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Dynamic partial arguments in AngularJS routing

I'm working with an angularjs site and have a background with working with routes in Rails and also Laravel in php. With routes in Laravel we could dynamically create a set of routes similar to:
foreach($cities as $city):
Route::get($city.'/hotels');
Route::get($city.'/{slug}');
endforeach;
Here we defined series of seperate routes in Laravel which technically do look the same except for the value of city and slug.
I'm finding angularJS a bit limited in defining routes in this case. Frankly am a bit lost here.
UPDATE
I've made some modifications here - basically I set up a service which retrieves assets from my database such as in this case a list of cities and categories. I'm trying to do this:
If {slug} is in the array of categories retrieved from my API, then use my ListController and list view but if its not then instead use my SingleVenueController and single view. Here's my code at the moment but its not working :(
appRouteProvider.when('/:city/:slug', {
templateUrl : function(sharedParams, $routeParams){
t = sharedParams.getCurrentPageType($routeParams);
if(t=='list'){
return '../../app/templates/list.html';
}
if(t=='single'){
return '../../app/templates/single.html';
}
},
controller : function(sharedParams, $routeParams){
t = sharedParams.getCurrentPageType($routeParams);
if(t=='list'){
return 'ListsController';
}
if(t=='single'){
return 'SingleController';
}
},
resolve:{
sharedParamsData:function(sharedParams){
return sharedParams.promise;
},
}
})
In the above sharedParams is a service and the getCurrentPageType just checks the url slug to decide what controller to send back - but its not really working at all :(

How about defining a single route with a paramater ?
In angularjs v1.x you can defined as many routes you want with as many params xor query
.config(function($routeProvider, $locationProvider) {
$routeProvider
.when('/city/:slug', {
templateUrl: 'book.html',
controller: 'BookController',
resolve: {
// you can also retrieve some data as a resolved promise inside your route for better performance.
}
})
ref: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ngRoute/service/$route

appRouteProvider.when('/:city/:slug', {
templateUrl : 'dafault.html',
controller : 'DefaultController',
resolve:{
factory: function($routeParams, $http, $location, sharedParams){
var city = $routeParams.city;
var slug = $routeParams.slug;
var deferred = $q.defer();
sharedParams.getCurrentPageType($routeParams).then(function(t) {
if(t=='list'){
$location.path('/' + city + '/' + slug + '/list');
deferred.resolve();
}
else if(t=='single'){
$location.path('/' + city + '/' + slug + '/single');
deferred.resolve();
} else {
deferred.reject();
}
});
return deferred.promise;
},
}
});
appRouteProvider.when('/:city/:slug/list', {
templateUrl: '../../app/templates/list.html',
controller: 'ListsController',
});
appRouteProvider.when('/:city/:slug/single', {
templateUrl: '../../app/templates/single.html',
controller: 'SingleController',
});
You can do it with separate routes. The idea is when user hits the main route it resolves first with the data from the backend. If the condition is met, resolve function will redirect to specific route if not it wont pass

Services in Angular cannot be injected in the configuration phase since they become available only in the run phase of an Angular application.
There is however a trick to load $http service in the config phase which you can use to load your cities/categories and set up your routes. Meanwhile, since controllers aren't registered up until the run phase, you may use the $controllerProvider to register your controllers beforehand in the configuration phase:
app.config(function ($routeProvider, $controllerProvider) {
$controllerProvider.register('ListController', ListController);
$controllerProvider.register('SingleController', SingleController);
// wire the $http service
var initInjector = angular.injector(['ng']);
var $http = initInjector.get('$http');
...
});
You can now call your API to get the cities (or whatever else) and iterate while registering each route:
...
// fetch the cities from the server
$http.get('/cities')
.then(function (response) {
var cities = response.data;
for(var i = 0; i < cities.length; i++){
$routeProvider
// assuming each city object has a `name` property
.when('/' + cities[i]['name'] + '/:slug', {
templateUrl: getTemplate(cities[i]['name']),
controller: getController(cities[i]['name'])
})
}
});
...
Note that I'm using the getTemplate and the getController methods which return the templateUrl and the relevant controller name strings respectively using an ordinary switch expression. You can choose your own approach.
Plunkr Demo
Note:
While a function with the templateUrl route options property does work with setting up a custom template, but when you use a function alongside the controller property, Angular will consider it as the constructor for the controller. Therefore, returning the name of the controller in that function won't work.

