It seems that factory methods execution priority is the highest, so that callbacks has no data to deal with. What is the best way to make this work?
I got this kind of factory
app.factory('jsonService', function($http) {
return {
getDistricts: function(callback) {
$http.get('data/districts.json').success(callback);
},
getLocations: function(path,callback) {
$http.get('data/'+path+'.json').success(callback);
}
};
});
And controller
var app = angular.module('sandbox', []);
app.controller('sandboxCtrl',function ($scope,jsonService) {
//This one works
$scope.init1= function(){
jsonService.getDistricts(function(data){
$scope.districts = data;
$scope.currentDistrict = $scope.districts[0].name;
jsonService.getLocations($scope.currentDistrict,function(data){
$scope.locations1 = data;
})
});
};
$scope.init1();
//This one does not
$scope.init2= function(){
jsonService.getDistricts(function(data){
$scope.districts = data;
$scope.currentDistrict = $scope.districts[0].name;
})
jsonService.getLocations($scope.currentDistrict,function(data){
$scope.locations1 = data;
});
};
$scope.init2();
});
Here is working plunker
Angular has an implementation of promises named $q (documentation) that you should read up upon.
There is a race condition due to the async nature of http calls. Please review the updated code linked to below that shows an example of your code running (successfully) using promises to handle your two calls in succession.
So upon success of your first call it will call your second service method all without using callbacks thanks to the power of promises.
jsonService.getDistricts()
.success(function(data) {
$scope.districts = data;
$scope.currentDistrict = $scope.districts[0].name;
jsonService.getLocations($scope.currentDistrict)
.success(function(locationData) {
$scope.locations = locationData;
})
});
updated PLKR
Promise clarification:
The raw implementation of basic promises uses then to handle responses and promises returned from $http add additional methods (success, error) that will unpack your data from the response object that you would need to handle if your just use then.
init1() is the correct way of doing this. init2() does work because jsonService.getLocations() is getting invoked before jsonService.getDistritcs() completes. The angular $http service is asynchronous. Since jsonService.getLocations() depends on data from jsonServicd.getDistricts() you must wait until .getDistricts() completes before calling .getLocations(). One way to do that is to call .getLocations() within the .getDitricts() callback, just as you did in init1().
Related
How can I make an Angular service code "look synchronous"?
My questions arose when I cleaned my controller and put the business logic code into a service instead. So far so good. Now I would like to "wait" in the service function until all asynchronous calls have returned and then return. How can I do that?
To illustrate my problem, suppose you have a controller code which just:
requests some data from the backend
does some processing with the data and
hands the data over to the scope
Like that:
DataController before refactoring:
$scope.submitForm = function() {
RestBackend.query('something').then(function(data) {
// do some additional things ...
...
$scope.data = data;
});
};
Pretty straightforward. Fetch data and fill scope.
After refactoring into controller + service, I ended up with:
DataController refactored:
$scope.submitForm = function() {
DataService.getData().then(function(data) {
$scope.data = data;
});
};
DataService refactored:
this.query = function() {
var dataDefer = $q.defer();
RestBackend.query('something').then(function(data) {
// do some additional things ...
...
dataDefer.resolve(data);
});
return dataDefer.promise;
};
I dislike the fact that I have to work with a promise in the controller also. I like promises but I want to keep the controller agnostic of this "implementation detail" of the service. This is what I would like the controller code to look like:
DataController (as it should be):
$scope.submitForm = function() {
$scope.data = DataService.getData();
};
You get the point? In the controller I don't want to care about promise or not. Just wait for the data to be fetched and then use it. Thus, I am looking for a possibility to implement the service like this:
query the data (asynchronously)
do not return until the data has been fetched
return the fetched data
Now item 2. is not clear to me: How can I "wait until data has been fetched" and only proceed afterwards? The goal is that the service function looks synchronous.
I too think your solution is fine.
Returning a promise is not an implementation detail of the service. It is part of the service's API (the "contract" between the service and the service-consumer).
The controller expects a promise that resolves with the data and handles that as it sees fit.
How that promise is constructed, how the data is fetched etc, these are the implementation details.
You can swap the service at any time with one that does totally different things as long as it fulfills the contract (i.e. returns a promise that resolves with the data onve ready).
That said, if you only use the data in the view (i.e. do not directly manipulate it in the controller right after it is fetched), which seems to be the case, you can use ngResources approach:
Return an empty array and populate it with the data once it is fetched:
$scope.data = DataService.getData();
// DataService refactored:
this.getData = function () {
var data = [];
RestBackend.query('something').then(function(responseData) {
// do some additional things ...
