Why is `replace` property deprecated in AngularJS directives? [duplicate]

Question

According to the API docs, directives' replace attribute is deprecated, so in the future, all directives will behave with the current default of replace: false.

This removes developers' ability to replace an element directive's element, with no apparent replacement for this functionality.

See this plunk for an example of how element directives work with and without replace: true.

Why is this useful attribute being deprecated with no replacement?

Answer 1

UPDATE

One of the collaborators has said it won't be removed, but known bugs will not be fixed. https://github.com/angular/angular.js/commit/eec6394a342fb92fba5270eee11c83f1d895e9fb#commitcomment-8124407

ORIGINAL

Here is the commit of this change: https://github.com/angular/angular.js/commit/eec6394a342fb92fba5270eee11c83f1d895e9fb

The replace flag for defining directives that replace the element that they are on will be removed in the next major angular version. This feature has difficult semantics (e.g. how attributes are merged) and leads to more problems compared to what it solves. Also, with WebComponents it is normal to have custom elements in the DOM.

It sounds to me like its a combination of complexity vs benefit to maintain support.

And apparently one reason dev were using it because they prefered semantically correct markup to be injected , thus replacing the custom directive tag.

---

Read the comments lower down on that link and apparently many people want it to stay.

Answer 2

If you fear that replace: true will be removed in next version, you can use a postCompile function to replicate the behavior.

/// Replace element with it's first child Utils.replaceWithChild = function(element) {     var child = angular.element(element[0].firstChild);     Utils.mergeAttributes(element, child);     element.replaceWith(child); }  /// Copy attributes from sourceElement to targetElement, merging their values if the attribute is already present Utils.mergeAttributes = function(sourceElement, targetElement) {     var arr = sourceElement[0].attributes;     for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {         var item = arr[i];         if(!item.specified)             continue;          var key = item.name;         var sourceVal = item.value;         var targetVal = targetElement.attr(key);          if(sourceVal === targetVal)             continue;          var newVal = targetVal === undefined             ? sourceVal             : sourceVal + ' ' + targetVal;          targetElement.attr(key, newVal);     } }  angular.module('test') .directive('unwrap', function() {     return {         restrict: 'AE',         templateUrl: 'unwrap.part.html',         compile: function() {             return function postCompile(scope, element, attr) {                 Utils.replaceWithChild(element);             };         }     };  });