AngularJS Directive with default options

Use the =? flag for the property in the scope block of the directive.

angular.module('myApp',[])
  .directive('myDirective', function(){
    return {
      template: 'hello {{name}}',
      scope: {
        // use the =? to denote the property as optional
        name: '=?'
      },
      controller: function($scope){
        // check if it was defined.  If not - set a default
        $scope.name = angular.isDefined($scope.name) ? $scope.name : 'default name';
      }
    }
  });