Custom directive interfering with ngClick - angularjs

In this fiddle, why does the ngClick in the top link work, but the ngClick in the link to which I have added a custom directive completely fail to function?
<a class="regular" ng-click="clickTheLink()">A regular ng-click link</a>
<a class="disableable" disable="disableTheLink" ng-click="clickTheLink()">A disableable link!</a>
As far as I can tell, nothing I'm doing in the directive should be interfering at all with ngClick behavior, as all it does is manipulate CSS classes:
app.directive('disableable', function(){
return {
restrict: 'C',
scope: { disable: '&' },
link: function (scope, elem, attrs) {
scope.$watch(scope.disable, function (val) {
if (val){
elem.addClass('disabled');
elem.removeClass('enabled');
}
else {
elem.addClass('enabled');
elem.removeClass('disabled');
}
});
}
};
});

The thing is, each DOM element only has one scope. So if any directive uses isolate scope like you're using here, that becomes the one and only scope on the element. That scope is completely disconnected from any parent scopes, and in your example, clickTheLink isn't in there.
The simple answer is to not use isolate scope. It's a real nice syntax but you can do everything it does manually. For the '&' params, you can just use the parse service to parse the attribute expressions.
See updated working fiddle:
http://jsfiddle.net/SNQQV/3/

It's because you're creating an isolate scope on line 14 of the fiddle, the clickTheLink function only exists in the controller and not in the directive. While I highly suggest against doing it this way, you can quickly access the parent scope via $parent
<a class="disableable" target="_blank" disable="disableTheLink" ng-click="$parent.clickTheLink()">A disableable link!</a>
Putting this code in allows the fiddle to work correctly. Here's the fiddle of it: http://jsfiddle.net/bpN9b/10/
My suggestion would be to look into how ngClass work as well as ngDisabled. I think both of those will allow you to not use this directive at all.

Related

Run 'ng-click' inside a directive's isolated scope

Thanks in advance for taking the time to look into this question
I have serverside generated code that renders a directive wrapped around pre-rendered content.
<serverside-demo color="blue">
<p><strong>Content from Server, wrapped in a directive.</strong></p>
<p>I want this color to show: <span ng-style="{color: color}">{{color}}</span></p>
<button ng-click="onClickButtonInDirective()">Click Me</button>
</serverside-demo>
This means that 1.) the directive tag, 2.) the content inside the directive tag, 3.)the ng-click and 4.) The curly braces syntax are all generated by the server.
I want AngularJs to pick up the generated code, recompile the template and deal with the scope.
The problem is that I am having trouble getting it working. I understand that because the ng-click is inside the controller block, it is picked up not by the directive isolated scope, but the parent controllers. Instead I want the opposite... to pick up the onClickButtonInDirective scope function inside the serversideDemo link
I have created a jsfiddle best explaining my problem, which aims to clearly demonstrate the working "traditional" way of loading the template separately (which works) comparing it to the server-side way.
https://jsfiddle.net/stevewbrown/beLccjd2/3/
What is the best way to do this?
Thank you!
There are two major problem in your code
1- directive name and dom element not matched, - missing in dom element
app.directive('serverSideDemo', function() {
use <server-side-demo color="blue"> instead of <serverside-demo color="blue">
2- you need to compile the html code of server-side-demo dom with directive scope in link function
$compile(element.contents())(scope);
Working jsfiddle
Use templateUrl instead of template to fetch the content of directive from server:
app.directive('serverSideDemo', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
scope: {
color: '='
},
templateUrl: 'link/that/returns/html/content',
link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
scope.onClickButtonInDirective = function() {
console.log('You clicked the button in the serverside demo')
scope.color = scope.color === 'blue' ? 'red' : 'blue';
}
}
};
});
Have a look at angular docs for more details

