diff --git a/aio/src/app/embedded/code/code-example.component.ts b/aio/src/app/embedded/code/code-example.component.ts
index 155a2c34cd..bdf44d1caf 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/embedded/code/code-example.component.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/embedded/code/code-example.component.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /* tslint:disable component-selector */
 import { Component, ElementRef, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
+import { getBoolFromAttribute } from 'app/shared/attribute-utils';
 
 /**
  * An embeddable code block that displays nicely formatted code.
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ export class CodeExampleComponent implements OnInit {
     this.path = element.getAttribute('path') || '';
     this.region = element.getAttribute('region') || '';
     this.title = element.getAttribute('title') || '';
-    this.hideCopy = element.getAttribute('hideCopy') === 'true';
+    this.hideCopy = getBoolFromAttribute(element, ['hidecopy', 'hide-copy']);
   }
 
   ngOnInit() {
diff --git a/aio/src/app/embedded/live-example/live-example.component.ts b/aio/src/app/embedded/live-example/live-example.component.ts
index c67b1fc0bd..b2d52708e2 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/embedded/live-example/live-example.component.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/embedded/live-example/live-example.component.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import { Component, ElementRef, HostListener, Input, OnInit, AfterViewInit, ViewChild } from '@angular/core';
 import { Location } from '@angular/common';
 
+import { boolFromValue, getAttrs, getAttrValue } from 'app/shared/attribute-utils';
+
 const defaultPlnkrImg = 'plunker/placeholder.png';
 const imageBase  = 'content/images/';
 const liveExampleBase = 'content/live-examples/';
@@ -87,7 +89,7 @@ export class LiveExampleComponent implements OnInit {
     private elementRef: ElementRef,
     location: Location ) {
 
-    const attrs = this.attrs = this.getAttrs();
+    const attrs = this.attrs = getAttrs(this.elementRef);
     let exampleDir = attrs.name;
     if (!exampleDir) {
       // take last segment, excluding hash fragment and query params
@@ -98,12 +100,11 @@ export class LiveExampleComponent implements OnInit {
     this.plnkrName = attrs.plnkr ? attrs.plnkr.trim() + '.' : '';
     this.zip = `${zipBase}${exampleDir}/${this.plnkrName}${this.zipName}.zip`;
 
-    const noDownload = this.getAttrValue(['noDownload', 'nodownload']); // noDownload aliases
-    this.enableDownload = !boolFromAtty(noDownload);
+    this.enableDownload = !boolFromValue(getAttrValue(attrs, 'nodownload'));
 
     this.plnkrImg = imageBase + (attrs.img || defaultPlnkrImg);
 
-    if (boolFromAtty(this.getAttrValue(['downloadOnly', 'downloadonly']))) {
+    if (boolFromValue(getAttrValue(attrs, 'downloadonly'))) {
       this.mode = 'downloadOnly';
     }
   }
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ export class LiveExampleComponent implements OnInit {
     let plnkrStyle = 'eplnkr'; // embedded style by default
     this.mode = 'default';     // display in another browser tab by default
 
-    this.isEmbedded = boolFromAtty(attrs.embedded);
+    this.isEmbedded = boolFromValue(attrs.embedded);
 
     if (this.isEmbedded) {
       this.mode = 'embedded'; // display embedded in the doc
@@ -126,11 +127,11 @@ export class LiveExampleComponent implements OnInit {
       // If wide enough, choose style based on style attributes
       if (width > this.narrowWidth) {
         // Make flat style with `flat-style` or `embedded-style="false`; support atty aliases
-        const flatStyle = this.getAttrValue(['flat-style', 'flatstyle', 'flatStyle']);
-        const isFlatStyle = boolFromAtty(flatStyle);
+        const flatStyle = getAttrValue(attrs, ['flat-style', 'flatstyle']);
+        const isFlatStyle = boolFromValue(flatStyle);
 
