calling method of parent controller from a directive in AngularJS

87,256

Solution 1

Just simple change your html as below

<my-directive mandate-person="mandat.person" updateparent="updatePerson(person)" >

      </my-directive>

you are not passing "person" with updatePerson thats why it is not working

Solution 2

Accessing controller method means accessing a method on parent scope from directive controller/link/scope.

If the directive is sharing/inheriting the parent scope then it is quite straight forward to just invoke a parent scope method.

Little more work is required when you want to access parent scope method from Isolated directive scope.

There are few options (may be more than listed below) to invoke a parent scope method from isolated directives scope or watch parent scope variables (option#6 specially).

Note that I used link function in these examples but you can use a directive controller as well based on requirement.

Option#1. Through Object literal and from directive html template

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">

  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
    <script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
    <script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </head>

  <body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
    <p>Hello {{name}}!</p>

    <p> Directive Content</p>
    <sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged(selectedItems)" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>


    <P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective}} </p>

  </body>

</html>

itemfilterTemplate.html

<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" ng-change="selectedItemsChanged({selectedItems:selectedItems})" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
  <option>--</option>
</select>

app.js

var app = angular.module('plunker', []);

app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {
      items: '=',
      selectedItems: '=',
      selectedItemsChanged: '&'
    },
    templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html"
  }
})

app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  $scope.name = 'TARS';

  $scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];

  $scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
    $scope.selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective = selectedItems1;
  }

  $scope.items = [{
    "id": "allItems",
    "name": "All Items",
    "order": 0
  }, {
    "id": "CaseItem",
    "name": "Case Item",
    "model": "PredefinedModel"
  }, {
    "id": "Application",
    "name": "Application",
    "model": "Bank"
    }]

});

working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/rgKUsYGDo9O3tewL6xgr?p=preview

Option#2. Through Object literal and from directive link/scope

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">

  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
    <script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
    <script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </head>

  <body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
    <p>Hello {{name}}!</p>

    <p> Directive Content</p>
    <sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged(selectedItems)" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>


    <P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective}} </p>

  </body>

</html>

itemfilterTemplate.html

<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" 
 ng-change="selectedItemsChangedDir()" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
  <option>--</option>
</select>

app.js

var app = angular.module('plunker', []);

app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {
      items: '=',
      selectedItems: '=',
      selectedItemsChanged: '&'
    },
    templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html",
    link: function (scope, element, attrs){
      scope.selectedItemsChangedDir = function(){
        scope.selectedItemsChanged({selectedItems:scope.selectedItems});  
      }
    }
  }
})

app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  $scope.name = 'TARS';

  $scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];

  $scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
    $scope.selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective = selectedItems1;
  }

  $scope.items = [{
    "id": "allItems",
    "name": "All Items",
    "order": 0
  }, {
    "id": "CaseItem",
    "name": "Case Item",
    "model": "PredefinedModel"
  }, {
    "id": "Application",
    "name": "Application",
    "model": "Bank"
    }]
});

working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/BRvYm2SpSpBK9uxNIcTa?p=preview

Option#3. Through Function reference and from directive html template

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">

  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
    <script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
    <script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </head>

  <body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
    <p>Hello {{name}}!</p>

    <p> Directive Content</p>
    <sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>


    <P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnFromDirective}} </p>

  </body>

</html>

itemfilterTemplate.html

<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" 
 ng-change="selectedItemsChanged()(selectedItems)" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
  <option>--</option>
</select>

app.js

var app = angular.module('plunker', []);

app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {
      items: '=',
      selectedItems:'=',
      selectedItemsChanged: '&'
    },
    templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html"
  }
})

app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  $scope.name = 'TARS';

  $scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];

  $scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
    $scope.selectedItemsReturnFromDirective = selectedItems1;
  }

  $scope.items = [{
    "id": "allItems",
    "name": "All Items",
    "order": 0
  }, {
    "id": "CaseItem",
    "name": "Case Item",
    "model": "PredefinedModel"
  }, {
    "id": "Application",
    "name": "Application",
    "model": "Bank"
    }]
});

working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/Jo6FcYfVXCCg3vH42BIz?p=preview

Option#4. Through Function reference and from directive link/scope

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">

  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
    <script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
    <script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </head>

