angularjs - Angular js init ng-model from default values

Question

Say you have a form that has values loaded from database. How do you initialize ng-model?

Example:

<input name="card[description]" ng-model="card.description" value="Visa-4242">

In my controller, $scope.card is undefined initially. Is there a way besides doing something like this?

$scope.card = {
  description: $('myinput').val()
}

Answer 1

If you can't rework your app to do what @blesh suggests (pull JSON data down with $http or $resource and populate $scope), you can use ng-init instead:

<input name="card[description]" ng-model="card.description" ng-init="card.description='Visa-4242'">

See also AngularJS - Value attribute on an input text box is ignored when there is a ng-model used?