Mobile Angular UI - Touch Events

To work with Touch and its events you need to add the following module −

mobile-angular-ui.gestures

If you are just interested in the touch module, then you can add only mobile-angular-ui.gestures.touch.

$touch is a service available with touch module. It will work on any input devices you want to work with. It gives details like movement, duration, velocity, direction, etc.

Methods in $touch

The following are the available methods in $touch −

bind

Let us take a look at the bind method.

Syntax

$touch.bind(element, eventHandlers, [options])

Parameters

element − html element you want to deal with touch details.

eventHandlers − An object with handlers for specific touch events. The eventHandlers available are −

  • start − it's a callback for touchstart event.

  • end − it’s a callback event for touchend.

  • move − it’s a callback for touchmove event.

  • cancel − it’s a callback for touchcancel event.

options − It is an object that can have details as follows −

  • movementThreshold − An integer value. The number of pixels of movement before start to trigger touchmove handlers.

  • valid − Its a function that returns a boolean value that decides if a touch should be handled or ignored.

  • sensitiveArea − It can be a function, or element or BoundingClientRect. Sensitive area defines boundaries to release touch when movement is outside.

  • pointerTypes − It is an array of pointer that has keys which are a subset of default pointer events map.

Types available in $touch

The following are the types available in $touch −

Property Type Description
type string This will tell you the type of event. For example − touchmove, touchstart, touchend, touchcancel
timestamp Date The timestamp when the touch happened
duration int Difference between current touch event and touch start
startX float X coordinate of touchstart
startY float Y coordinate of touchstart
prevX float X coordinate of the previously happened touchstart or touchmove
prevY float Y coordinate of the previously happened touchstart or touchmove
x float X coordinate of touch event
y float Y coordinate of touch event
step float The distance between prevX,prevY and x,y points
stepX float The distance between prevX and x points
stepY float The distance between prevY and y points
velocity float Velocity in pixels of a touch event per second
averageVelocity float Average velocity of touchstart event per second
distance float The distance between startX, startY and x,y points
distanceX float The distance between startX and x points
distanceY float The distance between startY and y points
total float The total movement i.e horizontal and vertical movement done across the device
totalX float The total movement i.e horizontal direction.It also includes turnarounds and changes of direction
totalY float The total movement i.e vertical direction.It also includes turnarounds and changes of direction
direction float The left, top, bottom, right direction location of touch
angle float The angle in degrees from the x and y axis

Here is a working example showing the touch types.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8" />
      <title>Mobile Angular UI Demo</title>
      <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" />
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />
      <meta name="viewport" content="user-scalable=no, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, minimal-ui" />
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="yes" />
      <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/assets/img/favicon.png" type="image/x-icon" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="node_modules/mobile-angular-ui/dist/css/mobile-angular-ui-hover.min.css" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="node_modules/mobile-angular-ui/dist/css/mobile-angular-ui-base.min.css" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="node_modules/mobile-angular-ui/dist/css/mobile-angular-ui-desktop.min.css" />
      <script src="node_modules/angular/angular.min.js"></script>
      <script src="node_modules/angular-route/angular-route.min.js"></script>
      <script src="node_modules/mobile-angular-ui/dist/js/mobile-angular-ui.min.js"></script>
      <script src="node_modules/angular-route/angular-route.min.js"></script>
      <script src="node_modules/mobile-angular-ui/dist/js/mobile-angular-ui.gestures.min.js"></script>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="src/css/app.css" />
      <script src="src/js/app.js"></script>
      <style>
         a.active {
            color: blue;
         }
      </style>
   </head>

