How to define multiple main pages in angularjs? - javascript

I want to have multiple main index pages that should be accessable independent from each other. Means: there is no global page providing static links to all of the main index pages. Each should live on its own:
WebContent/indexA.html
WebContent/indexB.html
...
Question: how can I write an angularjs controller that shows these pages, if I do not call the*.html extension, but a get-query on that path?
I want to be able to call:
localhost/indexA?param=123
localhost/indexB?test=xyz
Each of them will then map to their own html page, and the request params are to be processed by the controller of that page only.
Is that possible? If yes, how?

If I understood correctly, that you need to use same code (Controller) on different HTML pages, loaded with different URLs.
First option is to use directives to encapsulate same logical parts (Each directive can have attributes, you can provide them in HTML, depend on how is your HTML structured). This is good, when you do not have any routing in your app now.
Second option is to use ui-router with HTML5 routing (then you can pick parameters from URL), this will probably require you to move more logic on frontend, but it is clear solution, if this is not small project.
Next option is to put required parameters into script tag of HTML and then load them from your controller - this is dirty, but quick way of solving your issue.

Try ui-router for the same.
Based on the parameters you pass, you can choose the active state where you can have your own controller and templateURL

Related

Is it possible to influence a single Angular app from multiple JS scripts?

Quick Summary:
I need to allow two script files to handle different operations for the same angular app. One needs to initialize the app, the other needs to assign a templateCache object to a piece of JSON in localStorage.
Context:
I have several python files which compile/generate html and I have constructed an angular app with this emitted html for my site (which uses CGIs).
The basic construct of the site comes pieces of HTML, which fit together like so:
|------------Header---------------|
|-Navigation-|------Content-------|
|-Navigation-|------Content-------|
|-Navigation-|------Content-------|
|------------Footer---------------|
My Header creates the <head> tag, instantiates my ng-app and uses $templateCache to set up a template that I call from my Navigation code. I had to go with templateCache instead of ngView and ngRoute due to some limitations with how the CGIs emit the html, and the order in which this happens.
My "Navigation" python/html sets up my app with JS like so:
<script>
var responsiveCatalog = angular.module('responsiveCatalog', ['ngStorage']);
....controllers...
....config, etc....
</script>
This Navigation also includes my default templateCache object:
<div ng-include=" 'responsiveItems.html' "></div>
This is all working to show my first templateCache object in the Content section. However, I need to grab many pieces of information from the python generator for the "Content" section (a totally separate file from the "Navigation"), store this data as JSON in localstorage (hence the inclusion of the ngStorage module), and call that as my second templateCache option.
I am not actually sure that I can use two separate instances of Javascript to reference and influence the same Angular app. I know this seems like bad practice, but I am trying to prevent the need to tear down a huge piece of legacy architecture to influence the angular app from two Javascript files in harmony.
Thanks in advance.
You can do
angular.module('myAppName').controllers.... in different files, just make sure the myAppName the same. Bug I don't feel like it work with config, no time to test. If you need any communication between them, check $emit and $broadcast.

Customising page content depending on result of GET request

We're building an AngularJS application. I'm now building a public form that is customized depending on the URL it's loaded with.
For example
http://url.com.au/Registration.cshtml#?org=org1
will look slightly different than
http://url.com.au/Registration.cshtml#?org=org2
When the page loads I would like to load some info with GET http://url.com.au/api/Org/org1
and use the response to drive some UI elements.
At first the differences will be small (URL for logo, values from some checkboxes) but over time the form may be more and more dynamic.
What is the pattern I should follow to support:
simple differences,
further along the journey a more dynamic ui?
For a simple solution, I would hold the url change in a route parameter for that route. Then access it using $routeParams. That way you can change your base GET url easily.
For both simple and dynamic UIs I would try to keep use of ngInclude to a minimum (less files to load = better load times, also it creates a new scope which isn't always ideal).
For simple differences I would structure your html to be as accommodating to both layouts as possible. Think about using ng-show/hide to trigger DOM changes based of variables retrieved from the GET request. For assets like images the GET request could return the path to the image and you can then use ngSrc to include it.
Further along the journey, you may want to consider having nested routing. UI-Router is a very popular solution.

Angular JS navigate with $location

I have a problem with navigating between web pages using Angular JS. First web page is index.html, next main.html and also exists a myscript.js file and style.css (but the last is irrelevant in this case).
I want to navigate from index.html to main.html by pressing a button, furthermore there are 2 variables to pass from index.html to main.html and I have to load the next web page with ui-router method or with $location variable in the actual window, as replacing index.html but not with traditional method.
How can I do this?
Thanks for answers!
Using ui router is more flexible work with states, if you have index.html inside you should have a ui- view attribute to change view dynamically, so in your script.js file you have to configure your states, partials views and controller per state (if you want , also you may work with resolve data), and to pass data between controllers you could use services or factory.
This tutorial could help you.
Thanks to everybody for answers! :)
The simpliest method was to create 2 divs on the same HTML page - checking a flag value to display divs using ng-show - instead of navigating between pages.