  <body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
    <p>Hello {{name}}!</p>

    <p> Directive Content</p>
    <sd-items-filter selected-items="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>


    <P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective}} </p>

  </body>

</html>

itemfilterTemplate.html

<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" ng-change="selectedItemsChangedDir()" ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
  <option>--</option>
</select>

app.js

var app = angular.module('plunker', []);

app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {
      items: '=',
      selectedItems: '=',
      selectedItemsChanged: '&'
    },
    templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html",
    link: function (scope, element, attrs){
      scope.selectedItemsChangedDir = function(){
        scope.selectedItemsChanged()(scope.selectedItems);  
      }
    }
  }
})

app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  $scope.name = 'TARS';

  $scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];

  $scope.selectedItemsChanged = function(selectedItems1) {
    $scope.selectedItemsReturnedFromDirective = selectedItems1;
  }

  $scope.items = [{
    "id": "allItems",
    "name": "All Items",
    "order": 0
  }, {
    "id": "CaseItem",
    "name": "Case Item",
    "model": "PredefinedModel"
  }, {
    "id": "Application",
    "name": "Application",
    "model": "Bank"
    }]

});

working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/BSqx2J1yCY86IJwAnQF1?p=preview

Option#5: Through ng-model and two way binding, you can update parent scope variables.. So, you may not require to invoke parent scope functions in some cases.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">

  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
    <script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
    <script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </head>

  <body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
    <p>Hello {{name}}!</p>

    <p> Directive Content</p>
    <sd-items-filter ng-model="selectedItems" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"> </sd-items-filter>


    <P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItems}} </p>

  </body>

</html>

itemfilterTemplate.html

<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 200px; width: 250px;" 
 ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:'name'">
  <option>--</option>
</select>

app.js

var app = angular.module('plunker', []);

app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {
      items: '=',
      selectedItems: '=ngModel'
    },
    templateUrl: "itemfilterTemplate.html"
  }
})

app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  $scope.name = 'TARS';

  $scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];

  $scope.items = [{
    "id": "allItems",
    "name": "All Items",
    "order": 0
  }, {
    "id": "CaseItem",
    "name": "Case Item",
    "model": "PredefinedModel"
  }, {
    "id": "Application",
    "name": "Application",
    "model": "Bank"
    }]
});

working plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/hNui3xgzdTnfcdzljihY?p=preview

Option#6: Through $watch and $watchCollection It is two way binding for items in all above examples, if items are modified in parent scope, items in directive would also reflect the changes.

If you want to watch other attributes or objects from parent scope, you can do that using $watch and $watchCollection as given below

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">

<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8" />
  <title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
  <script>
    document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');
  </script>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
  <script data-require="[email protected]" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.3.9/angular.js" data-semver="1.3.9"></script>
  <script src="app.js"></script>
</head>

<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
  <p>Hello {{user}}!</p>
  <p>directive is watching name and current item</p>
  <table>
    <tr>
      <td>Id:</td>
      <td>
        <input type="text" ng-model="id" />
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Name:</td>
      <td>
        <input type="text" ng-model="name" />
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Model:</td>
      <td>
        <input type="text" ng-model="model" />
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>

  <button style="margin-left:50px" type="buttun" ng-click="addItem()">Add Item</button>

  <p>Directive Contents</p>
  <sd-items-filter ng-model="selectedItems" current-item="currentItem" name="{{name}}" selected-items-changed="selectedItemsChanged" items="items"></sd-items-filter>

  <P style="color:red">Selected Items (in parent controller) set to: {{selectedItems}}</p>
</body>

</html>

script app.js

var app = angular.module('plunker', []);

app.directive('sdItemsFilter', function() {
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {
      name: '@',
      currentItem: '=',
      items: '=',
      selectedItems: '=ngModel'
    },
    template: '<select ng-model="selectedItems" multiple="multiple" style="height: 140px; width: 250px;"' +
      'ng-options="item.id as item.name group by item.model for item in items | orderBy:\'name\'">' +
      '<option>--</option> </select>',
    link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
      scope.$watchCollection('currentItem', function() {
        console.log(JSON.stringify(scope.currentItem));
      });
      scope.$watch('name', function() {
        console.log(JSON.stringify(scope.name));
      });
    }
  }
})

 app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  $scope.user = 'World';

