Angular binding directive scope to controller scope

Question

I am creating a forgot password function for an application I am building and so I built a function that sends an $http request to a PHP resource that sends the user a reset email. When the request resolves than I display a twitter bootstrp modal using an angular directive that tells the user if their email was successfully sent or not.

The issue I am having is that the scope of the controller and the directive seem different as updating the feedback in my controller does not update the output of the directive.

My controller:

  angular
        .module('enigma.auth')
        .controller('Auth', Auth);

  Auth.$inject = ['authFactory'];

  function Auth(authFactory) {
        var auth = this;
        auth.forgotPassword = forgotPassword;
        auth.forgotPasswordFeedback = '';

        function forgotPassword(email) {
              if(email) {
                    authFactory.forgotPassword({ email: email })
                          .then(function(res) {
                                auth.forgotPasswordFeedback = res.message; // auth.forgotPasswordFeedback is set to the correct value now, however this isn't reflected in the directive.
                                $('#forgotPassword').modal();
                          });
              }
        };
  }

My directive:

  angular
        .module('enigma.forgotPasswordDirective', [])    
        .directive('forgotPasswordDirective', forgotPasswordDirective);

  function forgotPasswordDirective() {
        return {      
              bindToController: true, // I thought this told the directive to use the controllers scope instead of an isolated scope...
              controller: 'Auth',
              controllerAs: 'auth',
              templateUrl: 'modules/auth/forgotPassword.html'
        }
    }

The template:

<div class='modal fade' id='forgotPassword'>
    <div class='modal-dialog'>
        <div class='modal-content'>
            <button type='button' class='close' data-dismiss='modal' aria-label='Close'><span aria-hidden='true'>&times;</span></button>
            <div class='row'>
                <div class='col-xs-12'>
                    <h3>Password Recovery</h3>
                    <p>
                        {{auth.forgotPasswordFeedback}} <!-- this value is never updated :( -->
                    </p>
                    <p>
                        <button class='btn btn-primary'  data-dismiss='modal'>Close</button>
                    </p>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

Lastly I have this all included inside my registration template which is bound to the registration controller (Note: Don't the forgot password directive is bound to the auth controller), here's the relevant bits.

<div class='form-group'>
    <label for='email'>Email:</label>
    <input class='form-control' name='email' ng-model='reg.user.email' required type='email' ng-blur='reg.alreadyRegistered()' />
    <div ng-messages='reg.regForm.email.$error' ng-if='reg.regForm.email.$dirty'>                       
        <div class='error' ng-message='userExists'>This user already exists. <a href='#' ng-click='auth.forgotPassword(reg.user.email)' title='Forgot password' ng-controller='Auth as auth'>Forgot password?</a></div>
    </div>
</div>
...
<forgot-password-directive></forgot-password-directive>

Answer 1

It works, for example, if you wrap the directive inside the controller:

<div ng-controller='Auth as auth'>
    <div class='form-group'>
        ...
        <a href='#' ng-click='auth.forgotPassword(reg.user.email)' title='Forgot password'>Forgot password?</a>
    </div>
    <forgot-password-directive></forgot-password-directive>
</div>

However, in addition, I would use a simpler approach and define the directive followingly:

function forgotPasswordDirective() {
    return {      
        scope: false,
        templateUrl: 'modules/auth/forgotPassword.html'
    }
}

If you are familiar with Node, you may clone and run the example from here: https://github.com/masa67/NgBind .