Angular Directive not executing on UI Bootstrap Modal open - angularjs

I have a one-page site that I am building out and this is my first time using Angular on a site. Building it on top of Laravel too for the backend but that is beyond the scope of this question.
I need to be able to open a modal on a main page view which will add a new resource (e.g. a new client) or edit a resource. I want to somehow get the form's html inside the modal body when the $uibModal.open()'s controller is called and set the $scope.modalBody equal to the injected items.modalBody (the only way this works is if I use:
$scope.modalBody = $sce.trustAsHtml(items.modalBody);
The only problem now is that anything inside the HTML body, Angular will not use it's magic and do any data-binding. It is still in the raw form of
{{ object.property }} or since I'm using Laravel and avoiding conflict with the Blade template engine:
<% object.property %>
See screenshot:
screenshot
I have been banging my head against the wall on this one...I have tried putting $scope.$apply() in my directive and my controller, neither of which worked. I have a feeling that is the source of my problem though. I have also tried making the html just a <new-client></new-client> directive and using templateUrl: 'views/clients/add.php' which would be ideal, but the template is not being included inside the <new-client></new-client>.
I'm using ui-bootstrap 0.14.3 and Angular 1.4.8.
Could this be a bug? Or am I doing something wrong? Anyone have a better way of getting a form into my modal? Let me know what code you want to see so I don't clutter this post with unnecessary code blocks.

I have come across a similar issue with using jQuery's AJAX to receive template strings and append it to a server.
So when HTML is added via jQuery, bound html string, etc., angular doesn't know it needs to automagically compile this data.
What you need to do is use the $compile service, to $compile your html and then attach the correct $scope to it:
`$compile('jQuerySelectorReturningHtmlOrAnHTMLStringThatNeedsToBeCompiled')($scope);`
There are multiple examples in Angulars Documentation for $compile that can give you an idea of what is happening. I think by what you have described the same thing is happening here in your situation.
The key is to call this $compile service function after the html has been bound to the page.
EDIT:
There are a few other options based on some comments, that will serve as a viable solution to rendering this content on your view. For example a directive that takes a string attribute representing the HTML string of your desired view.
1. Modify your directive template in the compile step:
You have the ability to modify your template before the directive compiles and binds any attributes to it, to that directives scope:
app.directive('myAwesomeCompileStepDirective', [myAwesomeCompileStepDirectivef]);
function myAwesomeCompileStepDirectiveFn() {
return {
restrict: 'EA',
compile: function compileFn(tAttrs, tElement) {
//Here you can access the attrs that are passed into your directive (aka html string)
tElement.html(tAttrs['stringThatYouWantToReplaceElementWith']);
return function linkFn(scope, element, attrs, controller, transcludeFn) {
//if all you want to do is update the template you really don't have to do anything
//here but I leave it defined anyways.
}
}
}
}
You can view a file I wrote for a npm component which uses this method to modify my directive template before it is compiled on the page & you can also view the codepen for the complete component to see it in action.
2. Use $compile service to call $compile in link function using directive attrs.
In the same way as the aforementioned method, you can instead inject the $compile service, and call the function mentioned above. This provides a bit more work, for you but more flexibility to listen to events and perform scope based functions which is not available in the compile function in option 1.

Related

Angular directive. NgTable data loading

In my AngularJS application I use directive to have flexible ability of template using. One of templates contains ngTable. Data for ngTable was loaded correctly from server till it was not wrapped with directive. To fix this issue I tried using onload event for including template to call method of parent controller. Seems i did not fix scope issue for ngTable, because as I can see getData: function(params) was not called. I think it was not called because of new NgTableParams was called\created in controller scope, not in directive.
Is any ideas how it can be fixed?
Great thanks to Mark Rajcok. In directive I changed scope in next way:
scope: true
All explanations and details here. So problems of injecting ng-table using directive is solved (possible it is not best way, but it is completely useful for me).

