angular - Angular2 app module with root level imports

Question

Shouldn't imports on the root level be available globally (With globally I mean to all sub-modules and components)?

I have the following root/app module :

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule, ApplicationRef } from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { HttpModule } from '@angular/http';
import { RouterModule } from '@angular/router';
import { appRouterProviders, routing } from './app.routes';
import { DashboardModule } from './dashboard/dashboard.module';
import { DecisionModule } from './decision/decision.module';
import { MdCoreModule }           from '@angular2-material/core';
import { MdButtonModule }         from '@angular2-material/button';
import { MdCardModule }           from '@angular2-material/card';
import { MdListModule }           from '@angular2-material/list';
import { MdSidenavModule }        from '@angular2-material/sidenav';
import { MdToolbarModule }        from '@angular2-material/toolbar';
import { MdIconModule }           from '@angular2-material/icon';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent                    
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    CommonModule,
    FormsModule,
    HttpModule,
    RouterModule,    
    routing,
    DashboardModule,
    MdCoreModule,
    MdButtonModule,
    MdCardModule,
    MdListModule,
    MdSidenavModule,    
    MdToolbarModule,
    MdIconModule
  ],
  providers: [
    appRouterProviders
  ],
  entryComponents: [ AppComponent ],
  bootstrap: [ AppComponent ]
})
export class AppModule {

}

If I try to use the material elements in one of my sub modules they don't display, this is what the sub module looks like:

import { NgModule }               from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule }           from '@angular/common';
import { FormsModule }            from '@angular/forms';
import { dashboardRouting }       from './dashboard.routes';
import { DashboardComponent }     from './dashboard.component';
import { ActionsDialogComponent } from './actions-dialog';

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    CommonModule,
    FormsModule,
    dashboardRouting,    
  ],
  declarations: [
    DashboardComponent,
    ActionsDialogComponent    
  ],
  providers: [    
  ]
})
export class DashboardModule {}

However if I import the material modules in the submodule they display. This is what the submodule looks like when the material design components work:

import { NgModule }               from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule }           from '@angular/common';
import { FormsModule }            from '@angular/forms';
import { dashboardRouting }       from './dashboard.routes';
import { DashboardComponent }     from './dashboard.component';
import { ActionsDialogComponent } from './actions-dialog';
import { MdCoreModule }           from '@angular2-material/core';
import { MdButtonModule }         from '@angular2-material/button';
import { MdCardModule }           from '@angular2-material/card';
import { MdListModule }           from '@angular2-material/list';
import { MdSidenavModule }        from '@angular2-material/sidenav';
import { MdToolbarModule }        from '@angular2-material/toolbar';
import { MdIconModule }           from '@angular2-material/icon';

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    CommonModule,
    FormsModule,
    dashboardRouting,
    MdCoreModule,
    MdButtonModule,
    MdCardModule,
    MdListModule,
    MdSidenavModule,    
    MdToolbarModule,
    MdIconModule,
  ],
  declarations: [
    DashboardComponent,
    ActionsDialogComponent    
  ],
  providers: [    
  ]
})
export class DashboardModule {}

Why must the material modules be imported on the sublevel again if they are already imported at the root level?

Answer 1

Angular's documentation is confusing, they state in several areas that modules you import in the root module(app.module.ts) are available globally, but what is not quickly evident unless you read thoroughly (blah) is that when you use a submodule it breaks that inheritance and a submodule creates it's own app domain for components (not services, services are still global, at least the way I read it). That's also why if you were like me, I noticed some items I had to import into my sub-module, and others I didn't which really confused me. Here's the section on angular.io that discusses this: NgModule.html

Something else worth mentioning: I thought developing in Angular2 since RC5+ meant that I needed to wrap all my features up into modules, this is simply not the case. Modules aren't really necessary for us to build in our general day to day work with Angular2 unless you want to use lazy loading or are specifically desiring to share code with others, for example an npm package.