Watch form model for changes - angularjs

Assuming a given form such as <form name="myForm">, it's easy enough to watch for validity, error, dirty state, etc. using a simple watch:
$scope.$watch('myForm.$valid', function() {
console.log('form is valid? ', $scope.myForm.$valid);
});
However, there doesn't appear to be an easy way to watch if any given input in this form has changed. Deep watching like so, does not work:
$scope.$watch('myForm', function() {
console.log('an input has changed'); //this will never fire
}, true);
$watchCollection only goes one level deep, which means I would have to create a new watch for every input. Not ideal.
What is an elegant way to watch a form for changes on any input without having to resort to multiple watches, or placing ng-change on each input?

Concerning the possible duplicate and your comment:
The directive solution in that question works, but it's not what I had in mind (i.e. not elegant, since it requires blur in order to work).
It works if you add true as third parameter for your $watch:
$scope.$watch('myFormdata', function() {
console.log('form model has been changed');
}, true);
Further information see the docs.
Working Fiddle (check console log)
Another more angular way would be to use angular's $pristine. This boolean property will be set to false once you manipulate the form model:
Fiddle

Based on my experience with my forms (new dev, but working with Angular for a while now), the elegant way to watch a form for changes is actually not to use any type of watch statement at all actually.
Use the built-in Angular boolean $pristine or $dirty and those values will change automatically on any input field or checkbox.
The catch is: it will not change the value if you add or splice from an array which had me stumped for a while.
The best fix for me was to manually do $scope.MyForm.$setDirty(); whenever I was adding or removing from my different arrays.
Worked like a charm!

Related

How to avoid use of watch to prevent directive from modifying a property in a manner I don't want

I'm using an old version of timepicker, which lacks the min & max options (and which I sadly can't update at this time). My view looks like this:
<timepicker class="col-md-2" ng-model="date" hour-step="1" minute-Step="0">
I want to prevent timepicker from increasing/decreasing the time beyond certain values. I currently use a watch:
retyped instead of copy-paste, so obvious syntax errors are likely typos, sorry
$scope.$watch('date', function(newVal, oldVal){
if(newVal<minTime){
$scope.date=minTime
$scope.digest();
}
else if(newVal>maxTime){
$scope.date=maxTime
Rscope.digest();
}
}
I needed the digests or the timePicker wouldn't reflect my adjusting the time back to my desired values. However, I now can get a "$digest already in progress" error per this question: AngularJS : Prevent error $digest already in progress when calling $scope.$apply()
However, it's also stated that this is considered an undesirable approach, and that it would be better to avoid using $watch if at all possible.
Is there a different approach beyond the $watch & $digest approach I'm using to more elegantly prevent/reset scope changes like this, that ensures that the timepicker will immediately reflect my reverting it's changes?
...yes switching away from the timepicker were using is already on the to-do list, there are other reasons I dislike it, but I'm more interested in how to handle this use case in general then a fix to this specific issue.
You need to update your model in setTimout() like below to avoid the error $digest already in progress
setTimeout(function () {
scope.$apply(function () {
scope.location3 = 'Your selected value'
});
}, 2000);
Alternatively you can also utilize $timeout service to achieve the same result.

ui-bootstrap pagination with filter

after some research and study of examples I implemented a pagniation with a filter function.
Im very new to angular, so I need your help if this application is ok or it has some bugs/logical errors.
The target is to select a collection (in this application load1 or load2) and create new objects, manipulate existing, or delete some of them. On every update of the data, it has to be checked if the pagination is synchronous to the collection size.
If the user enters something into the search field, a watcher in the controller is fired for updating the filtered data:
$scope.$watch('search.name', function (newVal, oldVal) {
$scope.filtered = filterFilter($scope.items, {name: newVal});
}, true);
I would be very happy if some of you angular pros can look into this code and give me some feedback. I want to use this in a productive system, so every answer would be great!
Here is a working plunkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/j9DVahEm7y1j5MfsRk1F?p=preview
Thank you!
Watchers are heavy if you use them explicitly throughout your large application.
Use ng-change instead. Also, by passing true to that watcher means you're deep watching which is really a bad thing to do, since it will check each property of the object in the array which is performance intensive.
Since I can't see that you need old and new value for a reason, you can simply use $scope.search.name. Whenever you type in something, $scope.search.name has the updated value. Just need to call a function on ng-change.
DEMO: http://plnkr.co/edit/TWjEoM3oPdfrHfcru7LH?p=preview
Remove watch and use:
$scope.updateSearch = function () {
$scope.filtered = filterFilter($scope.items, {name: $scope.search.name});
};
In HTML:
<label>Search:</label> <input type="text" ng-model="search.name" placeholder="Search" ng-change="updateSearch()" />
Previous answer is still the correct, but you will have to make sure to replace the "page" inside the pagination tag and change it to ng-model.
From the changelog (https://github.com/angular-ui/bootstrap/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)
Since 0.11.0:
Both pagination and pager are now integrated with ngModelController.
page is replaced from ng-model.

