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@ngdoc overview
@name Tutorial: Step 2
@description
<table id="tutorial_nav">
<tr>
<td id="previous_step">{@link tutorial.step_01 Previous}</td>
<td id="step_result">{@link http://angular.github.com/angular-phonecat/step-2/app Live
Demo}</td>
<td id="tut_home">{@link tutorial Tutorial Home}</td>
<td id="code_diff">{@link https://github.com/angular/angular-phonecat/compare/step-1...step-2 Code
Diff}</td>
<td id="next_step">{@link tutorial.step_03 Next}</td>
</tr>
</table>
Now it's time to make this web page dynamic with angular. We'll also add a test that verifies the
code for the controller we are going to add.
There are many ways to structure the code for an application. With angular, we encourage the use
of {@link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model–View–Controller the MVC design pattern} to decouple
the code and separate concerns. With that in mind, let's use a little angular and JavaScript to
add Model, View, and Controller components to our app.
1. Reset your workspace to step 2 using:
git checkout --force step-2
or
./goto_step.sh 2
2. Refresh your browser or check the app out on {@link
http://angular.github.com/angular-phonecat/step-2/app angular's server}. The app now contains a
list with 3 phones.
The most important changes are listed below. You can see the full diff on {@link
https://github.com/angular/angular-phonecat/compare/step-1...step-2 GitHub}:
## Template for the View
The __View__ component is constructed by angular from this template:
__`app/index.html`:__
<pre>
...
<body ng:controller="PhoneListCtrl">
<ul>
<li ng:repeat="phone in phones">
{{phone.name}}
<p>{{phone.snippet}}</p>
</li>
</ul>
<script src="lib/angular/angular.js" ng:autobind></script>
<script src="js/controllers.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
</pre>
We replaced the hard-coded phone list with the {@link angular.widget.@ng:repeat ng:repeat widget}
and two {@link guide.expression angular expressions} enclosed in curly braces: `{{phone.name}}`
and `{{phone.snippet}}`:
* The `ng:repeat="phone in phones"` statement in the `<li>` tag is an angular repeater. It
tells angular to create a `<li>` element for each phone in the phones list, using the first
`<li>` tag as the template.
* The curly braces around `phone.name` and `phone.snippet` are an example of {@link
angular.markup angular markup}. The curly markup is shorthand for the angular directive {@link
angular.directive.ng:bind ng:bind}. `ng:bind` directives indicates to angular that these are
template binding points. Binding points are locations in the template where angular creates
data-binding between the View and the Model. In angular, the View is a projection of the Model
through the HTML template. This means that whenever the model changes, angular refreshes the
appropriate binding points, which updates the view.
## Model and Controller
The data __Model__ (a short list of phones in object literal notation) is instantiated within the
__Controller__ function (`PhoneListCtrl`):
__`app/js/controllers.js`:__
<pre>
function PhoneListCtrl() {
this.phones = [{"name": "Nexus S",
"snippet": "Fast just got faster with Nexus S."},
{"name": "Motorola XOOM™ with Wi-Fi",
"snippet": "The Next, Next Generation tablet."},
{"name": "MOTOROLA XOOM™",
"snippet": "The Next, Next Generation tablet."}];
}
</pre>
Although the controller is not yet doing very much controlling, it is playing a crucial role. By
providing context for our data model, the controller allows us to establish data-binding between
the model and the view. Note in the following how we connected the dots between our presentation,
data, and logic components:
* The name of our controller function (in the JavaScript file `controllers.js`) matches the
{@link angular.directive.ng:controller ng:controller} directive in the `<body>` tag
(`PhoneListCtrl`).
* We instantiated our data within the scope of our controller function, and our template
binding points are located within the block bounded by the `<body
ng:controller="PhoneListCtrl">` tag.
Angular uses scopes, along with the information contained in the template, data model, and
controller to keep the Model and View separated but in sync: any changes to the model are
reflected in the view; any changes that occur in the view are reflected in the model.
As for our data model, we created a simple array of phone records, specified in object literal
notation.
## Tests
The "Angular way" makes it easy for us to test as we develop; the unit test for your newly created
controller looks as follows:
__`test/unit/controllersSpec.js`:__
<pre>
describe('PhoneCat controllers', function() {
describe('PhoneListCtrl', function(){
it('should create "phones" model with 3 phones', function() {
var ctrl = new PhoneListCtrl();
expect(ctrl.phones.length).toBe(3);
});
});
});
</pre>
Ease of testing is another cornerstone of angular's design philosophy. All we are doing here is
showing how easy it is to create a unit test. The test verifies that we have 3 records in the
phones array.
Angular developers prefer the syntax of Jasmine's Behavior-driven Development (BDD) framework when
writing tests. Although Jasmine is not required by angular, we used it to write all tests in this
tutorial. You can learn about Jasmine on the {@link http://pivotal.github.com/jasmine/ Jasmine
home page} and on the {@link https://github.com/pivotal/jasmine/wiki Jasmine wiki}.
The angular-seed project is pre-configured to run all unit tests using {@link
http://code.google.com/p/js-test-driver/ JsTestDriver}. To run the test, do the following:
1. In a _separate_ terminal window or tab, go to the `angular-phonecat` directory and run
`./scripts/test-server.sh` to start the test web server.
2. Open a new browser tab or window, navigate to http://localhost:9876, and choose "strict mode".
At this point, you can leave this tab open and forget about it. JsTestDriver will use it to
execute our tests and report the results in the terminal.
3. Execute the test by running `./scripts/test.sh`
You should see the following or similar output:
Chrome: Runner reset.
.
Total 1 tests (Passed: 1; Fails: 0; Errors: 0) (2.00 ms)
Chrome 11.0.696.57 Mac OS: Run 1 tests (Passed: 1; Fails: 0; Errors 0) (2.00 ms)
Yay! The test passed!
# Experiments
* Add another binding to `index.html`. For example:
<p>Total number of phones: {{phones.length}}</p>
* Create a new model property in the controller and bind to it from the template. For example:
this.hello = "Hello, World!"
* Create a repeater that constructs a simple table:
<table>
<tr><th>row number</th></tr>
<tr ng:repeat="i in [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]"><td>{{i}}</td></tr>
</table>
Now, make the list 1-based by incrementing `i` by one in the binding:
<table>
<tr><th>row number</th></tr>
<tr ng:repeat="i in [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]"><td>{{i+1}}</td></tr>
</table>
* Make the unit test fail by changing the `toBe(3)` statement to `toBe(4)`, and rerun the
`./scripts/test.sh` script.
# Summary
You now have a dynamic app that features separate model, view, and controller components, and
you're testing as you go. Now, let's go to step 3 to learn how to add full text search to the app.
<table id="tutorial_nav">
<tr>
<td id="previous_step">{@link tutorial.step_01 Previous}</td>
<td id="step_result">{@link http://angular.github.com/angular-phonecat/step-2/app Live
Demo}</td>
<td id="tut_home">{@link tutorial Tutorial Home}</td>
<td id="code_diff">{@link https://github.com/angular/angular-phonecat/compare/step-1...step-2 Code
Diff}</td>
<td id="next_step">{@link tutorial.step_03 Next}</td>
</tr>
</table>
|
