I know that ng-view is better for this type of problem, but I'm already using it to dynamically load an auth vs. dashboard template, so I'm stuck using ng-includes.

Basically, once I load the dashboard template with ng-view, I have a tab control that should change the ng-include depending on which tab is active. However, I can not for my life figure out how to change the ng-include depending on which tab is selected. As an FYI, super new to Angular, mostly a JQuery guy, (and yes, I know I should avoid using JQuery w/ Angular so that I can master Angular, but I'm at my wits end with this thing).

Here's my tab control:

myApp.controller('TabsCtrl', ['$scope', function ($scope) {
  $scope.tabs = [{
      url: '#/dashboard/one'
    }, {
      url: '#/dashboard/two'
    }
  }];

  $scope.activeTab = '#/dashboard/one';

  $scope.onClickTab = function(tab) {
    $scope.activeTab = tab.url;
  }

  $scope.isActiveTab = function(tabUrl) {
    return tabUrl == $scope.activeTab;
  }

  $scope.dashboard.url = {};
  if($scope.activeTab === '#/dashboard/one') {
    $('ng-include').attr('src', 'dashboard/one.html');
  }
  if($scope.activeTab === '#/dashboard/two') {
    $('ng-include').attr('src', 'dashboard/two.html');
  }
  }]);

And here's the html:

<div id="wrapper" ng-controller="TabsCtrl">
  <div id="sidebar-wrapper">
    <ul class="sidebar-nav">
      <li ng-repeat="tab in tabs" 
          ng-class="{active_tab:isActiveTab(tab.url)}" 
          ng-click="onClickTab(tab)">
        <a href="{{tab.url}}">
          <div class="tab-icon">
            <i ng-class="tab.icon"></i>
          </div>
          <div class="tab-label">{{tab.label}}</div>
        </a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
  <div id="page-content-wrapper">
    <div class="page-content">
      <ng-include src=""></ng-include>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

@hasH: I tried to do something along these lines, but $scope.dashboardPath.url didn't seem to be the actual src="dashboardPath.url".

var path = currentPath;//Retrieve it.
$scope.dashboardPath={};
if(path==='/dashboard/one')
    $scope.dashboardPath.url='pageOne.html';
if(path==='/dashboard/two')
    $scope.dashboardPath.url='pageTwo.html';

I know that ng-view is better for this type of problem, but I'm already using it to dynamically load an auth vs. dashboard template, so I'm stuck using ng-includes.

Basically, once I load the dashboard template with ng-view, I have a tab control that should change the ng-include depending on which tab is active. However, I can not for my life figure out how to change the ng-include depending on which tab is selected. As an FYI, super new to Angular, mostly a JQuery guy, (and yes, I know I should avoid using JQuery w/ Angular so that I can master Angular, but I'm at my wits end with this thing).

Here's my tab control:

myApp.controller('TabsCtrl', ['$scope', function ($scope) {
  $scope.tabs = [{
      url: '#/dashboard/one'
    }, {
      url: '#/dashboard/two'
    }
  }];

  $scope.activeTab = '#/dashboard/one';

  $scope.onClickTab = function(tab) {
    $scope.activeTab = tab.url;
  }

  $scope.isActiveTab = function(tabUrl) {
    return tabUrl == $scope.activeTab;
  }

  $scope.dashboard.url = {};
  if($scope.activeTab === '#/dashboard/one') {
    $('ng-include').attr('src', 'dashboard/one.html');
  }
  if($scope.activeTab === '#/dashboard/two') {
    $('ng-include').attr('src', 'dashboard/two.html');
  }
  }]);

And here's the html:

<div id="wrapper" ng-controller="TabsCtrl">
  <div id="sidebar-wrapper">
    <ul class="sidebar-nav">
      <li ng-repeat="tab in tabs" 
          ng-class="{active_tab:isActiveTab(tab.url)}" 
          ng-click="onClickTab(tab)">
        <a href="{{tab.url}}">
          <div class="tab-icon">
            <i ng-class="tab.icon"></i>
          </div>
          <div class="tab-label">{{tab.label}}</div>
        </a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
  <div id="page-content-wrapper">
    <div class="page-content">
      <ng-include src=""></ng-include>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

@hasH: I tried to do something along these lines, but $scope.dashboardPath.url didn't seem to be the actual src="dashboardPath.url".

