Can I get the compiled html of an Angular element?

Question

I have compiled an element using the $compile service. If I add that directly to the DOM, it looks great and all of the bindings are correct. If I want that element as a string though, it shows {{stuffHere}} instead of the bindings. Is there a way to get the html of the element after it's compiled?

$templateCache.put('template', '<div><div><div><span>content is {{content}}</span></div></div>   </div>');

$scope.content = 'Hello, World!';

var el = $compile($templateCache.get('template'))($scope);
$('body').append(el);

alert(el.html());

http://plnkr.co/edit/1sxvuyUZKbse862PieBa?p=preview

The element appended to the body shows content is Hello, World!

The alert shows <div><div><span ng-binding>{{content}}</span></div></div>

What I would like to see out of the alert is <div><div><span ng-binding>Hello World</span></div></div>

Answer 1

The issue is you're reading the contents of the element too early. If you add a $timeout to your read it will be correct:

angular.module('demo', []);
angular.module('demo').controller('PopoverDemoCtrl', function($scope, $timeout, $compile, $templateCache) {
  $templateCache.put('template', '<div><div><div><span>content is {{content}}</span></div></div></div>');

  $scope.content = 'Hello, World!';

  var el = $compile($templateCache.get('template'))($scope);
  $('body').append(el);
  $timeout(function() {
    console.log(el.html());
  }, 300);   // wait for a short while
});

Updated Plunker

Why is $timeout required?

After the $compile method is called it will not immediately take effect. This is due to the $digest cycle, since it uses the $scope it needs to run the $digest cycle to see if anything has affected $scope.content. This is why you have to set a $timeout, you need to wait until the $digest cycle completes before the element's content actually gets changed. You can read a bit more about how this all ties together here.