AngularJS - Create a directive that uses ng-model
I am trying to create a directive that would create an input field with the same ng-model as the element that creates the directive.
Here's what I came up with so far:
HTML
<!doctype html>
<html ng-app="plunker" >
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
<script>document.write("<base href=\"" + document.location + "\" />");</script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.0.2/angular.js"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
This scope value <input ng-model="name">
<my-directive ng-model="name"></my-directive>
</body>
</html>
JavaScript
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = "Felipe";
});
app.directive('myDirective', function($compile) {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
ngModel: '='
},
template: '<div class="some"><label for="{{id}}">{{label}}</label>' +
'<input id="{{id}}" ng-model="value"></div>',
replace: true,
require: 'ngModel',
link: function($scope, elem, attr, ctrl) {
$scope.label = attr.ngModel;
$scope.id = attr.ngModel;
console.debug(attr.ngModel);
console.debug($scope.$parent.$eval(attr.ngModel));
var textField = $('input', elem).
attr('ng-model', attr.ngModel).
val($scope.$parent.$eval(attr.ngModel));
$compile(textField)($scope.$parent);
}
};
});
However, I am not confident this is the right way to handle this scenario, and there is a bug that my control is not getting initialized with the value of the ng-model target field.
Here's a Plunker of the code above: http://plnkr.co/edit/IvrDbJ
What's the correct way of handling this?
EDIT: After removing the ng-model="value" from the template, this seems to be working fine. However, I will keep this question open because I want to double check this is the right way of doing this.
Answer
EDIT: This answer is old and likely out of date. Just a heads up so it doesn't lead folks astray. I no longer use Angular so I'm not in a good position to make improvements.
It's actually pretty good logic but you can simplify things a bit.
Directive
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.model = { name: 'World' };
$scope.name = "Felipe";
});
app.directive('myDirective', function($compile) {
return {
restrict: 'AE', //attribute or element
scope: {
myDirectiveVar: '=',
//bindAttr: '='
},
template: '<div class="some">' +
'<input ng-model="myDirectiveVar"></div>',
replace: true,
//require: 'ngModel',
link: function($scope, elem, attr, ctrl) {
console.debug($scope);
//var textField = $('input', elem).attr('ng-model', 'myDirectiveVar');
// $compile(textField)($scope.$parent);
}
};
});
Html with directive
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
This scope value <input ng-model="name">
<my-directive my-directive-var="name"></my-directive>
</body>
CSS
.some {
border: 1px solid #cacaca;
padding: 10px;
}
You can see it in action with this Plunker.
Here's what I see:
- I understand why you want to use 'ng-model' but in your case it's not necessary. ng-model is to link existing html elements with a value in the scope. Since you're creating a directive yourself you're creating a 'new' html element, so you don't need ng-model.
EDIT As mentioned by Mark in his comment, there's no reason that you can't use ng-model, just to keep with convention.
- By explicitly creating a scope in your directive (an 'isolated' scope), the directive's scope cannot access the 'name' variable on the parent scope (which is why, I think, you wanted to use ng-model).
- I removed ngModel from your directive and replaced it with a custom name that you can change to whatever.
- The thing that makes it all still work is that '=' sign in the scope. Checkout the docs docs under the 'scope' header.
In general, your directives should use the isolated scope (which you did correctly) and use the '=' type scope if you want a value in your directive to always map to a value in the parent scope.