Appending Ember Component to a DOM element not managed by Ember - ember.js

Question

I would like to append an Ember Component ComponentB to a DOM element which is generated by some non-Ember UI library on didInsertElement of ComponentA, resulting in something like
<div class='ember-view component-a'>
<div class='i-know-nothing-of-ember'>
<div class='ember-view component-b'></div>
</div>
</div>
I am aware of appendTo(element) method, however it fails with assertion
You cannot append to an existing Ember.View. Consider using Ember.ContainerView instead.
I also tried calling createElement on component B and then appending it to DOM via jQuery - which kind of works, however in the end it fails with error
Cannot set property '_elementInserted' of null
See http://emberjs.jsbin.com/cofebo/2/
What is the proper way to achieve the above; if possible actions and other behaviours should be as if i-know-nothing-of-ember would be generated by Component A template.

Answer 1

I suggest using the container to lookup the component and append it anywhere whenever you need to.
Approach 1 - retrieve container within route
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/libipazavu/1/edit?html,js,output
js
App = Ember.Application.create();
App.IndexRoute = Em.Route.extend({
setupController:function(controller,model){
controller.set("container",this.container);
}
});
App.IndexView = Em.View.extend({
appendNonEmberUILibrary:function(){
callNonEmberUILibrary();
var componentB = this.get("controller.container").lookup("component:component-b");
componentB.appendTo(".non-ember-ui");
}.on("didInsertElement")
});
App.ComponentBComponent = Em.Component.extend({
layoutName:"components/component-b",
prop1:"test-option-1"
});
function callNonEmberUILibrary(){
$("body").append("<div class='non-ember-ui' style='border:1px solid;'>element from non-ember ui lib</div>");
}
hbs
<script type="text/x-handlebars">
<h2>Welcome to Ember.js</h2>
<h3>Adding Ember Component to non-Ember DOM Element using <u><i>container</i></u></h3>
{{outlet}}
</script>
<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="components/component-b">
<br/>
<div style="border:1px dashed #F5664D">
This is componentB -> {{prop1}}
</div>
<br/>
</script>
Approach 2 - retrieve container within an initializer
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/hijedowacu/1/edit?html,js,output
js
App = Ember.Application.create();
App.initializer({
name:"main",
initialize:function(container,application){
application.register('main:compB', container.lookup("component:component-b"), { instantiate: false });
application.inject("controller:index","theComponentB","main:compB");
}
});
App.IndexView = Em.View.extend({
appendNonEmberUILibrary:function(){
callNonEmberUILibrary();
var componentB = this.get("controller.theComponentB");
componentB.appendTo(".non-ember-ui");
}.on("didInsertElement")
});
App.ComponentBComponent = Em.Component.extend({
layoutName:"components/component-b",
prop1:"test-option-1"
});
function callNonEmberUILibrary(){
$("body").append("<div class='non-ember-ui' style='border:1px solid;'>element from non-ember ui lib</div>");
}
hbs
<script type="text/x-handlebars">
<h2>Welcome to Ember.js</h2>
<h3>Adding Ember Component to non-Ember DOM Element using <u><i>container</i></u></h3>
{{outlet}}
</script>
<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="components/component-b">
<br/>
<div style="border:1px dashed #F5664D">
This is componentB -> {{prop1}}
</div>
<br/>
</script>
Approach3 - reallocate added component with jquery (update from comments)
Alternatively you could just add the component-b in the template as non visible and within didInsertElement you could reallocate and display it wherever required using jquery.
example http://jsbin.com/maginovexa/1/edit?html,js,output
js
App.IndexView = Em.View.extend({
prop2:"prop-from-index-view",
appendNonEmberUILibrary:function(){
callNonEmberUILibrary();
//var componentB = this.get("controller.container").lookup("component:component-b");
//componentB.appendTo(".non-ember-ui");
var componentBDOM = this.get("componentB").$().detach();
$(".non-ember-ui").append(componentBDOM);
}.on("didInsertElement"),
click:function(){this.set("prop2",Date.now());}
});
App.ComponentBComponent = Em.Component.extend({
layoutName:"components/component-b",
prop1:"test-option-1"
});
function callNonEmberUILibrary(){
$(".inner").append("<div class='non-ember-ui' style='border:1px solid;'>element from non-ember ui lib</div>");
}
hbs
<script type="text/x-handlebars">
<h2>Welcome to Ember.js</h2>
<h3>Adding Ember Component to non-Ember DOM Element using <u><i>container</i></u></h3>
<div class='inner'></div>
{{outlet}}
</script>
<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="index">
this is index (click here to change prop2 of component)
<div style="display:none">
{{component-b prop2=view.prop2 viewName="componentB"}}
</div>
</script>
....
This is a fully working solution for reallocating an ember controlled element to a non-ember element that is within an ember view, as requested by Simon Jesenko (the op).

Answer 2

Have you tried the run loop? Like this,
//after comp.createElement();
parent = this;
Ember.run.schedule('afterRender', this, function() {
parent.$('.i-know-nothing-of-ember').append($(comp.element));
});