What is scope inside directive does in AngularJS

I am learning angular and I am from jQuery background and facing problem to get hold on angular. so i often stumble to understand many things in angular code.
Just seen the code below and I do not understand what scope is doing in below directives?
But if I remove the scope from below directive then what will not work?
so please help me to understand the usage of scope and its importance with a example if possible. Thanks
<li my-directive price="item.price" ng-repeat="item in products">{{item.name}} — {{item.price}}</li>
myApp.directive('myDirective', function(){
return {
scope: { price: '=' },
require: 'ngModel',
link : function(scope){
console.log(scope.price)
},
controller: function(scope, element, attrs, ngModel){
console.log(ngModel.price);
console.log(scope.price);
}
}
});
In that sample you have scope: { price: '=' }, states that internal scope variable price of the directive is exactly binded to parent's scope. It has access to it and i value changes in parent scope, directive's value of price will change as well.
Remove this line from your directive scope: { ... } and then your directive will not create a new scope. But it will still work - meaning it won't create an error. There are use cases when you need or need not to have isolated scopes.
To figure out better how things work with angular and scopes - please check the following great resources:
angular vs jQuery -
"Thinking in AngularJS" if I have a jQuery background?
$scope itself in angular -
How does data binding work in AngularJS?
various types of scope variables in directives -
What is the difference between '#' and '=' in directive scope in AngularJS?
If you don't mention the scope configuration object your directive will use is parent's scope, but when you mention the scope object it creates its own isolated scope.
So if you don't mention the scope object you will have access to variables from your parent controller directly.
ref : http://www.undefinednull.com/2014/02/11/mastering-the-scope-of-a-directive-in-angularjs/

Passing a model to a custom directive - clearing a text input

What I'm trying to achieve is relatively simple, but I've been going round in circles with this for too long, and now it's time to seek help.
Basically, I have created a directive that is comprised of a text input and a link to clear it.
I pass in the id via an attribute which works in fine, but I cannot seem to work out how to pass the model in to clear it when the reset link is clicked.
Here is what I have so far:
In my view:
<text-input-with-reset input-id="the-relevant-id" input-model="the.relevant.model"/>
My directive:
app.directive('textInputWithReset', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
replace: 'true',
template: '<div class="text-input-with-reset">' +
'<input ng-model="inputModel" id="input-id" type="text" class="form-control">' +
'<a href class="btn-reset"><span aria-hidden="true">×</span></a>' +
'</div>',
link: function(scope, elem, attrs) {
// set ID of input for clickable labels (works)
elem.find('input').attr('id', attrs.inputId);
// Reset model and clear text field (not working)
elem.find('a').bind('click', function() {
scope[attrs.inputModel] = '';
});
}
};
});
I'm obviously missing something fundamental - any help would be greatly appreciated.
You should call scope.$apply() after resetting inputModel in your function where you reset the value.
elem.find('a').bind('click', function() {
scope.inputModel = '';
scope.$apply();
});
Please, read about scope in AngularJS here.
$apply() is used to execute an expression in angular from outside of the angular framework. (For example from browser DOM events, setTimeout, XHR or third party libraries). Because we are calling into the angular framework we need to perform proper scope life cycle of exception handling, executing watches.
I've also added declaring of your inputModel attribute in scope of your directive.
scope: {
inputModel: "="
}
See demo on plunker.
But if you can use ng-click in your template - use it, it's much better.
OK, I seem to have fixed it by making use of the directive scope and using ng-click in the template:
My view:
<text-input-with-reset input-id="the-relevant-id" input-model="the.relevant.model"/>
My directive:
app.directive('textInputWithReset', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
replace: 'true',
scope: {
inputModel: '='
},
template: '<div class="text-input-with-reset">' +
'<input ng-model="inputModel" id="input-id" type="text" class="form-control">' +
'<a href ng-click="inputModel = \'\'" class="btn-reset"><span aria-hidden="true">×</span></a>' +
'</div>',
link: function(scope, elem, attrs) {
elem.find('input').attr('id', attrs.inputId);
};
});
It looks like you've already answered your question, but I'll leave my answer here for further explanations in case someone else lands on the same problem.
In its current state, there are two things wrong with your directive:
The click handler will trigger outside of Angular's digest cycle. Basically, even if you manage to clear the model's value, Angular won't know about it. You can wrap your logic in a scope.$apply() call to fix this, but it's not the correct solution in this case - keep reading.
Accessing the scope via scope[attrs.inputModel] would evaluate to something like scope['the.relevant.model']. Obviously, the name of your model is not literally the.relevant.model, as the dots typically imply nesting instead of being a literal part of the name. You need a different way of referencing the model.
You should use an isolate scope (see here and here) for a directive like this. Basically, you'd modify your directive to look like this:
app.directive('textInputWithReset', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
replace: 'true',
template: [...],
// define an isolate scope for the directive, passing in these scope variables
scope: {
// scope.inputId = input-id attribute on directive
inputId: '=inputId',
// scope.inputModel = input-model attribute on directive
inputModel: '=inputModel'
},
link: function(scope, elem, attrs) {
// set ID of input for clickable labels (works)
elem.find('input').attr('id', scope.inputId);
// Reset model and clear text field (not working)
elem.find('a').bind('click', function() {
scope.inputModel = '';
});
}
};
});
Notice that when you define an isolate scope, the directive gets its own scope with the requested variables. This means that you can simply use scope.inputId and scope.inputModel within the directive, instead of trying to reference them in a roundabout way.
This is untested, but it should pretty much work (you'll need to use the scope.$apply() fix I mentioned before). You might want to test the inputId binding, as you might need to pass it a literal string now (e.g. put 'input-id' in the attribute to specify that it is a literal string, instead of input-id which would imply there is an input-id variable in the scope).
After you get your directive to work, let's try to make it work even more in "the Angular way." Now that you have an isolate scope in your directive, there is no need to implement custom logic in the link function. Whenever your link function has a .click() or a .attr(), there is probably a better way of writing it.
In this case, you can simplify your directive by using more built-in Angular logic instead of manually modifying the DOM in the link() function:
<div class="text-input-with-reset">
<input ng-model="inputModel" id="{{ inputId }}" type="text" class="form-control">
<span aria-hidden="true">×</span>
</div>
Now, all your link() function (or, better yet, your directive's controller) needs to do is define a reset() function on the scope. Everything else will automatically just work!

