AngularJS dropdown directive hide when clicking outside

Watch out, your solution (the Plunker provided in the question) doesn't close the popups of other boxes when opening a second popup (on a page with multiple selects).

By clicking on a box to open a new popup the click event will always be stopped. The event will never reach any other opened popup (to close them).

I solved this by removing the event.stopPropagation(); line and matching all child elements of the popup.

The popup will only be closed, if the events element doesn't match any child elements of the popup.

I changed the directive code to the following:

select.html (directive code)

link: function(scope, element, attr){

    scope.isPopupVisible = false;

    scope.toggleSelect = function(){
        scope.isPopupVisible = !scope.isPopupVisible;
    }

    $(document).bind('click', function(event){
        var isClickedElementChildOfPopup = element
            .find(event.target)
            .length > 0;

        if (isClickedElementChildOfPopup)
            return;

        scope.$apply(function(){
            scope.isPopupVisible = false;
        });
    });
}

I forked your plunker and applied the changes:

Plunker: Hide popup div on click outside

Screenshot:

This is an old post but in case this helps anyone here is a working example of click outside that doesn't rely on anything but angular.

module('clickOutside', []).directive('clickOutside', function ($document) {

        return {
           restrict: 'A',
           scope: {
               clickOutside: '&'
           },
           link: function (scope, el, attr) {

               $document.on('click', function (e) {
                   if (el !== e.target && !el[0].contains(e.target)) {
                        scope.$apply(function () {
                            scope.$eval(scope.clickOutside);
                        });
                    }
               });
           }
        }

    });

I realized it by listening for a global click event like so:

.directive('globalEvents', ['News', function(News) {
    // Used for global events
    return function(scope, element) {
        // Listens for a mouse click
        // Need to close drop down menus
        element.bind('click', function(e) {
            News.setClick(e.target);
        });
    }
}])

The event itself is then broadcasted via a News service

angular.factory('News', ['$rootScope', function($rootScope) {
    var news = {};
    news.setClick = function( target ) {
        this.clickTarget = target;
        $rootScope.$broadcast('click');
    };
}]);

You can then listen for the broadcast anywhere you need to. Here is an example directive:

.directive('dropdown', ['News', function(News) {
  // Drop down menu für the logo button
  return {
    restrict: 'E',
    scope: {},
    link: function(scope, element) {
      var opened = true;
      // Toggles the visibility of the drop down menu
      scope.toggle = function() {
        element.removeClass(opened ? 'closed' : 'opened');
        element.addClass(opened ? 'opened' : 'closed');
      };
      // Listens for the global click event broad-casted by the News service
      scope.$on('click', function() {
        if (element.find(News.clickTarget.tagName)[0] !== News.clickTarget) {
          scope.toggle(false);
        }
      });
      // Init
      scope.toggle();
    }
  }
}])

I hope it helps!

OK I had to call $apply() as the event is happening outside angular world (as per doc).

    element.bind('click', function(event) {
    event.stopPropagation();      
    });

    $document.bind('click', function(){
    scope.isVisible = false;
    scope.$apply();
    });

I was not totally satisfied with the answers provided so I made my own. Improvements:

• More defensive updating of the scope. Will check to see if a apply/digest is already in progress
• div will also close when the user presses the escape key
• window events are unbound when the div is closed (prevents leaks)

• window events are unbound when the scope is destroyed (prevents leaks)

  function link(scope, $element, attributes, $window) {

  var el = $element[0],
      $$window = angular.element($window);
  
  function onClick(event) {
      console.log('window clicked');
  
      // might need to polyfill node.contains
      if (el.contains(event.target)) {
          console.log('click inside element');
          return;
  
      }
  
      scope.isActive = !scope.isActive;
      if (!scope.$$phase) {
          scope.$apply();
      }
  }
  
  function onKeyUp(event) {
  
      if (event.keyCode !== 27) {
          return;
      }
  
      console.log('escape pressed');
  
      scope.isActive = false;
      if (!scope.$$phase) {
          scope.$apply();
      }
  }
  
  function bindCloseHandler() {
      console.log('binding window click event');
      $$window.on('click', onClick);
      $$window.on('keyup', onKeyUp);
  }
  
  function unbindCloseHandler() {
      console.log('unbinding window click event');
      $$window.off('click', onClick);
      $$window.off('keyup', onKeyUp);
  }
  
  scope.$watch('isActive', function(newValue, oldValue) {
      if (newValue) {
          bindCloseHandler();
      } else {
          unbindCloseHandler();
      }
  });
  
  // prevent leaks - destroy handlers when scope is destroyed
  scope.$on('$destroy', function() {
      unbindCloseHandler();
  });
  

  }

I get $window directly into the link function. However, you do not need to do this exactly to get $window.

function directive($window) {
    return {
        restrict: 'AE',
        link: function(scope, $element, attributes) {
            link.call(null, scope, $element, attributes, $window);
        }
    };
}