How can I dynamically add a directive in AngularJS?

Question

I have a very boiled down version of what I am doing that gets the problem across.

I have a simple directive. Whenever you click an element, it adds another one. However, it needs to be compiled first in order to render it correctly.

My research led me to $compile. But all the examples use a complicated structure that I don't really know how to apply here.

Fiddles are here: http://jsfiddle.net/paulocoelho/fBjbP/1/

And the JS is here:

var module = angular.module('testApp', [])
    .directive('test', function () {
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        template: '<p>{{text}}</p>',
        scope: {
            text: '@text'
        },
        link:function(scope,element){
            $( element ).click(function(){
                // TODO: This does not do what it's supposed to :(
                $(this).parent().append("<test text='n'></test>");
            });
        }
    };
});

Solution by Josh David Miller: http://jsfiddle.net/paulocoelho/fBjbP/2/

Answer 1

You have a lot of pointless jQuery in there, but the $compile service is actually super simple in this case:

.directive( 'test', function ( $compile ) {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: { text: '@' },
    template: '<p ng-click="add()">{{text}}</p>',
    controller: function ( $scope, $element ) {
      $scope.add = function () {
        var el = $compile( "<test text='n'></test>" )( $scope );
        $element.parent().append( el );
      };
    }
  };
});

You'll notice I refactored your directive too in order to follow some best practices. Let me know if you have questions about any of those.