Custom directive tag not triggering directive code, in angularjs 1.2.29
<p>I'm trying to use an element directive (restrict: "E") to define a custom component. Here's my <strong>page.html</strong> template, which gets pulled into <strong>index.html</strong> via  the <code>ng-view</code> directive:  </p>

<pre><code>&lt;eng-popup&gt;This text appears, but is rendered in a span&lt;/eng-popup&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>Angular IS running; <strong>index.html</strong> has the <code>ng-app="templatesApp"</code> directive in the body tag and <strong>app.js</strong> sets up the module as below:  </p>

<pre><code>var app = angular.module("templatesApp", ['ngRoute']);
</code></pre>

<p>Further along, in <strong>app.js</strong> I have the popup directive defined:  </p>

<pre><code>app.directive('engPopup', function() {
    console.log("This console log does not trigger. I have tried 'eng-popup' as the directive's first parameter, but that doesn't work either.");
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        transclude: false,
        template: '&lt;div id="thisDoesNotEvenAppear"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;'
    };
});
</code></pre>

<p>The problem is, when I look at the resultant html of the component, it looks like this:  </p>

<pre><code>&lt;span class="ng-scope" jQuery110209261664696867675="7"&gt;This text should appear, surely&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/eng-popup class="ng-scope" jQuery110209261664696867675="8"&gt;&lt;//eng-popup&gt;
</code></pre>

<p><strong>So I have a few questions:</strong></p>

<p>Why does the eng-popup directive <code>console.log</code> call NOT get triggered?  </p>

<p>Why does the content in the eng-popup tag end up in a <code>span</code>?</p>

<p>And most mysteriously of all, why does the eng-popup tag start with an END tag and end with a tag with 2 slashes?</p>

<p>Finally, what am I messing up, to make this all happen?</p>

<p><strong>EDIT</strong><br>
As requested, here's a Plunker. It looks like the span and end-tag issues are not happening in this simplified version, but the eng-popup directive is still not being triggered:<br>
<a href="https://plnkr.co/edit/mVa6Mye5besJAtWihMWF?p=preview" rel="nofollow">https://plnkr.co/edit/mVa6Mye5besJAtWihMWF?p=preview</a></p>

<p><strong>RE-EDIT</strong><br>
Just in case this is still solvable, here's the latest Plunkr I've been able to put together. It's not working, which it at least has in common with our real project. Not sure if it's the same problem though.<br>
<a href="https://plnkr.co/edit/sJoYnYjqx9ZGIH0KhObC" rel="nofollow">https://plnkr.co/edit/sJoYnYjqx9ZGIH0KhObC</a></p>