How can I directly inject $http into a provider? - angularjs

Question

All I need to do is to download a json file and assign it to OCategories in PCategory provider after I set the path. However I get an error that $http doesnt exist. How can I inject it into my provider and download inside of the setPath function?
var app = angular.module('NSApp',
[
'ui.bootstrap',
'MDItem',
'MDUser',
'MDNotification',
'MDUpload'
]
);
app.config(function(PCategoriesProvider)
{
PCategoriesProvider.setPath('data/csv/categories.json');
});
MDItem/provider/category.js
angular.module('MDItem').provider('PCategories',function(){
var OCategories;
var OPath;
return{
setPath: function(d){
OPath = d;
console.log('Path is set. Trying to download categories.');
OCategories = $http.get(oPath);
},
$get : function() {
return {
categories : OCategories
}
}
}
});

Answer 1

You can never inject service instances into config functions or providers, since they aren't configured yet. Providers exist to configure specific services before they get injected. Which means, there's always a corresponding provider to a certain service. Just to clarify, here's a little example configuring $location service using $locationProvider:
angular.module('myModule').config(function ($locationProvider) {
$locationProvider.html5Mode(true);
});
So what happens here, is that we configure $location service to use its html5mode. We do that by using the interfaces provided by $locationProvider. At the time when config() is executed, there isn't any service instance available yet, but you have a chance to configure any service before they get instantiated.
Later at runtime (the earliest moment ist the run() function) you can inject a service. What you get when injecting a service is what its providers $get() method returns. Which also means, each provider has to have a $get() function otherwise $injector would throw an error.
But what happens, when creating custom services without building a provider? So something like:
angular.module('myModule').factory('myService', function () {
...
});
You just don't have to care about, because angular does it for you. Everytime you register any kind of service (unless it is not a provider), angular will set up a provider with a $get() method for you, so $injector is able to instantiate later.
So how to solve your problem. How to make asynchronous calls using $http service when actually being in configuration phrase? The answer: you can't.
What you can do, is run the $http call as soon as your service gets instantiated. Because at the time when your service get instantiated, you're able to inject other services (like you always do). So you actually would do something like this:
angular.module('myModule').provider('custom', function (otherProvider, otherProvider2) {
// some configuration stuff and interfaces for the outside world
return {
$get: function ($http, injectable2, injectable3) {
$http.get(/*...*/);
}
};
});
Now your custom provider returns a service instance that has $http as dependency. Once your service gets injected, all its dependencies get injected too, which means within $get you have access to $http service. Next you just make the call you need.
To make your this call is getting invoked as soon as possible, you have to inject your custom service at run() phrase, which looks like this:
angular.module('myModule').run(function (custom, injectable2) {
/* custom gets instantiated, so its $http call gets invoked */
});
Hope this makes things clear.

Answer 2

Since all services are singletons in angular you could simply store a variable in a factory with the $http promise. And then when the factory is called at startup it will download the json.
You can then also expose a method on the factory that refreshes the data.
I know this is not the exact answer to your question, but I thought I'd share how I would do it.
angular.module('MDItem').factory('PCategories', function ($http, PCategoriesPath) {
var service = {
categories: [],
get: function () {
if (angular.isUndefined(PCategoriesPath)) {
throw new Error('PCategoriesPath must be set to get items');
}
$http.get(PCategoriesPath).then(function (response) {
service.categories = response.data;
});
}
};
// Get the categories at startup / or if you like do it later.
service.get();
return service;
});
// Then make sure that PCategoriesPath is created at startup by using const
angular.module('MDItem').const('PCategoriesPath', 'data/csv/categories.json');
angular.module('app').controller('myCtrl', function ($scope, PCategories) {
$scope.categories = PCategories.categories;
// And optionally, use a watch if you would like to do something if the categories are updated via PCategories.get()
$scope.$watch('categories', function (newCategories) {
console.log('Look maa, new categories');
}, true); // Notice the true, which makes angular work when watching an array
})

Answer 3

You have to inject $http in the function $get, because that's the function called by the injector.
However, to download the categories you would be better off using promises:
angular.module('MDItem').provider('PCategories',function(){
var OCategories;
var OPath;
return{
setPath: function(d){
OPath = d;
console.log('Path is set');
},
$get : function($http) {
return {
fetch: function () {
var deferred = $q.defer();
$http.get(oPath).then(function (value) {
deferred.resolve(value);
}
return deferred.promise;
}
}
}
}
});

Answer 4

I implemented what I wanted with a diffrent approach which is quite simple and effective. Just add a dummy controller in the main index.html(NOT PARTIAL). Data is now shared between all my modules and controllers and everything is downloaded once. :) Oh I love AJ.
...
<div ng-controller="initController" hidden></div>
...
initController:
angular.module('NSApp',[]).controller("initController",function($scope, $http, FCategory, FLocation){
$http.get('data/json/categories.json').then(function (response) {
FCategory.categories = response.data;
});
$http.get('data/json/cities.json').then(function (response) {
FLocation.cities = response.data;
});
$http.get('data/json/regions.json').then(function (response) {
FLocation.regions = response.data;
});
});
And now you can access it:
angular.module('MDTest', []).controller("test",function($scope, FCategory, FLocation){
$scope.categories = FCategory.categories;
FCategory factory
angular.module('MDItem').factory('FCategory', function ($http) {
var service = {
categories: [],
....
};
return service;
});