I'm looking for any manner of accessing the "parent" scope within a directive. Any combination of scope, transclude, require, passing in variables (or the scope itself) from above, etc. I'm totally willing to bend over backwards, but I want to avoid something totally hacky or unmaintainable. For example, I know I could do it right now by taking the $scope from the preLink parameters and iterating over it's $sibling scopes to find the conceptual "parent".
What I really want is to be able to $watch an expression in the parent scope. If I can do that, then I can accomplish what I'm trying to do over here:
AngularJS - How to render a partial with variables?
An important note is that the directive must be re-usable within the same parent scope. Therefore the default behavior (scope: false) doesn't work for me. I need an individual scope per instance of the directive, and then I need to $watch a variable that lives in the parent scope.
A code sample is worth 1000 words, so:
app.directive('watchingMyParentScope', function() {
return {
require: /* ? */,
scope: /* ? */,
transclude: /* ? */,
controller: /* ? */,
compile: function(el,attr,trans) {
// Can I get the $parent from the transclusion function somehow?
return {
pre: function($s, $e, $a, parentControl) {
// Can I get the $parent from the parent controller?
// By setting this.$scope = $scope from within that controller?
// Can I get the $parent from the current $scope?
// Can I pass the $parent scope in as an attribute and define
// it as part of this directive's scope definition?
// What don't I understand about how directives work and
// how their scope is related to their parent?
},
post: function($s, $e, $a, parentControl) {
// Has my situation improved by the time the postLink is called?
}
}
}
};
});
This question is related to
angularjs
angularjs-directive
Having tried everything, I finally came up with a solution.
Just place the following in your template:
{{currentDirective.attr = parentDirective.attr; ''}}
It just writes the parent scope attribute/variable you want to access to the current scope.
Also notice the ; '' at the end of the statement, it's to make sure there's no output in your template. (Angular evaluates every statement, but only outputs the last one).
It's a bit hacky, but after a few hours of trial and error, it does the job.
scope: false
transclude: false
and you will have the same scope(with parent element)
$scope.$watch(...
There are a lot of ways how to access parent scope depending on this two options scope& transclude.
If you are using ES6 Classes and ControllerAs syntax, you need to do something slightly different.
See the snippet below and note that vm is the ControllerAs value of the parent Controller as used in the parent HTML
myApp.directive('name', function() {
return {
// no scope definition
link : function(scope, element, attrs, ngModel) {
scope.vm.func(...)
Accessing controller method means accessing a method on parent scope from directive controller/link/scope.
If the directive is sharing/inheriting the parent scope then it is quite straight forward to just invoke a parent scope method.
Little more work is required when you want to access parent scope method from Isolated directive scope.
There are few options (may be more than listed below) to invoke a parent scope method from isolated directives scope or watch parent scope variables (option#6 specially).
Note that I used link function in these examples but you can use a directive controller as well based on requirement.
Option#1. Through Object literal and from directive html template
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<p>Hello {{name}}!</p>
<p> Directive Content</p>
<sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged(selectedItems)" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>
<P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective}} </p>
</body>
</html>
itemfilterTemplate.html
<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" ng-change="selectedItemsChanged({selectedItems:selectedItems})" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
<option>--</option>
</select>
app.js
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
items: '=',
selectedItems: '=',
selectedItemsChanged: '&'
},
templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html"
}
})
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = 'TARS';
$scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];
$scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
$scope.selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective = selectedItems1;
}
$scope.items = [{
"id": "allItems",
"name": "All Items",
"order": 0
}, {
"id": "CaseItem",
"name": "Case Item",
"model": "PredefinedModel"
}, {
"id": "Application",
"name": "Application",
"model": "Bank"
}]
});
working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/rgKUsYGDo9O3tewL6xgr?p=preview
Option#2. Through Object literal and from directive link/scope
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<p>Hello {{name}}!</p>
<p> Directive Content</p>
<sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged(selectedItems)" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>
<P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective}} </p>
</body>
</html>
itemfilterTemplate.html
<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;"
ng-change="selectedItemsChangedDir()" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
<option>--</option>
</select>
app.js
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
items: '=',
selectedItems: '=',
selectedItemsChanged: '&'
},
templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html",
link: function (scope, element, attrs){
scope.selectedItemsChangedDir = function(){
scope.selectedItemsChanged({selectedItems:scope.selectedItems});
}
}
}
})
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = 'TARS';
$scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];
$scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
$scope.selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective = selectedItems1;
}
$scope.items = [{
"id": "allItems",
"name": "All Items",
"order": 0
}, {
"id": "CaseItem",
"name": "Case Item",
"model": "PredefinedModel"
}, {
"id": "Application",
"name": "Application",
"model": "Bank"
}]
});
working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/BRvYm2SpSpBK9uxNIcTa?p=preview
Option#3. Through Function reference and from directive html template
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<p>Hello {{name}}!</p>
<p> Directive Content</p>
<sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>
<P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnFromDirective}} </p>
</body>
</html>
itemfilterTemplate.html
