Best practices for $resources bound directly on scope [closed] - angularjs

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In angular when using resources we can bind them directly on the $scope like this:
$scope.users = Users.$query();
This could also written as:
Users.$query().$promise.then(function(users) {
$scope.users = users;
});
Have you experienced any downside of using the first approach? What are the pros and cons of each?

Answer 1

From angular ng-book:
$resource Instances Are Asynchronous
With all these methods, it’s important to note that when they are
invoked, the $resource object immediately returns an empty reference
to the data. This data is an empty reference, not the actual data, as
all these methods are executed asynchronously. Therefore, a call to
get an instance might look synchronous, but is actually not. In fact,
it’s simply a reference to data that Angular will fill in
automatically when it arrives back from the server.
// $scope.users will be empty
$scope.users = User.query();
We can wait for the data to come back as expected using the callback method that the methods
provide:
$scope.users(function(users) {
// logic here
});
or use raw $http from $promise attribute
$scope.users.$promise.then(function(users) {
// logic here
});

Answer 2

Both approaches are essentially equivalent.
The main difference between them is that in the 2nd approach, you will be able to perform certain actions once the request completes, whereas in the 1st approach, to be able to run logic when the request completes, you'll need to work with $watch statements on the users variable.
The 1st approach however, will allow you to place default values inside user which could be convenient when binding view before the request completes.
By the way, there is also a 3rd option:
$scope.users = Users.$query();
$scope.users.$promise.then(function(users) {
// perform some logic
});
This allows you to immediately bind views to the users variable in the scope, and at the same time, perform any additional logic you might need once the request completes.