angularjs - In Angular, is there a way to communicate imperatively to a directive? -

what know

i have custom directive isolate scope.
"outside", can communicate to directive using declarative bindings (via @ , = bindings).
directive can communicate to outside using either declarative bindings (=) or imperative callbacks (&).

what i'd know

is there imperative way communicate to directive?

example

say have <edit-profile> directive. i'd expose method reset(), owner of directive can reset directive (imperatively).

here's i'd it:

<edit-profile on-save="..."></edit-profile> <button ng-click="editprofile.reset()"> reset </button> 

and here's directive:

app.directive("editprofile", function() {     return {         restrict: "e",         scope: {             onsave: "&"         },         template: `             <input type="text">             <button ng-click="onsave()"> submit </button>         `,         controller: function($scope) {             $scope.reset = function(){ ... };         }     }; }); 

what ways can achieve kind of "imperative" approach directive communication?

you can use same technique 1 used 'form' directive: expose controller of directive parent scope. here's basic example:

angular.module('directives').directive('foo', function() {     return {         scope: {             name: '='         },         controller: function($scope) {             this.sayhello = function() {                 $scope.hello = 'hello';             };             $scope.name = this;         },         template: '<div>{{ hello }}</div>'     }; }); 

and unit test, showing how link outside of directive can call function on directive controller when clicked:

describe('foo', function() {     var elm, scope;      beforeeach(module('directives'));      beforeeach(inject(function($rootscope, $compile) {         elm = angular.element(             '<div><foo name="bar"></foo><a href="" ng-click="bar.sayhello()">say hello</a></div>');          scope = $rootscope;         $compile(elm)(scope);         scope.$digest();     }));      it('should hello', function() {         var = elm.find('a');         var div = elm.find('foo');          expect(div.text()).not.tocontain('hello');          a.triggerhandler('click');          expect(div.text()).tocontain('hello');      }); });