<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;"
ng-change="selectedItemsChanged()(selectedItems)" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
<option>--</option>
</select>
app.js
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
items: '=',
selectedItems:'=',
selectedItemsChanged: '&'
},
templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html"
}
})
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = 'TARS';
$scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];
$scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
$scope.selectedItemsReturnFromDirective = selectedItems1;
}
$scope.items = [{
"id": "allItems",
"name": "All Items",
"order": 0
}, {
"id": "CaseItem",
"name": "Case Item",
"model": "PredefinedModel"
}, {
"id": "Application",
"name": "Application",
"model": "Bank"
}]
});
working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/Jo6FcYfVXCCg3vH42BIz?p=preview
Option#4. Through Function reference and from directive link/scope
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<p>Hello {{name}}!</p>
<p> Directive Content</p>
<sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>
<P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective}} </p>
</body>
</html>
itemfilterTemplate.html
<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" ng-change="selectedItemsChangedDir()" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
<option>--</option>
</select>
app.js
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
items: '=',
selectedItems: '=',
selectedItemsChanged: '&'
},
templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html",
link: function (scope, element, attrs){
scope.selectedItemsChangedDir = function(){
scope.selectedItemsChanged()(scope.selectedItems);
}
}
}
})
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = 'TARS';
$scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];
$scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
$scope.selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective = selectedItems1;
}
$scope.items = [{
"id": "allItems",
"name": "All Items",
"order": 0
}, {
"id": "CaseItem",
"name": "Case Item",
"model": "PredefinedModel"
}, {
"id": "Application",
"name": "Application",
"model": "Bank"
}]
});
working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/BSqx2J1yCY86IJwAnQF1?p=preview
Option#5: Through ng-model and two way binding, you can update parent scope variables.. So, you may not require to invoke parent scope functions in some cases.
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<p>Hello {{name}}!</p>
<p> Directive Content</p>
<sd-items-filter ng-model="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>
<P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItems}} </p>
</body>
</html>
itemfilterTemplate.html
<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;"
ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
<option>--</option>
</select>
app.js
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
items: '=',
selectedItems: '=ngModel'
},
templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html"
}
})
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = 'TARS';
$scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];
$scope.items = [{
"id": "allItems",
"name": "All Items",
"order": 0
}, {
"id": "CaseItem",
"name": "Case Item",
"model": "PredefinedModel"
}, {
"id": "Application",
"name": "Application",
"model": "Bank"
}]
});
working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/hNui3xgzdTnfcdzljihY?p=preview
Option#6: Through $watch and $watchCollection
It is two way binding for items in all above examples, if items are modified in parent scope, items in directive would also reflect the changes.
If you want to watch other attributes or objects from parent scope, you can do that using $watch and $watchCollection as given below
html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>
document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');
</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<p>Hello {{user}}!</p>
<p>directive is watching name and current item</p>
<table>
<tr>
<td>Id:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" ng-model="id" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Name:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" ng-model="name" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Model:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" ng-model="model" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<button style="margin-left:50px" type="buttun" ng-click="addItem()">Add Item</button>
<p>Directive Contents</p>
<sd-items-filter ng-model="selectedItems" current-item="currentItem" name="{{name}}" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"></sd-items-filter>
<P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItems}}</p>
</body>
</html>
script app.js
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
name: '@',
currentItem: '=',
items: '=',
selectedItems: '=ngModel'
},
template: '<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 140px; width: 250px;"' +
'ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:\'name\'">' +
'<option>--</option> </select>',
link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
scope.$watchCollection('currentItem', function() {
console.log(JSON.stringify(scope.currentItem));
});
scope.$watch('name', function() {
console.log(JSON.stringify(scope.name));
});
}
}
})
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.user = 'World';
$scope.addItem = function() {
$scope.items.push({
id: $scope.id,
name: $scope.name,
model: $scope.model
});
$scope.currentItem = {};
$scope.currentItem.id = $scope.id;
$scope.currentItem.name = $scope.name;
$scope.currentItem.model = $scope.model;
}
$scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];
$scope.items = [{
"id": "allItems",
"name": "All Items",
"order": 0
}, {
"id": "CaseItem",
"name": "Case Item",
"model": "PredefinedModel"
}, {
"id": "Application",
"name": "Application",
"model": "Bank"
}]
});
You can always refer AngularJs documentation for detailed explanations about directives.
Here's a trick I used once: create a "dummy" directive to hold the parent scope and place it somewhere outside the desired directive. Something like:
module.directive('myDirectiveContainer', function () {
return {
controller: function ($scope) {
this.scope = $scope;
}
};
});
module.directive('myDirective', function () {
return {
require: '^myDirectiveContainer',
link: function (scope, element, attrs, containerController) {
// use containerController.scope here...
}
};
});
and then
<div my-directive-container="">
<div my-directive="">
</div>
</div>
Maybe not the most graceful solution, but it got the job done.
Source: Stackoverflow.com