How can I dynamically add a directive in AngularJS?

Question

I have a very boiled down version of what I am doing that gets the problem across.

I have a simple directive. Whenever you click an element, it adds another one. However, it needs to be compiled first in order to render it correctly.

My research led me to $compile. But all the examples use a complicated structure that I don't really know how to apply here.

Fiddles are here: http://jsfiddle.net/paulocoelho/fBjbP/1/

And the JS is here:

var module = angular.module('testApp', [])
    .directive('test', function () {
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        template: '<p>{{text}}</p>',
        scope: {
            text: '@text'
        },
        link:function(scope,element){
            $( element ).click(function(){
                // TODO: This does not do what it's supposed to :(
                $(this).parent().append("<test text='n'></test>");
            });
        }
    };
});

Solution by Josh David Miller: http://jsfiddle.net/paulocoelho/fBjbP/2/

Answer 1

You have a lot of pointless jQuery in there, but the $compile service is actually super simple in this case:

.directive( 'test', function ( $compile ) {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: { text: '@' },
    template: '<p ng-click="add()">{{text}}</p>',
    controller: function ( $scope, $element ) {
      $scope.add = function () {
        var el = $compile( "<test text='n'></test>" )( $scope );
        $element.parent().append( el );
      };
    }
  };
});

You'll notice I refactored your directive too in order to follow some best practices. Let me know if you have questions about any of those.

Answer 2

In addition to perfect Riceball LEE's example of adding a new element-directive

newElement = $compile("<div my-directive='n'></div>")($scope)
$element.parent().append(newElement)

Adding a new attribute-directive to existed element could be done using this way:

Let's say you wish to add on-the-fly my-directive to the span element.

template: '<div>Hello <span>World</span></div>'

link: ($scope, $element, $attrs) ->

  span = $element.find('span').clone()
  span.attr('my-directive', 'my-directive')
  span = $compile(span)($scope)
  $element.find('span').replaceWith span

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Dynamically adding directives on angularjs has two styles:

Add an angularjs directive into another directive

• inserting a new element(directive)
• inserting a new attribute(directive) to element

inserting a new element(directive)

it's simple. And u can use in "link" or "compile".

var newElement = $compile( "<div my-diretive='n'></div>" )( $scope );
$element.parent().append( newElement );

inserting a new attribute to element

It's hard, and make me headache within two days.

Using "$compile" will raise critical recursive error!! Maybe it should ignore the current directive when re-compiling element.

$element.$set("myDirective", "expression");
var newElement = $compile( $element )( $scope ); // critical recursive error.
var newElement = angular.copy(element);          // the same error too.
$element.replaceWith( newElement );

So, I have to find a way to call the directive "link" function. It's very hard to get the useful methods which are hidden deeply inside closures.

compile: (tElement, tAttrs, transclude) ->
   links = []
   myDirectiveLink = $injector.get('myDirective'+'Directive')[0] #this is the way
   links.push myDirectiveLink
   myAnotherDirectiveLink = ($scope, $element, attrs) ->
       #....
   links.push myAnotherDirectiveLink
   return (scope, elm, attrs, ctrl) ->
       for link in links
           link(scope, elm, attrs, ctrl)       

Now, It's work well.

Answer 4

function addAttr(scope, el, attrName, attrValue) {
  el.replaceWith($compile(el.clone().attr(attrName, attrValue))(scope));
}

Answer 5

Josh David Miller is correct.

PCoelho, In case you're wondering what $compile does behind the scenes and how HTML output is generated from the directive, please take a look below

The $compile service compiles the fragment of HTML("< test text='n' >< / test >") that includes the directive("test" as an element) and produces a function. This function can then be executed with a scope to get the "HTML output from a directive".

var compileFunction = $compile("< test text='n' > < / test >");
var HtmlOutputFromDirective = compileFunction($scope);

More details with full code samples here: http://www.learn-angularjs-apps-projects.com/AngularJs/dynamically-add-directives-in-angularjs

Answer 6

The accepted answer by Josh David Miller works great if you are trying to dynamically add a directive that uses an inline template. However if your directive takes advantage of templateUrl his answer will not work. Here is what worked for me:

.directive('helperModal', [, "$compile", "$timeout", function ($compile, $timeout) {
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        replace: true,
        scope: {}, 
        templateUrl: "app/views/modal.html",
        link: function (scope, element, attrs) {
            scope.modalTitle = attrs.modaltitle;
            scope.modalContentDirective = attrs.modalcontentdirective;
        },
        controller: function ($scope, $element, $attrs) {
            if ($attrs.modalcontentdirective != undefined && $attrs.modalcontentdirective != '') {
                var el = $compile($attrs.modalcontentdirective)($scope);
                $timeout(function () {
                    $scope.$digest();
                    $element.find('.modal-body').append(el);
                }, 0);
            }
        }
    }
}]);

Answer 7

Inspired from many of the previous answers I have came up with the following "stroman" directive that will replace itself with any other directives.

app.directive('stroman', function($compile) {
  return {
    link: function(scope, el, attrName) {
      var newElem = angular.element('<div></div>');
      // Copying all of the attributes
      for (let prop in attrName.$attr) {
        newElem.attr(prop, attrName[prop]);
      }
      el.replaceWith($compile(newElem)(scope)); // Replacing
    }
  };
});

Important: Register the directives that you want to use with restrict: 'C'. Like this:

app.directive('my-directive', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'C',
    template: 'Hi there',
  };
});

You can use like this:

<stroman class="my-directive other-class" randomProperty="8"></stroman>

To get this:

<div class="my-directive other-class" randomProperty="8">Hi there</div>

Protip. If you don't want to use directives based on classes then you can change '<div></div>' to something what you like. E.g. have a fixed attribute that contains the name of the desired directive instead of class.