AngularJS directives - best practices when using ngModel with jQuery widget

Question

Here is my problem. For example, we have the following directive, which uses some jQuery widget behind the scenes :

module.directive('myWidget', [function() {
    return {
        require: "ngModel",
        restrict: "A",
        replace: true,
        templateUrl: "templates/myWidget.html",
        link: function(scope, element, attrs, ctrl) {
            element.widget_name().on('value_updated', function(event) {
                scope.$apply(function() {
                    var newModelValue = event.some_value;
                    ctrl.$setViewValue(newModelValue);
                });
            });

            scope.$watch(attrs["ngModel"], function(value){
                element.widget_name('set_value', value);
            });
        }
    };
}]);

So, if model's value changes, then the handler which is registered using $watch to listen for changes in model will be executed, and, consequently, widget's 'set_value' method will be executed too. This means that 'value_updated' event will be triggered.

My question is: what is the best practice to implement similar behavior in directives to avoid extra calls of DOM event handlers and watchers?

Answer 1

Instead of scope.$watch(), I suggest implementing ctrl.$render(). $render should only be called if something inside Angular changes the model. Fiddle example.

This solves a problem you did not mention. Unfortunately, it does not solve the problem you did mention. In the fiddle, a blur event is bound, rather than some widget.on() event. Maybe that would work for you – i.e., only update the model on blur, rather than every keystroke (this assumes your widget is accepting keystrokes, however).

Maybe you could also ask the widget author to provide a "set" method that does not trigger an event. Then that could be used in the $render() method.