As Ahmad has already pointed out in his answer, if you pass a function to controller it is considered as a constructor for the controller.
Also you can't get a service injected dynamically in config block of your app.
So what you can do is, move your sharedData service in separate app (in my code below I've used appShared as a separate app where this service is defined) and then access it using angular.injector. This way you don't have to define it as a parameter to templateUrl / controller functions.
Btw, you can't pass custom parameters to templateUrl function (ref: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ngRoute/provider/$routeProvider)
If templateUrl is a function, it will be called with the following
parameters:
{Array.<Object>} - route parameters extracted from the current $location.path() by applying the current route
Now for the controller, use $controller to dynamically load either ListsController or SingleController based on your condition.
Once that is loaded, extend your current controller (defined by your controller function) using angular.extend so that it inherits all the properties and methods of the dynamically loaded controller.
Check the complete code here: http://plnkr.co/edit/ORB4iXwmxgGGJW6wQDy9
app.config(function ($routeProvider) {
var initInjector = angular.injector(['appShared']);
var sharedParams = initInjector.get('sharedParams');
$routeProvider
.when('/:city/:slug', {
templateUrl: function ($routeParams) {
console.log("template url - ");
console.log($routeParams);
var t = sharedParams.getCurrentPageType($routeParams);
console.log(t);
if (t == 'list') {
return 'list.html';
}
if (t == 'single') {
return 'single.html';
}
},
controller: function ($routeParams, $controller, $scope) {
//getController(cities[i]['name'])
console.log("controller - ");
console.log($routeParams);
var t = sharedParams.getCurrentPageType($routeParams);
console.log(t);
if (t == 'list') {
angular.extend(this, $controller('ListsController', { $scope: $scope }));
}
if (t == 'single') {
angular.extend(this, $controller('SingleController', { $scope: $scope }));
}
}
});
});

Angular - global variable initialise once - example user name in page header

In my angular application I store the logged in user name in a cookie.
And I want to display this user name in the web page header.
I can retrieve this in my controller as below and display in the page.
$rootScope.fullName = $cookies.get('user');
But instead of doing this in every controller, is it possible to do it in one place and always get this data ?
Update #1:
I don't use ui-view. I use angular route and a sample is as below.
Are there any simple approach please ?
var mdmApp = angular.module('mdmApp');
// Routes
mdmApp.config(function($routeProvider, $httpProvider, $locationProvider) {
$routeProvider
.when('/listScopeAndFrequency/:reportTypeId', {
templateUrl : '3_calendar/listScopeAndFrequencies.html',
controller : "listScopeAndFrequenciesController"
})
.when('/listTemplateFrequencyExceptions/:reportTypeId/:consolidationScopeCode/:frequencyCode', {
templateUrl : '3_calendar/listTemplateFrequencyExceptions.html',
controller : "listTemplateFrequencyExceptionsController"
})
.when('/viewSubmissionDates', {
templateUrl : '3_calendar/viewSubmissionDates.html',
controller : "viewSubmissionDatesController"
})
Update #2
I tried like below but could not get any dynamic values from REST API, I am only able to hard code the value. Not able to read from cookie, localStorage or var all are undefined or give errors.
mdmApp.factory('userService', function($http, $localStorage, $cookies) {
var fullName ;
// Gets user details
$http.get("/mdm/getUser")
.success(function(data, status, headers, config) {
console.log('userService > user : ' +data.fullName);
fullName = data.fullName;
$localStorage.user = data;
$cookies.put('user', data.fullName);
})
.error(function(data, status, headers, config, statusText) {
console.log("Error while retrieving user details.");
});
console.log('fullName : ' +fullName);
console.log('$cookies.get(user) : ' +$cookies.get('user'));
console.log('$localStorage.user : ' +$localStorage.user);
return { name: "hard code only works here"};
});
mdmApp.directive('userTitle', ['userService', function(user) {
console.log('userTitle > user : ' +user);
return {
template: user.name,
};
}]);

Why don't you use a service? Those are specially designed for this task:
Angular services are:
Lazily instantiated – Angular only instantiates a service when an application component depends on it.
Singletons – Each component dependent on a service gets a reference to the single instance generated by the service factory.
How I do it (not necessarily the best way):
setup an independent angular app (non-secured area) for user registration, on login store a token or some identifier in a cookie or the localStorage
when instantiating the full angular app (secured area), create a service which will get back the previous value and inject it whenever you need the user
My User service looks like:
angular.module('app.core')
.service('User', User);
function User($rootScope, localStorageService) {
let user = localStorageService.get('user');
let token = localStorageService.get('userToken');
if(!token) {
//this loads another angular app which has nothing to do with this secured area (on /login)
window.location = '/login'
return;
}
for(let i in user)
this[i] = user[i]
this.token = 'Bearer ' + token;
//note you could reference this to the rootScope so that every scope can have the User object, this can be considered as bad practice!
//$rootScope.user = this;
return this;
}