Best way to modify html before binding to it in AngularJS directive

I'm writing an AngularJS app that gets a list of posts from a server, and then uses an ngRepeat and a custom post directive to output all the posts.
Part of the post object is a blob of html, which I currently add to the directive by first doing an $sce.trustAsHtml(blob), and then using the ng-bind-html directive and passing the trusted html blob to it. It works fine, but now I want to modify the html before adding it to the output. For instance, I want to find all link tags and add a target="_blank" to it. I also want to remove any content editable attributes from any element. etc.
What is the best way of doing this? I was thinking of just loading it up in a document fragment and then recursively iterating through all of the children doing what I need to do. But I assume there is a better AngularJS way to do this?
EDIT:
here is a codepen with an example of what I have:
http://codepen.io/niltz/pen/neqlC?editors=101
You can create a filter and pipe (|) your content through it. Something like:
<p ng-bind="myblob | myCleanupFilter">
Your myCleanupFilter would look something like this (not tested):
angular.module('myApp').filter('myCleanupFilter', function () {
return function cleanup (content) {
content.replace('......') // write your cleanup logic here...
};
});
If you want to add attributes that are themselves directives, then the best place to add them is in the compile function in a custom directive.
If they are just plain old attributes, then there's nothing wrong with hooking into DOM ready in your run block, and adding your attributes with jquery.
var app = app.module('app',[]);
app.run(function ($rootScope){
$(document).ready(function()
$rootScope.$apply(function(){
$('a').attr('title','cool');
});
})
});
If you want add the attributes after the compile phase but before the linking phase in the angular life cycle then a good place to do it is in the controller function for a directive that's placed on the body element.
<body ng-controller="bodyCtrl">
</body>
app.controller('bodyCtrl', function($element){
$('a', $element).attr('title','cool');
});
During the compile phase angular will walk the DOM tree, matching elements to directives, and transforming the HTML along the way. During the link phase, directives will typically set up watch handlers to update the view when the model changes. By placing a directive on the body element, it ensures that all directives have been compiled, but the linking phase hasn't started yet.

How to structure Angular webapp with code crossing over in directive and controller?

I have code in a directive relating to a "highlightable image." The goal is to be able to create highlights on an image and attach a comment to it. So when you click on the image, it creates an annotation.
I have code in the controller for a tooltip toolbar, which you can use to attach a comment to the annotation. Currently, when the 'comment' button on this toolbar is pressed, the information is stored into the database. If you click 'cancel' on the toolbar, the highlight should be deleted.
My dilemma is that I'm not sure how to structure things to conform to the MVC design pattern. Specifically, clicking cancel occurs in the toolbar, but must affect the highlights (which are managed by the directive). And clicking comment must make a call to a service to modify the database.
I've considered moving the toolbar code into the directive, but decided otherwise because directives shouldn't be dealing with backend. And ideally, the toolbar should be in its own directive. I'd like to know what you think the 'correct' way of doing it is.
Based on the functionality that you described,
Create a service:
highlightImageService (this will use the $http service to persist data to the database)
addHighlightToImage(image, highlight)
attachComment(highlight, comment)
deleteHighlight(highlight)
Create a controller:
highlightImageController
createHighlight()
attachComment()
deleteHighlight()
In your directive, specify your controller and inject your service:
.directive('imageHighlighter', function(highlightImageService) {
restrict: ...
scope: ...
controller: highlightImageController,
link: function(scope, element, attr, controller) ...
})
Tie everything together in a module:
var module = angular.module('imageHighlighter', [...]);
module.controller(highlightImageController);
module.directive(imageHighlighter)
module.factory(highlightImageService);
Since everything is self-contained in a module (directives, controllers, services), all one has to do to use your module is add it as a module dependency and add directives to your page:
Script:
var app = angular.module('app', ['imageHighlighter']);
Html:
<body ng-app="app">
<div image-highlighter></div>
</body>
There's another way to structure this.
Create directive Toolbar
Create directive Highlighter
Create service DataService
Create callback functions in your controller's scope
Pass these functions as attributes to your directive
After dealing with all UI related issues, your directive will execute the appropriate callbacks
The callbacks in the controller's scope will call DataService to take the appropriate action such as: Delete the comment, Save the comment
This way you can avoid calling the service directly from the directive and have it only deal with UI issues.
Here's how to pass a function to the directive: Passing a function as an attribute to a directive

