Question

I am trying to write a simple app that does the following:
1. User inputs 2 parameters & clicks a button
2. Angular calls an external JAVA Servlet that returns JSON
3. App outputs the json string to the screen

I have a problem however, as when i click the button nothing happens. I believe (due to testing) that the reason this happens is that since the call is async, the variable that is returned is null.

Pertinent code:

controllers.js

function myAppController($scope,kdbService) {
    $scope.buttonClick = function(){
        var dat = kdbService.get($scope.tName,$scope.nRows);
        $scope.data = dat;

    }
}

services.js

angular.module('myApp.services', []).factory('kdbService',function ($rootScope,$http){
    var server="http://localhost:8080/KdbRouterServlet";
    return {
        get: function(tname,n){
            var dat;
            $http.jsonp(server+"?query=krisFunc[`"+tname+";"+n+"]&callback=JSON_CALLBACK").
                success(function(data, status, headers, config) {
                    console.log("1");
                    console.log(data);
                    dat=data;
                }).
                error(function(data, status, headers, config) {
                    alert("ERROR: Could not get data.");
                });
            console.log("2");
            console.log(dat);
            return dat;
        }
    }
});

index.html

<!-- Boilerplate-->
<h1>Table Viewer</h1>
<div class="menu" >
    <form>
        <label for="tName">Table Name</label>
        <input id="tName" ng-model="tName"><br>
        <label for="nRows">Row Limit</label>
        <input id="nRows" ng-model="nRows"><br>
        <input type="submit" value="Submit" ng-click="buttonClick()">
    </form>
</div>
{{data}}
<!-- Boilerplate-->

When i execute the code and push the button, nothing happens. However, if i look in my log, i see this:

2
undefined
1 
Object {x: Array[2], x1: Array[2]}

Clearly, what is happening is that the success function returns after the get function has returned. Therefore the object put into $scope.data is undefined, but the object returned from the jsonp call is left behind.

Is there a correct way to be doing this? Most of the tutorials I see assign the data to the $scope variable inside the success function, thereby skipping this problem. I want my service to be detached if possible.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

i would do something like that :

controller

function myAppController($scope,kdbService) {
    $scope.kdbService = kdbService;
    $scope.buttonClick = function(){
        $scope.kdbService.get($scope.tName,$scope.nRows);

    }
}

service

angular.module('myApp.services', []).factory('kdbService',function ($rootScope,$http){
    var server="http://localhost:8080/KdbRouterServlet";
    return {
        data:{},
        get: function(tname,n){
            var self = this;
            $http.jsonp(server+"?
            query=krisFunc[`"+tname+";"+n+"]&callback=JSON_CALLBACK").
                success(function(data, status, headers, config) {
                    console.log("1");
                    console.log(data);
                    self.data = data;
                }).
                error(function(data, status, headers, config) {
                    alert("ERROR: Could not get data.");
                });
        }
    }
});

html

{{kdbService.data}}

OR

use continuation in the get method :

controller

function myAppController($scope,kdbService) {
    $scope.buttonClick = function(){
        kdbService.get($scope.tName,$scope.nRows,function success(data){
           $scope.data = data;
        });
    }
}

service

    get: function(tname,n,successCallback){
        $http.jsonp(server+"?query=krisFunc[`"+tname+";"+n+"]&callback=JSON_CALLBACK").
            success(function(data, status, headers, config) {
                successCallback(data,status,headers,config);
            }).
            error(function(data, status, headers, config) {
                alert("ERROR: Could not get data.");
            });
    }

OR use the $resource service

http://docs.angularjs.org/api/ngResource.$resource ( you’ll need the angular-resource module

code not tested.

I want my service to be detached if possible.

then put the “data object” in a “data service” calling a “data provider service”. You’ll have to call the “data provider service” somewhere anyway. There is no skipping this problem in my opinion, since that’s how javascript work.

also use angular.controller("name",["$scope,"service",function($s,s){}]);

so you will not need to care how parameters are called , as long as they are defined and injected properly.