...
angular.forEach(responseData, function (item) {
data.push(item);
});
});
return data;
};
BTW, in your current (fine) setup, you need $q.defer(). You can just use promise-chaining:
this.query = function() {
return RestBackend.query('something').then(function(data) {
// do some additional things ...
...
return data;
});
};
I think what you have is a very good solution. You should not have to wait for promise to be resolved, it defeats the purpose of async javascript. Just ask yourself why do you need to make it run sync?
If you rely in html on promise to be resolve you can do something like this
<div class="alert alert-warning text-center" data-ng-hide="!data.$resolved">
Got data from service.
</div>
As you use ngRoute, I would recommend you to resolve you data in your route config, and the view will be loaded once all your data will be resolved.
$routeProvider
.when('/your-url', {
templateUrl: 'path/to/your/template.html',
controller: 'YourCtrl',
// that's the point !
resolve: {
superAwesomeData: function (DataService) {
return DataService.getData();
}
}
});
Now, superAwesomeData can be injected in your controller and it will contains the data, resolved.
angular.module('youModule')
.controller('YourCtrl', function (superAwesomeData) {
// superAwesomeData === [...];
});
I think you find this question thousands of times...but I can't really understand the way to solve.
I have a $http request inside a Service...
app.service('getData', function ($http) {
this.getDataList = function () {
$http.get('../content/catalog/data.json')
.success(function(response) {
return response;
})
};
I call it from the app.run
app.run(function (getData) {
list=getData.getDataList()
})
If I log the list variable is undefined
What is the way to sync them?
Thank you for the help!!!!
You're treating the call as if it were synchronous, where as its an Async call, so when you say return response; that line executes when the call hasn't finished yet and naturally you get undefined, use a callback instead or return a promise:
this.getDataList = function (callback) {
$http.get('../content/catalog/data.json')
.success(function(response) {
callback(response);
})
};
Usage:
getData.getDataList(function(data){
var list=data;
console.log(data);
});
EDIT:
Regarding promises, the idea is very simple, whenever you have an async operation that you expect will not be completed immediately, i.e. ajax calls, you can use a promise returned by the method making that async operation in order to find out when the task has finished.
For example $http returns a promise by default, so you can change your code to make use of that promise by simply returning the $http call itself:
this.getDataList = function () {
return $http.get('../content/catalog/data.json');
}
and then use it like this:
getDataList().then(function(successData){
var list=successData;
},function(errorResponse){
alert("something terrible has happened!");
})
The promise returned by $http takes 2 callbacks, the first for a successful call and the second is for errors.
Nowadays I mostly just pass callbacks in to the function making the async call, saves me from having to write then().
list is undefined because you forgot to return $http.get in this.getDataList()
By the way, $http will return a promise (an object with then and finally methods), which you can directly use in ng-bind for instance.
Use promises instead.
JavaScript uses promises for async(deferred) operations. These promises are based on callbacks(I promise to run your callback when I'm done).
getDataList does a http.get behind the scenes and doesn't block the code. It simply returns a promise object.
You can add callbacks to the promise object that will happen when the async operation finishes.
app.service('getData', function ($http) {
this.getDataList = function () {
return $http.get('../content/catalog/data.json');
};
});
app.run(function (getData) {
getData.getDataList().then(function(res){
list = res
});
});
I am using some data which is from a RESTful service in multiple pages.
So I am using angular factories for that. So, I required to get the data once from the server, and everytime I am getting the data with that defined service. Just like a global variables. Here is the sample:
var myApp = angular.module('myservices', []);
myApp.factory('myService', function($http) {
$http({method:"GET", url:"/my/url"}).success(function(result){
return result;
});
});
In my controller I am using this service as:
function myFunction($scope, myService) {
$scope.data = myService;
console.log("data.name"+$scope.data.name);
}
Its working fine for me as per my requirements.
But the problem here is, when I reloaded in my webpage the service will gets called again and requests for server. If in between some other function executes which is dependent on the "defined service", It's giving the error like "something" is undefined. So I want to wait in my script till the service is loaded. How can I do that? Is there anyway do that in angularjs?