I would go with a service and a directory for this.
As soyuka explained. Services exists for the purpose of sharing data between parts of an application. I would then use a directive to handle the data in relation to the DOM, that is, to write to the header.
Service/factory:
app.factory('userService', function() {
// do what you have to get your user and save the data.
return { name: 'John'};
});
Directive. Notice the injection of the service. This could be done through a controller if you wish. It depends on whether you want your directives to have a dependency to the service.
app.directive('userTitle', ['userService', function(user) {
// do what you want with the data
return {
template: user.name,
};
}]);
Here the service just returns a dummy name and the directive outputs the name in the DOM.
Here is a running plunker of the setup.

Loading html and Controller from server and creating dynamic states UI - router

I am looking for a Solution to load my App Content dynamically from the Server.
My Scenario:
Lets say we have 2 Users (A and B), my App consists of different Modules like lets say a shoppingList and a calculator, now my goal would be the User logs into my App from the Database I get the User rights and depending what rights he has, i would load the html for the views and the controller files for the logic part from the Server, while doing that I would create the states needed for the html and ctrl. So basically my App is very small consistent of the Login and everything else is getting pulled from the Server depending on the Userrights.
What I use:
Cordova
AngularJs
Ionic Framework
Why I need it to be all dynamic:
1)The possiblity to have an App that contains just the login logic, so when fixing bugs or adding Modules I only have to add the files to the server give the User the right for it and it is there without needing to update the app.
2)The User only has the functionality he needs, he doesnt need to have everything when he only has the right for 1 module.
3)The App grows very big at the moment, meaning every Module has like 5-10 states, with their own html and Controllers. currently there are 50 different Modules planned so you can do the math.
I looked at this to get some inspiration:
AngularJS, ocLazyLoad & loading dynamic States
What I tried so far:
I created 1 Html file which contains the whole module so I only have 1 http request:
Lets say this is my response from the server after the User logged in
HTML Part:
var rights= [A,B,C,D]
angular.forEach(rights, function (value, key) {
$http.get('http://myServer.com/templates/' + value + '.html').then(function (response) {
//HTML file for the whole module
splits = response.data.split('#');
//Array off HTMl strings
for (var l = 1; l <= splits.length; l++) {
//Putting all Html strings into templateCache
$templateCache.put('templates/' + value +'.html', splits[l - 1]);
}
}
});
Controller Part:
var rights= [A,B,C,D]
angular.forEach(rights, function (value, key) {
$http.get('http://myServer.com/controller/' + value + '.js').then(function (response) {
// 1 file for the whole module with all controllers
splits = response.data.split('#');
//Array off controller strings
for (var l = 1; l <= splits.length; l++) {
//Putting all Controller strings into templateCache
$templateCache.put('controllers/' + value +'.js', splits[l - 1]);
}
}
});
After loading the Controllers I try to register them:
$controllerProvider.register('SomeName', $templateCache.get('controllers/someController));
Which is not working since this is only a string...
Defining the Providers:
.config(function ($stateProvider, $urlRouterProvider, $ionicConfigProvider, $controllerProvider) {
// turns of the page transition globally
$ionicConfigProvider.views.transition('none');
$stateProviderRef = $stateProvider;
$urlRouterProviderRef = $urlRouterProvider;
$controllerProviderRef = $controllerProvider;
$stateProvider
//the login state is static for every user
.state('login', {
url: "/login",
