Question

So I am building a table dynamically, roughtly like this

<tbody ng-repeat="d in data">
<td>{{d.name}}</td>
<td>{{d.dircleColor}}</td>   
<td id="a{{d.index}}>{{d.someOtherData}}</td>
...

“data” is an array, $scope.data in the Controller. Basic Angular, works very well.

Now, I also have to add a svg element (D3.js) into one of those dynamically generated <td></td>s

These have to correspond to the visualization that is also based on $scope.data, so that the red circle in the graph corresponds to the red circle in the table, and the user knows where to look for the information.

My biggest hope is a directive

.directive('dirCircle', function () {
   return function ($scope, elm, attrs) {                        
     var vis = d3.select(elm[0]).append("svg").attr("width", w).
        attr("height", h).attr("class", "circlesClass");
     node.append("svg:text")    [... more styling...]

This works, but at the moment I don’t know how to tell the directive, which color my little svg-circle element should have. This information is in the $scope.data – array. But just accessing the $scope would not be enough. I need the information of the “current” element as it is drawn. Is that possible?

---

If this is not possible, here are some possible workarounds:

1) If the directive could become “self-aware” and look around the DOM in which it was put, that could help. Notice in my above code I have <td id="a{{d.index}}>...

The “a” is just there because ids start with a letter. d.index identifies the relevant data in my array, so if I can access $scope.data from my directive…?

2) generating D3 like you would normally, but putting it into the dynamically generated table cells like so:

for (var i = 0; i < _data.length; i++) {
var svgContainer = d3.select("#a" + _data[i].index).append("svg")  //circleData[0].ci
            .attr("width", 20)
            .attr("height", 20)
            .attr("class", "circlesOnTheRight");

works, however, the “compilation” from the “html-template” (the ng-repeat/{{…}} – stuff) always comes at the end. If new elements are added to the array, my function would always fire before angular creates the new table cells. When I tried it, even $scope.$on(‘includeContentLoaded’, alert(“…”)); fires before angular is done.

Answer 1

I don’t know how to tell the directive, which color my little svg-circle element should have. This information is in the $scope.data

Pass the color as an attribute on the same element where your directive will be used (wherever that is):

<some_element dir-circle the-color="d.color??"></some_element>

Then in your directive:

return function ($scope, elm, attrs) { 
   // $scope.$eval(attrs.theColor) contains your color