Setting dynamic scope variables in AngularJs - scope.<some_string>
I have a string I have gotten from a routeParam or a directive attribute or whatever, and I want to create a variable on the scope based on this. So:
$scope.<the_string> = "something".
However, if the string contains one or more dots I want to split it and actually "drill down" into the scope. So 'foo.bar' should become $scope.foo.bar. This means that the simple version won't work!
// This will not work as assigning variables like this will not "drill down"
// It will assign to a variables named the exact string, dots and all.
var the_string = 'life.meaning';
$scope[the_string] = 42;
console.log($scope.life.meaning); // <-- Nope! This is undefined.
console.log($scope['life.meaning']); // <-- It is in here instead!
When reading a variable based on a string you can get this behavior by doing $scope.$eval(the_string), but how to do it when assigning a value?
Answer
The solution I have found is to use $parse.
"Converts Angular expression into a function."
If anyone has a better one please add a new answer to the question!
Here is the example:
var the_string = 'life.meaning';
// Get the model
var model = $parse(the_string);
// Assigns a value to it
model.assign($scope, 42);
// Apply it to the scope
// $scope.$apply(); <- According to comments, this is no longer needed
console.log($scope.life.meaning); // logs 42