Angular Two-Way data-binding not refreshing ng-repeat on $scope change - angularjs

Question

My functionality is very simple, and I have to imagine very common. I have a page that lists a collection of 'age groups', and provides functionality to add an 'age group'. I simply would like to have the page immediately reflect the change when a new 'age group' is added.
In early versions, I had simply used the $rootScope in my service to put all 'age groups' in the $rootScope when the $http request was completed. On this latest refactoring I am removing all use of $rootScope in my app, and it is becoming problematic.
The code for the HTML view is as follows: [NOTE: all code considered extraneous has been removed from all code snippets]
<div id="tabContent" class="tab-pane fade in active" ng-show="subIsSelected(1)">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12">
<form class="form-inline">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-success" ng-click="openAddAgeGroup()">Add Age Group</button>
</form>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<div class="row row-content">
<div class="col-xs-12">
<h4 ng-show="!areAgeGroups()">No current age groups.</h4>
<ul class="media-list" ng-show="areAgeGroups()">
<li class="media" ng-repeat="ageGroup in ageGroups" style="padding:10px; background: lightGray;">
<div class="media-left media-top" >
<img class="media-object img-thumbnail" style="width: 75px;" ng-src="./images/trfc.png" alt="club logo">
</div>
<div class="media-body">
<h3 class="media-heading" style="padding-top: 20px;">{{ageGroup.name}}</h3>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-xs btn-primary" style="width: 50px;" ng-click="openEditAgeGroup(ageGroup)">Edit</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-xs btn-danger" style="width: 50px;" ng-click="deleteAgeGroup(ageGroup)">Delete</button>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
when first loaded, the page correctly shows all 'age groups' that are in the $scope.ageGroups array.
On clicking the button to add an 'age group', an ng-dialog is created as follows:
$scope.openAddAgeGroup = function() {
console.log("\n\nOpening dialog to add age group");
ngDialog.open({ template: 'views/addAgeGroup.html', scope: $scope, className: 'ngdialog-theme-default', controller:"HomeController" });
};
and that dialog is populated as such:
<div class="ngdialog-message">
<div class="">
<h3>Add a New Age Group</h3>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<form ng-submit="addAgeGroup()">
<div class="form-group">
<label class="sr-only" for="name">Age Group Display Name</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="name" placeholder="age group name" ng-model="ageGroupForm.name">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="sr-only" for="birthyear">Birth Year</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="birthyear" placeholder="birth year" ng-model="ageGroupForm.birthyear">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="sr-only" for="socceryear">Soccer Year</label>
<div class="input-group">
<div class="input-group-addon">U</div>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="socceryear" placeholder="soccer year" ng-model="ageGroupForm.socceryear">
</div>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-info">Add</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default" ng-click=closeThisDialog("Cancel")>Cancel</button>
</form>
</div>
</div>
When the form is submitted, the 'age group' is added to the database, from the controller:
'use strict';
angular.module('ma-app')
.controller('HomeController', ['$scope', 'ngDialog', '$state', 'authService', 'coreDataService', 'userService', '$rootScope', 'clubService', 'schedulingService', function($scope, ngDialog, $state, authService, coreDataService, userService, $rootScope, clubService, schedulingService) {
...
$scope.addAgeGroup = function() {
coreDataService.addAgeGroup($scope.ageGroupForm)
.then(function(response) {
coreDataService.refreshAgeGroups()
.then(function(response) {
coreDataService.setAgeGroups(response.data);
$scope.ageGroups = coreDataService.getAgeGroups();
console.log("\n\n\nretrieved age groups and put them in scope");
console.log($scope.ageGroups);
ngDialog.close();
});
}, function(errResponse) {
console.log("Failed on attempt to add age group:");
console.log(errResponse);
});
};
The coreDataService is defined as follows:
'use strict';
angular.module('ma-app')
.service('coreDataService', ['$http', 'baseURL', 'googleGeolocateBaseURL', 'googleGeocodeKey', 'googleMapsBaseURL', function($http, baseURL, googleGeolocateBaseURL, googleGeocodeKey, googleMapsBaseURL) {
var ageGroups = {};
var ageGroupsLoaded = false;
this.getAgeGroups = function() {
return ageGroups;
};
this.setAgeGroups = function(newAgeGroups) {
ageGroups = newAgeGroups;
ageGroupsLoaded = true;
};
this.addAgeGroup = function(formData) {
//post age group:
var postString = '{ "birth_year": "' + formData.birthyear + '", "soccer_year": "U' + formData.socceryear + '", "name": "' + formData.name + '" }';
console.log("Posting age group with string: " + postString);
return $http({
url: baseURL + 'age_groups/',
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'content-type': 'application/json'
},
data: postString
});
};
}]);
So, when an 'age group' is added, console logging indicates that the new 'age group' is in the collection now stored in the $scope.ageGroups array, but the HTML's ng-repeat does not reflect the new 'age group'. Only when I navigate to another tab in the interface, and then return to the tab containing the 'age groups' is the newly added 'age group' displayed.

Answer 1

Updated:
After you update your value you need to tell angular that its been updated. If you wrap your code in a $timeout. On the next digest cycle the view will get updated. See here for more information.
...
$timeout(function() {
$scope.ageGroups = coreDataService.getAgeGroups();
// anything you want can go here and will safely be run on the next digest.
})
...
The $timeout basically runs on the next $digest cycle thus updating your value in the view.

Answer 2

I would suggest wrapping your ng-repeat part in a directive, fire an event on add method and listen to it from the directive:
this.addAgeGroup = function(formData) {
// do stuff
$scope.$broadcast('itemadded');
}
Inside your directive link function:
$scope.$on('itemadded', function() {
$scope.ageGroups = coreDataService.getAgeGroups();
});

Answer 3

I would recommend using the ControllerAs syntax which will refresh the ng-repeat, if the array to which it is bound to gets updated.
Refer the answer given here - ng-repeat not updating on update of array