javascript - AngularJS: Linking to elements in a directive that uses ng-repeat

Question

I have a simple directive where the template uses ng-repeat inside it. I need to run some code to instantiate a jquery component against some of the elements created by the ng-repeat directive. The problem is that if I put this code in the link function. The ng-repeat hasn't built those elements yet so nothing is instantiated.

App.directive('myDirective', ['$compile', '$timeout', function($compile, $timeout) {
  return {
    scope: {
        domains: '='
    },
    templateUrl: '/app/partials/my_directive.html',
    link: function($scope, element, attributes) {
        element.find('.standard-help').tooltip('destroy');
        element.find('.standard-help').tooltip({placement: 'top', trigger: 'click hover focus'});
    }
  };
}

The template would look like the following. I'm trying to attach

<ul class="media-list domainList">
  <li class="media" style="position:relative;" ng-repeat="domain in domains">
    <a class="domainHeader" href="javascript://">
        <span class="domainHeader">{{domain.tag}}</span>
    </a>
    <div class="media-body" style="margin-left: 52px;">
        <ul class="standardsList">
            <li ng-class="{ standardDisplayed: lessonLayout == 'standards' }" ng-hide="standard.lessons.length == 0" ng-repeat="standard in domain.standards">
                <a href="javascript://" title="{{standard.description}}" ng-show="lessonLayout == 'standards'" class="standard-help pull-right"><i class="icon-question-sign"></i></a>
                <h6 ng-show="lessonLayout == 'standards'">{{standard.tag}}</h6>
                <ul class="lessonsList">
                    <li ng-class="{ lesson: true }" ng-repeat="lesson in standard.lessons" ng-click="onLessonSelected(lesson)">
                        <i class="icon-lock lesson-locked"></i>
                        <div>{{lesson.title}}</div>
                    </li>
                </ul>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </div>
  </li>
</ul>

I've tried using $watch() and $observe() to register a callback when the domains change and instantiate the tooltip code then. However, I can't seem to get it to call me at the right time. Any ideas what I'm missing?

Answer 1

I found that if created another directive that I added to the element where the ng-repeat was being created it would be notified for each element the repeat created. Then I could simply $emit an event that the parent directive could listen for. At which point it could perform the linking to the repeated elements there. This worked quite nicely especially for multiple ng-repeats within the dom because I could separate them by their event type which would be passed to the new directive.

Here is my directive:

App.directive("onRepeatDone", function() {
    return {
        restrict: 'A',
        link: function($scope, element, attributes ) {
            $scope.$emit(attributes["onRepeatDone"] || "repeat_done", element);
        }
    }
});

Here is the usage of that new directive in the template:

<ul>
    <li on-repeat-done="domain_done" ng-repeat="domain in domains">...</li>
</ul>

Then inside the parent directive I could do the following:

link: function( $scope, element, attributes ) {
    $scope.$on('domain_done', function( domainElement ) {
        domainElement.find('.someElementInsideARepeatedElement').click(...);
    } );
}