Binding select element to object in Angular

📝 Hey there! Welcome to my tech blog where I unravel the mysteries of Angular. Today, we have an intriguing question: "How can we bind a select element to an object in Angular?"

🕵️‍♀️ Let's dive into the code provided and understand the problem. The initial code binds the select element to a list of objects using the ngFor directive. The ngModel directive is used to two-way bind the selected item's id to the selectedValue property.

<select [(ngModel)]="selectedValue">
   <option *ngFor="#c of countries" value="c.id">{{c.name}}</option>
</select>

However, the real challenge arises when we want to bind the country object itself to selectedValue, instead of just the id. Let's discuss the potential solutions:

🌟 Option 1: Binding the object directly in the template In the provided code, you attempted to bind the object itself by changing the value of the option tag to "c". Unfortunately, this doesn't work as expected. Instead, it assigns an object to selectedValue but not the specific object we desire.

<option *ngFor="let c of countries" value="c">{{c.name}}</option>

🌟 Option 2: Utilizing a helper function To achieve the desired binding, we can employ a helper function that maps the selected id to the corresponding object. Let's call this function getCountryById.

getCountryById(id: number): Country {
   return this.countries.find(c => c.id === id);
}

Now, we will bind the selectedValue to the return value of getCountryById.

<select [(ngModel)]="getCountryById(selectedValue)">
   <option *ngFor="let c of countries" [value]="c.id">{{c.name}}</option>
</select>

With this implementation, the selectedValue will always represent the selected country object.

🌟 Option 3: Using the change event Another approach is to leverage the change event to manually set the object based on the selected id. However, it is important to note that the change event fires before the two-way binding is updated. Thus, at that point, we won't have access to the newly selected value.

It is advisable to refrain from using this option unless absolutely necessary. Instead, adapt one of the previous solutions.

🥳 You made it! We've explored different solutions to bind a select element to an object in Angular. Now go ahead and apply one of these options in your own project. If you still have questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

📣 Don't forget to share this blog post with fellow developers who may be facing a similar challenge. Let's spread the knowledge!

✨ Happy coding! ✨