  $scope.addItem = function() {
    $scope.items.push({
      id: $scope.id,
      name: $scope.name,
      model: $scope.model
    });
    $scope.currentItem = {};
    $scope.currentItem.id = $scope.id;
    $scope.currentItem.name = $scope.name;
    $scope.currentItem.model = $scope.model;
  }

  $scope.selectedItems = ["allItems"];

  $scope.items = [{
    "id": "allItems",
    "name": "All Items",
    "order": 0
  }, {
    "id": "CaseItem",
    "name": "Case Item",
    "model": "PredefinedModel"
  }, {
    "id": "Application",
    "name": "Application",
    "model": "Bank"
  }]
});

You can always refer AngularJs documentation for detailed explanations about directives.

Solution 3

There are two ways, with which we can call using & and =.

If I am using = for a scope attribute, then

ng-click='updateparent({person: mandatePerson})'

will be changed to

ng-click='updateparent(mandatePerson)'

And in the directive,

updateparent="updatePerson()"

will change to

updateparent="updatePerson"

No need to mention arguments here, they will be passed to controller's function definition as a reference.

Using & is explained in other answers.

Solution 4

Here's another pattern (works in Angular 1.5).

angular.module('module', [])

    .controller('MyController', function() {

        var self = this;
        self.msg = 0;
        // implement directive event listener interface
        this.onEvent = function(arg) {
            self.msg++;
        };
    })

    .directive('myDirective', function() {
        return {
          scope: {
            data: '=',
            handler: '='
          },
          template: '<button ng-click="handler.onEvent(data)">Emit event</button>'
        }
    });

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.5.6/angular.min.js"></script>


<div ng-app="module" ng-controller="MyController as ctrl">
<my-directive handler="ctrl" data="'...received'"></my-directive>
  {{ctrl.msg}}
</div>

View more solutions

87,256

Author by

Sam

Everything related to web development.

Updated on September 26, 2020

Comments

Sam almost 4 years

Following my previous question, I'm now trying to call a method on the parent controller from my directive. I get an undefined parameter. Here's what I do:

<body ng-app="myApp" ng-controller="MainCtrl">
  <span>{{mandat.rum}}</span>
  <span>{{mandat.surname}}</span>
<input type="text" ng-model="mandat.person.firstname" />
<my-directive mandate-person="mandat.person" updateparent="updatePerson()" >

  </my-directive>
</body>

And the script:

var app = angular.module('myApp', []);

    app.controller('MainCtrl', function ($scope) {
        $scope.mandat = { name: "John", surname: "Doe", person: { id: 1408, firstname: "sam" } };
        $scope.updatePerson = function(person) {
            alert(person.firstname);
          $scope.mandat.person = person;   
        }
    });


    app.directive('myDirective', function () {
        return {
            restrict: 'E',
            template: "<div><span>{{mandatePerson.id}}<span><input type='text' ng-model='mandatePerson.firstname' /><button ng-click='updateparent({person: mandatePerson})'>click</button></div>",
            replace: true,
            scope: { mandatePerson: '=', updateparent: '&' }
            }
        }
    )

when the updatePerson method gets called, person is undefined.

jsfiddle here : http://jsfiddle.net/graphicsxp/Z5MBf/7/

Sam about 11 years

so what I'm doing is the correct way for updating the parent scope, right ? I just forgot to pass "person".
David Barreto about 10 years

Thank you, passing the controller's method using '=' is easier to work with than using '&' because I don't have to declare all the arguments in the directive instance
Gui almost 10 years

I've just spent an entire afternoon trying to fix a directive. The problem was the arguments in directive declaration (because they existed the argument passed was undefined). Thank you so much!
chovy over 9 years

This worked creating a wrapper function in the link method. It was only a problem when I passed the scope function down to another directive from within a directive. The original parent controller function was still called but arguments was undefined until I wrapped it like you suggest.
ErikAGriffin almost 9 years

To anyone else who was initially confused by this: notice the object notation in the ng-click within the template: ng-click='updateparent({person: mandatePerson})'
Daniel Baughman about 8 years

I had to trigger a fetch from the server so the link function example worked really well for me as I didn't even have to pass data back and forth, just call the ajax function. You deserve like 3 votes for such an accurate and well put answer.