I solved this problem with a directive that basicly what it does is to bind the real ng-model on a special attribute which I watch in the directive, then using a debounce service I update my directive attribute, so the user watch on the variable that he bind to debounce-model instead of ng-model.
.directive('debounceDelay', function ($compile, $debounce) {
return {
replace: false,
scope: {
debounceModel: '='
},
link: function (scope, element, attr) {
var delay= attr.debounceDelay;
var applyFunc = function () {
scope.debounceModel = scope.model;
}
scope.model = scope.debounceModel;
scope.$watch('model', function(){
$debounce(applyFunc, delay);
});
attr.$set('ngModel', 'model');
element.removeAttr('debounce-delay'); // so the next $compile won't run it again!
$compile(element)(scope);
}
};
});
Usage:
<input type="text" debounce-delay="1000" debounce-model="search"></input>
And in the controller :
$scope.search = "";
$scope.$watch('search', function (newVal, oldVal) {
if(newVal === oldVal){
return;
}else{ //do something meaningful }
Demo in jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/6K7Kd/37/
the $debounce service can be found here: http://jsfiddle.net/Warspawn/6K7Kd/
Inspired by eventuallyBind directive http://jsfiddle.net/fctZH/12/