templateUrl: "templates/login.html",
controller: "LoginCtrl"
});
//all the other states are missing and should be created depending on rights
$urlRouterProvider.otherwise('/login');
});
Ui-Router Part:
//Lets assume here the Rights Array contains more information like name, url...
angular.forEach(rights, function (value, key) {
//Checks if the state was already added
var getExistingState = $state.get(value.name)
if (getExistingState !== null) {
return;
}
var state = {
'lang': value.lang,
'params': value.param,
'url': value.url,
'templateProvider': function ($timeout, $templateCache, Ls) {
return $timeout(function () {
return $templateCache.get("templates" + value.url + ".html")
}, 100);
},
'ControllerProvider': function ($timeout, $templateCache, Ls) {
return $timeout(function () {
return $templateCache.get("controllers" + value.url + ".js")
}, 100);
}
$stateProviderRef.state(value.name, state);
});
$urlRouter.sync();
$urlRouter.listen();
Situation so far:
I have managed to load the html files and store them in the templateCache, even load them but only if the states were predefined.What I noticed here was that sometimes lets say when I remove an item from a List and come back to the View the item was there again maybe this has something to do with cache I am not really sure...
I have managed to load the controller files and save the controllers in the templateCache but I dont really know how to use the $ControllerPrioviderRef.register with my stored strings...
Creating the states did work but the Controller didnt fit so i could not open any views...
PS: I also looked at require.js and OCLazyLoad as well as this example dynamic controller example
Update:
Okay so I managed to load the Html , create the State with the Controller everything seems to work fine, except that the Controller does not seem to work at all, there are no errors, but it seems nothing of the Controller logic is executed. Currently the only solution to register the controller from the previous downloaded file was to use eval(), which is more a hack then a proper solution.
Here the code:
.factory('ModularService', ['$http', ....., function ( $http, ...., ) {
return {
LoadModularContent: function () {
//var $state = $rootScope.$state;
var json = [
{
module: 'Calc',
name: 'ca10',
lang: [],
params: 9,
url: '/ca10',
templateUrl: "templates/ca/ca10.html",
controller: ["Ca10"]
},
{
module: 'SL',
name: 'sl10',
lang: [],
params: 9,
url: '/sl10',
templateUrl: "templates/sl/sl10.html",
controller: ['Sl10', 'Sl20', 'Sl25', 'Sl30', 'Sl40', 'Sl50', 'Sl60', 'Sl70']
}
];
//Load the html
angular.forEach(json, function (value, key) {
$http.get('http://myserver.com/' + value.module + '.html')
.then(function (response) {
var splits = response.data.split('#');
for (var l = 1; l <= value.controller.length; l++) {
$templateCache.put('templates/' + value.controller[l - 1] + '.html', splits[l - 1]);
if (l == value.controller.length) {
$http.get('http://myserver.com//'+value.module+'.js')
.then(function (response2) {
var ctrls = response2.data.split('##');
var fullctrl;
for (var m = 1; m <= value.controller.length; m++){
var ctrlName = value.controller[m - 1] + 'Ctrl';
$controllerProviderRef
.register(ctrlName, ['$scope',...., function ($scope, ...,) {
eval(ctrls[m - 1]);
}])
if (m == value.controller.length) {
for (var o = 1; o <= value.controller.length; o++) {
var html = $templateCache
.get("templates/" + value.controller[o - 1] + ".html");
var getExistingState = $state.get(value.controller[o - 1].toLowerCase());
if (getExistingState !== null) {
return;
}
var state = {
'lang': value.lang,
'params': value.param,
'url': '/' + value.controller[o - 1].toLowerCase(),
'template': html,
'controller': value.controller[o - 1] + 'Ctrl'
};
$stateProviderRef.state(value.controller[o - 1].toLowerCase(), state);
}
}
}
});
}
}
});
});
// Configures $urlRouter's listener *after* your custom listener
$urlRouter.sync();
$urlRouter.listen();
}
}
}])
Any help appreciated

