Develop Reference

Child directive not updated when parent directive property changes

This is follow up to these 2 questions:
Pass argument between parent and child directives
Parent directive controller undefined when passing to child directive
I have this part working; however, when the value for ng-disabled for parent directive changes, the child directive values don't get updated.
Please see thin plunkr example.
HTML:
<div ng-app="myApp">
<div ng-controller="MyController">
{{menuStatus}}
<tmp-menu ng-disabled="menuStatus">
<tmp-menu-link></tmp-menu-link>
<tmp-menu-link></tmp-menu-link>
</tmp-menu>
<button ng-click="updateStatus()">Update</button>
</div>
</div>
JavaScript(AngularJS):
angular.module('myApp', [])
.controller('MyDirectiveController', MyDirectiveController)
.controller('MyController', function($scope){
$scope.menuStatus = false;
$scope.updateStatus = function(){
$scope.menuStatus = $scope.menuStatus?false:true;
}
})
.directive('tmpMenu', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
replace:true,
transclude:true,
scope:{
disabled: '=?ngDisabled'
},
controller: 'MyDirectiveController',
template: '<div>myDirective Disabled: {{ disabled }}<ng-transclude></ng-transclude></div>',
link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
}
};
})
.directive('tmpMenuLink', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
replace:true,
transclude:true,
scope:{
},
require:'^^tmpMenu',
template: '<div>childDirective disabled: {{ disabled }}</div>',
link: function(scope, element, attrs, MyDirectiveCtrl) {
console.log(MyDirectiveCtrl);
scope.disabled = MyDirectiveCtrl.isDisabled();
}
};
})
function MyDirectiveController($scope) {
this.isDisabled = function() {
return $scope.disabled;
};
}
How can I detect change in parent directive and pass it to child directive without adding angular watcher.

Solution 1
i've set up a working plnkr here: https://plnkr.co/edit/fsxMJPAc05imhBqefaRk?p=preview
the reason of this behaviour is that tmpMenuLink kept a copy of the value returned from MyDirectiveCtrl.isDisabled(). no watcher is set up , so the only way to resolve this is to manually watch for any changes and then update the field.
scope.$watch(function(){
return MyDirectiveCtrl.isDisabled();
}, function(){
scope.disabled = MyDirectiveCtrl.isDisabled();
})
Solution 2
An alternative without watchers is to pass the reference of an object instead of a primitive type, something like:
$scope.menuStatus = {status: false};
new plnkr here: https://plnkr.co/edit/RGEK6TUuE7gkPDS6ygZe?p=preview

Interaction of directive and controller in AngularJS

I want to create a component that displays itself as a collapsible box.
When it is expanded, it should show the transcluded content; when it is collapsed it should only show its label.
myApp.directive('collapsingBox', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
transclude: true,
require: '^ngModel',
scope: {
ngModel: '='
},
template: '<div ng-controller="CollapseController" class="collapsingBox"><div class="label">Title: {{ ngModel.title }}</div><br/><div ng-transclude ng-show="expanded">Test</div></div>',
link: function($scope, element, attr) {
element.bind('click', function() {
alert('Clicked!');
$scope.toggle();
});
}
};
});
This component should be reusable and nestable, so I wanted to manage the values (like "title" and "expanded") in a controller that gets instantiated for every use of the directive:
myApp.controller('CollapseController', ['$scope', function($scope) {
$scope.expanded = true;
$scope.toggle = function() {
$scope.expanded = !$scope.expanded;
};
}]);
This "almost" seems to work:
http://plnkr.co/edit/pyYV0MAikXThvMO8BF69
The only thing that does not work seems to be accessing the controller's scope from the event handler bound during linking.
link: function($scope, element, attr) {
element.bind('click', function() {
alert('Clicked!');
$scope.toggle(); // this is an error -- toggle is not found in scope
});
}
Is this the correct (usual?) way to create one instance of the controller per use of the directive?
How can I access the toggle-Function from the handler?

Rather than using ng-controller on your directive's template, you need to put the controller in your directive's controller property:
return {
restrict: 'E',
transclude: true,
require: '^ngModel',
scope: {
ngModel: '='
},
template: '<div class="collapsingBox"><div class="label">Title: {{ ngModel.title }}</div><br/><div ng-transclude ng-show="expanded">Test</div></div>',
controller: 'CollapseController',
link: function($scope, element, attr) {
element.bind('click', function() {
alert('Clicked!');
$scope.toggle();
});
}
};
As it is CollapseController's scope will be a child scope of your directive's scope, which is why toggle() isn't showing up there.

How to get isolated scope of a directive with ngrepeat and two way bind?

