
    togglable?: boolean;
    selected?: boolean;
    color?: string;
    icon?: string;
}

class ToggleButton {
    private ripple: string;
    private label: string;
    private disabled: boolean;
    private togglable: boolean;
    private selected: boolean;
    private color: string;
    private icon: string;

    constructor(obj?: IButton) {
        this.ripple = obj.ripple || 'gray';
        this.label = obj.label;
        this.selected = obj.selected || false;
        this.togglable = obj.togglable || true;
        this.disabled = obj.disabled || false;
        this.color = obj.color;
        this.icon = obj.icon;
    }
}
...
public bordersButtons: ToggleButton[];

public ngOnInit() {
    this.bordersButtons = [
        new ToggleButton({
            icon: 'border_top',
            selected: true
        }),
        new ToggleButton({
            icon: 'border_right',
            selected: false
        }),
        new ToggleButton({
            icon: 'border_bottom',
            selected: false
        }),
        new ToggleButton({
            icon: 'border_left',
            selected: false
        })
    ];
}
...

<!-- sample.component.html -->
<igx-buttongroup [multiSelection]="true" [values]="bordersButtons"></igx-buttongroup>

Styling

To get started with styling the button group, we need to import the index file, where all the theme functions and component mixins live:

@use "igniteui-angular/theming" as *;

// IMPORTANT: Prior to Ignite UI for Angular version 13 use:
// @import '~igniteui-angular/lib/core/styles/themes/index';

Following the simplest approach, we create a new theme that extends the button-group-theme and accepts some of the parameters that style the button group's items in their different states.

$custom-button-group: button-group-theme(
    $item-text-color: #fdfdfd,
    $item-background: #2f4d6a,
    $item-hover-text-color: #fdfdfd,
    $item-hover-background: #1f3347,
    $item-selected-text-color: #fdfdfd,
    $item-selected-background: #1f3347,
    $item-selected-hover-background: #1f3347,
    $disabled-text-color: gray,
    $disabled-background-color: lightgray
);

As seen, the button-group-theme exposes some useful parameters for basic styling of its items. If you want to drill deeper and change some button specific parameters, you can create a new theme that extends the button-theme and scope it under the respective button group class.

Using CSS variables

The last step is to include the component's theme.

@include css-vars($custom-button-group);

Using Theme Overrides

In order to style components for older browsers, like Internet Explorer 11, we have to use a different approach, since it doesn't support CSS variables.

If the component is using the Emulated ViewEncapsulation, it is necessary to penetrate this encapsulation using ::ng-deep. To prevent the custom theme to leak into other components, be sure to include the :host selector before ::ng-deep:

:host {
    ::ng-deep {
        @include button-group($custom-button-group);
    }
}