AngularJS : How to watch service variables?

Question

I have a service, say:

factory(\'aService\', [\'$rootScope\', \'$resource\', function ($rootScope, $resource) {
  var service = {
    foo: []
  };

  return          


        

Answer 1

You can insert the service in $rootScope and watch:

myApp.run(function($rootScope, aService){
    $rootScope.aService = aService;
    $rootScope.$watch('aService', function(){
        alert('Watch');
    }, true);
});

In your controller:

myApp.controller('main', function($scope){
    $scope.aService.foo = 'change';
});

Other option is to use a external library like: https://github.com/melanke/Watch.JS

Works with: IE 9+, FF 4+, SF 5+, WebKit, CH 7+, OP 12+, BESEN, Node.JS , Rhino 1.7+

You can observe the changes of one, many or all object attributes.

Example:

var ex3 = {
    attr1: 0,
    attr2: "initial value of attr2",
    attr3: ["a", 3, null]
};   
watch(ex3, function(){
    alert("some attribute of ex3 changes!");
});
ex3.attr3.push("new value");​

Answer 2

// service: (nothing special here)

myApp.service('myService', function() {
  return { someVariable:'abc123' };
});

// ctrl:

myApp.controller('MyCtrl', function($scope, myService) {

  $scope.someVariable = myService.someVariable;

  // watch the service and update this ctrl...
  $scope.$watch(function(){
    return myService.someVariable;
  }, function(newValue){
    $scope.someVariable = newValue;
  });
});

Answer 3

I've seen some terrible observer patterns here that cause memory leaks on large applications.

I might be a little late but it's as simple as this.

The watch function watches for reference changes (primitive types) if you want to watch something like array push simply use:

someArray.push(someObj); someArray = someArray.splice(0);

This will update the reference and update the watch from anywhere. Including a services getter method. Anything that's a primitive will be updated automatically.

Answer 4

I have written two simple utility services that help me track service properties changes.

If you want to skip the long explanation, you can go strait to jsfiddle

1. WatchObj

mod.service('WatchObj', ['$rootScope', WatchObjService]);

function WatchObjService($rootScope) {
  // returns watch function
  // obj: the object to watch for
  // fields: the array of fields to watch
  // target: where to assign changes (usually it's $scope or controller instance)
  // $scope: optional, if not provided $rootScope is use
  return function watch_obj(obj, fields, target, $scope) {
    $scope = $scope || $rootScope;
    //initialize watches and create an array of "unwatch functions"
    var watched = fields.map(function(field) {
      return $scope.$watch(
        function() {
          return obj[field];
        },
        function(new_val) {
          target[field] = new_val;
        }
      );
    });
    //unregister function will unregister all our watches
    var unregister = function unregister_watch_obj() {
      watched.map(function(unregister) {
        unregister();
      });
    };
    //automatically unregister when scope is destroyed
    $scope.$on('$destroy', unregister);
    return unregister;
  };
}

This service is used in the controller in the following way: Suppose you have a service "testService" with the properties 'prop1', 'prop2', 'prop3'. You want to watch and assign to scope 'prop1' and 'prop2'. With the watch service it will look like that:

app.controller('TestWatch', ['$scope', 'TestService', 'WatchObj', TestWatchCtrl]);

function TestWatchCtrl($scope, testService, watch) {
  $scope.prop1 = testService.prop1;
  $scope.prop2 = testService.prop2;
  $scope.prop3 = testService.prop3;
  watch(testService, ['prop1', 'prop2'], $scope, $scope);
}

2. apply Watch obj is great, but it is not enough if you have asynchronous code in your service. For that case, I use a second utility which looks like that:

mod.service('apply', ['$timeout', ApplyService]);

function ApplyService($timeout) {
  return function apply() {
    $timeout(function() {});
  };
}

I would trigger it in the end of my async code to trigger the $digest loop. Like that:

app.service('TestService', ['apply', TestService]);

function TestService(apply) {
  this.apply = apply;
}
TestService.prototype.test3 = function() {
  setTimeout(function() {
    this.prop1 = 'changed_test_2';
    this.prop2 = 'changed2_test_2';
    this.prop3 = 'changed3_test_2';
    this.apply(); //trigger $digest loop
  }.bind(this));
}

So, all of that together will look like that (you can run it or open fiddle):