Caching URL view/state with parameters

I'm making a mobile app using Cordova and AngularJS. Currently I have installed ui-router for routing but I'm open to any other alternative for routing.
My desire: I want to cache certain views bound with parameters. In other words I want to cache paths (or pages).
Example situation: let's say that we see some dashboard page, click on some book cover which redirects to the path book/2. This path is being loaded for the first time into app. Router redirects from HomeController to BooksController (whatever the name). Now the BooksController loads data for given $stateParams (book id = 2) and creates view filled with info about chosen book.
What I want in this situation:
I go back to the dashboard page - it is already loaded (cached?)
I choose book #2 again
Controller or router notices that data about this book is already loaded
The view isn't being recreated, instead it's being fetched from cache
Actually, it would be best to cache everything what I visit based on path. Preloading would be cool too.
Reason: performance. When I open some list of books then I want it to show fast. When view is being created every time, then animation of page change looks awful (it's not smooth).
Any help would be appreciated.
EDIT:
First of all, since I believe it's a common problem for many mobile HTML app programmers, I'd like to precise some information:
I'm not looking for hacks but a clear solution if possible.
Data in the views uses AngularJS, so YES, there are things like ng-bind, ng-repeat and so on.
Caching is needed for both data and DOM elements. As far as I know, browser's layout operation is not as expensive as recreating whole DOM tree. And repaint is not what we can omit.
Having separate controllers is a natural thing. Since I could leave without it I cannot imagine how it would work anyway.
I've got some semi-solutions but I'm gonna be strict about my desire.
Solution 1.
Put all views into one file (I may do it using gulp builder) and use ng-show. That's the simplest solution and I don't believe that anyone knowing AngularJS would not think about it.
A nice trick (from #DmitriZaitsev) is to create a helper function to show/hide element based on current location path.
Advantages:
It's easy.
KIND OF preload feature.
Disadvantages:
all views have to be in a single file. Don't ask why it's not convenient.
Since it's all about mobile devices, sometimes I'd like to "clear" memory. The only way I can think of is to remove those children from DOM. Dirty but ok.
I cannot easily cache /book/2 and /book/3 at the same time. I would have to dynamically create DOM children on top of some templates for each view bound with parameters.
Solution 2.
Use Sticky States AND Future States from ui-router-extras which is awesome.
Advantages:
Separated views.
Very clear usage, very simple since it's just a plugin for ui-router.
Can create dynamic substates. So it would be possible to cache book1, book2 but I'm not sure about book/1 and book/2
Disadvantages:
Again, I'm not sure but I didn't found an example with caching a pair/tuple (view, parameters). Other than that it looks cool.
This is precisely the problem I had to solve for my site 33hotels.com. You can check it and play with the tabs "Filter" and "Filter List" (corresponding to different Routes), and see that the View is updated instantly without any delay!
How did I do it? The idea is surprisingly simple - get rid of the Router!
Why? Because the way the Router works is it re-compiles the View upon every single Route change. Yes, Angular does cache the Template but not the compiled View populated with data. Even if data do not change! As the result, when I used the Router in the past, the switch always felt sluggish and non-reactive. Every time I could notice annoying delay, it was a fraction of second but still noticeable.
Now the solution I used? Don't re-compile your Views! Keep them inside your DOM at all times! Then use ng-hide/ng-show to hide/show them depending on the routes:
<div ng-show="routeIs('/dashboard')">
<-- Your template for Dashboard -->
</div>
<div ng-show="routeIs('/book')">
<-- Your template for Book -->
</div>
Then create a function routeIs(string) inside your Controller to test if $location.path() matches string, or begins with string as I am using it. That way I still get my View for all pathes like /book/2. Here is the function I am using:
$scope.routeBegins = function () {
return _.some(arguments, function (string) {
return 0 === $location.path().indexOf(string);
});
};
So no need to be smart with caching - just keep it in the DOM. It will cache your Views for you!
And the best part is - whenever your data is changed, Angular will instantly update all the Views inside your DOM, even the hidden ones!
Why is this awesome? Because, as user, I don't have to wait for all the parsing and compiling at the moment I want to see the result. I want to click the tab and see my results immediately! Why should the site wait for me to click it and then begin all the re-compiling as I am waiting? Especially when this could be easily done before, during the time my computer is idle.
Is there any downside? The only real one I can think of is loading memory with more DOM elements. However, this actual byte size of my views is negligible, comparing e.g. with all JS, CSS and images.
Another possible but avoidable downside is the re-compilation cost of the hidden views. This is where you can get smart and avoid computation-heavy parts depending on the current routes.
Also, you are not re-compiling the whole View, just the parts affected by data changes, which also lowers computational cost.
I find it quite remarkable that everyone is using Routes and seems to be completely unaware (or ignorant) of this problem.
1) About static pages in the app (views), angular takes care of loading them.
for example: for your dashboard page you need not worry about caching the page, as angular will take care of it. Angular will only load the dashboard view once and on all next requests for the dashboard view, angular will just show you the view(not load the file for view), if it is all a static view without any data loaded by ajax calls.
2) if your dashboard is itself loading the book list(or similar data) via ajax, then you can tell your controller to only load the data once and store it to localstorage and on subsequent requests to the dashboard page can only load the data from the localStorage.
3) similar approach can be used when your BooksController loads the data into a view. You can check in your BooksController if the request for a particular book is been previously made and if not your can store it to localstorage or database. and if the data was previously requested then you can load the same data from the storage without making a request to server.
Example situation:
say user makes request for book1, then
your controller i.e BooksController check whether the same data was requested before,
if not, you can load the data via the ajax call from server and also save it to local storage.
if it was loaded before you will load the data stored in the localstorage or in the database.
If you're using ui.router, then you should take a look at ui.router extras, specifically the sticky states module. This allows you to cache the state 'tree' (including rendered views) so they don't have to be compiled or re-rendered on state changes.
http://christopherthielen.github.io/ui-router-extras/
Here's a demo:
http://christopherthielen.github.io/ui-router-extras/example/sticky/#/