-        const embeddedStyle = this.getAttrValue(['embedded-style', 'embeddedstyle', 'embeddedStyle']);
-        const isEmbeddedStyle = boolFromAtty(embeddedStyle, !isFlatStyle);
+        const embeddedStyle = getAttrValue(attrs, ['embedded-style', 'embeddedstyle']);
+        const isEmbeddedStyle = boolFromValue(embeddedStyle, !isFlatStyle);
         plnkrStyle = isEmbeddedStyle ? 'eplnkr' : 'plnkr';
       }
     }
@@ -138,17 +139,6 @@ export class LiveExampleComponent implements OnInit {
     this.plnkr = `${liveExampleBase}${exampleDir}/${this.plnkrName}${plnkrStyle}.html`;
   }
 
-  getAttrs(): any {
-    const attrs = this.elementRef.nativeElement.attributes;
-    const attrMap = {};
-    Object.keys(attrs).forEach(key => attrMap[attrs[key].name] = attrs[key].value);
-    return attrMap;
-  }
-
-  getAttrValue(atty: string | string[]) {
-    return this.attrs[typeof atty === 'string' ? atty : atty.find(a => this.attrs[a] !== undefined)];
-  }
-
   ngOnInit() {
     // The `liveExampleContent` property is set by the DocViewer when it builds this component.
     // It is the original innerHTML of the host element.
@@ -168,11 +158,6 @@ export class LiveExampleComponent implements OnInit {
   toggleEmbedded () { this.showEmbedded = !this.showEmbedded; }
 }
 
