AngularJS custom directive with input element, pass validator from outside

Question

I'm using a simple custom directive for a modified input field which occurs throughout my application:

app.directive('editor', function() {
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        templateUrl: 'editor.html',
        scope: { value: '=' }
    };
});

The editor.html basically creates an input element with additional controls. Simplified it looks like this:

<div>
    <input ng-model="value">
    <!-- more code here -->
</div>

I access my directive using <editor value="{{object.name}}"></editor>. This works perfect. Now I need to perform different validations on the input. The necessary validators to use vary, so I would like to be able to pass the actual validators to my directive. Something like:

<editor value="{{object.name}}" validator-a validator-b></editor>

or

<editor value="{{object.name}}" validators="validatorA,validatorB"></editor>

How could I achieve that?

Answer 1

You are creating a custom input control, so you might as well support ng-model - which is the right thing to do.

And, validators - built-in and custom - only require: "ngModel" for their function and they are independent (by design) from the underlying DOM implementation, so having ng-model automatically supports all ng-model-based validators.

Having ng-model support will also make your directive participate in form validation.

Since you are using an existing directive inside the template (i.e. <input>), you don't even need to bother with DOM, as you would've had you built something from scratch.

app.directive("editor", function(){
  return {
    require: "?ngModel",
    scope: true,
    template: "<input ng-model='value' ng-change='onChange()'>",
    link: function(scope, element, attrs, ngModel){
      if (!ngModel) return;

      scope.onChange = function(){
        ngModel.$setViewValue(scope.value);
      };

      ngModel.$render = function(){
        scope.value = ngModel.$modelValue;
      };
    }
  };
});

Then you can just apply validators directly:

<editor ng-model="foo" minlength="3"></editor>

http://plnkr.co/edit/k21Oem6kT8SXUefyhbI6?p=preview