Angular / Ionic - controller only runs once - angularjs

Question

I'm starting out with Angular through the Ionic Framework but I am failing to understand why the controller only runs once i.e. I change state, the controller runs, change to another state and then back again and the controller does not run a second time. This is my state:
$stateProvider.state( 'container.previous', {
url: 'previous',
views: {
main : {
templateUrl : 'views/previous.html',
controller : function( $scope, $cordovaSQLite ){
$scope.firms = [];
$cordovaSQLite.execute(window.db, "SELECT * FROM recent GROUP BY phone ORDER by id DESC").then(function(res) {
for (i = 0; i < res.rows.length; i++) {
$scope.firms.push(res.rows.item(i));
}
}, function (err) {
console.error(err);
});
}
}
},
onStateChangeStart : function(){
backButton = true;
}
});
In another state, if you click on a button related to a "firm", it saves the "firms" data to local storage. The above state shows the firms in which you have previously clicked on. But I cannot figure out how to update the $scope.firms correctly as the controller never runs again.
Can anyone help me out?

Answer 1

You can put the code you want to run in $ionicView.enter:
controller : function( $scope, $cordovaSQLite ){
$scope.$on('$ionicView.enter', function() {
// code to run each time view is entered
});
...
});
See "View LifeCycle and Events": https://ionicframework.com/docs/v1/api/directive/ionView/

Answer 2

Building on #brandyshea's answer, I would like to add if you want to specify no caching in one area/controller/state, and take advantage of the caching in other areas, you can simply use the cache parameter in your $stateProvider for that state.
Disable cache within state provider
$stateProvider.state('myState', {
cache: false,
url : '/myUrl',
templateUrl : 'my-template.html'
})
Alternatively, you can use one of the other methods too:
Disable cache with an attribute
<ion-view cache-view="false" view-title="My Title!">
...
</ion-view>
Disable cache globally
The $ionicConfigProvider can be used to set the maximum allowable views which can be cached, but this can also be use to disable all caching by setting it to 0.
$ionicConfigProvider.views.maxCache(0);
References: http://ionicframework.com/docs/api/directive/ionNavView/ and http://ionicframework.com/docs/api/directive/ionView/

Answer 3

You don't need to disable entire app cache.
If you want to re-run controller every time you enter on it you should clear cache before you leave it:
$scope.$on("$ionicView.afterLeave", function () {
$ionicHistory.clearCache();
});

Answer 4

Ionic has a cache mechanism inside. You can disable caching globally in your config function like this :
$ionicConfigProvider.views.maxCache(0);

Answer 5

Put this in your ion-view.
<ion-view cache-view="false">