Ok, so let's start from the beginning.
All the application logic should be contained on the server and served via API-calls through REST, SOAP or similar. By doing so, you reduce the amount of logic built into the UI, which reduces the stress on the client. This basically makes your client app a rendering agent, containing only models and views for the data and logic served by the backend API.
As foreyez stated in his/her comment, this isn't an issue for any modern (or half-modern) device.
If you insist on not loading all of the layouts at once, you could of course separate them into partials, which you load after the login based on the user privileges. By doing so, you reduce the amount of in-memory data, even though the improvement would be doubtable, at best.

Can I suggest you to do some changes to the way you load the states?
Write a script that give you back a json with the states the user can access.
Ex.
resources/routing-config.yourLangage?user=user-id-12345
this will return a json file that depends on the user logged in. The structure can be something like this:
[
{
"name": "home",
"url": "/home",
"templateUrl": "views/home.html",
"controller": "HomeController",
"dependencies": ["scripts/home/controllers.js", "scripts/home/services.js", "scripts/home/directives.js"]
},
{
"name": "user",
"url": "/user",
"templateUrl": "views/user.html",
"controller": "UserController",
"dependencies": ["scripts/user/controllers.js", "scripts/user/services.js", "scripts/home/directives.js"]
}
]
Then let's write a service that will read the states the user is allowed to access:
app.factory('routingConfig', ['$resource',
function ($resource) {
return $resource('resources/routing-config.yourLangage', {}, {
query: {method: 'GET',
params: {},
isArray: true,
transformResponse: function (data) {
// before that we give the states data to the app, let's load all the dependencies
var states = [];
angular.forEach(angular.fromJson(data), function(value, key) {
value.resolve = {
deps: ['$q', '$rootScope', function($q, $rootScope){
// this will be resolved only when the user will go to the relative state defined in the var value
var deferred = $q.defer();
/*
now we need to load the dependencies. I use the script.js javascript loader to load the dependencies for each page.
It is very small and easy to be used
http://www.dustindiaz.com/scriptjs
*/
$script(value.dependencies, function(){ //here we will load what is defined in the dependencies field. ex: "dependencies": ["scripts/user/controllers.js", "scripts/user/services.js", "scripts/home/directives.js"]
// all dependencies have now been loaded by so resolve the promise
$rootScope.$apply(function(){
deferred.resolve();
});
});
return deferred.promise;
}]
};
states.push(value);
});
return states;
}
}
});
}]);
Then let's configure the app:
app.config(['$stateProvider', '$urlRouterProvider', '$locationProvider', '$filterProvider', '$provide', '$compileProvider',
function ($stateProvider, $urlRouterProvider, $locationProvider, $filterProvider, $provide, $compileProvider) {
// this will be the default state where to go as far as the states aren't loaded
var loading = {
name: 'loading',
url: '/loading',
templateUrl: '/views/loading.html',
controller: 'LoadingController'
};
// if the user ask for a page that he cannot access
var _404 = {
name: '_404',
url: '/404',
templateUrl: 'views/404.html',
controller: '404Controller'
};
$stateProvider
.state(loading)
.state(_404);
// save a reference to all of the providers to register everything lazily
$stateProviderRef = $stateProvider;
$urlRouterProviderRef = $urlRouterProvider;
$controllerProviderRef = $controllerProvider;
$filterProviderRef = $filterProvider;
$provideRef = $provide;
$compileProviderRef = $compileProvider;
//redirect the not found urls
$urlRouterProvider.otherwise('/404');
}]);
Now let's use this service in the app.run:
app.run(function ($location, $rootScope, $state, $q, routingConfig) {
// We need to attach a promise to the rootScope. This will tell us when all of the states are loaded.
var myDeferredObj = $q.defer();
$rootScope.promiseRoutingConfigEnd = myDeferredObj.promise;
// Query the config file
var remoteStates = routingConfig.query(function() {
angular.forEach(remoteStates, function(value, key) {
// the state becomes the value
$stateProviderRef.state(value);
});
// resolve the promise.
myDeferredObj.resolve();
});
//redirect to the loading page until all of the states are completely loaded and store the original path requested
$rootScope.myPath = $location.path();
$location.path('/loading'); //and then (in the loading controller) we will redirect to the right state
//check for routing errors
$rootScope.$on('$stateChangeError',
function(event, toState, toParams, fromState, fromParams, error){
console.log.bind(console);
});
$rootScope.$on('$stateNotFound',
function(event, unfoundState, fromState, fromParams){
console.error(unfoundState.to); // "lazy.state"
console.error(unfoundState.toParams); // {a:1, b:2}
console.error(unfoundState.options); // {inherit:false} + default options
});
});
Eventually, the LoadingController:
app.controller('LoadingController', ['$scope', '$location', '$rootScope',
function($scope, $location, $rootScope) {
//when all of the states are loaded, redirect to the requested state
$rootScope.promiseRoutingConfigEnd.then(function(){
//if the user requested the page /loading then redirect him to the home page
if($rootScope.myPath === '/loading'){
$rootScope.myPath = '/home';
}
$location.path($rootScope.myPath);
});
}]);
In this way everything is super flexible and lazy loaded.
I wrote 3 different user portals already and I can easily scale to all of the user portal I want.

