Get original transcluded content within angular directive

Question

My goal is to create an editable directive that allows a user to edit HTML of any element to which the attribute is attached (see Plunker: http://plnkr.co/edit/nIrr9Lu0PZN2PdnhQOC6)

This almost works except I can't get the original raw HTML of the transcluded content to initialize the text area. I can get the text of it from clone.text(), but that's missing the HTML tags like <H1>, <div>, etc. so clicking apply with no edits is not idempotent.

The method clone.html() throws an error, Cannot read property 'childNodes' of undefined

app.directive("editable", function($rootScope) {
  return {
    restrict: "A",
    templateUrl: "mytemplate.html",
    transclude: true,
    scope: {
      content: "=editContent"
    },

    controller: function($scope, $element, $compile, $transclude, $sce) {

      // Initialize the text area with the original transcluded HTML...
      $transclude(function(clone, scope) {

        // This almost works but strips out tags like <h1>, <div>, etc.
        // $scope.editContent = clone.text().trim();

        // this works much better per @Emmentaler, tho contains expanded HTML
        var html = ""; 
        for (var i=0; i<clone.length; i++) {
            html += clone[i].outerHTML||'';}
        });
        $scope.editContent = html;

      $scope.onEdit = function() {
        // HACK? Using jQuery to place compiled content 
        $(".editable-output",$element).html(
          // compiling is necessary to render nested directives
          $compile($scope.editContent)($rootScope)
        );
      }

      $scope.showEditor = false;

      $scope.toggleEditor = function() {
        $scope.showEditor = !$scope.showEditor;
      }         
    }
  }
});

(This question is essentially a wholesale rewrite of the question and code after an earlier attempt to frame the question, Get original transcluded content in Angular directive)

Answer 1

The $element.innerHTML should contain the original HTML. I am showing that it contains

  <div class="editable">
  <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-edit" ng-click="toggleEditor()"></span>

    <div class="editable-input" ng-show="showEditor">
       <b><p>Enter well-formed HTML content:</p></b>
       <p>E.g.<code>&lt;h1&gt;Hello&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;p&gt;some text&lt;/p&gt;&lt;clock&gt;&lt;/clock&gt;</code></p>
       <textarea ng-model="editContent"></textarea>
       <button class="btn btn-primary" ng-click="onEdit()">apply</button>
    </div>

    <div class="editable-output" ng-transclude=""></div>
  </div>