Navigating the AngularJS Directive Controller

I am encountering difficulties while trying to access my controller within a directive that I am attempting to unit test using jasmine and karma testrunner. The structure of the directive is as follows:

directive

angular.module('Common.accountSearch',['ngRoute'])

    .directive('accountSearch', [function() {
        return {
            controllerAs: 'ctrl',
            controller: function ($scope, $element, $routeParams, $http) {

                this.setAccount = function () {
                    var response = { AccountId : $scope.ctrl.searchedAccount.AccountId }
                    $scope.callback(response)
                }


                this.getAccounts = function(searchText){
                    return $http.get('/api/CRMAccounts', {
                        params: {
                            retrievalLimit: 10,
                            search: searchText
                        }
                    }).then(function(response){
                        return response.data;
                    });

                }

            },
            scope : {
                config : '=',
                values : '=',
                callback : '='
            },
            templateUrl : '/common/components/account-search/account-search.html',
            restrict : 'EAC'
        }
    }]);

This is the current state of the test case file, where I assume everything is correctly set up (hopefully):

test case file:

    describe("Account search directive logic tests", function (){
  var element,$scope,scope,controller,template

  beforeEach(module("Common.accountSearch"))


  beforeEach(inject( function (_$compile_, _$rootScope_,_$controller_,$templateCache) {
    template = $templateCache.get("components/account-search/account-search.html")
    $compile = _$compile_;
    $rootScope = _$rootScope_;
    $controller = _$controller_;
    scope = $rootScope.$new();
    element = $compile(template)(scope)
    ctrl = element.controller
    scope.$digest();
  //  httpBackend = _$httpBackend_;
  }));




  it(" sets the account and calls back.", inject(function () {

    console.log(ctrl)
    expect(ctrl).toBeDefined()
   }));
  //httpBackend.flush()
});

Upon printing the controller of the directive to the console, I receive an ambiguous message:

LOG: function (arg1, arg2) { ... }

I am unable to access any functions or properties within the directive as they are all returning "undefined". What could be the issue here?

Answer №1

Directives' controllers in Angular can be fully injectable, allowing you to reference the controller by name instead of providing a constructor. For more information on directive definition objects in Angular, check out the documentation here: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$compile#directive-definition-object

If you need to unit test the controller, you can do so like this:

common.accountSearch.js

angular.module('Common.accountSearch', [])
  .directive('accountSearch', [function () {
      return {
          controller: 'accountSearchCtrl',
          scope: {
              config    : '=',
              values    : '=',
              callback  : '='
          },
          templateUrl : '/common/components/account-search/account-search.html',
          restrict: 'EAC'
      }
  }])
  .controller('accountSearchCtrl', ['$scope', function ($scope) {
      $scope.setAccount = function () {
          var response = {
              AccountId: $scope.ctrl.searchedAccount.AccountId
          };
          $scope.callback(response);
      }

      $scope.getAccounts = function (searchText) {
          // Code goes here...
      }
  }]);

common.accountSearch-spec.js

describe("Account search directive logic tests", function () {    
    var controller, scope;

    beforeEach(module("Common.accountSearch"));

    beforeEach(inject(function (_$controller_, _$rootScope_) {        
        $rootScope = _$rootScope_;
        scope = $rootScope.$new();
        controller = _$controller_('accountSearchCtrl', { '$scope': scope });        
    }));

    it(" sets the account and calls back.", function () {
        expect(controller).toBeDefined();
    });
});

This approach allows you to easily inject your controller into jasmine tests just like any other controller.

I hope this explanation is helpful!

Answer №2

Almost there!

To access the controller of a directive, you need to pass the name of the directive as an argument to the element.controller function. For example:

ctrl = element.controller("accountSearch");

Answer №3

element.controller is a useful method in AngularJS jqLite that allows you to access the directive controller by calling it and seeing the jqLite method .toString(). To learn more, check out the Element controller manual.

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