Common directive ng-click guidance needed

I have a directive which consists of a form text element and a continue button along with the associated controller etc. This directive is going to be used in about 5 different pages, but on each page it is used the continue button will do something different.
My question is where can/should I put the code for the continue button if it does different things for each page?
Since its a directive I cant simply pass a different function into ng-click depending on what page im on (ie, if i simply replicated the code on each page it is used I could simply change the function called on ng-click and have that function in each of the page controllers.
Hopefully Im not being too vague with my question and you can make sense of what im asking. If not just say so and ill try to explain in more detail.
I would really appreciate some guidance on this matter.
Thanks.
There are two ways that you can do it. If you are creating your directive as a true component you can use isolated scope with & binding that binds to an expression.
Assume your directive looks like
<div do-work on-click="save()"></div>
and the generated html
<div>
<input ...>
<button ng-click="doAction()"><button>
</div>
The directive scope will be defined
scope:{
onClick:'&'
}
In your directive controller or link function you need to implement the button doAction, which in turns evaluates the onClick action
scope.doAction=function() {
scope.onClick({//if params are required});
}
Now you have linked the parent through the direct onClick reference. One thing to remember here is that this creates a directive with isolated scope.
In case you do not want isolated scope created you need to use
scope.$eval(attr.onClick); // this evaluates the expression on the current scope.
Hope this helps.
Ideally you should not create directives which are not re-usable.
In your case, you may do it like following -
create an isolated scope in the directive
add a function to be called and pass the page/ page id as parameter
call functions in controller based on parameter
Directive
myApp.directive('someDirecive', function () {
return {
// restrict options are EACM. we want to use it like an attribute
restrict: 'A',
// template : <inline template string>
// templateUrl = path to directive template.
// templateUrl: '',
scope: {
onButtonClick : '&'
},
controller: function ($scope, $element, $attrs, $transclude) {
$scope.onButtonClick = function(pageId) {
if (pageId == 1) {
// do something
}
else if (pageId == 2) {
// do something
}
}
},
//link: function (scope, iElement, iAttrs) {
//}
};
});
HTML
<div some-directive on-button-click="DoSomething(1)" />

