attribute-directives.jade

include ../_util-fns

:marked
  An **Attribute** directive changes the appearance or behavior of a DOM element.

:marked
  In this chapter we will
  * write an attribute directive to change the background color
  * apply the attribute directive to an element in a template
  * respond to user-initiated events
  * pass values into the directive using data binding

  [Live Example](/resources/live-examples/attribute-directives/ts/plnkr.html)

  ## Directives overview
  
  There are three kinds of directives in Angular:
  1. Components
  1. Structural directives  
  1. Attribute directives

  The *Component* is really a directive with a template. 
  It's the most common of the three directives and we write lots of them as we build our application.

  The [*Structural* directive](structural-directives.html) changes the DOM layout by adding and removing DOM elements. 
  [NgFor](template-syntax.html#ng-for) and [NgIf](template-syntax.html#ng-if) are two familiar examples.
  
  The *Attribute* directive changes the appearance or behavior of an element.
  The built-in [NgStyle](template-syntax.html#ng-style) directive, for example,
  can change several element styles at the same time.
  
  We are going to write our own attribute directive to set an element's background color
  when the user hovers over that element.
.l-sub-section
  :marked
    We don't need *any* directive to simply set the background color.
    We can set it with the special [Style Binding](template-syntax.html#style-binding) like this:
  code-example.
    <p [style.background]="'lime'">I am green with envy!</p>
  <br>
  :marked
    That wouldn't be nearly as much fun as creating our own directive.
    
    Besides, we're not just *setting* the color; we'll be *changing* the color
    in response to a user action, a mouse hover.

.l-main-section
:marked
  ## Build a simple attribute directive
  An attribute directive minimally requires building a controller class annotated with a 
  `Directive` decorator. The `Directive` decorator specifies the selector identifying
  the attribute associated with the directive. 
  The controller class implements the desired directive behavior.

  Let's build a small illustrative example together.

:marked
  ### Our first draft
  Create a new project folder (`attribute-directives`) and follow the steps in the [QuickStart](../quickstart.html).
  
  Add a new file to the `app` folder called `highlight.directive.ts` and add the following code:
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.1.ts', null, 'app/highlight.directive.ts')

:marked
  We begin by importing some symbols from the Angular library.
  We need the `Directive` symbol for the `@Directive` decorator.
  We need the `ElementRef` to [inject](dependency-injection.html) into the directive's constructor
  so we can access the DOM element.
  We don't need `Input` immediately but we will need it later in the chapter.
  
  Then we define the directive metadata in a configuration object passed
  as an argument to the `@Directive` decorator function. 
  A `@Directive` decorator for an attribute directive requires a css selector to identify
  the HTML in the template that is associated with our directive.
  The [css selector for an attribute](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Attribute_selectors)
  is the attribute name in square brackets.
  
  Our directive's selector is `[myHighlight]`. 
  Angular will locate all elements in the template that have an attribute named `myHighlight`. 
.l-sub-section
  :marked
    ### Why not call it "highlight"?
    *highlight* is a nicer name than *myHighlight* and, technically, it would work if we called it that.
 
    However, we recommend picking a selector name with a prefix to ensure
    that it cannot conflict with any standard HTML attribute, now or in the future.
    There is also less risk of colliding with a third-party directive name when we give ours a prefix.

    We do **not** prefix our `highlight` directive name with **`ng`**.
    That prefix belongs to Angular and
    we don't want to confuse our directives with their directives.

    We need a prefix of our own, preferably short, and `my` will do for now.
    
:marked
  After the `@Directive` metadata comes the directive's controller class which we are exporting
  to make it accessible to other components. 
  The directive's controller class contains the logic for the directive.
  
  Angular creates a new instance of the directive's controller class for
  each matching element, injecting an Angular `ElementRef` 
  into the constructor.
  
  `ElementRef` is a service that grants us direct access to the DOM element
  through its `nativeElement` property.
  That's all we need to set the element's background color using the browser DOM API.

.l-main-section
:marked
  ## Apply the attribute directive
  The `AppComponent` in this sample is a test harness for our `HighlightDirective`.
  Let's give it a new template that 
  applies the directive as an attribute to a `span` element.
  In Angular terms, the `<span>` element will be the attribute **host**.
  
  We'll put the template in its own `app.component.html` file that looks like this:
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.1.html',null,'app/app.component.html')(format=".")
:marked
  A separate template file is clearly overkill for a 2-line template. 
  Hang in there; we're going to expand it later.
  Meanwhile, we'll revise the `AppComponent` to reference this template.
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.ts',null,'app/app.component.ts')
:marked
  We've added an `import` statement to fetch the 'Highlight' directive and 
  added that class to a `directives` array in the component metadata so that Angular 
  will recognize our directive when it encounters `myHighlight` in the template. 

