$scope.$watch, but just for ngChange events? - angularjs

Question

I would like to subscribe to an ngChange event, but from code rather than the markup. That is, given a $scope and an expression that is bindable via ngModel, I want to subscribe to any changes made to that expression by any ngModel directive that binds to that expression. Is this possible?
something like:
$scope.field = "hello";
$scope.onButtonClick = function() {
$scope.field = "button clicked!";
}
// this callback is only when the user types in an input bound to field
// not when they click the button with ng-click="onButtonClick()"
$scope.$watchNgChange("field", function() {
console.log("user caused field to change via a binding");
});
// this callback is called for both ngModel binding changes and onButtonClick.
$scope.$watch("field", function() {
console.log("field was changed");
});
I can't just use $watch, because that will capture all changes, including those from loading the data from the database, from ng-click callbacks, and changes initiated from $watch callbacks for other expressions (in this case, if there are any circular references, then it's too easy to have $watch callbacks to get into an infinite loop and error out after 10 digest cycles), and who knows what else.

Answer 1

First, anytime I have tried to do something like this is turned out to be a bad idea - I was just working around design problems in my code or logic problems in my business logic. In general, the code should not care HOW the data was changed, only that it HAS changed.
Second, $watch can give you both the old and new value - this has been enough for me. if the old value not equal to the new value, I want to update the related data model(s). If that old and new value are equal, I want to ignore the update.
Finally, You may consider using resolve with your routes eliminate "database loading" as the fully located data can be passed into your controller (assuming you return a promise).
.

Answer 2

Jeremy you just describe what in Angular is known as a Directive. It is best practice to always use directives each time you need to touch the DOM. This logic should never live in the controller or even the Service.
directives are a big tricky but there is tons of documentation for it.
Visit docs.angularjs.org/directives

Answer 3

Don't do it, it sounds like you are trying to introduce the DOM logic (e.g. if the user has interacted with a DOM element) into the controller.
If you read the source code of a ngChange directive, you will found it requires a ngModel which is used as the bridge between the view and the controller.
I recommend creating a copy of the model and used the copy for data binding using ngModel+ngChange in your view, and then you can $watch that copy and do whatever you want.
$scope.field = "hello"; //the field you care
$scope.fieldCopy = $scope.field; //use 'fieldCopy' for databinding
In the html code you can have multiple way of changing the model fieldCopy
<input ngModel="fieldCopy" name='foo' />
<input ngModel="fieldCopy" name='foo2' />
You then watch the fieldCopy for changes related to user interaction and copy the change to 'field':
$scope.$watch("fieldCopy", function() {
$scope.field = $scope.fieldCopy;
console.log("user caused field to change via a binding");
});
If you want to keep fieldCopy in sync with field, add another watch:
$scope.$watch("field", function() {
$scope.fieldCopy = $scope.field;
});