Angularjs - simple form submit

I am going through learning curve with AngularJs and I am finding that there are virtually no examples that serve real world use.

I am trying to get a clear understanding of how to submit a form with the most standard components and pass it on to a PHP file..

My fiddle.

Does anyone have any good examples on submitting simple, un-polluted, forms that would help me and probably numerous other Angularjs beginners..

When I say a clean form I am referring to something like this..

<div ng-app="myApp">

	<form name="saveTemplateData" action="#" ng-controller="FormCtrl" ng-submit="submitForm()">

		First name:    <br/><input type="text" ng-model="form.firstname">    <br/><br/>
		Email Address: <br/><input type="text" ng-model="form.emailaddress"> <br/><br/>

		<textarea rows="3" cols="25" ng-model="form.textareacontent"></textarea>

			<br/><br/>

		<input type="radio" ng-model="form.gender" value="female" />Female ...
		<input type="radio" ng-model="form.gender" value="male" />Male <br/>

			<br/><br/>

		<input type="checkbox" ng-model="form.member" value="5"/> Already a member

			<br/><br/>

		<input type="file" ng-model="form.file_profile" id="file_profile"><br/>
		<input type="file" ng-model="form.file_avatar" id="file_avatar">

			<br/><br/>

		<!-- <button ng-click="save()" >Save</button> -->
		<input type="submit" ngClick="Submit" >

	</form>

</div>

My ng-app code...

var app = angular.module('myApp', []);
app.controller('FormCtrl', function ($scope, $http) {
    
     var formData = {
        firstname: "default",
        emailaddress: "default",
        textareacontent: "default",
        gender: "default",
        member: false,
        file_profile: "default",
        file_avatar: "default"
    };

    $scope.save = function() {
        formData = $scope.form;
    };

    $scope.submitForm = function() {
        console.log("posting data....");
        formData = $scope.form;
        console.log(formData);
        //$http.post('form.php', JSON.stringify(data)).success(function(){/*success callback*/});
    };

 });

I guess three questions I have from here on are...

1. How is my php file supposed to interact with this (how to I get the json string to an array in php file)?
2. How would I submit value of a checkbox when the checkbox is true?
3. I find a lot of information abotu using jQuery with Angular to submit images,, I see there is an image object in this submission already,, how do I retrieve that data? What are considerations to include with images?

I am willing to take any clear and concise information and assemble a good learning example for everyone...

My fiddle

WARNING This is for Angular 1.x

If you are looking for Angular (v2+, currently version 8), try this answer or the official guide.

---

ORIGINAL ANSWER

I have rewritten your JS fiddle here: http://jsfiddle.net/YGQT9/

<div ng-app="myApp">

	<form name="saveTemplateData" action="#" ng-controller="FormCtrl" ng-submit="submitForm()">

		First name:    <br/><input type="text" name="form.firstname">    
        <br/><br/>
		
        Email Address: <br/><input type="text" ng-model="form.emailaddress"> 
        <br/><br/>

		<textarea rows="3" cols="25">
          Describe your reason for submitting this form ... 
        </textarea> 
		<br/>

		<input type="radio" ng-model="form.gender" value="female" />Female
		<input type="radio" ng-model="form.gender" value="male" />Male 
        <br/><br/>

		<input type="checkbox" ng-model="form.member" value="true"/> Already a member
		<input type="checkbox" ng-model="form.member" value="false"/> Not a member
	    <br/>

		<input type="file" ng-model="form.file_profile" id="file_profile">
        <br/>
		
        <input type="file" ng-model="form.file_avatar" id="file_avatar">
		<br/><br/>

		<input type="submit">
	</form>
</div>

Here I'm using lots of angular directives(ng-controller, ng-model, ng-submit) where you were using basic html form submission. Normally all alternatives to "The angular way" work, but form submission is intercepted and cancelled by Angular to allow you to manipulate the data before submission

BUT the JSFiddle won't work properly as it doesn't allow any type of ajax/http post/get so you will have to run it locally.

For general advice on angular form submission see the cookbook examples

UPDATE The cookbook is gone. Instead have a look at the 1.x guide for for form submission

The cookbook for angular has lots of sample code which will help as the docs aren't very user friendly.

Angularjs changes your entire web development process, don't try doing things the way you are used to with JQuery or regular html/js, but for everything you do take a look around for some sample code, as there is almost always an angular alternative.

Sending data to some service page.

<form class="form-horizontal" role="form" ng-submit="submit_form()">
    <input type="text" name="user_id" ng-model = "formAdata.user_id">
    <input type="text" id="name" name="name" ng-model = "formAdata.name">
</form>

$scope.submit_form = function()
			{
				$http({
						url: "http://localhost/services/test.php",
						method: "POST",
						headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'},
						data: $.param($scope.formAdata)
					}).success(function(data, status, headers, config) {
						$scope.status = status;
					}).error(function(data, status, headers, config) {
						$scope.status = status;
					});
			}

I have been doing quite a bit of research and in attempt to resolve a different issue I ended up coming to a good portion of the solution in my other post here:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20084549/angularjs-form-post-data-not-posted/

The solution does not include uploading images currently but I intend to expand upon and create a clear and well working example. If updating these posts is possible I will keep them up to date all the way until a stable and easy to learn from example is compiled.

I think the reason AngularJS does not say much about form submission because it depends more on 'two-way data binding'. In traditional html development you had one way data binding, i.e. once DOM rendered any changes you make to DOM element did not reflect in JS Object, however in AngularJS it works both way. Hence there's in fact no need to form submission. I have done a mid sized application using AngularJS without the need to form submission. If you are keen to submit form you can write a directive wrapping up your form which handles ENTER keydown and SUBMIT button click events and call form.submit().

If you want the sample source code of such a directive, please let me know by commenting on this. I figured out it would a simple directive that you can write yourself.

var app = angular.module( "myApp", [] );

app.controller( "myCtrl", ["$scope", function($scope) {

    $scope.submit_form = function(formData) {

        $scope.formData = formData;

        console.log(formData); // object
        console.log(JSON.stringify(formData)); // string

        $scope.form = {}; // clear ng-model form

    }

}] );

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.6.4/angular.min.js"></script>

<div ng-app="myApp" ng-controller="myCtrl">

    <form ng-submit="submit_form(form)" >

        Firstname: <input type="text" ng-model="form.firstname" /><br />
        Lastname: <input type="text" ng-model="form.lastname" /><br />

        <hr />

        <input type="submit" value="Submit" />

    </form>

    <hr />          

    <p>Firstname: {{ form.firstname }}</p>
    <p>Lastname: {{ form.lastname }}</p>

    <pre>Submit Form: {{ formData }} </pre>

</div>

Codepen