   <body ng-app="myFirstApp" ng-controller="MainController" class="listening">
      
      <!-- Sidebars -->
      <div class="sidebar sidebar-left ">
         <div class="scrollable">
            <h1 class="scrollable-header app-name">Tutorials</h1>
            <div class="scrollable-content">
               <div class="list-group" ui-turn-off='uiSidebarLeft'>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="/">Home Page </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/academic"><i class ="fa fa-caret-right"></i>Academic Tutorials </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/bigdata"><i class ="fa fa-caret-right"></i>Big Data & Analytics </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/computerProg"><i class="fa fa-caret-right"></i>Computer Programming </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/computerscience"><i class="fa fa-caret-right"></i>Computer Science </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/databases"><i class="fa fa-caret-right"></i>Databases </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/devops"><i class="fa fa-caret-right"></i>DevOps </a>
               </div>
            </div>
         </div>
      </div>
      <div class="sidebar sidebar-right">
         <div class="scrollable">
            <h1 class="scrollable-header app-name">eBooks</h1>
            <div class="scrollable-content">
               <div class="list-group" ui-toggle="uiSidebarRight">
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/php"><i class="fa fa-caret-right"></i>PHP </a>
                  <a class="list-group-item" href="#/Javascript"><i class="fa fa-caret-right"></i>Javascript </a>
               </div>
            </div>
         </div>
      </div>
      <div class="app">
         <div class="navbar navbar-app navbar-absolute-top">
            <div class="navbar-brand navbar-brand-center" ui-yield-to="title">
               TutorialsPoint
            </div>
            <div class="btn-group pull-left">
               <div ui-toggle="uiSidebarLeft" class="btn sidebar-left-toggle">
                  <i class="fa fa-th-large "></i> Tutorials
               </div>
            </div>
            <div class="btn-group pull-right" ui-yield-to="navbarAction">
               <div ui-toggle="uiSidebarRight" class="btn sidebar-right-toggle">
                  <i class="fal fa-search"></i> eBooks
               </div>
            </div>
         </div>
         <div class="navbar navbar-app navbar-absolute-bottom">
            <div class="btn-group justified">
               <a ui-turn-on="aboutus_modal" class="btn btn-navbar"><i class="fal fa-globe"></i> About us</a>
               <a ui-turn-on="contactus_overlay" class="btn btn-navbar"><i class="fal fa-map-marker-alt"></i> Contact us</a>
            </div>
         </div>

         <!-- App body -->
         <div class='app-body'>
            <div class='app-content'>
               <ng-view></ng-view>
            </div>
         </div>
      </div><!-- ~ .app -->
      
      <!-- Modals and Overlays -->
      <div ui-yield-to="modals"></div>
   </body>
</html>

There is touchtest directive added in app.js that makes use of the $touch.bind method.

directive('touchtest', ['$touch', function($touch) {
   return {
      restrict: 'C',
      link: function($scope, elem) {
         $scope.touch=null;
         $touch.bind(elem, {
            start: function(touch) {
               $scope.containerRect=elem[0].getBoundingClientRect();
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            },
            cancel: function(touch) {
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            },
            move: function(touch) {
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            },
            end: function(touch) {
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            }
         });
      }
   };
}]);

The complete code inside app.js is as follows −

/* eslint no-alert: 0 */

'use strict';
//
// Here is how to define your module
// has dependent on mobile-angular-ui
//
var app=angular.module('myFirstApp', ['ngRoute',
   'mobile-angular-ui',
   'mobile-angular-ui.gestures',
]);
app.config(function($routeProvider, $locationProvider) {
   $routeProvider
   .when("/", {
      templateUrl : "src/home/home.html"
   });
   $locationProvider.html5Mode({enabled:true, requireBase:false});
});
app.directive('touchtest', ['$touch', function($touch) {
   return {
      restrict: 'C',
      link: function($scope, elem) {
         $scope.touch=null;
         $touch.bind(elem, {
            start: function(touch) {
               $scope.containerRect=elem[0].getBoundingClientRect();
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            },
            cancel: function(touch) {
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            },
            move: function(touch) {
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            },
            end: function(touch) {
               $scope.touch=touch;
               $scope.$apply();
            }
         });
      }
   };
}]);
app.controller('MainController', function($rootScope, $scope, $routeParams) {
   $scope.msg="Welcome to TutorialsPoint!";
});

src/home/home.html

The directive touchtest is used inside the html as shown below −

<div class="section touchtest">
   <h4>Touch Around on the screen to see the values changing</h4>
   <div>
      <p>type: {{touch.type}}</p>
      <p>direction: {{touch.direction == null ? '-' : touch.direction}}</p>
      <p>point: [{{touch.x}}, {{touch.y}}]</p>
      <p>step: {{touch.step}} [{{touch.stepX}}, {{touch.stepY}}]</p>
      <p>distance: {{touch.distance}} [{{touch.distanceX}}, {{touch.distanceY}}]</p>
      <p>total: {{touch.total}} [{{touch.totalX}}, {{touch.totalY}}]</p>
      <p>velocity: {{touch.velocity}} px/sec</p>
      <p>averageVelocity: {{touch.averageVelocity}} px/sec</p>
      <p>angle: {{touch.angle == null ? '-' : touch.angle}} deg</p>
   </div>
</div>

Now let us test the display in the browser. The resultant screen is as follows −

Touch Event
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