Specify the controller to be used dynamically in an Angular directive

Question

Specify the controller to be used dynamically in an Angular directive

I want to be able to specify the controller that a directive uses by adding an attribute to the element - in other words, dynamically:

HTML

<div data-mydirective data-ctrl="DynamicController"></div>

Angular

angular.module('app', [])
    .controller('MainController', [function() { ... }])

    .controller('DynamicController', [function() { ... }])

    .directive('mydirective', [function() {
        return {
            controller: 'DynamicController', // <- this should be dynamic

            ...
        }
    }]);

javascript angularjs angularjs-directive angularjs-controller

Answer 1

Answer №1

Here are some ways you can achieve this:

.directive('mydirective', [function() {
    return {        
        controller: function($scope, $element, $attrs){
              // Check attributes or scope members for decision making
              if($scope.$attrs.caseA == 'true'){
                   return new ControllerA($scope, $element, $attrs);
               } else {
                   return new ControllerDefault($scope, $element, $attrs);
               }
         },
        ...
    }
}]);

You can take it further by utilizing $controller

.directive('mydirective', ['$controller',function($controller) {
        return {   
            controller: function($scope, $element, $attrs){
                  return $controller($attrs.dynamicCtrlName, {$scope: $scope,$element:$element,$attrs:$attrs});
             },
             ...
        }
}

In both scenarios, ensure that you include all the necessary injectable dependencies (such as $scope, $attrs, transclude function, etc.) in your controllers. For more information, refer to the controller section of $compile - ideally, the outer controller function should receive and pass them all as locals.

Answer 2

Here are some ways you can achieve this:

.directive('mydirective', [function() {
    return {        
        controller: function($scope, $element, $attrs){
              // Check attributes or scope members for decision making
              if($scope.$attrs.caseA == 'true'){
                   return new ControllerA($scope, $element, $attrs);
               } else {
                   return new ControllerDefault($scope, $element, $attrs);
               }
         },
        ...
    }
}]);

You can take it further by utilizing $controller

.directive('mydirective', ['$controller',function($controller) {
        return {   
            controller: function($scope, $element, $attrs){
                  return $controller($attrs.dynamicCtrlName, {$scope: $scope,$element:$element,$attrs:$attrs});
             },
             ...
        }
}

In both scenarios, ensure that you include all the necessary injectable dependencies (such as $scope, $attrs, transclude function, etc.) in your controllers. For more information, refer to the controller section of $compile - ideally, the outer controller function should receive and pass them all as locals.

Answer 3

Answer №2

After thorough research, I found a solution that is not documented. It appears that this particular code snippet is utilized in the background to enable the functionality of ng-controller.

.directive('mydirective', [function() {
    return {
        controller: '@',
        name: 'ctrl', // <- this attribute specifies which controller to utilize

        ...
    }
}]);

Answer 4

After thorough research, I found a solution that is not documented. It appears that this particular code snippet is utilized in the background to enable the functionality of ng-controller.

.directive('mydirective', [function() {
    return {
        controller: '@',
        name: 'ctrl', // <- this attribute specifies which controller to utilize

        ...
    }
}]);

Answer 5

Answer №3

In my opinion, it is more efficient to utilize the scope directly as it is already linked to the controller. Therefore, place any functionality you want to use in the controller scope and easily manage it within the directive's link function.

Answer 6

In my opinion, it is more efficient to utilize the scope directly as it is already linked to the controller. Therefore, place any functionality you want to use in the controller scope and easily manage it within the directive's link function.

Specify the controller to be used dynamically in an Angular directive

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

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