How we can get particular isolated scope of the directive while calling link function from controller(parent)?
I am having a directive and repeating it using ng-repeat. Whenever a button in the directive template is clicked it will call a function- Stop() in directive controller which in-turn calls function test() in parent controller, inside test() it will call a method dirSample () in directive's link function.
When I print the scope inside dirSample(), it prints the scope of the last created directive not the one which called it.
How can I get the scope of the directive which called it?
Find the pluker here
.directive('stopwatch', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
scope: {
meri : '&',
control: '='
},
templateUrl: 'text.html',
link: function(scope, element, attrs, ctrl) {
scope.internalControl = scope.control || {};
scope.internalControl.dirSample = function(){
console.log(scope)
console.log(element)
console.log(attrs)
console.log(ctrl)
}
},
controllerAs: 'swctrl',
controller: function($scope, $interval)
{
var self = this;
self.stop = function()
{
console.log($scope)
$scope.meri(1)
};
}
}});
full code in plunker

I've changed the binding of your function from & to = since you need to pass a parameter. This means some syntax changes are in order, and also you need to pass the scope along the chain if you want to have it all the way at the end:
HTML:
<div stopwatch control="dashControl" meri="test"></div>
Controller:
$scope.test = function(scope)
{
console.log(scope);
$scope.dashControl.dirSample(scope);
}
Directive:
.directive('stopwatch', function() {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
scope: {
meri : '=',
control: '='
},
templateUrl: 'text.html',
link: function(scope, element, attrs, ctrl) {
scope.internalControl = scope.control || {};
scope.internalControl.dirSample = function(_scope){
console.log(_scope);
}
},
controllerAs: 'swctrl',
controller: function($scope, $interval)
{
var self = this;
self.stop = function()
{
console.log($scope);
$scope.meri($scope);
};
}
}});
Plunker

Calling a function inside the controller of directive

Is it possible to call the method defined inside the directive controller from outside.
<div ng-controller="MyCtrl">
<map></map>
<button ng-click="updateMap()">call updateMap()</button>
</div>
app.directive('map', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
replace: true,
template: '<div></div>',
controller: function(){
$scope.updateMap = function(){
//ajax call here.
}
},
link: function($scope, element, attrs) {
$scope.updateMap();
//do some dom transformation
}
}
});
I want to call the method updateMap() function from my view.

If you expose the function on the controller, instead of the scope, you can expose the controller on the parent scope, such as:
controller: function($scope, $element, $attrs){
// Verify this. The controller has to be added to the parent scope, if the directive itself is creating a scope
$scope.$parent[$attrs["name"]]=this;
this.updateMap = function(){
//ajax call here.
}
},
Now in the main controller you will be able to access the controller:
<button ng-click="myMap.updateMap()">call updateMap()</button>
This is similar to how ng-model exposes its controller. Think of the controller as an API to your directive.

It would be a bad practice to access a function from the controller as you want. But still you can bind the updateMap function to $rootScope thus it can be used globally and still pass the current scope as a parameter to it.
Eg,
$rootScope.updateMap = function($scope) {
// use the scope to do the manipulation
}
<div ng-controller="MyCtrl">
<map></map>
<button ng-click="updateMap(this)">call updateMap()</button>
</div>
Here passing 'this' in updateMap function will refer to the scope in which the element is wrapped. In the above example, 'this' will refer to the MyCtrl's $scope

I would suggest two options. One simple option is to use events:
<div ng-controller="MyCtrl">
<map></map>
<button ng-click="updateMap()">call updateMap()</button>
</div>
app.directive('map', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
replace: true,
template: '<div></div>',
controller: function(){
$scope.updateMap = function(){
//ajax call here.
}
},
link: function($scope, element, attrs) {
$scope.$on('my.update.map.event', $scope.updateMap);
}
}
});
app.controller('MyCtrl', function ($scope) {
$scope.updateMap = function () {
$scope.$broadcast('my.update.map.event');
};
});
This isn't a bad solution. You're not polluting the root scope (#Krishna's answer) and your map directive isn't adding an arbitrary value to your controller's scope (#Chandermani's answer).
Another option, if you want to avoid events, is to to use the controllerAs syntax to expose your map directive's controller.
<div ng-controller="MyCtrl">
<map controller="mapController"></map>
<button ng-click="mapController.updateMap()">call updateMap()</button>
</div>
app.directive('map', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
replace: true,
scope: {
'controller': '=?'
},
template: '<div></div>',
//controllerAs creates a property named 'controller' on this
//directive's scope, which is then exposed by the
//'scope' object above
controllerAs: 'controller',
controller: function(){
this.updateMap = function(){
//ajax call here.
}
},
link: function($scope, element, attrs, ctrl) {
ctrl.updateMap();
}
}
});
This is similar to #Chandermani's answer, but the coupling between your controller and your directive is much more explicit. I can tell from the view that the map directive is exposing its controller and that it will be called mapController in MyCtrl's scope.
(I found this idea here).

Directive Inside another directive. Controller can't watch

I have 2 simple directives...
the parent directive:
.directive('modal', [function () {
return {
replace: true,
scope: {
/* attributes */
},
templateUrl: 'modal.tpl.html',
transclude: true,
link: function (scope) {
/* code */
}
};
the child directive
.directive('keypad', function () {
'use strict';
return {
templateUrl: 'keypad.tpl.html',
scope: {
value: '=',
},
link: function (scope, element, attrs) {
/* code */
}
};
and finally the controller:
.controller('ctrl', ['$scope', '$timeout', function ($scope, $timeout) {
$scope.$watch('howMuch', function(){
console.log('wont work ;-(');
});
}
and my template looks like this:
<div modal>
<div keypad class="keypad" value="howMuch"></div>
</div>
Any idea why the child directive can't change the howMuch value on the controller?
The same code but WITHOUT the parent directive works PERFECT.

The parent directive has an isolate scope. You didn't show the scope attributes, but howMuch needs to be accessed via a property in your isolated scope in order to update the value in the controller's scope.