Unique Options to Enhance Your AngularJS Directive

Question

Unique Options to Enhance Your AngularJS Directive

I've been attempting to pass dynamic variables into a directive that showcases a time picker (using pickadate.js: ). However, I'm facing challenges in getting these options into the directive. Despite searching extensively online, I am overwhelmed by the different approaches available and struggling to make it work correctly. Below is my current code:

Directive:

// Directive for selecting time on an HTML element
appDirectives.directive('pickATime', function() {
    return {
        // Attribute restriction
        restrict: 'A',
        // Link function for updating the DOM
        link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
            element.pickatime(scope.$eval(attrs.pickATime));
        },
        scope: {
            timeOptions: '=options'
        },
        templateUrl: '../Templates/timeoptions.html'
    };
});

Directive Template:

Min: {{timeOptions.startTime}} Max: {{customerInfo.endTime}}

HTML:

<input type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time options="timeRange" data-ng-model="itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

Controller with dynamic values from REST:

// Query settings from REST
appSettings.query(function(settings) {
    var setting = settings.value;

    angular.forEach(setting, function(settingvalue, settingkey) {
        if (settingvalue.Title == 'Active') {

            workDuration = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Hours_x0020;
            nonWorkDuration = settingvalue.Non_x0020_Work_x0020_Day_x0020_H;

            var startHour = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Start_x0020.split(":")[0];
            var startMinute = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Start_x0020.split(":")[1];
            var startTime = '[' + startHour + ',' + startMinute + ']';
            var endHour = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_End_x0020_M.split(":")[0];
            var endMinute = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_End_x0020_M.split(":")[1];    
            var endTime = '[' + endHour + ',' + endMinute + ']';
            $scope.timeRange = {min: startTime, max: endTime};                  
        }
    })
});

A static method working on an input:

<input type="text" placeholder="End Time" id="timeend" pick-a-time="{min: [0,0], max: [23,30]}" data-ng-model="itemtimeend"class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

Update: After adjusting with Dave's help, the timeRange logs correctly but timeOptions in the directive shows as undefined.

Directive (timeOptions undefined in logging):

appDirectives.directive('pickATime', function() {
return {
    restrict: 'A',
    link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
        element.pickatime(scope.pickATime);
        console.log("time options log" + scope.timeOptions);
    },
    scope: {
        timeOptions: '='

    },
    templateUrl: '../Templates/timeoptions.html'
};

});

Template:

min: {{timeOptions.min}}, max: {{timeOptions.max}}

Controller (logging correctly):

// Get $scope variables to control time picker range
var startHour = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Start_x0020.split(":")[0];
var startMinute = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Start_x0020.split(":")[1];
var startTime = '[' + startHour + ',' + startMinute + ']';
var endHour = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_End_x0020_M.split(":")[0];
var endMinute = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_End_x0020_M.split(":")[1];
var endTime = '[' + endHour + ',' + endMinute + ']';
$scope.timeRange = {
    min: startTime,
    max: endTime
};

HTML:

<input type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time timeOptions="timeRange" data-ng-model="itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

Update - Picker Working... but Now Form is not Submitting Time Data: details can be found in this Post: TimePicker directive won't submit time (undefined)

Special thanks to @dave-alperovich and @joe-enzminger for their invaluable assistance and insightful responses.

Controller:

// Get $scope variables to control time picker range
var startHour = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Start_x0020.split(":")[0];
var startMinute = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_Start_x0020.split(":")[1];
var endHour = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_End_x0020_M.split(":")[0];
var endMinute = settingvalue.Work_x0020_Day_x0020_End_x0020_M.split(":")[1];
$scope.timeRange = {
min: [startHour,startMinute],
max: [endHour,endMinute]
};

Directive:

appDirectives.directive('pickATime', function() {
return {
    restrict: 'A',
    link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
        element.pickatime(scope.options());
    },
    scope: {
        options: '&pickATime'
    },
};
});

Usage:

<input ng-if="timeRange" type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time="timeRange" data-ng-model="itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

javascript angularjs

Answer 1

Answer №1

There are numerous strategies for transferring data from a parent scope to a directive. You have wisely opted for the isolated scopes approach, as shown by the

scope: {
}

declaration in your directive. This ensures that your directive's scope does not inherit prototypically from the parent scope.

The issue with your initial example is that the line:

element.pickatime(scope.$eval(attrs.pickATime));

results in passing undefined to the element.pickatime() function.

This happens because this particular line of code tries to evaluate the expression (which is a string) within the value of the pick-a-time HTML attribute in your DOM against the directive's scope. In your first example, the pick-a-time attribute's value is an empty string.

By using the non-dynamic version, where the pick-a-time attribute's value is now the string

"{min: [0,0], max: [23,30]}"

which is a valid Angular expression, $eval will return an object with min and max properties set accordingly, making your directive functional.

In both cases, your directive overlooks the value passed through the options attribute.

An easy solution would be to adjust your directive to utilize the data provided via the options attribute. Within your current setup, this object will be bound bi-directionally to $scope.timeOptions, meaning changes to $scope.timeOptions will reflect in the parent scope's timeRange property, and vice versa.