I have developed an application with keeping those things in mind. Here is my architecture.
Folder Structure:
WebApp
|---CommonModule
|---common-module.js //Angular Module Defination
|---Controllers //Generally Nothing, but if you have a plan to
//extend from one CommonController logic to several
//module then it is usefull
|---Services //Common Service Call Like BaseService for all $http
//call, So no Module Specific Service will not use
//$http directly. Then you can do several common
//things in this BaseService.
//Like Error Handling,
//CSRF token Implementation,
//Encryption/Decryption of AJAX req/res etc.
|---Directives //Common Directives which you are going to use
//in different Modules
|---Filters //Common Filters
|---Templates //Templates for those common directives
|---index.jsp //Nothing, Basically Redirect to
//Login or Default Module
|---scripts.jsp //JQuery, AngularJS and Other Framworks scripts tag.
//Along with those, common controlers, services,
//directives and filtes.
|---templates.jsp //Include all common templates.
|---ng-include.jsp //will be used in templates.jsp to create angular
//template script tag.
|---ModuleA
|---moduleA-module.js //Angular Module Definition,
//Use Common Module as Sub Module
|---Controllers
|---Services
|---Directives
|---Filters
|---Templates
|---index.jsp
|---scripts.jsp
|---templates.jsp
|---ModuleB
|--- Same as above ...
Note: Capital Case denotes folder. Beside ModuleA there will a LoginModule for your case I think or You could Use CommonModule for it.
Mehu will be as follows.
Module A <!--Note: index.jsp are indexed file
//for a directive -->
Module B
Each of those JSP page are actually a independent angular application. Using those following code.
ModuleA/index.jsp
<!-- Check User Permission Here also for Security
If permission does not have show Module Unavailable Kind of JSP.
Also do not send any JS files for this module.
If permission is there then use this following JSP
-->
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en" data-ng-app="ModuleA">
<head>
<title>Dynamic Rule Engine</title>
<%# include file="scripts.jsp" %>
<%# include file="templates.jsp" %> <!-- Can be cached it in
different way -->
</head>
<body>
<%# include file="../common.jsp" %>
<div id="ngView" data-ng-view></div>
<%# include file="../footer.jsp" %>
</body>
</html>
ModuleA/scripts.jsp
<%# include file="../CommonModule/scripts.jsp" %> <!-- Include Common Things
Like Jquery Angular etc -->
<scripts src="Controlers/ModlueAController1.js"></script>
.....
ModuleA/templates.jsp
<%# include file="../CommonModule/templates.jsp" %>
<!-- Include Common Templates for common directives -->
<jsp:include page="../CommonModule/ng-include.jsp"><jsp:param name="src" value="ModuleA/Templates/template1.jsp" /></jsp:include>
.....
CommonModule/ng-include.jsp
<script type="text/ng-template" id="${param.src}">
<jsp:include page="${param.src}" />
</script>
But main problem of this approach is When user will change Module, Page will get refreshed.
EDIT:
There is a ModuleA.module.js file which actually contain module deceleration as follows.
angular.module('ModuleA.controllers', []);
angular.module('ModuleA.services', []);
angular.module('ModuleA.directives', []);
angular.module('ModuleA.filters', []);
angular.module('ModuleA',
['Common',
'ModuleA.controllers' ,
'ModuleA.services' ,
'ModuleA.directives' ,
'ModuleA.filters'])
.config(['$routeProvider', function($routeProvider) {
//$routeProvider state setup
}])
.run (function () {
});

I think I'm doing what you're asking. I achieve this by using UI-Router, ocLazyLoad and ui-routers future states. Essentially our setup allows us to have 50+ modules, all in the same code base, but when a user opens the app. its starts by only loading the base files required by the app. Then, as the user moves around between states, the application will load up the files required for that part, as their needed. (apologies for the fragmented code, I've had to rip it out of the code base, but tried to only provide the stuff thats actually relevant to the solution).
Firstly, the folder structure
Core App
config.js
Module 1 (/module1)
module.js
controllers.js
Module 2 (/module2)
module.js
controllers.js
etc
Config.js:
The first thing we do is create the base state, this is an abstract state, so the user can never actually just hit it.
$stateProvider.state('index', {
abstract: true,
url: "/index",
views: {
'': {
templateUrl: "views/content.html" // a base template to have sections replaced via ui-view elements
}
},
...
});
Then we configure the modules in ocLazyLoad. This allows us to just tell ocLazyLoad to load the module, and it loads all the required files (although in this instance, its only a single file, but it allows each module to have varying paths).
$ocLazyLoadProvider.config({
loadedModules: ['futureStates'],
modules: [
{
name: 'module1',
files: ['module1/module.js']
},
{
name: 'module2',
files: ['module2/module.js']
}
]
});
Next we create a function to allow ui-router to load the modules when requested (through future states).
function ocLazyLoadStateFactory($q, $ocLazyLoad, futureState) {
var deferred = $q.defer();
// this loads the module set in the future state
$ocLazyLoad.load(futureState.module).then(function () {
deferred.resolve();
}, function (error) {
deferred.reject(error);
});
return deferred.promise;
}
$futureStateProvider.stateFactory('ocLazyLoad', ['$q', '$ocLazyLoad', 'futureState', ocLazyLoadStateFactory]);
Then we configure the actual future states. These are states that may be loaded in the future, but we don't want to configure them right now.
$futureStateProvider.futureState({
'stateName': 'index.module1', // the state name
'urlPrefix': '/index/module1', // the url to the state
'module': 'module1', // the name of the module, configured in ocLazyLoad above
'type': 'ocLazyLoad' // the future state factory to use.
});
$futureStateProvider.futureState({
'stateName': 'index.module2',
'urlPrefix': '/index/module2',
'module': 'module2',
'type': 'ocLazyLoad'
});
If you want the list of future states to be provided asynchronously:
$futureStateProvider.addResolve(['$http', function ($http) {
return $http({method: 'GET', url: '/url'}).then(function (states) {
$futureStateProvider.futureState({
'stateName': 'index.module2',
'urlPrefix': '/index/module2',
'module': 'module2',
'type': 'ocLazyLoad'
});
});
}]);
Then we configure the modules as follows:
module1/module.js
$stateProvider.state('index.module1', {
url: "/module1",
abstract: true,
resolve: {
loadFiles: ['$ocLazyLoad', function($ocLazyLoad){
return return $ocLazyLoad.load(['list of all your required files']);
}]
}
})
$stateProvider.state('index.module1.sub1', {
url: "/sub1",
views: {
// override your ui-views in here. this one overrides the view named 'main-content' from the 'index' state
'main-content#index': {
templateUrl: "module1/views/sub1.html"
}
}
})

