How do I make angular.js reevaluate / recompile inner html? - angularjs

Question

I'm making a directive that modifies it's inner html. Code so far:
.directive('autotranslate', function($interpolate) {
return function(scope, element, attr) {
var html = element.html();
debugger;
html = html.replace(/\[\[(\w+)\]\]/g, function(_, text) {
return '<span translate="' + text + '"></span>';
});
element.html(html);
}
})
It works, except that the inner html is not evaluated by angular. I want to trigger a revaluation of element's subtree. Is there a way to do that?
Thanks :)

Answer 1

You have to $compile your inner html like
.directive('autotranslate', function($interpolate, $compile) {
return function(scope, element, attr) {
var html = element.html();
debugger;
html = html.replace(/\[\[(\w+)\]\]/g, function(_, text) {
return '<span translate="' + text + '"></span>';
});
element.html(html);
$compile(element.contents())(scope); //<---- recompilation
}
})

Answer 2

Here's a more generic method I developed to solve this problem:
angular.module('kcd.directives').directive('kcdRecompile', function($compile, $parse) {
'use strict';
return {
scope: true, // required to be able to clear watchers safely
compile: function(el) {
var template = getElementAsHtml(el);
return function link(scope, $el, attrs) {
var stopWatching = scope.$parent.$watch(attrs.kcdRecompile, function(_new, _old) {
var useBoolean = attrs.hasOwnProperty('useBoolean');
if ((useBoolean && (!_new || _new === 'false')) || (!useBoolean && (!_new || _new === _old))) {
return;
}
// reset kcdRecompile to false if we're using a boolean
if (useBoolean) {
$parse(attrs.kcdRecompile).assign(scope.$parent, false);
}
// recompile
var newEl = $compile(template)(scope.$parent);
$el.replaceWith(newEl);
// Destroy old scope, reassign new scope.
stopWatching();
scope.$destroy();
});
};
}
};
function getElementAsHtml(el) {
return angular.element('<a></a>').append(el.clone()).html();
}
});
You use it like so:
HTML
<div kcd-recompile="recompile.things" use-boolean>
<div ng-repeat="thing in ::things">
<img ng-src="{{::thing.getImage()}}">
<span>{{::thing.name}}</span>
</div>
</div>
JavaScript
$scope.recompile = { things: false };
$scope.$on('things.changed', function() { // or some other notification mechanism that you need to recompile...
$scope.recompile.things = true;
});
Edit
If you're looking at this, I would seriously recommend looking at the website's version as that is likely to be more up to date.

Answer 3

This turned out to work even better than #Reza's solution
.directive('autotranslate', function() {
return {
compile: function(element, attrs) {
var html = element.html();
html = html.replace(/\[\[(\w+)\]\]/g, function(_, text) {
return '<span translate="' + text + '"></span>';
});
element.html(html);
}
};
})
Reza's code work when scope is the scope for all of it child elements. However, if there's an ng-controller or something in one of the childnodes of this directive, the scope variables aren't found. However, with this solution ^, it just works!