Ionic Framework is one of the best framework for developing hybrid mobile apps with HTML5. Based on AngularJS the set of available features is tremendous. This post presents, with examples, some of the best hidden features provided.

Scroll

Scroll documentation

Infinite Scroll

The ionInfiniteScroll directive allows you to call a function whenever the user gets to the bottom of the page or near the bottom of the page.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="jukJh” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Infinite Scroll: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

List

List documentation

Collection repeat

The collection-repeat directive is a directive that allows you to render lists with thousands of items in them, and experience little to no performance penalty.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="HoIDJ” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen collection-repeat: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

Gesture

$ionicGesture documentation

Events

The gesture service has only two methods, on adds an event listener for an DOM element and off removes it. While AngularJS ngTouch provides only three touch events (ngClick, ngSwipeLeft and ngSwipeRight) $ionicGesture provides dozens (hold, tap, doubletap, drag, dragstart etc.).

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="txliu” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Ionic $ionicGesture example: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

Dom manipulation

DomUtil documentation

If you are accustomed to AngularJS I am sure that you experienced some difficulties when manipulating the DOM. JQlite helps but is itself very limited. Ionic provides some methods to help you deal with it.

ionic.DomUtil.ready

Call a function when the DOM is ready, or if it is already ready call the function immediately.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="BxufK” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen ionic.DomUtil.ready Example by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

ionic.DomUtil.getParentWithClass

Returns the closest parent of element matching the className, or null.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="lDrpb” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen ionic.DomUtil.getParentWithClass Example: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

Utilities

ionic.throttle

Only call a function once in the given interval. In this example the function should be called half as many as we tried.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="iefAE” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Ionic Throttle example: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

ionic.debounce

Only call a function once in the given interval, the timer is reset on every call. In this example the function should never be called.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="yzrsD” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Ionic Debounce example: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

ionic.Utils.arrayMove

Really useful function that manipulates array items position.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="HghBw” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Ionic arrayMove example: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

Tabs

Starting from ionic beta.14 we can select the position of the tabs through configuration.

Tabs top

.config(function($ionicConfigProvider){
    $ionicConfigProvider.tabs.position('top');
})

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="qlECF” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Tabs Top: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

Tabs bottom

.config(function($ionicConfigProvider){
    $ionicConfigProvider.tabs.position('bottom');
})

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="emXyjV” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Tabs bottom: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]

Delegation

Delegation allow you to have several instances of the same component within the same view. You have this capability on ion-side-menus, ion-tabs,ion-scroll ion-content, ion-list and ion-slide-box using the delegate-handle directive attribute.

[codepen_embed height="268” theme_id="5820” slug_hash="CsBhf” default_tab="result” user="shprink”]See the Pen Ionic Side Menu delegation: 1.0.0-beta.14 by Julien Renaux (@shprink) on CodePen.[/codepen_embed]