Resolving data in Angular Controller

I'm pretty new to Angular and I've been going round in circles on this one for a while now.
A bit of background first, I'm using the MEAN stack from mean.io which uses Angular UI Router.
I have a Post model in my DB which can have a category id assigned to it.
When I create a new post I want to load the existing categories from the DB and display them in a select box.
From what I can see I need to use resolve, first of all it doesn't feel right having logic in the resolve property which is in a file called config.js - so far I've placed the call to a service in there and im getting the categories back using the following code:
.state('create post', {
url: '/posts/create',
templateUrl: 'views/posts/create.html',
controller: 'PostsController',
resolve: {
loadCategories: function (Categories) {
Categories.query(function(categories) {
return categories;
});
}
}
})
The first problem is that I can't access the returned data in my controller or view.
Secondly I only want to load Categories that belong to a certain Organisation. I will be assigning an organisation id to each user so how can I access the currently signed in user when I'm in config.js - again this doesn't feel like the right place to be doing this sort of logic though.
Any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks

config.js:
register post state :
.state('post', {
url: '/posts/create',
templateUrl: 'views/posts/create.html',
controller: 'PostsController',
resolve: PostsController.resolve
})
register posts controller:
.controller({
PostsController: ['$scope', 'loadCategories', PostsController],
...
})
controller function:
function PostsController($scope, loadCategories){
$scope.categories = loadCategories;
};
PostsController.resolve = {
loadCategories: ['dependencies', function(dependencies){
return dependencies.query(...)
}]
};
Angular manage your dependency injection

Assuming Categories is an angular resource, you should be able to just
loadCategories: function (Categories) {
return Categories.query();
}
And then in your controller:
.controller('PostsController', function ($scope, loadCategories) {
$scope.categories = loadCategories;
});
Ok, reading your comments, it sounds like you'll have some issue because you want to inject this into the controller, but only in certain states. You could try:
.state('create post', {
url: '/posts/create',
templateUrl: 'views/posts/create.html',
controller: 'PostsController',
data: {
categories: Categories.query()
}
})
and then
.controller('PostsController', function ($scope, $state){
console.log($state.current.data.categories);
});
Which should work...

AngularJS - Pass parameters into Controller?

I'm trying to create a simple blog website using AngularJS. I'm just starting out, so what I'm thinking my not be the best way to do this, so any alternative suggestions are welcome.
I have a controller.js file with two blog controllers. One to display a list of blog posts, and the other that displays the post content by including an HTML file.
controller.js
myAppControllers.controller('BlogListCtrl', ['$scope', '$http', function ($scope, $http) {
$http.get('articles/articles.json').success(function (articles) {
$scope.articles = articles;
});
}]);
myAppControllers.controller('BlogPostCtrl', ['$scope', '$routeParams', function ($scope, $routeParams) {
$scope.includeFile = 'articles/' + $routeParams.blogPostId + '.html';
}]);
articles.json
[
{
"id": "test-article-one",
"title": "Test Article one",
"author": "Gareth Lewis",
"datePosted": "2015-06-23",
"summary": "This is a test summary"
},
{
"id": "test-article-two",
"title": "Test article two",
"author": "Gareth Lewis",
"datePosted": "2015-06-23",
"summary": "This is a test for article two"
}
]
app.js
when('/blog', {
templateUrl: 'partials/blog-articles.html',
controller: 'BlogListCtrl'
}).
when('/blog/:blogPostId', {
templateUrl: 'partials/blog-post.html',
controller: 'BlogPostCtrl'
}).
blog-post.html
<ng-include src="'partials/header.html'"></ng-include>
<!-- Want to add title, author, datePosted information here... -->
<article class="content">
<ng-include src="includeFile"></ng-include>
</article>
This blog listings work fine. When I click into a blog post, it also serves up the content from the HTML file OK as well. However, I want to be able to reuse the title, author and datePosted properties from the selected article in the blog-post.html partial view. What's the best way to do this? Would I need to pass them to the Controller somehow to then pass to the view? I don't really want to pass these as routeParams. Or would I need to do a $http.get on articles.json and iterate through to find the selected article and then pass the property values back to the view?
Thanks for the help.