wrapping inputs in directives in angular

I had the idea to wrap inputs into custom directives to guarantee a consistent look and behavior through out my site. I also want to wrap bootstrap ui's datepicker and dropdown. Also, the directive should handle validation and display tooltips.
The HTML should look something like this:
<my-input required max-length='5' model='text' placeholder='text' name='text'/>
or
<my-datepicker required model='start' placeholder='start' name='start'/>
in the directives i want to create a dom structure like:
<div>
<div>..</div> //display validation in here
<div>..</div> //add button to toggle datepicker (or other stuff) in here
<div>..</div> //add input field in here
</div>
I tried various ways to achieve this but always came across some tradeoffs:
using transclude and replace to insert the input into the directives dom structure (in this case the directive would be restricted to 'A' not 'E' like in the example above). The problem here is, that there is no easy way to access the transcluded element as I want to add custom attributes in case of datepicker. I could use the transclude function and then recompile the template in the link function, but this seems a bit complex for this task. This also leads to problems with the transcluded scope and the toggle state for the datepicker (one is in the directives scope, the other in the transcluded scope).
using replace only. In this case, all attributes are applied to the outermost div (even if I generate the template dom structure in the compile function). If I use just the input as template, then the attributes are on the input, but I need to generate the template in the link function an then recompile it. As far as I understand the phase model of angular, I would like to avoid recompiling and changing the template dom in the link function (although I've seen many people doing this).
Currently I'm working with the second approach and generating the template in the link function, but I was wondering if someone had some better ideas!
Here's what I believe is the proper way to do this. Like the OP I wanted to be able to use an attribute directive to wrapper an input. But I also wanted it to work with ng-if and such without leaking any elements. As #jantimon pointed out, if you don't cleanup your wrapper elements they will linger after ng-if destroys the original element.
app.directive("checkboxWrapper", [function() {
return {
restrict: "A",
link: function(scope, element, attrs, ctrl, transclude) {
var wrapper = angular.element('<div class="wrapper">This input is wrappered</div>');
element.after(wrapper);
wrapper.prepend(element);
scope.$on("$destroy", function() {
wrapper.after(element);
wrapper.remove();
});
}
};
}
]);
And here's a plunker you can play with.
IMPORTANT: scope vs element $destroy. You must put your cleanup in scope.$on("$destroy") and not in element.on("$destroy") (which is what I was originally attempting). If you do it in the latter (element) then an "ngIf end" comment tag will get leaked. This is due to how Angular's ngIf goes about cleaning up its end comment tag when it does its falsey logic. By putting your directive's cleanup code in the scope $destroy you can put the DOM back like it was before you wrappered the input and so ng-if's cleanup code is happy. By the time element.on("$destroy") is called, it is too late in the ng-if falsey flow to unwrap the original element without causing a comment tag leak.
Why not doing a directive like that?
myApp.directive('wrapForm', function(){
return {
restrict: 'AC',
link: function(scope, inputElement, attributes){
var overallWrap = angular.element('<div />');
var validation = angular.element('<div />').appendTo(overallWrap);
var button = angular.element('<div />').appendTo(overallWrap);
var inputWrap = angular.element('<div />').appendTo(overallWrap);
overallWrap.insertBefore(inputElement);
inputElement.appendTo(inputWrap);
inputElement.on('keyup', function(){
if (inputElement.val()) {
validation.text('Just empty fields are valid!');
} else {
validation.text('');
}
});
}
}
});
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/bZ6WL/
Basically you take the original input field (which is, by the way, also an angularjs directive) and build the wrappings seperately. In this example I simply build the DIVs manually. For more complex stuff, you could also use a template which get $compile(d) by angularjs.
The advantage using this class or html attribute "wrapForm": You may use the same directive for several form input types.
Why not wrap the input in the compile function?
The advantage is that you will not have to copy attributes and will not have to cleanup in the scope destroy function.
Notice that you have to remove the directive attribute though to prevent circular execution.
(http://jsfiddle.net/oscott9/8er3fu0r/)
angular.module('directives').directive('wrappedWithDiv', [
function() {
var definition = {
restrict: 'A',
compile: function(element, attrs) {
element.removeAttr("wrapped-with-div");
element.replaceWith("<div style='border:2px solid blue'>" +
element[0].outerHTML + "</div>")
}
}
return definition;
}
]);
Based on this: http://angular-tips.com/blog/2014/03/transclusion-and-scopes/
This directive does transclusion, but the transcluded stuff uses the parent scope, so all bindings work as if the transcluded content was in the original scope where the wrapper is used. This of course includes ng-model, also min/max and other validation directives/attributes. Should work for any content. I'm not using the ng-transclude directive because I'm manually cloning the elements and supplying the parent(controller's) scope to them. "my-transclude" is used instead of ng-transclude to specify where to insert the transcluded content.
Too bad ng-transclude does not have a setting to control the scoping. It would make all this clunkyness unnecessary.
And it looks like they won't fix it: https://github.com/angular/angular.js/issues/5489
controlsModule.directive('myWrapper', function () {
return {
restrict: 'E',
transclude: true,
scope: {
label: '#',
labelClass: '#',
hint: '#'
},
link: link,
template:
'<div class="form-group" title="{{hint}}"> \
<label class="{{labelClass}} control-label">{{label}}</label> \
<my-transclude></my-transclude> \
</div>'
};
function link(scope, iElement, iAttrs, ctrl, transclude) {
transclude(scope.$parent,
function (clone, scope) {
iElement.find("my-transclude").replaceWith(clone);
scope.$on("$destroy", function () {
clone.remove();
});
});
}
});

Resources