You should use promises for async operations where you don't know when it will be completed. A promise "represents an operation that hasn't completed yet, but is expected in the future." (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Promise)
An example implementation would be like:
myApp.factory('myService', function($http) {
var getData = function() {
// Angular $http() and then() both return promises themselves
return $http({method:"GET", url:"/my/url"}).then(function(result){
// What we return here is the data that will be accessible
// to us after the promise resolves
return result.data;
});
};
return { getData: getData };
});
function myFunction($scope, myService) {
var myDataPromise = myService.getData();
myDataPromise.then(function(result) {
// this is only run after getData() resolves
$scope.data = result;
console.log("data.name"+$scope.data.name);
});
}
Edit: Regarding Sujoys comment that
What do I need to do so that myFuction() call won't return till .then() function finishes execution.
function myFunction($scope, myService) {
var myDataPromise = myService.getData();
myDataPromise.then(function(result) {
$scope.data = result;
console.log("data.name"+$scope.data.name);
});
console.log("This will get printed before data.name inside then. And I don't want that.");
}
Well, let's suppose the call to getData() took 10 seconds to complete. If the function didn't return anything in that time, it would effectively become normal synchronous code and would hang the browser until it completed.
With the promise returning instantly though, the browser is free to continue on with other code in the meantime. Once the promise resolves/fails, the then() call is triggered. So it makes much more sense this way, even if it might make the flow of your code a bit more complex (complexity is a common problem of async/parallel programming in general after all!)
for people new to this you can also use a callback for example:
In your service:
.factory('DataHandler',function ($http){
var GetRandomArtists = function(data, callback){
$http.post(URL, data).success(function (response) {
callback(response);
});
}
})
In your controller:
DataHandler.GetRandomArtists(3, function(response){
$scope.data.random_artists = response;
});
I was having the same problem and none if these worked for me. Here is what did work though...
app.factory('myService', function($http) {
var data = function (value) {
return $http.get(value);
}
return { data: data }
});
and then the function that uses it is...
vm.search = function(value) {
var recieved_data = myService.data(value);
recieved_data.then(
function(fulfillment){
vm.tags = fulfillment.data;
}, function(){
console.log("Server did not send tag data.");
});
};
The service isn't that necessary but I think its a good practise for extensibility. Most of what you will need for one will for any other, especially when using APIs. Anyway I hope this was helpful.
FYI, this is using Angularfire so it may vary a bit for a different service or other use but should solve the same isse $http has. I had this same issue only solution that fit for me the best was to combine all services/factories into a single promise on the scope. On each route/view that needed these services/etc to be loaded I put any functions that require loaded data inside the controller function i.e. myfunct() and the main app.js on run after auth i put
myservice.$loaded().then(function() {$rootScope.myservice = myservice;});
and in the view I just did
ng-if="myservice" ng-init="somevar=myfunct()"
in the first/parent view element/wrapper so the controller can run everything inside
myfunct()
without worrying about async promises/order/queue issues. I hope that helps someone with the same issues I had.
I'm trying to setup a data service in my Angular application that is using breezeJS. After I resolve my promise I can't get the .then to file in my controller. I am getting data back from my database via breeze in my data service. I could just pass back the breeze promise but I want to be able to use $q.all to know when all my data has been found.
In my controller`
ProApp.controller('caseInfoController',
function caseInfoController($scope, $log, $timeout, caseDataService) {
/***initialize data ***/
// initializeApp();
ATPinitializeApp();
function ATPinitializeApp() {
$scope.MyStateList= caseDataService.getAllStates()
.then(function assignStates(data) {
$log.info("THIS THEN WILL NOT FIRE");
});
}
`
The above then will not fire when the promise from the data service is fulfilled.
ProApp.factory('caseDataService', function ($log, $q)
{
breeze.config.initializeAdapterInstance("modelLibrary", "backingStore", true);
var servicename = "http://localhost:60882/breeze/SPLBreeze";
var manager = new breeze.EntityManager(servicename);
var caseDataService =
{
getAllStates: getAllStates,
};
return caseDataService;
/*** implementation details ***/
function getAllStates()
{
var myStatePromise = $q.defer();
var query = breeze.EntityQuery
.from("state");
manager.executeQuery(query)
.then(function (data) {
$timeout(function () { myStatePromise.resolve(data); }, 200);;
});
return myStatePromise.promise;
};
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not 100% sure if I have the $q promises set up correctly. Eventually I would like to use a $q.all to determine when an array of various promises have been resolved to so I can update a message to the user. I've been reading that I need to use a timeout to get angular to realize that a change has happened in the next event loop.
You're staring down the barrel of an Angular $q bug. You can read about it here if you wish.
That won't help nearly as much as following the advice in my answer to this related StackOverflow question in which I show and describe an adapter to get from Q.js promise to a $q promise.
I have never used breeze but I think your problem is that you are not returning anything on the success callback..
