Poll server with a timer in angularjs - angularjs

Question

I am in a spot where I need to poll my server for data every so often. I have looked around at how people are handling this in angularjs and I am pretty confused.
Some examples are of just simple counters that increment up/down. Other are using the $timeout service. I need the ability to turn this on/off with a button click. I.E. click to start poll, poll every 30 seconds, click button to stop polling.

Answer 1

I am not claiming to be great at javascript nor angular so please go easy. I did write my own service that uses setInterval and clearInterval:
angular.module('myModule', [])
.factory('TimerService',
function () {
var timers = {};
var startTimer = function(name, interval, callback) {
// Stop the timer if its already running, no-op if not running
stopTimer(name);
timers[name] = setInterval(function() {
callback();
}, interval);
// Fire right away, interval will fire again in specified interval
callback();
}
var stopTimer = function(name) {
var timer = timers[name];
if (timer) {
clearInterval(timer);
delete timers[name];
}
}
return {
start: startTimer,
stop: stopTimer
};
});
Then in my controller I do this:
var timerARunning = false;
$scope.onClickA = function() {
var timerName = 'timerA';
timerARunning = !timerARunning;
if (timerARunning) {
TimerService.start(timerName, 5000, function() {
alert("Timer A just fired");
});
} else {
TimerService.stop(timerName);
}
}