Controlling multiple views in one controller in AngularJS - angularjs

Question

Following the MVC pattern, one controller should be able to handle multiple views in AngularJS.
E.g. I have one view for showing all users and one for creating a new user. My $routeProvider (excerpt) looks like this:
app.config(['$routeProvider',
function($routeProvider) {
$routeProvider.
when('/showusers', {
templateUrl: 'partials/showusers.html',
controller: 'userController'
}).
when('/createuser', {
templateUrl: 'partials/showusers.html',
controller: 'userController'
})
}]);
Both views share several methods such as retrieving all user attributes. These shared methods are accessed through a factory.
The userController (excerpt) currently looks like this where Users is a factory:
angular.module('supportModule').
controller('userController', function($scope, Users) {
var init = function(){
$scope.users = Users.getAll();
$scope.attributes = Users.getAttributes();
}
init();
})
The problem is: I don't need to request Users.getAll(); when I'm on the createuser view.
Of course, I could easily parse the route by using $location, the $routeProvider or pure JS and then conditonally call methods - but I figure there is a more elegant and efficient way in Angular :)
Something like in typical MVC frameworks where one controller has many actions - one for each view.
So my question:
How to elegantly call methods based on the view in a controller which controls more than one view?

Answer 1

You could use resolve: when setup $routeProvider to pass values to a controller depending on the matched route.
app.config(['$routeProvider',
function($routeProvider) {
$routeProvider.
when('/showusers', {
templateUrl: 'partials/showusers.html',
controller: 'userController',
resolve: {
ctrlOptions: function () {
return {
getAllUsers: true,
};
}
}
}).
when('/createuser', {
templateUrl: 'partials/showusers.html',
controller: 'userController',
resolve: {
ctrlOptions: function () {
return {
getAllUsers: false,
};
}
}
})
}]);
and then in the controller, you can inject item specified in resolve: like this:
app.controller('userController', function ($scope, Users, ctrlOptions) {
var init = function () {
if (ctrlOptions.getAllUsers) {
$scope.users = Users.getAll();
}
$scope.attributes = Users.getAttributes();
};
init();
});
Hope this helps.