How to get required controller?

[piernik]

Here is sample from my directive with my problem

return {
    restrict: "E",
    require: "^directive1",
    controller: 'myCtrl',
    controllerAs: "vm",
    bindToController: true,
    link: function (scope, element, attrs, directive1Ctrl) {

    }
};

function myCtrl() {
    //how to get to required (directive1Ctrl) controller ??
}

How to get required directive1Ctrl in myCtrl??

[ericmdantas]

Have you tried:

angular
.module('youAppName')
.controller('myCtrl', function()
{
    // controller stuff goes here
})

[matsko]

No he means that how can he gain access to the parent controller within his own controller.

One way I know how to do this is to use an injected $element, but I can't say for sure if this way is considered a best practice since you're using an element within a controller.

.controller('myCtrl', ['$element', function($element) {
   var parentCtrl = $element.parent().controller('diective1');
}])

[gkalpak]

Another workaeound would be using the link function (and if necessay pass the parent controller to the element's controller). But it would indeed be nice to have the required controllers as injectables in the element's controller.

[dorellang]

+1 to gkalpak It's kind of weird that you can access parent controllers by the link function, but not by the controller itself. The later seems to suit better the component oriented approach that Angular is embracing in the latest versions.

[piernik]

I think that injecting required controller is essential to fullfill new style of not using $scope in controller in favour of this

[piernik]

@matsko - Your solution works great!

[Narretz]

There's an issue with some discussion about this, let's move it here: https://github.com/angular/angular.js/issues/5893

One good point that is raised that injecting controllers into controllers might create circular dependencies.