fix(compiler): Allow startingTag method to handle text / comment nodes

src/Angular.js

@@ -777,9 +777,18 @@ function startingTag(element) {
     // are not allowed to have children. So we just ignore it.
     element.html('');
   } catch(e) {}
-  return jqLite('<div>').append(element).html().
-      match(/^(<[^>]+>)/)[1].
-      replace(/^<([\w\-]+)/, function(match, nodeName) { return '<' + lowercase(nodeName); });
+  // As Per DOM Standards
+  var TEXT_NODE = 3;
+  var elemHtml = jqLite('<div>').append(element).html();
+  try {
+    return element[0].nodeType === TEXT_NODE ? lowercase(elemHtml) :
+        elemHtml.
+          match(/^(<[^>]+>)/)[1].
+          replace(/^<([\w\-]+)/, function(match, nodeName) { return '<' + lowercase(nodeName); });
+  } catch(e) {
+    return lowercase(elemHtml);
+  }
+
 }
 
 

test/AngularSpec.js

@@ -673,6 +673,13 @@ describe('angular', function() {
           toBe('<ng-abc x="2A">');
     });
   });
+
+  describe('startingTag', function() {
+    it('should allow passing in Nodes instead of Elements', function() {
+      var txtNode = document.createTextNode('some text');
+      expect(startingTag(txtNode)).toBe('some text');
+    });
+  });
 
   describe('snake_case', function(){
     it('should convert to snake_case', function() {