You said that suggestions are welcome, so here it goes.
1 - Transport all your Blog logic to a service;
2 - Provide the data on resolving routes. This is a better approach to handle errors during the load time, 404s, and so on. You can provide a listener to $routeChangeError and deal with it there;
3 - On the service declared below, you have the methods to call your data and a method to retrieve the list cached on the service:
// services.js
myAppServices
.service('BlogService', ['$http', '$q', function ($http, $q) {
var api = {},
currentData = {
list: [],
article: {}
};
api.getSaved = function () {
return currentData;
};
api.listArticles = function () {
var deferred = $q.defer(),
backup = angular.copy(currentData.list);
$http.get('articles/articles.json')
.then(function (response) {
currentData.list = response;
deferred.resolve(response);
}, function () {
currentData.list = backup;
deferred.reject(reason);
});
return deferred.promise;
};
api.getArticle = function (id) {
var deferred = $q.defer(),
backup = angular.copy(currentData.article),
path = 'articles/' + id + '.html';
$http.get(path, {
cache: true
})
.then(function (response) {
currentData.article = {
path: path,
response: response
};
deferred.resolve(currentData.article);
}, function (reason) {
currentData.article = backup;
deferred.reject(currentData.article);
});
return deferred.promise;
};
return api;
}]);
The BlogService.getSaved() will retrieve the stored data, made after each call.
I've made a method to call the ng-include path too, so you can verify if it exists, with cache === true, the browser will keep a copy of it, when calling it again on the view. A copy of the response of the blog article is made too, so you can access its path and the response whenever you need.
On the controllers below, they were adaptated to supply the current needs:
// controller.js
myAppControllers
.controller('BlogListCtrl', ['$scope', 'articles',
function ($scope, articles) {
$scope.articles = articles;
/* OTHER STUFF HERE */
}
])
.controller('BlogPostCtrl', ['$routeParams', '$scope', 'article' 'BlogService',
function ($routeParams, $scope, article, BlogService) {
// On `article` dependency, you have both the original response
// and the path formed. If you want to use any of it.
$scope.includeFile = article.path;
// To get the current stored data (if any):
$scope.articles = BlogService.getSaved().list;
// Traverse the array to get your current article:
$scope.article = $scope.articles.filter(function (item) {
return item.id === $routeParams.id;
});
/* OTHER STUFF HERE */
}
]);
And the route declarations were changed to load the data when resolving the routes.
// app.js
$routeProvider
.when('/blog', {
templateUrl: 'partials/blog-articles.html',
controller: 'BlogListCtrl',
resolve: {
articles: ['BlogService', '$routeParams', function (BlogService, $routeParams) {
return BlogService.listArticles();
}]
}
})
.when('/blog/:id', {
templateUrl: 'partials/blog-post.html',
controller: 'BlogPostCtrl',
resolve: {
article: ['BlogService', '$routeParams', function (BlogService, $routeParams) {
return BlogService.getArticle($routeParams.blogPostId);
}]
}
})

This is maybe a common question in angular. What you have to understand is that Scope is defined per controller... In order to share data across controller you still have the option to use $scope.$parent or $rootScope to link controllers but I would use those carefully.
It is better to use Angular Services which are based on singleton patterns therefore you can use them to share information between controllers and I think it will be a better approach.
I found that this has been previously discussed and here are some good examples:
AngularJS Service Passing Data Between Controllers

You can use a global scope to set this data, or you can use service to communicate between the controllers. There is a lot of ways to resolve this problem read a little bit more about services in the link bellow and see if you can find how to resolve your problem.
AngularJS: Service vs provider vs factory