  We run the app and see that our directive highlights the span text.
  
figure.image-display
  img(src="/resources/images/devguide/attribute-directives/first-highlight.png" alt="First Highlight")
.l-sub-section
  :marked
    #### Why isn't my directive working? 

    Did you remember to set the `directives` array? It is easy to forget!
    
    Open the console in the browser tools and look for an error like this:
  code-example.format("").
    EXCEPTION: Template parse errors:
      Can't bind to 'myHighlight' since it isn't a known native property 
  :marked
    Angular detects that we're trying to bind to *something* but it doesn't know what.
    We have to tell it by listing `HighlightDirective` in the `directives` metadata array.
:marked
  Let's recap what happened.
  
  Angular found the `myHighlight` attribute on the `<span>` element. It created
  an instance of the `HighlightDirective` class, 
  injecting a reference to the element into the constructor 
  where we set the `<span>` element's background style to yellow.

.l-main-section
:marked
  ## Respond to user action

  We are not satisfied to simply set an element color.
  Our directive should set the color in response to a user action.
  Specifically, we want to set the color when the user mouses over the element.
  
  We'll need to
  1. detect when the user mouses into and out of the element
  1. respond to those actions by setting and clearing the highlight color.
  
  Start with event detection. 
  We add a `host` property to the directive metadata and give it a configuration object
  that specifies two mouse events and the directive methods to call when they are raised.
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.2.ts','host')(format=".")
:marked
.l-sub-section
  :marked
    The `host` property refers to the DOM element that hosts our attribute directive, the `<span>` in our case.
     
    We could have attached an event listener to the native element (`el.nativeElement`) with 
    plain old JavaScript. 
    There are at least three problems with that approach:
    
    1. We have to write the listeners correctly.
    1. We must *detach* our listener when the directive is destroyed to avoid memory leaks.
    1. We'd be talking to DOM API directly which, we learned, is something to avoid.

    Let's roll with the `host` property. 
:marked
  Now we implement those two mouse event handlers:
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.2.ts','mouse-methods')(format=".")
:marked
  Notice that they delegate to a helper method to set the color.
  
  We no longer need the constructor body but 
  we still want the injected `ElementRef`.
  We revise the constructor signature to capture the injected `ElementRef` in a private variable
  and clear the body.
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.2.ts','ctor')(format=".")
:marked
  Here's the updated directive:
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.2.ts',null, 'app/highlight.directive.ts')
:marked
  We run the app and confirm that the background color appears as we move the mouse over the `span` and
  disappears as we move out.
figure.image-display
  img(src="/resources/images/devguide/attribute-directives/highlight-directive-anim.gif" alt="Second Highlight")
:marked
.l-main-section
:marked
  ## Configure the directive with binding

  Currently the highlight color is hard-coded within the directive. That's inflexible.
  We should set the highlight color externally with a binding like this:
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.html','span')
:marked
  We'll extend our directive class with a bindable **input** `highlightColor` property and use it when we highlight text.

  Here is the final version of the class:
  
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts', 'class-1', 'app/highlight.directive.ts (class only)')
<a id="input"></a>
:marked
  The new `highlightColor` property is called an "input" property because data flows from the binding expression into our directive.
  Notice that we call the `@Input()` decorator function while defining the property.
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts', 'color')
:marked
  This `@Input` decorator adds metadata to the class that makes the `highlightColor` property  available for property binding
  under the `myHighlight` alias. 
  We must add this input metadata or Angular will reject the binding.
  See the [appendix](#why-input) below to learn why.
.l-sub-section
  :marked
    ### @Input(alias) 
    The developer who uses our directive expects to bind to the attribute name, `myHighlight`.
    The directive property name is `highlightColor`. That's a disconnect.
    
    We can resolve the discrepancy by renaming the property to `myHighlight` and define it as follows:

  +makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts', 'highlight')
  <br>
  :marked
    Maybe we don't want that property name inside the directive perhaps because it 
    doesn't express our intention well. 
    We can **alias** the `highlightColor` property with the attribute name by
    passing `myHighlight` into the `@Input` decorator:
  +makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts', 'color')
:marked
  Now that we're getting the highlight color as an input, we modify the `onMouseEnter()` method to use
  it instead of the hard-coded color name.
  We also define a red default color as a fallback in case
  the user neglects to bind with a color.
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts', 'mouse-enter')
:marked
  Now we'll update our `AppComponent` template to let 
  users pick the highlight color and bind their choice to our directive.
  
