I currently have an AngularJS application with routing built in. It works and everything is ok.

My app.js file looks like this:

angular.module('myapp', ['myapp.filters', 'myapp.services', 'myapp.directives']).
  config(['$routeProvider', function ($routeProvider) {
      $routeProvider.when('/', { templateUrl: '/pages/home.html', controller: HomeController });
      $routeProvider.when('/about', { templateUrl: '/pages/about.html', controller: AboutController });
      $routeProvider.when('/privacy', { templateUrl: '/pages/privacy.html', controller: AboutController });
      $routeProvider.when('/terms', { templateUrl: '/pages/terms.html', controller: AboutController });
      $routeProvider.otherwise({ redirectTo: '/' });
  }]);

My app has a CMS built in where you can copy and add new html files within the /pages directory.

I would like to still go through the routing provider though even for the new dynamically added files.

In an ideal world the routing pattern would be:

$routeProvider.when('/pagename', { templateUrl: '/pages/pagename.html', controller: CMSController });

So if my new page name was "contact.html" I would like angular to pick up "/contact" and redirect to "/pages/contact.html".

Is this even possible?! and if so how?!

Update

I now have this in my routing config:

$routeProvider.when('/page/:name', { templateUrl: '/pages/home.html', controller: CMSController })

and in my CMSController:

function CMSController($scope, $route, $routeParams) {
    $route.current.templateUrl = '/pages/' + $routeParams.name + ".html";
    alert($route.current.templateUrl);
}
CMSController.$inject = ['$scope', '$route', '$routeParams'];

This sets the current templateUrl to the right value.

However I would now like to change the ng-view with the new templateUrl value. How is this accomplished?


Solution 1:

angular.module('myapp', ['myapp.filters', 'myapp.services', 'myapp.directives']).
        config(['$routeProvider', function($routeProvider) {
        $routeProvider.when('/page/:name*', {
            templateUrl: function(urlattr){
                return '/pages/' + urlattr.name + '.html';
            },
            controller: 'CMSController'
        });
    }
]);
  • Adding * let you work with multiple levels of directories dynamically. Example: /page/cars/selling/list will be catch on this provider

From the docs (1.3.0):

"If templateUrl is a function, it will be called with the following parameters:

{Array.} - route parameters extracted from the current $location.path() by applying the current route"

Also

when(path, route) : Method

  • path can contain named groups starting with a colon and ending with a star: e.g.:name*. All characters are eagerly stored in $routeParams under the given name when the route matches.

Solution 2:

Ok solved it.

Added the solution to GitHub - http://gregorypratt.github.com/AngularDynamicRouting

In my app.js routing config:

$routeProvider.when('/pages/:name', {
    templateUrl: '/pages/home.html', 
    controller: CMSController 
});

Then in my CMS controller:

function CMSController($scope, $route, $routeParams) {

    $route.current.templateUrl = '/pages/' + $routeParams.name + ".html";

    $.get($route.current.templateUrl, function (data) {
        $scope.$apply(function () {
            $('#views').html($compile(data)($scope));
        });
    });
    ...
}
CMSController.$inject = ['$scope', '$route', '$routeParams'];

With #views being my <div id="views" ng-view></div>

So now it works with standard routing and dynamic routing.

To test it I copied about.html called it portfolio.html, changed some of it's contents and entered /#/pages/portfolio into my browser and hey presto portfolio.html was displayed....

Updated Added $apply and $compile to the html so that dynamic content can be injected.