To implement this change in your directive, you can use:

element.pickatime(scope.timeOptions);

Additonal Information:

In the final example you mention, stating that timeOptions is undefined in the directive. This is due to the need for the HTML to include:

<input type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time time-options="timeRange" data-ng-model="itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

The only modification being timeOptions -> time-options

This adheres to Angular's convention for mapping attributes to scope properties.

Further Clarification:

Your scenario does not necessitate two-way binding. To avoid creating two $watches, consider utilizing & instead of =. The revised version of your directory could look like this:

appDirectives.directive('pickATime', function() { 
    return {
        // Attribute restricted
        restrict: 'A',
        // Manages DOM listeners and updates
        link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
            element.pickatime(scope.options());
        },
        scope: {
            options: '&pickATime'
        },
        templateUrl: '../Templates/timeoptions.html'
    };
});

Usage Example:

Correcting the dot notation issue:

In your controller, ensure you employ dot notation for itemtimestart:

.controller('xxx', function($scope){
    $scope.parameters = {
    }
}

<input ng-if="timeRange" type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time="timeRange" data-ng-model="parameters.itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

$scope.paramters.itemtimestart should now display the correct time.

You can simplify this further by employing the "controller as" syntax.

Explore this Plunk

Answer 2

There are numerous strategies for transferring data from a parent scope to a directive. You have wisely opted for the isolated scopes approach, as shown by the

scope: {
}

declaration in your directive. This ensures that your directive's scope does not inherit prototypically from the parent scope.

The issue with your initial example is that the line:

element.pickatime(scope.$eval(attrs.pickATime));

results in passing undefined to the element.pickatime() function.

This happens because this particular line of code tries to evaluate the expression (which is a string) within the value of the pick-a-time HTML attribute in your DOM against the directive's scope. In your first example, the pick-a-time attribute's value is an empty string.

By using the non-dynamic version, where the pick-a-time attribute's value is now the string

"{min: [0,0], max: [23,30]}"

which is a valid Angular expression, $eval will return an object with min and max properties set accordingly, making your directive functional.

In both cases, your directive overlooks the value passed through the options attribute.

An easy solution would be to adjust your directive to utilize the data provided via the options attribute. Within your current setup, this object will be bound bi-directionally to $scope.timeOptions, meaning changes to $scope.timeOptions will reflect in the parent scope's timeRange property, and vice versa.

To implement this change in your directive, you can use:

element.pickatime(scope.timeOptions);

Additonal Information:

In the final example you mention, stating that timeOptions is undefined in the directive. This is due to the need for the HTML to include:

<input type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time time-options="timeRange" data-ng-model="itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

The only modification being timeOptions -> time-options

This adheres to Angular's convention for mapping attributes to scope properties.

Further Clarification:

Your scenario does not necessitate two-way binding. To avoid creating two $watches, consider utilizing & instead of =. The revised version of your directory could look like this:

appDirectives.directive('pickATime', function() { 
    return {
        // Attribute restricted
        restrict: 'A',
        // Manages DOM listeners and updates
        link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
            element.pickatime(scope.options());
        },
        scope: {
            options: '&pickATime'
        },
        templateUrl: '../Templates/timeoptions.html'
    };
});

Usage Example:

Correcting the dot notation issue:

In your controller, ensure you employ dot notation for itemtimestart:

.controller('xxx', function($scope){
    $scope.parameters = {
    }
}

<input ng-if="timeRange" type="text" placeholder="Start Time" id="timestart" pick-a-time="timeRange" data-ng-model="parameters.itemtimestart" class="form-control" autocomplete="off">

$scope.paramters.itemtimestart should now display the correct time.

You can simplify this further by employing the "controller as" syntax.

Explore this Plunk

Answer 3

Answer №2

In case the options are already present in the timeRange and will remain constant, there is no action required: they should be included in scope.timeOptions (both in your link and controller).

However, if the options can change at any moment and you wish to update the component accordingly, you must monitor for these changes:

scope.$watch('timeOptions', function(newOptions) {
  // handle the newOptions here
});

Answer 4

In case the options are already present in the timeRange and will remain constant, there is no action required: they should be included in scope.timeOptions (both in your link and controller).

However, if the options can change at any moment and you wish to update the component accordingly, you must monitor for these changes:

scope.$watch('timeOptions', function(newOptions) {
  // handle the newOptions here
});

Unique Options to Enhance Your AngularJS Directive

Answer №1

Answer №2

Similar questions

Creating a Halo (external outline) for a circular sector in THREE.JS

Changing HTML elements dynamically within an ng-repeat using AngularJS directives

Activate the angular function

ID could not be retrieved from the checkbox

AngularJS smart-table / Single row selection

String creation from HTMLDivElement

Calculating the mean value from a JSON array

Executing a javascript file in a Java environment (Android)

Navigating through async functions in an Express.js router

Exploring the CSS scale transformation alongside the Javascript offsetHeight attribute

Passing props from pages to components in NextJS: A guide

Executing a route function in node.js without specifying a form action

Enter an URL and click the submission button

Performing a Node.js PATCH request that includes the If-Match header

Transform a javascript object with class attributes into a simple object while keeping the methods

Change the color of the navbar when scrolling using bootstrap and jquery

Tips for integrating Vue code into the <code> tag within Vue applications

split() method cannot be used on date

Javascript Guide: Fetching Data from MySQL Database

Are you utilizing Google Chrome extensions for importing and exporting JSON files?