fix(bindable): parent referenced expression-values now load properly using an update call (#8670)

closes #8666 
closes #6981 
closes #5054

e2e/ui-tests-app/app/list-view/main-page.ts

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export function loadExamples() {
     examples.set("width-percent", "list-view/width-percent-page");
     examples.set("item-re-layout", "list-view/item-re-layout-page");
     examples.set("safe-area", "list-view/safe-area-page");
+    examples.set("parents-expression", "list-view/parents-expression-page");
 
     return examples;
 }

e2e/ui-tests-app/app/list-view/parents-expression-page.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { fromObject } from "tns-core-modules/data/observable";
+
+export function onLoaded(args)
+{
+    const page = args.object;
+    page.bindingContext = fromObject(
+    {
+        prefix: "This is a prefix for: ",
+            languageData: [
+            {
+                name: "English",
+            },
+            {
+                name: "Portuguese"
+            },
+            {
+                name: "Spanish"
+            },
+            {
+                name: "Russian"
+            },
+            {
+                name: "Greek"
+            }
+        ]
+    });
+}

e2e/ui-tests-app/app/list-view/parents-expression-page.xml

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd" loaded="onLoaded" class="page">
+
+    <Page.actionBar>
+        <ActionBar title="My App" icon="" class="action-bar">
+        </ActionBar>
+    </Page.actionBar>
+
+    <ListView items="{{ languageData }}" separatorColor="red">
+        <ListView.itemTemplate>
+            <StackLayout columns="*,40" rows="*,*">
+                <!-- It works if not an expression -->
+                <Label row="1" text="{{ $parents['Page'].prefix }}"
+                    class="font-weight-bold" fontSize="16" />
+                <!-- Until component gets loaded, $parents['Page'].prefix will return undefined -->
+                <Label row="1" text="{{ $parents['Page'].prefix + name }}"
+                    class="font-weight-bold" fontSize="16" />
+            </StackLayout>
+        </ListView.itemTemplate>
+    </ListView>
+</Page>

nativescript-core/ui/core/bindable/bindable.ts

@@ -469,32 +469,53 @@ export class Binding {
         let parentViewAndIndex: { view: ViewBase, index: number };
         let parentView;
         let addedProps = newProps || [];
-        if (expression.indexOf(bc.bindingValueKey) > -1) {
+        let expressionCP = expression;
+        if (expressionCP.indexOf(bc.bindingValueKey) > -1) {
             model[bc.bindingValueKey] = model;
             addedProps.push(bc.bindingValueKey);
         }
 
-        if (expression.indexOf(bc.parentValueKey) > -1) {
+        let success: boolean = true;
-            parentView = this.getParentView(this.target.get(), bc.parentValueKey).view;
-            if (parentView) {
-                model[bc.parentValueKey] = parentView.bindingContext;
-                addedProps.push(bc.parentValueKey);
-            }
-        }
 
-        let parentsArray = expression.match(parentsRegex);
+        let parentsArray = expressionCP.match(parentsRegex);
         if (parentsArray) {
             for (let i = 0; i < parentsArray.length; i++) {
+                // This prevents later checks to mistake $parents[] for $parent
+                expressionCP = expressionCP.replace(parentsArray[i], "");
                 parentViewAndIndex = this.getParentView(this.target.get(), parentsArray[i]);
                 if (parentViewAndIndex.view) {
                     model[bc.parentsValueKey] = model[bc.parentsValueKey] || {};
                     model[bc.parentsValueKey][parentViewAndIndex.index] = parentViewAndIndex.view.bindingContext;
                     addedProps.push(bc.parentsValueKey);
                 }
+                else
+                {
+                    success = false;
                 }
             }
         }
 
+        if (expressionCP.indexOf(bc.parentValueKey) > -1) {
+            parentView = this.getParentView(this.target.get(), bc.parentValueKey).view;
+            if (parentView) {
+                model[bc.parentValueKey] = parentView.bindingContext;
+                addedProps.push(bc.parentValueKey);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                success = false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // For expressions, there are also cases when binding must be updated after component is loaded (e.g. ListView)
+        if (!success)
+        {
+            let targetInstance = this.target.get();
+            targetInstance.off("loaded", this.loadedHandlerVisualTreeBinding, this);
+            targetInstance.on("loaded", this.loadedHandlerVisualTreeBinding, this);
+        }
+    }
+
     private getSourcePropertyValue() {
         if (this.options.expression) {
             let changedModel = {};