Does Angular JS support routing of multiple views on the same page

Does Angular JS support having multiple ng-view sections each with its own templates on the same page? When setting up its configuration you need to wire up the different url path to different controllers and templates. But when you have multiple views on the same page, then they will each need to adjust their template and controller using the #path value from the url, and to change the view template we'll be need to switch as the #path value changes.
So how would the different ng-view sections play with each other - as each would need to append its own unique #path value to the url. Or is the url path and #value somehow kept as a private construct within each ng-view and therefore allowing multiple ng-view sections on the same page.
Multiple views is a limitation in angularjs and the documentation does not make it clear how to structure an application with complex views properly. Please have a look at Jan Varwig's posts on this topic
How to do nested views in AngularJS (Hint: Don’t)
AngularJS: Views vs. Directives
Relevant Sections:
"Views are not what you use to structure your application!
In fact, views are more of a crutch, a shortcut, to create structures similar to traditional websites, only with angular as a driver. When developing a web application, the way to deal with complex interfaces is to use, in combination:
Scope objects/variables that store your desired view state explicitly
ngSwitch directives on this view state
Directives to include custom templates/perform complex DOM manipulation behavior
Stop thinking of your application in terms of views that need to be loaded. That kind of thinking aligns better with imperative frameworks but doesn't work well in angular."
"View-Containers are meaningless, separated from their semantics through the routes.
The other, secondary gripe that I have with UI-Routers nested views is that they violate another core idea of AngularJS: Your DOM is the main place to describe the structure of your app. Reading a template should give you an idea of what goes where. If you want to edit a user, put a directive into your template:
A reader will immediately see what that directive does and what data it depends on.
If you write the directive correctly it will be location independent, you can place it somewhere else in your app, as long as you pass in a user through the attribute it will work.
Using views litters you templates with meaningless containers, outsourcing the actual purpose of every view into the routes/states defined elsewhere. If you nest routes, the context of every view becomes implicit, it is harder to move them around and the only way to pass data into a view is through the scope."
ng-route does not support multiple ng-view inside ng-app.
You can take a look at ui-router as a project which provides some support for having multiple layouts (including nested layouts) tied to the URL.
Caveat Emptor
Note: UI-Router is under active development. As such, while this
library is well-tested, the API may change. Consider using it in
production applications only if you're comfortable following a
changelog and updating your usage accordingly.
Use ui-router instead of the canned ng-route! ui-router totally has nested views, and its awesome and really easy to learn. I would reccomend using ui-router instead of ngRoute to anyone.
Having done further reading on this, it appears that although functionality for multiple ng-view has had number of requests it was not able to make it into the Angular release, but there is possibility of something in future releases.
In this discussion Misko Hevery pointed out another approach, which is to use ng-include.
Then there is also the custom directive approach in Jan Varwig's posts which Vikas has already cited.
Also found this Angular Multiple View project on github which can be a further approach.
For this sort of thing you can use templates.
Create a file e.g. firstNavigation.html which has your snippet of html. Then call it in the controller like so.
$scope.nav = 'src/partials/firstNavigation.html';

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