How to update AngularJS directive when URL is changed?

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Set active tab style with AngularJS

I'm using AngularJS and trying to add a "current" class to my menu whenever that tab's content is being displayed. This is what I have so far, and it works fine when loading the page:

HTML:

<ul id="nav">
    <li><a href="#/one" class="highlighttab">One</a></li>
    <li><a href="#/two" class="highlighttab">Two</a></li>
</ul>

JS:

myModule.directive('highlighttab', function($location) {
    var currentPath = "#" + $location.path();

    return {
        restrict: 'C',
        link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
            var href = element.attr("href");
            if (currentPath == href)
            {
                element.addClass("current");
            }
        }
    };
});

This will add the 'current' class to the correct <a> tag when the page url is #/one or /#two

The problem is if I click the second tab, the class does not get added to it. I imagine I need some way to get the code inside the directive to be re-run when the URL changes. Is there any way to do that ?

Similar question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12295983 — pkozlowski.opensource, Oct 01 '12 at 17:31
kfis' answer uses a directive, so probably exactly what you want. — Narretz, Oct 01 '12 at 18:02

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Using kfis's code from https://stackoverflow.com/a/12631214/1684860 in the comments, I have this working now using $scope.watch on location.path() .

myModule.directive('highlighttab', ['$location', function(location) {

    return {
        restrict: 'C',
        link: function($scope, $element, $attrs) {
            var elementPath = $attrs.href.substring(1);
            $scope.$location = location;
            $scope.$watch('$location.path()', function(locationPath) {
                (elementPath === locationPath) ? $element.addClass("current") : $element.removeClass("current");
            });
        }
    };
}]);

Steven · Answer 2 · 2012-10-01T14:07:58.433

Assuming you are using ngView/routeProvider you probably need to listen for a route change event, perhaps $routeChangeSuccess 1.

e.g. in your link function:

scope.$on("$routeChangeSuccess", function (event, current, previous) {
    if (current == href) {
      element.addClass("current");
    }
    else {
      element.removeClass("current");
    }
});

Not tested so might need tinkering e.g. for presence/absence of '#'. I expect your currentPath variable is only being evaluated once, so you might want to rework that into the link function so its effective scope is clearer.

1 [http://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng.$route]

+1 Interesting idea thanks, I hadn't thought of that. – Michael Low Oct 02 '12 at 05:04 — Michael Low, Oct 02 '12 at 05:04

How to update AngularJS directive when URL is changed?

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