Add directives from directive in AngularJS

Question

I'm trying to build a directive that takes care of adding more directives to the element it is declared on. For example, I want to build a directive that takes care of adding datepicker, datepicker-language and ng-required="true".

If I try to add those attributes and then use $compile I obviously generate an infinite loop, so I am checking if I have already added the needed attributes:

angular.module('app')
  .directive('superDirective', function ($compile, $injector) {
    return {
      restrict: 'A',
      replace: true,
      link: function compile(scope, element, attrs) {
        if (element.attr('datepicker')) { // check
          return;
        }
        element.attr('datepicker', 'someValue');
        element.attr('datepicker-language', 'en');
        // some more
        $compile(element)(scope);
      }
    };
  });

Of course, if I don't $compile the element, the attributes will be set but the directive won't be bootstrapped.

Is this approach correct or am I doing it wrong? Is there a better way to achieve the same behavior?

UDPATE: given the fact that $compile is the only way to achieve this, is there a way to skip the first compilation pass (the element may contain several children)? Maybe by setting terminal:true?

UPDATE 2: I have tried putting the directive into a select element and, as expected, the compilation runs twice, which means there is twice the number of expected options.

Answer 1

In cases where you have multiple directives on a single DOM element and where the order in which they’re applied matters, you can use the priority property to order their application. Higher numbers run first. The default priority is 0 if you don’t specify one.

EDIT: after the discussion, here's the complete working solution. The key was to remove the attribute: element.removeAttr("common-things");, and also element.removeAttr("data-common-things"); (in case users specify data-common-things in the html)

angular.module('app')
  .directive('commonThings', function ($compile) {
    return {
      restrict: 'A',
      replace: false, 
      terminal: true, //this setting is important, see explanation below
      priority: 1000, //this setting is important, see explanation below
      compile: function compile(element, attrs) {
        element.attr('tooltip', '{{dt()}}');
        element.attr('tooltip-placement', 'bottom');
        element.removeAttr("common-things"); //remove the attribute to avoid indefinite loop
        element.removeAttr("data-common-things"); //also remove the same attribute with data- prefix in case users specify data-common-things in the html

        return {
          pre: function preLink(scope, iElement, iAttrs, controller) {  },
          post: function postLink(scope, iElement, iAttrs, controller) {  
            $compile(iElement)(scope);
          }
        };
      }
    };
  });

Working plunker is available at: http://plnkr.co/edit/Q13bUt?p=preview

Or:

angular.module('app')
  .directive('commonThings', function ($compile) {
    return {
      restrict: 'A',
      replace: false,
      terminal: true,
      priority: 1000,
      link: function link(scope,element, attrs) {
        element.attr('tooltip', '{{dt()}}');
        element.attr('tooltip-placement', 'bottom');
        element.removeAttr("common-things"); //remove the attribute to avoid indefinite loop
        element.removeAttr("data-common-things"); //also remove the same attribute with data- prefix in case users specify data-common-things in the html

        $compile(element)(scope);
      }
    };
  });

DEMO

Explanation why we have to set terminal: true and priority: 1000 (a high number):

When the DOM is ready, angular walks the DOM to identify all registered directives and compile the directives one by one based on priority if these directives are on the same element. We set our custom directive's priority to a high number to ensure that it will be compiled first and with terminal: true, the other directives will be skipped after this directive is compiled.

When our custom directive is compiled, it will modify the element by adding directives and removing itself and use $compile service to compile all the directives (including those that were skipped).

If we don't set terminal:true and priority: 1000, there is a chance that some directives are compiled before our custom directive. And when our custom directive uses $compile to compile the element => compile again the already compiled directives. This will cause unpredictable behavior especially if the directives compiled before our custom directive have already transformed the DOM.

For more information about priority and terminal, check out How to understand the `terminal` of directive?

An example of a directive that also modifies the template is ng-repeat (priority = 1000), when ng-repeat is compiled, ng-repeat make copies of the template element before other directives get applied.

Thanks to @Izhaki's comment, here is the reference to ngRepeat source code: https://github.com/angular/angular.js/blob/master/src/ng/directive/ngRepeat.js