Expandable list component for AngularJS (1.5)
For several of my projects I required a list where input items could be dynamically added and removed. Because i saw uses for this over and over i created a component which i'm sharing with you here. The component ended up like the code below. Where i used a template generation function in order to create the ul and li elements. I'm using the angular.element function to create nodes as a method of preference.
function mpExpandableListController() {
var vm = this;
vm.add = add;
vm.manipulatable = true;
vm.remove = remove;
// If items was not declared, create new array.
if (!vm.items) {
vm.items = [];
}
// If the items array is empty, create first item.
if (vm.items.length === 0) {
add();
}
/**
* Add an item to the item list.
*/
function add() {
vm.items.push({});
setManipulatable();
}
/**
* Remove an item from the item list.
* @param item The item to remove
*/
function remove(item) {
vm.items.splice(vm.items.indexOf(item), 1);
setManipulatable();
}
/**
* Set the flag which designates that the list may be manipulated.
*/
function setManipulatable() {
vm.manipulatable = vm.items.length > 1;
}
}
/**
*
* @param $element The element as declared in the HTML
* @param $attrs The attributes for said element
* @returns {string} A template for this component.
*/
function template($element, $attrs) {
var container = angular.element("<ul>"),
item = angular.element('<li ng-repeat="item in list.items">'),
footer = angular.element("<li>");
container.addClass($attrs.universalClass);
item.addClass($attrs.itemClass);
footer.addClass($attrs.footerClass);
item.html($element.find("item").html());
footer.html($element.find("footer").html());
container.append(item);
container.append(footer);
return container[0].outerHTML;
}
var mpExpandableList = {
bindings: {
footerClass: "@",
itemClass: "@",
items: "=",
universalClass: "@",
},
controller: mpExpandableListController,
controllerAs: "list",
template: template,
};
angular.module("my.project").component("mpExpandableList", mpExpandableList);
As you can see the template function adds information such as class names from the attributes and also creates the item li tag with the ng-repeat needed to populate our list. And after this it appends the footer li tag which should ideally contain the add item link/button. So now we have our list, which we can use as such:
<mp-expandable-list
items="main.model"
universal-class="list-main"
item-class="list-item"
footer-class="list-footer"
>
<item>
<span>{{item.key}}</span>
<input type="text" ng-model="item.value" />
<a href="#" ng-click="list.remove(item)" ng-if="list.manipulatable"></a>
</item>
<footer>
<a href="#" class="add-line" ng-click="list.add()">
Add an item
</a>
</footer>
</mp-expandable-list>
As you can see there are bindings for both list and item.
- The list binding is for the controller for the expandable list.
- has two functions (add & remove) for adding and removing lines.
- has a flag called manipulatable which is true as long as the list may add/remove items.
- The item binding is for the individual items in the list.
Note that this is not a best practice, nor is it necessarily the best solution for you or your project. It is just a component that may help you, or be the basis for something else. You can play with this component on plunker.