// TEST app code

var app = angular.module('app', ['watch_utils']);

app.controller('TestWatch', ['$scope', 'TestService', 'WatchObj', TestWatchCtrl]);

function TestWatchCtrl($scope, testService, watch) {
  $scope.prop1 = testService.prop1;
  $scope.prop2 = testService.prop2;
  $scope.prop3 = testService.prop3;
  watch(testService, ['prop1', 'prop2'], $scope, $scope);
  $scope.test1 = function() {
    testService.test1();
  };
  $scope.test2 = function() {
    testService.test2();
  };
  $scope.test3 = function() {
    testService.test3();
  };
}

app.service('TestService', ['apply', TestService]);

function TestService(apply) {
  this.apply = apply;
  this.reset();
}
TestService.prototype.reset = function() {
  this.prop1 = 'unchenged';
  this.prop2 = 'unchenged2';
  this.prop3 = 'unchenged3';
}
TestService.prototype.test1 = function() {
  this.prop1 = 'changed_test_1';
  this.prop2 = 'changed2_test_1';
  this.prop3 = 'changed3_test_1';
}
TestService.prototype.test2 = function() {
  setTimeout(function() {
    this.prop1 = 'changed_test_2';
    this.prop2 = 'changed2_test_2';
    this.prop3 = 'changed3_test_2';
  }.bind(this));
}
TestService.prototype.test3 = function() {
  setTimeout(function() {
    this.prop1 = 'changed_test_2';
    this.prop2 = 'changed2_test_2';
    this.prop3 = 'changed3_test_2';
    this.apply();
  }.bind(this));
}
//END TEST APP CODE

//WATCH UTILS
var mod = angular.module('watch_utils', []);

mod.service('apply', ['$timeout', ApplyService]);

function ApplyService($timeout) {
  return function apply() {
    $timeout(function() {});
  };
}

mod.service('WatchObj', ['$rootScope', WatchObjService]);

function WatchObjService($rootScope) {
  // target not always equals $scope, for example when using bindToController syntax in 
  //directives
  return function watch_obj(obj, fields, target, $scope) {
    // if $scope is not provided, $rootScope is used
    $scope = $scope || $rootScope;
    var watched = fields.map(function(field) {
      return $scope.$watch(
        function() {
          return obj[field];
        },
        function(new_val) {
          target[field] = new_val;
        }
      );
    });
    var unregister = function unregister_watch_obj() {
      watched.map(function(unregister) {
        unregister();
      });
    };
    $scope.$on('$destroy', unregister);
    return unregister;
  };
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.2.23/angular.min.js"></script>
<div class='test' ng-app="app" ng-controller="TestWatch">
  prop1: {{prop1}}
  <br>prop2: {{prop2}}
  <br>prop3 (unwatched): {{prop3}}
  <br>
  <button ng-click="test1()">
    Simple props change
  </button>
  <button ng-click="test2()">
    Async props change
  </button>
  <button ng-click="test3()">
    Async props change with apply
  </button>
</div>

Answer 5

Here's my generic approach.

mainApp.service('aService',[function(){
        var self = this;
        var callbacks = {};

        this.foo = '';

        this.watch = function(variable, callback) {
            if (typeof(self[variable]) !== 'undefined') {
                if (!callbacks[variable]) {
                    callbacks[variable] = [];
                }
                callbacks[variable].push(callback);
            }
        }

        this.notifyWatchersOn = function(variable) {
            if (!self[variable]) return;
            if (!callbacks[variable]) return;

            angular.forEach(callbacks[variable], function(callback, key){
                callback(self[variable]);
            });
        }

        this.changeFoo = function(newValue) {
            self.foo = newValue;
            self.notifyWatchersOn('foo');
        }

    }]);

In Your Controller

function FooCtrl($scope, aService) {
    $scope.foo;

    $scope._initWatchers = function() {
        aService.watch('foo', $scope._onFooChange);
    }

    $scope._onFooChange = function(newValue) {
        $scope.foo = newValue;
    }

    $scope._initWatchers();

}

FooCtrl.$inject = ['$scope', 'aService'];

Answer 6

while facing a very similar issue I watched a function in scope and had the function return the service variable. I have created a js fiddle. you can find the code below.

    var myApp = angular.module("myApp",[]);

myApp.factory("randomService", function($timeout){
    var retValue = {};
    var data = 0;

    retValue.startService = function(){
        updateData();
    }

    retValue.getData = function(){
        return data;
    }

    function updateData(){
        $timeout(function(){
            data = Math.floor(Math.random() * 100);
            updateData()
        }, 500);
    }

    return retValue;
});

myApp.controller("myController", function($scope, randomService){
    $scope.data = 0;
    $scope.dataUpdated = 0;
    $scope.watchCalled = 0;
    randomService.startService();

    $scope.getRandomData = function(){
        return randomService.getData();    
    }

    $scope.$watch("getRandomData()", function(newValue, oldValue){
        if(oldValue != newValue){
            $scope.data = newValue;
            $scope.dataUpdated++;
        }
            $scope.watchCalled++;
    });
});