[angularjs] Change class on mouseover in directive

I am having trouble working out how to get a class to change on a nested directive.

This is the outer ng-repeat

<div data-courseoverview data-ng-repeat="course in courses | orderBy:sortOrder | filter:search"
         data-ng-controller ="CourseItemController"
         data-ng-class="{ selected: isSelected }">

Below is the inner ng-repeat which is using another directive

<li data-ng-repeat="item in social" class="social-{{item.name}}" ng-mouseover="hoverItem(true);"
    ng-mouseout="hoverItem(false);"
    index="{{$index}}"><i class="{{item.icon}}"
    box="course-{{$index}}"></i></li>

Here is the directive im calling for the hover event

ecourseApp.directive("courseoverview", function() { 
  return {    
    restrict : 'A',    
    replace: true, 
    /*scope: {
        index: '@'
    },*/        
    transclude: true,      
    templateUrl: "views/course-overview.html",
    link: function link(scope, element, attrs) {
        scope.switched = false;
        //hover handler
        scope.hoverItem = function(hovered){
            if (hovered) {
                element.addClass('hover');
                $('#course-0 figure').addClass('tint')
            }
            else
                element.removeClass('hover');
        };
    }  
}});

This needs $('#course-0 figure').addClass('tint') to change the calling item.

This question is related to angularjs angularjs-directive

The answer is


This is my solution for my scenario:

<div class="btn-group btn-group-justified">
    <a class="btn btn-default" ng-class="{'btn-success': hover.left, 'btn-danger': hover.right}" ng-click="setMatch(-1)" role="button" ng-mouseenter="hover.left = true;" ng-mouseleave="hover.left = false;">
        <i class="fa fa-thumbs-o-up fa-5x pull-left" ng-class="{'fa-rotate-90': !hover.left && !hover.right, 'fa-flip-vertical': hover.right}"></i>
        {{ song.name }}
    </a>
    <a class="btn btn-default" ng-class="{'btn-success': hover.right, 'btn-danger': hover.left}" ng-click="setMatch(1)" role="button" ng-mouseenter="hover.right = true;" ng-mouseleave="hover.right = false;">
        <i class="fa fa-thumbs-o-up fa-5x pull-right" ng-class="{'fa-rotate-270': !hover.left && !hover.right, 'fa-flip-vertical': hover.left}"></i>
        {{ match.name }}
    </a>
</div>

default state: enter image description here

on hover: enter image description here


I have run into problems in the past with IE and the css:hover selector so the approach that I have taken, is to use a custom directive.

.directive('hoverClass', function () {
    return {
        restrict: 'A',
        scope: {
            hoverClass: '@'
        },
        link: function (scope, element) {
            element.on('mouseenter', function() {
                element.addClass(scope.hoverClass);
            });
            element.on('mouseleave', function() {
                element.removeClass(scope.hoverClass);
            });
        }
    };
})

then on the element itself you can add the directive with the class names that you want enabled when the mouse is over the the element for example:

<li data-ng-repeat="item in social" hover-class="hover tint" class="social-{{item.name}}" ng-mouseover="hoverItem(true);" ng-mouseout="hoverItem(false);"
                index="{{$index}}"><i class="{{item.icon}}"
                box="course-{{$index}}"></i></li>

This should add the class hover and tint when the mouse is over the element and doesn't run the risk of a scope variable name collision. I haven't tested but the mouseenter and mouseleave events should still bubble up to the containing element so in the given scenario the following should still work

<div hover-class="hover" data-courseoverview data-ng-repeat="course in courses | orderBy:sortOrder | filter:search"
 data-ng-controller ="CourseItemController"
 data-ng-class="{ selected: isSelected }">

providing of course that the li's are infact children of the parent div


In general I fully agree with Jason's use of css selector, but in some cases you may not want to change the css, e.g. when using a 3rd party css-template, and rather prefer to add/remove a class on the element.

The following sample shows a simple way of adding/removing a class on ng-mouseenter/mouseleave:

<div ng-app>
  <div 
    class="italic" 
    ng-class="{red: hover}"
    ng-init="hover = false"
    ng-mouseenter="hover = true"
    ng-mouseleave="hover = false">
      Test 1 2 3.
  </div>
</div>

with some styling:

.red {
  background-color: red;
}

.italic {
  font-style: italic;
  color: black;
}

See running example here: jsfiddle sample

Styling on hovering is a view concern. Although the solution above sets a "hover" property in the current scope, the controller does not need to be concerned about this.


I think it would be much easier to put an anchor tag around i. You can just use the css :hover selector. Less moving parts makes maintenance easier, and less javascript to load makes the page quicker.

This will do the trick:

<style>
 a.icon-link:hover {
   background-color: pink;
 }
</style>

<a href="#" class="icon-link" id="course-0"><i class="icon-thumbsup"></id></a>

jsfiddle example