Using a variable for ng-required doesn't re-evaluate fields

I have a form where my intent is for required fields to not always be enforced. For example if the user is saving the document as a draft they can enter as little information as they like, if they try and publish the document then they have to enter all the required fields. I'm using a boolean on the controller which changes according to which button has been pressed e.g.
<input type="text" ng-model="field2" ng-required="enforceRequired" />
The problem is that the fields are not re-evaluated when the boolean changes so the form is submitted and then it becomes invalid. Please see this JSFiddle to see what I mean. If you fill in field1 and then click publish it will succeed on the first click and THEN become invalid.
How can I force the validation to run before the form is submitted?
Yarons is right, you are changing the value too late, by late I mean after the form validations has been run. What you can do as a workaround is, after changing the required value, let angular do another cycle and then show your alert. This can be done via $timeout service, although I must mention that it is usually not a good practise to change the flow of your digest actions. It gets pretty messy pretty soon.
Change your publish function like this (and don't forget to inject $timeout)
$scope.publish = function () {
$scope.enforceRequired = true;
$timeout(function () {
if ($scope.form.$valid) {
alert("Published!");
}
});
};
Working fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/bh9q00Le/14/
The problem is that you are changing the value of enforceRequired in the middle of the digest loop, so the watchers are not re-rendered before you check the input fields' validity (read about digest here).
If you want to get around it, I suggest one of the following methods:
change the value of enforceRequired before you call saveDraft or publish. see example.
call $scope.$apply() after you change the value of enforceRequired. see another example.

AngularJS typeahead select on blur

I'm using typeahead through in my AngularJS project and I would like to have it select the entry if I type the full value and click out of the field.
I've put together an example of what I mean
http://plnkr.co/edit/NI4DZSXofZWdQvz0Y0z0?p=preview
<input class='typeahead' type="text" sf-typeahead options="exampleOptions" datasets="numbersDataset" ng-model="selectedNumber">
If I type in 'two' and click on 'two' from the drop down then I get the full object {id: 2, name: 'two'}. This is good, if however I type 'two' and click to the next field without selecting is there a way to accept the top of the list on loss of focus on a text field?
I'm not sure if I'd want to have that sort of functionality in my app. The user hasn't actually selected anything. So selecting something for them would introduce frustrations.
But I do understand that often odd requirements are needed. In this case, I'd attack it using ngBlur. Assign a function to be called on blur. You can grab the contents of ng-model and then loop through your data (assuming static & not being sent via server) to find a match.
You can most likely just look at the source code of your typeahead directive and strip out the part does the comparison and then choose the first item in the array.
Unfortunately the underlying component does not emit any events for this condition. This will make the solution more complex. However when the value is being entered and the Typehead magic has happened you can supplement those events and catch them to update your ngModel.
I have created a plnkr based on your plnkr and although have not cleaned up but it is a working plnkr doing by far what you need.
The gist of this is following code however you can put this code wherever best suited
The explanation below:
//Crux - this gets you the Typeahead object
var typeahead = element.data('ttTypeahead');
//This gets you the first
var datum = typeahead.dropdown.getDatumForTopSuggestion();
if (datum){
//you can do lot of things here however
//..I tried to - fill in the functionality best suited to be provided by Typeahead
//for your use case. In future if Typeahead gets this
//..feature you could remove this code
typeahead.eventBus.trigger("hasselections", datum.raw, datum.datasetName);
}
In the above code you can also save the datum somewhere in the scope for doing whatever you like with it later. This is essentially your object {num: 'Six'} Then you may also use ngBlur to set it somewhere (however the plnkr I created doe snot need these gimmicks.)
Then further down - ngModel's value is set as below
element.bind('typeahead:hasselections', function(object, suggestion, dataset) {
$timeout(function(){
ngModel.$setViewValue(suggestion);
}, 1);
//scope.$emit('typeahead:hasselections', suggestion, dataset);
});
I'm with EnigmaRM in that ngBlur seems to be the way to do what you want. However, I agree with the others that this could be somewhat strange for the end users. My implementation is below (and in plnkr). Note that I trigger on ngBlur, but only apply the model if and only if there is only one match from Bloodhound and the match is exact. I think this is probably the best of both worlds, and hope it should give you enough to go on.
$scope.validateValue = function() {
typedValue = $scope.selectedNumber;
if(typedValue.num !== undefined && typedValue.num !== null)
{
return;
}
numbers.get(typedValue, function(suggestions) {
if(suggestions.length == 1 && suggestions[0].num === typedValue) {
$scope.selectedNumber = suggestions[0];
}
});
};

