ngRoute not directing to anything - angularjs

Question

So I'm trying to learn how to use Angulars routing, following tutorials online, and I can't seem to figure out where I'm going wrong. I have the following code:
var app = angular.module('gamersplane', ['controllers', 'ngCookies', 'ngRoute']);
app.config(['$routeProvider', function ($routeProvider) {
$routeProvider.when('/pms/:box?', {
controller: 'pmList'
}).when('/pms', {
controller: 'pmList'
}).otherwise({
controller: 'pmList'
});
}])
var controllers = angular.module('controllers', []);
controllers.controller('pmList', function ($scope, $cookies, $http, $routeParams) {
console.log($routeParams);
});
However, no matter what I do, the controller doesn't get hit. I have otherwise in the router, so isn't that where it should hit if all else fails?

Answer 1

Yes it will hit otherwise but you can only define the redirect path into it and that redirect path will tell the url and the controller to set for the $route.current :-
redirectTo: '/pms'
Doc

Answer 2

You need to add a template to each route:
app.config(['$routeProvider', function ($routeProvider) {
$routeProvider.when('/pms/:box?', {
controller: 'pmList',
template: 'test.html'
}).when('/pms', {
controller: 'pmList',
template: 'test.html'
}).otherwise({
controller: 'pmList',
template: 'test.html'
});
}])

Answer 3

squiroids suggestion regarding otherwise was correct, you won't see a change in your test application though.
Routing is meant to be used to navigate between regions of your application. You could have an app with two routes: pms which shows a list of PMs and pms/:box zu view a particular PM Box. The main task for ngRoute is to replace a placeholder in your application (ng-view) with a given template. Without using a template on the individual routes, your $routeProvider will not navigate as expected.
Given you have two views for the regions (pmBox.html and pmList.html), you could configure your $routeProvider zu setup routing like this: https://gist.github.com/kpko/bd0231ccefbaf8c415c7