How to use bound value in isolate scope in controller - angularjs

Question

I have a directive. I want to use an attribute value of that directive in my directive's controller. I attempt to do this by binding the attribute value to my isolate scope. However I run into a problem in that the attribute value seems not to be immediately bound to the isolate scope.
Consider the following code:
angular.module('startup.directives.decision', [])
.directive('decisionMaker', [function () {
return{
restrict: 'E',
templateUrl: 'views/directives/decision.html',
scope: {
decisionType:"#",
},
controller: ['$scope', 'Decisions', function ($scope, Decisions){
//this prints undefined
console.log($scope.decisionType);
//this prints the proper value when called a couple seconds after page load
$scope.getDecisionType = function(){
console.log($scope.decisionType);
};
//this is my motivation for wanting $scope.decisionType to be bound immediately
if($scope.decisionType==='hire'){
//should do some stuff here
}
}]
};
}]);
I call my directive like this:
<decision-maker decision-type="investment"></decision-maker>
<decision-maker decision-type="hire"></decision-maker>

Answer 1

You're going to want to use the $observe function. See the Attributes section of the Directives documentation.
So, something like this:
controller: ['$scope', '$attrs', 'Decisions', function ($scope, $attrs, Decisions){
//this prints undefined
console.log($scope.decisionType);
//this prints the proper value when called a couple seconds after page load
$scope.getDecisionType = function(){
console.log($scope.decisionType);
};
$attrs.$observe('decisionType', function(value) {
//this is my motivation for wanting $scope.decisionType to be bound immediately
if($scope.decisionType==='hire'){
//should do some stuff here
}
});
}]

Answer 2

Instead of trying to access my attributes by binding them with the scope, I can access them more directly via the $attrs object!
angular.module('startup.directives.decision', [])
.directive('decisionMaker', [function () {
return{
restrict: 'E',
templateUrl: 'views/directives/decision.html',
scope: {},
controller: ['$scope', '$attrs', 'Decisions', function ($scope, $attrs, Decisions){
//this prints the correct value
console.log($attrs.decisionType);
if($attrs.decisionType==='hire'){
//should do some stuff here
}
}]
};
}]);