Podcast/lib/angular/docs/partials/api/ng.$compile.html

<h1><code ng:non-bindable="">$compile</code>
<span class="hint">(service in module <code ng:non-bindable="">ng</code>
)</span>
</h1>
<div><a href="http://github.com/angular/angular.js/edit/master/src/ng/compile.js" class="improve-docs btn btn-primary">Improve this doc</a><h2 id="Description">Description</h2>
<div class="description"><p>Compiles a piece of HTML string or DOM into a template and produces a template function, which
can then be used to link <a href="api/ng.$rootScope.Scope"><code>scope</code></a> and the template together.</p>

<p>The compilation is a process of walking the DOM tree and trying to match DOM elements to
<a href="api/ng.$compileProvider#directive"><code>directives</code></a>. For each match it
executes corresponding template function and collects the
instance functions into a single template function which is then returned.</p>

<p>The template function can then be used once to produce the view or as it is the case with
<a href="api/ng.directive:ngRepeat"><code>repeater</code></a> many-times, in which
case each call results in a view that is a DOM clone of the original template.</p>

<h4>Source</h4>
<div source-edit="compile" source-edit-deps="angular.js script.js" source-edit-html="index.html-84" source-edit-css="" source-edit-js="script.js-83" source-edit-unit="" source-edit-scenario="scenario.js-85"></div>
<div class="tabbable"><div class="tab-pane" title="index.html">
<pre class="prettyprint linenums" ng-set-text="index.html-84" ng-html-wrap="compile angular.js script.js"></pre>
<script type="text/ng-template" id="index.html-84">
    
    <div ng-controller="Ctrl">
      <input ng-model="name"> <br>
      <textarea ng-model="html"></textarea> <br>
      <div compile="html"></div>
    </div>
   </script>
</div>
<div class="tab-pane" title="script.js">
<pre class="prettyprint linenums" ng-set-text="script.js-83"></pre>
<script type="text/ng-template" id="script.js-83">
      // declare a new module, and inject the $compileProvider
      angular.module('compile', [], function($compileProvider) {
        // configure new 'compile' directive by passing a directive
        // factory function. The factory function injects the '$compile'
        $compileProvider.directive('compile', function($compile) {
          // directive factory creates a link function
          return function(scope, element, attrs) {
            scope.$watch(
              function(scope) {
                 // watch the 'compile' expression for changes
                return scope.$eval(attrs.compile);
              },
              function(value) {
                // when the 'compile' expression changes
                // assign it into the current DOM
                element.html(value);

                // compile the new DOM and link it to the current
                // scope.
                // NOTE: we only compile .childNodes so that
                // we don't get into infinite loop compiling ourselves
                $compile(element.contents())(scope);
              }
            );
          };
        })
      });

      function Ctrl($scope) {
        $scope.name = 'Angular';
        $scope.html = 'Hello {{name}}';
      }
    </script>
</div>
<div class="tab-pane" title="End to end test">
<pre class="prettyprint linenums" ng-set-text="scenario.js-85"></pre>
<script type="text/ng-template" id="scenario.js-85">
     it('should auto compile', function() {
       expect(element('div[compile]').text()).toBe('Hello Angular');
       input('html').enter('{{name}}!');
       expect(element('div[compile]').text()).toBe('Angular!');
     });
   </script>
</div>
</div><h4>Demo</h4>
<div class="well doc-example-live animator-container" ng-embed-app="compile" ng-set-html="index.html-84" ng-eval-javascript="script.js-83"></div></div>
<h2 id="Usage">Usage</h2>
<div class="usage"><pre class="prettyprint linenums">$compile(element, transclude, maxPriority);</pre>
<h3 id="Parameters">Parameters</h3>
<ul class="parameters"><li><code ng:non-bindable="">element – {string|DOMElement} – </code>
<p>Element or HTML string to compile into a template function.</p></li>
<li><code ng:non-bindable="">transclude – {function(angular.Scope[, cloneAttachFn]} – </code>
<p>function available to directives.</p></li>
<li><code ng:non-bindable="">maxPriority – {number} – </code>
<p>only apply directives lower then given priority (Only effects the
root element(s), not their children)</p></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Returns">Returns</h3>
<div class="returns"><code ng:non-bindable="">{function(scope[, cloneAttachFn])}</code>
– <p>a link function which is used to bind template
(a DOM element/tree) to a scope. Where:</p>

<ul>
<li><code>scope</code> - A <a href="api/ng.$rootScope.Scope"><code>Scope</code></a> to bind to.</li>
<li><p><code>cloneAttachFn</code> - If <code>cloneAttachFn</code> is provided, then the link function will clone the
          <code>template</code> and call the <code>cloneAttachFn</code> function allowing the caller to attach the
          cloned elements to the DOM document at the appropriate place. The <code>cloneAttachFn</code> is
          called as: <br> <code>cloneAttachFn(clonedElement, scope)</code> where:</p>

<ul><li><code>clonedElement</code> - is a clone of the original <code>element</code> passed into the compiler.</li>
<li><code>scope</code> - is the current scope with which the linking function is working with.</li></ul></li>
</ul>

<p>Calling the linking function returns the element of the template. It is either the original element
passed in, or the clone of the element if the <code>cloneAttachFn</code> is provided.</p>

<p>After linking the view is not updated until after a call to $digest which typically is done by
Angular automatically.</p>

<p>If you need access to the bound view, there are two ways to do it:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If you are not asking the linking function to clone the template, create the DOM element(s)
before you send them to the compiler and keep this reference around.
<pre class="prettyprint linenums">
    var element = $compile('&lt;p&gt;{{total}}&lt;/p&gt;')(scope);
  </pre></li>
<li><p>if on the other hand, you need the element to be cloned, the view reference from the original
example would not point to the clone, but rather to the original template that was cloned. In
this case, you can access the clone via the cloneAttachFn:
<pre class="prettyprint linenums">
    var templateHTML = angular.element('&lt;p&gt;{{total}}&lt;/p&gt;'),
        scope = ....;

    var clonedElement = $compile(templateHTML)(scope, function(clonedElement, scope) {
      //attach the clone to DOM document at the right place
    });

    //now we have reference to the cloned DOM via `clone`
  </pre></li>
</ul>

<p>For information on how the compiler works, see the
<a href="guide/compiler">Angular HTML Compiler</a> section of the Developer Guide.</p></div>
</div>
</div>