  Here is the updated template:

+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.html', 'v2')

.l-sub-section
  :marked
    ### Where is the templated *color* property?
    
    The eagle-eyed may notice that the radio button click handlers in the template set a `color` property
    and we are binding that `color` to the directive. 
    We should expect to find a `color` on the host `AppComponent`.
    
    **We never defined a color property for the host *AppComponent***!
    And yet this code works. Where is the template `color` value going?
    
    Browser debugging reveals that Angular dynamically added a `color` property 
    to the runtime instance of the `AppComponent`.
    
    This is *convenient* behavior but it is also *implicit* behavior that could be confusing. 
    While it's cool that this technique works, we recommend adding the `color` property to the `AppComponent`.

:marked
  Here is our second version of the directive in action.
figure.image-display
  img(src="/resources/images/devguide/attribute-directives/highlight-directive-v2-anim.gif" alt="Highlight v.2")

.l-main-section
:marked
  ## Bind to a second property
  Our directive only has a single, customizable property. What if we had ***two properties***?
  
  Let's let the template developer set the default color, the color that prevails until the user picks a highlight color.
  We'll add a second **input** property to `HighlightDirective` called `defaultColor`:
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts', 'defaultColor')(format=".")
:marked
  The `defaultColor` property has a setter that overrides the hard-coded default color, "red".
  We don't need a getter.
  
  How do we bind to it? We already "burned" the `myHighlight` attribute name as a binding target.
  
  Remember that a *component is a directive too*. 
  We can add as many component property bindings as we need by stringing them along in the template
  as in this example that sets the `a`, `b`, `c` properties to the string literals 'a', 'b', and 'c'. 
code-example(format="." ).
  &lt;my-component [a]="'a'" [b]="'b'" [c]="'c'">&lt;my-component>
:marked
  We do the same thing with an attribute directive.
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.html', 'defaultColor')(format=".")
:marked
  Here we're binding the user's color choice to the `myHighlight` attribute as we did before.
  We're *also* binding the literal string, 'violet', to the `defaultColor`.
    
  Here is the final version of the directive in action.
figure.image-display
  img(src="/resources/images/devguide/attribute-directives/highlight-directive-final-anim.gif" alt="Final Highlight")

.l-main-section
:marked
  ## Summary
  Now we know how to
  - build a simple **attribute directive** to attach behavior to an HTML element,
  - use that directive in a template,
  - respond to **events** to change behavior based on an event,
  - and use **binding** to pass values to the attribute directive.

  The final source:

+makeTabs(
  `attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.ts,
   attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.html, 
   attribute-directives/ts/app/highlight.directive.ts,
   attribute-directives/ts/app/main.ts,
   attribute-directives/ts/index.html
  `,
  ',,full',
  `app.component.ts,
   app.component.html,
   highlight.directive.ts,
   main.ts,
   index.html
  `)


<a id="why-input"></a>
.l-main-section
:marked
  ### Appendix: Input properties
  
  Earlier we declared the `highlightColor` property to be an ***input*** property of our
  `HighlightDirective`
 
  We've seen properties in bindings before. 
  We never had to declare them as anything. Why now?
  
  Angular makes a subtle but important distinction between binding **sources** and **targets**.
  
  In all previous bindings, the directive or component property was a binding ***source***.
  A property is a *source* if it appears in the template expression to the ***right*** of the equals (=).
  
  A property is a *target* when it appears in **square brackets** ([ ]) to the **left** of the equals (=) ...
  as it is does when we bind to the `myHighlight` property of the `HighlightDirective`, 
+makeExample('attribute-directives/ts/app/app.component.html','span')(format=".")
:marked
  The 'color' in `[myHighlight]="color"` is a binding ***source***.
  A source property doesn't require a declaration.
  
  The 'myHighlight' in `[myHighlight]="color"` *is* a binding ***target***.
  We must declare it as an *input* property.
  Angular rejects the binding with a clear error if we don't.
  
  Angular treats a *target* property differently for a good reason.
  A component or directive in target position needs protection.
  
  Imagine that our `HighlightDirective` did truly wonderous things.
  We graciously made a gift of it to the world. 
  
  To our surprise, some people &mdash; perhaps naively &mdash;
  started binding to *every* property of our directive. 
  Not just the one or two properties we expected them to target. *Every* property.
  That could really mess up our directive in ways we didn't anticipate and have no desire to support.
  
  The *input* declaration ensures that consumers of our directive can only bind to
  the properties of our public API ... nothing else.