Angular-Material Sidenav cdkScrollable

Question

The Angular Material CDK provides a Directive CdkScrollable , which allows you to listen to ScrollEvent s of a specific container.
I am now trying to access the CdkScrollable of the MatSidenavContent , which is added by default.
However my @ViewChild(CdkScrollable) and @ContentChild(CdkScrollable) are always undefined.

My Component looks something like this:

<mat-sidenav-container>
    <mat-sidenav>Sidenav content</mat-sidenav>
    <div>Main content</div>
</mat-sidenav-container>

The resulting DOM looks something like this:

<mat-sidenav-container>
    <div class="mat-drawer-backdrop"></div>
    <div tabindex="-1" class="cdk-visually-hidden cdk-focus-trap-anchor"></div>
    <mat-sidenav>Sidenav content</mat-sidenav>
    <mat-sidenav-content cdkScrollable>
          <div>Main content</div>
    </mat-sidenav-content>
</mat-sidenav-container>

The mat-sidenav-content Component , which is generated automatically, uses a CdkScrollable -Directive, which I need to access.
My question is now:
Is it possible to access that Directive and if so, how?

Answer 1

1. Add to your app module imports: ScrollDispatchModule .
2. Add cdkScrollable to your mat-sidenav-content :

<mat-sidenav-content cdkScrollable> </mat-sidenav-content>

3. In your root component:

a) inject ScrollDispatcher from @angular/cdk/overlay and subscribe to scrolling:

constructor(public scroll: ScrollDispatcher) {

    this.scrollingSubscription = this.scroll
          .scrolled()
          .subscribe((data: CdkScrollable) => {
            this.onWindowScroll(data);
          });
}

c) do something when scrolling, eg check the offset

private onWindowScroll(data: CdkScrollable) {
    const scrollTop = data.getElementRef().nativeElement.scrollTop || 0;
    if (this.lastOffset > scrollTop) {
      // console.log('Show toolbar');
    } else if (scrollTop < 10) {
      // console.log('Show toolbar');
    } else if (scrollTop > 100) {
      // console.log('Hide toolbar');
    }

    this.lastOffset = scrollTop;
  }

Documentation: https://material.angular.io/cdk/scrolling/api

Update Angular 9 :

Use import {ScrollingModule} from '@angular/cdk/scrolling' , ScrollDispatchModule is deprecated

Answer 2

I opened an Issue on @angular/material some time ago and they now expose the CdkScrollable -Instance.
To use it, you need to access the MatSidenavContainer using @ViewChild(MatSidenavContainer . This instance has a public member scrollable , which is the CdkScrollable instance.
An example can be found here

Edit: As the example is not very complete and a few people are having difficulties implementing it, I'll write my own example here:

HTML :

<mat-sidenav-container>
    <mat-sidenav #sidenav>
        Sidenav Content
    </mat-sidenav>
    <div>
        Main Content
    </div>
</mat-sidenav-container>

TypeScript:

import { Component, AfterViewInit, ViewChild } from '@angular/core';
import { MatSidenavContainer } from '@angular/material';

@Component({
  selector: 'my-app',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: [ './app.component.css' ]
})
export class AppComponent implements AfterViewInit  {
  @ViewChild(MatSidenavContainer) sidenavContainer: MatSidenavContainer;

    constructor() {
    }

    ngAfterViewInit() {
      console.log(this.sidenavContainer.scrollable);
    }
}

Important :

1. Don't use <mat-sidenav-content> . This tag is generated automatically and it has the cdkScrollable directive attached to it. If you use <mat-sidenav-content> in your own template, the scrollable will be undefined.
2. Use AfterViewInit instead of OnInit . As much as I know, @ViewChild is resolved in AfterViewInit , OnInit is probably too early.