Angular directive doesn't work for elements added to the DOM by jquery plugin

I'm creating a fall back image directive that looks like this http://plnkr.co/edit/wxy4Sp2K02iXoQNsvkah
angular.module('directives').directive('myDirective', function() {
return {
restrict: 'C',
link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
console.log('linking');
}
}
});
My directive doesn't work for elements that are added to the DOM by the typeahead.js plugin (https://github.com/twitter/typeahead.js).
<div class='tt-suggestion'>
<div><span class="my-directive">bla</span></div>
</div>
I guess it's because Angular is not informed about the elements that are added by jQuery and hence it doesn't invoke the directive. How do I notify Angular of these changes?
You can use the Angular compile service to do this: http://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$compile
Basicly it works like this:
document.getElementById("test").innerHTML = $compile("")($scope);
ideally you shouldnt be mixing jquery and angular because they both are based on different philosophy.
jquery-- is event driven i.e. have event listeners which cause changes to model and then the programmer has to code numerous lines to change the view i.e. changing css,text etc
angular-- woo hoo! just change the model which is binded to $scope and :) your view is automatically updated
to automatically react on changing of such events angular has a compiler which studies entire html code before the app is loaded so even if there is a template which you might use later you must enclose it in so that angular compiles this so that all the special angular directive and controller perform as expected even when you remove or add templates to the dom.
here you are using typehead.js and jquery to manually manipulate the view which is against angular philosophy because when you do such maipulation angular compiler wouldnt be aware of it as it runs only when the app is initialized. Thats why before appending you should use $compile to make the angular compiler aware of this template .
in your case i would suggest the typehead present on this url
http://angular-ui.github.io/bootstrap/

Creating an AngularJS Directive for jQuery UI Button

Update: Fiddle w/ full solution: http://jsfiddle.net/langdonx/VXBHG/
In efforts to compare and contrast KnockoutJS and AngularJS, I ran through the KnockoutJS interactive tutorial, and after each section, I'd rewrite it in AngularJS using what little I already knew + the AngularJS reference.
When I got to step 3 of the Creating custom bindings tutorial, I figured it would be a good time to get spun up on Angular Directives and write a custom tag. Then I failed miserably.
I'm up against two issues that I haven't been able to figure out. I created a new Fiddle to try and wrap my head around what was going on...
1 (fiddle): I figured out my scoping issue, but, is it possible to just passthrough ng-click? The only way I could get it to work is to rename it to jqb-click which is a little annoying.
2 (fiddle): As soon as I applied .button() to my element, things went weird. My guess is because both Angular and jQuery UI are manipulating the HTML. I wouldn't expect this, but Angular seems to be providing its own span for my button (see line 21 of the JavaScript), and of course so is jQuery UI, which I would expect. I hacked up the HTML to get it looking right, but even before that, none of the functionality works. I still have the scope issue, and there's no template binding. What am I missing?
I understand that there's an AngularUI project I should be taking a look at and I can probably pull off what I'm trying to do with just CSS, but at this point it's more about learning how to use Directives rather than thinking this is a good idea.
You can create an isolated scope in a directive by setting the scope parameter, or let it use the parent scope by not setting it.
Since you want the ng-click from parent scope it is likely easiest for this instance to use the parent scope within directive:
One trick is to use $timeout within a directive before maniplulatig the DOM within a templated directive to give the DOM time to repaint before the manipulation, otherwise it seems that the elements don't exist in time.
I used an attribute to pass the text in, rather than worrying about transclusion compiling. In this manner the expression will already have been compiled when the template is added and the link callback provides easy access to the attributes.
<jqbutton ng-click="test(3)" text="{{title}} 3"></jqbutton>
angular.module('Components', [])
.directive('jqbutton', function ($timeout) {
return {
restrict: 'E', // says that this directive is only for html elements
replace: true,
template: '<button></button>',
link: function (scope, element, attrs) {
// turn the button into a jQuery button
$timeout(function () {
/* set text from attribute of custom tag*/
element.text(attrs.text).button();
}, 10);/* very slight delay, even using "0" works*/
}
};
});
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/gWjXc/8/
Directives are very powerful, but also have a bit of a learning curve. Also in comparison of angular to knockout, angular is more of a meta framework that in the long run has far more flexibilty than knockout
Very helpful reading for understanding scope in directives:
https://github.com/angular/angular.js/wiki/The-Nuances-of-Scope-Prototypal-Inheritance

Resources