/***initialize data ***/
. . .
function ATPinitializeApp() {
$scope.MyStateList= caseDataService.getAllStates()
.then(function assignStates(data) {
$log.info("THIS THEN WILL NOT FIRE");
return data; // If you donĀ“t return anything nothing will be added to the scope.
});
}
Also the $timeout on the getAllStates function should not be necesary since angular resolves the promises asynchronously (it queues the resolution using $rootScope.$evalAsync)
function getAllStates()
{
. . .
manager.executeQuery(query)
.then(function (data) {
// I believe the $timeout that was in this function is not necessary
myStatePromise.resolve(data);
});
return myStatePromis
e.promise;
}
Hope this could help you a little bit.
Regards,
Carles
I'm writing a service that will retrieve data asynchronously ($http or $resource). I can hide the fact that it is asynchronous by returning an array that will initially be empty, but that will eventually get populated:
.factory('NewsfeedService1', ['$http', function($http) {
var posts = [];
var server_queried = false;
return {
posts: function() {
if(!server_queried) {
$http.get('json1.txt').success(
function(data) {
server_queried = true;
angular.copy(data, posts);
});
}
return posts;
}
};
}])
.controller('Ctrl1', ['$scope','NewsfeedService1',
function($scope, NewsfeedService1) {
$scope.posts = NewsfeedService1.posts();
}])
Or I can expose the asynchronicity by returning a promise:
.factory('NewsfeedService2', ['$http', function($http) {
var posts = [];
var server_queried = false;
var promise;
return {
posts_async: function() {
if(!promise || !server_queried) {
promise = $http.get('json2.txt').then(
function(response) {
server_queried = true;
posts = response.data;
return posts;
});
}
return promise;
}
};
}])
.controller('Ctrl2', ['$scope','NewsfeedService2',
function($scope, NewsfeedService2) {
NewsfeedService2.posts_async().then(
function(posts) {
$scope.posts = posts;
});
// or take advantage of the fact that $q promises are
// recognized by Angular's templating engine:
// (note that Peter and Pawel's AngularJS book recommends against this, p. 100)
$scope.posts2 = NewsfeedService2.posts_async();
}]);
(Plunker - if someone wants to play around with the above two implementations.)
One potential advantage of exposing the asychronicity would be that I can deal with errors in the controller by adding an error handler to the then() method. However, I'll likely be catching and dealing with $http errors in an application-wide interceptor.
So, when should a service's asynchronicity be exposed?
My guess is that you'll find people on both sides of this fence. Personally, I feel that you should always expose the asynchronicity of a library or function (or more correctly: I feel that you should never hide the asynchronicity of a library or function). The main reason is transparency; for example, will this work?
app.controller('MyController', function(NewsfeedService) {
$scope.posts = NewsfeedService.posts();
doSomethingWithPosts($scope.posts); // <-- will this work?
});
If you're using the first method (e.g. $resource), it won't, even though $scope.posts is technically an array. If doSomethingWithPosts has its own asynchronous operations, you could end up with a race condition. Instead, you have to use asynchronous code anyway:
app.controller('MyController', function(NewsfeedService) {
$scope.posts = NewsfeedService.posts(function() {
doSomethingWithPosts($scope.posts);
});
});
(Of course, you can make the callback accept the posts as an argument, but I still think it's confusing and non-standard.)
Luckily, we have promises, and the very purpose of a promise is to represent the future value of an operation. Furthermore, since promises created with Angular's $q libraries can be bound to views, there's nothing wrong with this:
app.controller('MyController', function(NewsfeedService) {
$scope.posts = NewsfeedService.posts();
// $scope.posts is a promise, but when it resolves
// the AngularJS view will work as intended.
});
[Update: you can no longer bind promises directly to the view; you must wait for the promise to be resolved and assign a scope property manually.]
As an aside, Restangular, a popular alternative to $resource, uses promises, and AngularJS' own $resource will be supporting them in 1.2 (they may already support them in the latest 1.1.x's).
I would always go with async option since i don't like hiding the async nature of the underlying framework.
The sync version may look more clean while consuming it, but it inadvertently leads to bug where the developer does not realize that the call is async in nature and tries to access data after making a call.
SO is filled with questions where people make this mistake with $resource considering it sync in nature, and expecting a response. $resource also takes similar approach to option 1, where results are filled after the call is complete, but still $resource exposes a success and failure function.
AngularJS tries to hide the complexities of async calls if promises are returned, so binding directly to a promise feels like one is doing a sync call.
I say no, because it makes it harder to work with multiple services built this way. With promises, you can use $q.all() to make multiple request and respond when all of them complete, or you can chain operations together by passing the promise around.
There would be no intuitive way to do this for the synchronous style service.