Angularjs – Warn on unsaved changes in Master Detail Scenario

Question

I need a solution to warning about unsaved changes in a Master- Detail scenario. I was able to implement a solution by Sam that he created in September 2015 (http://www.samjhill.com/blog/?p=525#comment-28558). This was in response to a stackoverflow question and answer at the link, Detect Unsaved changes and alert user using angularjs.

The solution provided by Sam works great with a single form in the html file but I am having problems in a situation I have where I have multiple forms in a header section and detail section where both can change. In the detail section I am using xeditable table. I have tried adding the "confirm-on-exit" attribute to both forms. In the top section the confirmation box comes up as expected but continues to come up even after I submit for update. In the xeditable section the confirmation box never comes up. I have included my html below. Can you offer any suggests I can make so that the warning comes up if a change is made to any form on the page?

.container.col-md-12.col-sm-12.col-xs-12-center
    .well
        form.form-horizontal(name="createQuestionAnswer" confirm-on-exit)
            fieldset
                legend Question Definition
                .form-group
                    label.col-md-2.control-label(for="statement") Question
                    .col-md-10
                        input.form-control(name="statement", type="text", placeholder="Statement", ng-model="statement", ng-change = "changeStatement()",required)
                .form-group
                    label.col-md-2.control-label(for="sequenceNo") SequenceNo
                    .col-md-4
                        input.form-control(name="sequenceNo", type="text", placeholder="SequenceNo", ng-model="sequenceNo", ng-change = "changeSequenceNo()",required)
                    label.col-md-2.control-label(for="componentType") Type
                    .col-md-4
                        input.form-control(name="componentType", type="text", placeholder="ComponentType", ng-model="componentType", ng-change = "changeComponentType()",required)
                .form-group
                    label.col-md-2.control-label(for="weight") Weight
                    .col-md-2
                        input.form-control(name="weight", type="text", placeholder="Weight", ng-model="weight", ng-change = "changeWeight()")
                    label.col-md-2.control-label(for="imageURL") Image
                    .col-md-6
                        input.form-control(name="imageURL", type="text", placeholder="Image", ng-model="imageURL", ng-change = "changeImageURL()", required)
    div(ng-app='app')
            table.table.table-bordered.table-hover.table-condensed(style='width: 100%')
                tr(style='font-weight: bold')
                    td(style='width:70%') Answer
                    td(style='width:10%') Correct
                    td(style='width:10%') Rank
                    td(style='width:10%') Position
                tr(ng-repeat='answer in answers')
                    td
                        // editable answer (text with validation)
                        span(editable-text='answer.answer',  e-name='answer', e-form='rowform', onbeforesave='checkAnswer($data)',onaftersave='saveAnswers($data)', e-required='') {{ answer.answer || 'empty'}}
                    td
                        // editable  (select-local)
                        span(editable-text='answer.correct', e-name='correct', e-form='rowform') {{ answer.correct }}
                    td
                        // editable
                        span(editable-text='answer.rank', e-name='rank', e-form='rowform' ) {{ answer.rank }}
                    td
                        // editable
                        span(editable-text='answer.position', e-name='position', e-form='rowform') {{ answer.position }}
                    td(style='white-space: nowrap')
                        // form
                        form.form-buttons.form-inline(editable-form='', name='rowform' onbeforesave='changeAnswers()', ng-show='rowform.$visible', shown='inserted == answer')
                            button.btn.btn-primary(type='submit', ng-disabled='rowform.$waiting') save
                            button.btn.btn-default(type='button', ng-disabled='rowform.$waiting', ng-click='rowform.$cancel()') cancel
                        .buttons(ng-show='!rowform.$visible')
                            button.btn.btn-primary(ng-click='rowform.$show()' ) edit
                            button.btn.btn-danger(ng-click='removeAnswer($index)') del
            button.btn.btn-default(ng-click='addAnswer()') Add row
form.form-horizontal(name="buttonQuestionAnswer")
    fieldset
        .form-group
            .col-md-10.col-md-offset-2
                .pull-right
                    button.btn.btn-primary(ng-controller="flQuestionCrudCtrl", ng-show="questionMode=='Create'",  ng-click="createQuestion()") Save New
                    |  
                    button.btn.btn-primary(ng-controller="flQuestionCrudCtrl", ng-show="questionMode=='Update'", ng-click="updateQuestion()") Update
                    |  
                    button.btn.btn-primary(ng-controller="flQuestionCrudCtrl", ng-show="questionMode=='Update'", ng-click="deleteQuestion()") Delete
                    |  
                    a.btn.btn-default(ui-sref="home") Cancel

Answer 1

As I was not aware that HTML had a problem with nested form elements this was a good hint. I removed the button form and made the Create/Update/Delete buttons part of the header form. I then passed the form name to the functions to create, update and delete records. In the functions I added the code: myForm.$setPristine(true); myForm.$setSubmitted(true); myForm.$setDirty(false); In the xeditable form I also passed the name of the main form to, onbeforesave='changeAnswers(headerForm)'. In the changeAnswers function I added the code: myForm.$setDirty(true);

So far working very well.