Losing scope when using ng-include

Question

I have this module routes:

var mainModule = angular.module('lpConnect', []).
    config(['$routeProvider', function ($routeProvider) {
    $routeProvider.
        when('/home', {template:'views/home.html', controller:HomeCtrl}).
        when('/admin', {template:'views/admin.html', controller:AdminCtrl}).
        otherwise({redirectTo:'/connect'});
}]);

Home HTML:

<div ng-include src="views.partial1"></div>

partial1 HTML:

<form ng-submit="addLine()">
    <input type="text" ng-model="lineText" size="30" placeholder="Type your message here">
</form>

HomeCtrl:

function HomeCtrl($scope, $location, $window, $http, Common) {
    ...
    $scope.views = {
        partial1:"views/partial1.html"
    };

    $scope.addLine = function () {
        $scope.chat.addLine($scope.lineText);
        $scope.lines.push({text:$scope.lineText});
        $scope.lineText = "";
    };
...
}

In the addLine function $scope.lineText is undefined, this can be resolved by adding ng-controller="HomeCtrl" to partial1.html, however it causes the controller to be called twice. What am I missing here?

Answer 1

As @Renan mentioned, ng-include creates a new child scope. This scope prototypically inherits (see dashed lines below) from the HomeCtrl scope. ng-model="lineText" actually creates a primitive scope property on the child scope, not HomeCtrl's scope. This child scope is not accessible to the parent/HomeCtrl scope:

To store what the user typed into HomeCtrl's $scope.lines array, I suggest you pass the value to the addLine function:

 <form ng-submit="addLine(lineText)">

In addition, since lineText is owned by the ngInclude scope/partial, I feel it should be responsible for clearing it:

 <form ng-submit="addLine(lineText); lineText=''">

Function addLine() would thus become:

$scope.addLine = function(lineText) {
    $scope.chat.addLine(lineText);
    $scope.lines.push({
        text: lineText
    });
};

Fiddle.

Alternatives:

• define an object property on HomeCtrl's $scope, and use that in the partial: ng-model="someObj.lineText; fiddle
• not recommended, this is more of a hack: use $parent in the partial to create/access a lineText property on the HomeCtrl $scope:  ng-model="$parent.lineText"; fiddle

It is a bit involved to explain why the above two alternatives work, but it is fully explained here: What are the nuances of scope prototypal / prototypical inheritance in AngularJS?

I don't recommend using this in the addLine() function. It becomes much less clear which scope is being accessed/manipulated.