var path = currentPath;//Retrieve it.
$scope.dashboardPath={};
if(path==='/dashboard/one')
    $scope.dashboardPath.url='pageOne.html';
if(path==='/dashboard/two')
    $scope.dashboardPath.url='pageTwo.html';

• javascript
• jquery
• angularjs
• angularjs-ng-include

• So, you are not able to initialize properly I suppose ? – Gaurav Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 18:12
• Hahaha, yeah... running into issues. Wele back to helping the Angular newbie. I couldn't initialize it properly, I think because ng-include creates a new scope, so I couldn't figure out where the code to initialize it should go. I tried putting it in the TabCtrl, but couldn't figure out how to access the src attribute. – sir_thursday Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 18:17
• 1 Let me try again. As for as fixing issues. That's what SO is for. – Gaurav Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 18:20

3 Answers 3

Bind the src attribute of the ng-include directive with an angular expression that evalutes to activeTab.url. activeTab is a model on the scope, and src will be bound to the url property of the model:

<div id="page-content-wrapper">
  <div class="page-content">
    <ng-include src="activeTab.url"></ng-include>
  </div>
</div>

In your controller, make sure you assign activeTab to your scope:

   myApp.controller('TabsCtrl', ['$scope', function ($scope) {
      $scope.tabs = [{
         url: '#/dashboard/one'
         }, {
         url: '#/dashboard/two'
      }
   }];

   $scope.activeTab = $scope.tabs[0];

   $scope.onClickTab = function(tab) {
       $scope.activeTab = tab;
   }

   $scope.isActiveTab = function(tabUrl) {
        return tabUrl == $scope.activeTab.url;
   }

}]);

There is no need to manipulate the DOM with ng-include (it would be incorrect to do so). When 'activeTab' changes, it will automatically update ng-include because there is a binding set up between the $scope model (activeTab) and the ng-include directive.

As the source to the ng-include you need to bind a variable from the scope.

myApp.controller('TabsCtrl', ['$scope', function ($scope) {
  $scope.tabs = [{
      url: '#/dashboard/one'
    }, {
      url: '#/dashboard/two'
    }
  }];

  $scope.activeTab = '#/dashboard/one';

  $scope.onClickTab = function(tab) {
    $scope.activeTab = tab.url;
    $acope.pageSource = tab.url;
  }

  $scope.isActiveTab = function(tabUrl) {
    return tabUrl == $scope.activeTab;
  }

  $scope.dashboard.url = {};
  if($scope.activeTab === '#/dashboard/one') {
    $scope.pageSource = 'dashboard/one.html';
  }
  if($scope.activeTab === '#/dashboard/two') {
    $scope.pageSource = 'dashboard/two.html';
  }
 }]);

<div id="wrapper" ng-controller="TabsCtrl">
  <div id="sidebar-wrapper">
    <ul class="sidebar-nav">
      <li ng-repeat="tab in tabs" 
          ng-class="{active_tab:isActiveTab(tab.url)}" 
          ng-click="onClickTab(tab)">
        <a href="{{tab.url}}">
          <div class="tab-icon">
            <i ng-class="tab.icon"></i>
          </div>
          <div class="tab-label">{{tab.label}}</div>
        </a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
  <div id="page-content-wrapper">
    <div class="page-content">
      <ng-include src="pageSource"></ng-include>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

First of all, been there. Here is what I had done.

var controller = function($scope, $location)
{

    $scope.dashboard.url = {};

    $scope.init = function(){
        var currentLink = $location.url();


        if(currentLink === '#/dashboard/one') {
            $scope.dashboard.url = 'dashboard/one.html';
        }
        if(currentLink === '#/dashboard/two') {
                $scope.dashboard.url = 'dashboard/two.html';
        }
    };

    $scope.init();
};

[EDIT] Maybe this could work also.

var controller = function($scope, $location)
{
    $scope.tabs = [{url: '#/dashboard/one'}, 
               {url: '#/dashboard/two'}
    ];

    $scope.dashboard={};

    $scope.dashboard={url:$scope.tabs[0].url};

    $scope.init = function(){
        var currentLink = $location.url();


        if(currentLink === '#/dashboard/one') {
            $scope.dashboard = $scope.tabs[0];
        }
        if(currentLink === '#/dashboard/two') {
                $scope.dashboard.url = $scope.tabs[0];
        }
    };

    $scope.init();
};