angularjs - streamline form (automatic) submission based on dirty scope

Problem space
I have a problem where I'm submitting a form based on criteria being fulfilled, rather than having a form submission button.
Let's say I have 3 drop downs, the first two are grouped but one needs to be selected, meaning I can select one or the other but I can't leave them empty, the 3rd one is a required field.
After that, the page automatically fetches in results.
Lets say I have checkboxes and a few more dropdowns. Any future selections on the 3 dropdowns mentioned, checkboxes, and dropdowns automatically filters the results.
What I know
Now after reading angular documentation, I was checking up on $dirty, $pristine and operations on both, like $setDirty and $setPristine; however, it seems that this is for a FormController
So I'm assuming this is useful for an entire scope. I didn't see any inclination that I can figure out for selected scopes.
What I have so far
So basically, I was hoping that I'd be making use of the scope's tracking features, but I don't know much about it. I created a single controller for my application and a single scope, since that's what seemed easiest for me. I have 3rd party plugins that play a role into the scope like:
$scope.3rdpartyConfig = {
prop1: [],
prop2: getData()
}
I don't think something like that would be useful in checking to see form submission if I was going to check the $dirty state of my form.
Then I thought about the old way I used to do things, but "angularlizing" it:
so I'd have something like:
<input type="checkbox" ng-model="state.Checked" ng-change="checkIfWeCanSubmitThenSubmit()" id="ng-change-example1" />
So I'd be having ng-changes and ng-clicks all over my html form, hitting that function, where the function would look like this pseudocode:
$scope.checkIfWeCanSubmitThenSubmit= function() {
var validated = false;
//check to see if dropdown1 or dropdown2 are selected
//check to see if dropdown3 is selected
// add more here per requirement
//if the above are true, then validated = true
if (validated)
{
//add dropdown4 and 5, and checkbox groups into filter
}
submit();
}
But I was thinking this isn't the angular way of doing things since this certainly isn't facilitated.
I was hoping that the scope would offer some kind of way, where I can check to see what pieces of my scope is dirty or not before I can submit and fetch data, or if there is a better way than appending this function to every html element; like having some kind of scope tracker that I can check up on and watch.
Which reminds me, I don't want to have a series of $scope.$watch either, its just that it'd be way too much work to bind to every piece of html code, unless there's way to watch the scope of a collection of specific scope variables, then, I wouldn't mind.
like (forgive the pseudocode):
$scope.$watch('dropdown1, dropdown2, dropdown4', function(dirty, pristine)
{
if (dirty)
{ blah blah blah }
});
Edit (2/28/2013):
I tried doing it this way:
$scope.masterCriteria =
[
{ DropDown1: $scope.AppModel.Dropdown1},
{ DropDown2: $scope.AppModel.Dropdown2 },
{ DropDown3: $scope.AppModel.Dropdown3 },
{ Checkbox1: $scope.AppModel.Checkbox1 },
{ Checkbox2: $scope.AppModel.Checkbox2 }
];
$scope.$watch('masterCriteria', function (newVal) {
if (newVal) { logger.info("did I change?"); }
}, true);
The watcher detected nothing, and any values I changed to the scope of AppModel wasn't being picked up in the $watch. Was worth a try, still trying to figure this out.
You can slightly change your model and group fields related to input form together. Put them into single object. Like this:
$scope.state = { checkbox1: false, checkbox2: true, ... }
Later bind input boxes to field of state object:
<input ng-model="state.checkbox1" ... >
And watch state object to catch all updates of nested fields:
$scope.$watch('state', ...
JsFiddle example here

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