-function boolFromAtty(atty: string , def: boolean = false) {
-  // tslint:disable-next-line:triple-equals
-  return atty == undefined ? def :  atty.trim() !== 'false';
-}
-
 ///// EmbeddedPlunkerComponent ///
 /**
  * Hides the <iframe> so we can test LiveExampleComponent without actually triggering
diff --git a/aio/src/app/shared/attribute-utils.spec.ts b/aio/src/app/shared/attribute-utils.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c677f44a15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/src/app/shared/attribute-utils.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+import { ElementRef } from '@angular/core';
+
+import { getAttrs, getAttrValue, getBoolFromAttribute, boolFromValue } from './attribute-utils';
+
+describe('Attribute Utilities', () => {
+  let testEl: HTMLElement;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    const div = document.createElement('div');
+    div.innerHTML = `<div a b="true" c="false" D="foo" d-E></div>`;
+    testEl = div.querySelector('div');
+  });
+
+  describe('#getAttrs', () => {
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      this.expectedMap = {
+        a: '',
+        b: 'true',
+        c: 'false',
+        d: 'foo',
+        'd-e': ''
+      };
+    });
+
+    it('should get attr map from getAttrs(element)', () => {
+      const actual = getAttrs(testEl);
+      expect(actual).toEqual(this.expectedMap);
+    });
+
+    it('should get attr map from getAttrs(elementRef)', () => {
+      const actual = getAttrs(new ElementRef(testEl));
+      expect(actual).toEqual(this.expectedMap);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('#getAttrValue', () => {
+    let attrMap: { [index: string]: string };
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      attrMap = getAttrs(testEl);
+    });
+
+    it('should return empty string value for attribute "a"', () => {
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'a')).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('should return empty string value for attribute "A"', () => {
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'a')).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('should return "true" for attribute "b"', () => {
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'b')).toBe('true');
+    });
+
+    it('should return empty string value for attribute "d-E"', () => {
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'd-e')).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('should return empty string for attribute ["d-e"]', () => {
+      // because d-e will be found before d
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, ['d-e'])).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('should return "foo" for attribute ["d", "d-e"]', () => {
+      // because d will be found before d-e
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, ['d', 'd-e'])).toBe('foo');
+    });
+
+    it('should return empty string for attribute ["d-e", "d"]', () => {
+      // because d-e will be found before d
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, ['d-e', 'd'])).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('should return undefined value for non-existent attribute "x"', () => {
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'x')).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    it('should return undefined if no argument', () => {
+      expect(getAttrValue(attrMap)).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+  });
+
+  describe('#boolFromValue', () => {
+    let attrMap: { [index: string]: string };
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      attrMap = getAttrs(testEl);
+    });
+
+    it('should return true for present but unassigned attr "a"', () => {
+      expect(boolFromValue(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'a'))).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return true for attr "b" which is "true"', () => {
+      expect(boolFromValue(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'b'))).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for attr "c" which is "false"', () => {
+      expect(boolFromValue(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'c'))).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should return false by default for undefined attr "x"', () => {
+      expect(boolFromValue(getAttrValue(attrMap, 'x'))).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should return true for undefined attr "x" when default is true', () => {
+      const value = getAttrValue(attrMap, 'x');
+      expect(boolFromValue(value, true)).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for undefined attr "x" when default is false', () => {
+      const value = getAttrValue(attrMap, 'x');
+      expect(boolFromValue(value, false)).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should return true for present but unassigned attr "a" even when default is false', () => {
+      // default value is only applied when the attribute is missing
+      const value = getAttrValue(attrMap, 'a');
+      expect(boolFromValue(value, false)).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+  // Combines the three utilities for convenience.
+  describe('#getBoolFromAttribute', () => {
+    it('should return true for present but unassigned attr "a"', () => {
+      expect(getBoolFromAttribute(testEl, 'a')).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return true for attr "b" which is "true"', () => {
+      expect(getBoolFromAttribute(testEl, 'b')).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for attr "c" which is "false"', () => {
+      expect(getBoolFromAttribute(testEl, 'c')).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should return true for attributes ["d-e", "d"]', () => {
+      // because d-e will be found before D="foo"
+      expect(getBoolFromAttribute(testEl, ['d-e', 'd'])).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for non-existent attribute "x"', () => {
+      expect(getBoolFromAttribute(testEl, 'x')).toBe(false);
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/aio/src/app/shared/attribute-utils.ts b/aio/src/app/shared/attribute-utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8abf7af2d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/src/app/shared/attribute-utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// Utilities for processing HTML element attributes
+import { ElementRef } from '@angular/core';
+
+interface StringMap { [index: string]: string; }
+
+/**
+ * Get attribute map from element or ElementRef `attributes`.
+ * Attribute map keys are forced lowercase for case-insensitive lookup.
+ * @param el The source of the attributes
+ */
+export function getAttrs(el:  HTMLElement | ElementRef): StringMap {
+  const attrs: NamedNodeMap = el instanceof ElementRef ? el.nativeElement.attributes : el.attributes;
+  const attrMap = {};
+  Object.keys(attrs).forEach(key =>
+    attrMap[(attrs[key] as Attr).name.toLowerCase()] = (attrs[key] as Attr).value);
+  return attrMap;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return the attribute that matches `atty`.
+ * @param atty Name of the attribute or a string of candidate attribute names
+ */
+export function getAttrValue(attrs: StringMap, attr: string | string[] = ''): string {
+  return attrs[typeof attr === 'string' ? attr : attr.find(a => attrs[a] !== undefined)];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return the boolean state of an attribute value (if supplied)
+ * @param attyValue The string value of some attribute (or undefined if attribute not present)
+ * @param def Default boolean value when attribute is undefined.
+ */
+export function boolFromValue(attrValue: string, def: boolean = false) {
+  // tslint:disable-next-line:triple-equals
+  return attrValue == undefined ? def :  attrValue.trim() !== 'false';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return the boolean state of attribute from an element
+ * @param el The source of the attributes
+ * @param atty Name of the attribute or a string of candidate attribute names
+ * @param def Default boolean value when attribute is undefined.
+ */
+export function getBoolFromAttribute(
+  el:  HTMLElement | ElementRef,
+  attr: string | string[],
+  def: boolean = false): boolean {
+  return boolFromValue(getAttrValue(getAttrs(el), attr), def);
+}