docs/content/tutorial/step_13.ngdoc
@ngdoc tutorial
@name 13 - REST and Custom Services
@step 13
@description
<ul doc-tutorial-nav="13"></ul>
In this step, we will change the way our application fetches data.
* We define a custom service that represents a [RESTful][restful] client. Using this client we can
make requests for data to the server in an easier way, without having to deal with the lower-level
{@link ng.$http $http} API, HTTP methods and URLs.
<div doc-tutorial-reset="13"></div>
## Dependencies
The RESTful functionality is provided by AngularJS in the {@link ngResource ngResource} module, which
is distributed separately from the core AngularJS framework.
Since we are using [npm][npm] to install client-side dependencies, this step updates the
`package.json` configuration file to include the new dependency:
<br />
**`package.json`:**
```json
{
"name": "angular-phonecat",
...
"dependencies": {
"angular": "1.8.x",
"angular-resource": "1.8.x",
"angular-route": "1.8.x",
"bootstrap": "3.3.x"
},
...
}
```
The new dependency `"angular-resource": "1.8.x"` tells npm to install a version of the
angular-resource module that is compatible with version 1.8.x of AngularJS. We must tell npm to
download and install this dependency.
```
npm install
```
## Service
We create our own service to provide access to the phone data on the server. We will put the service
in its own module, under `core`, so we can explicitly declare its dependency on `ngResource`:
<br />
**`app/core/phone/phone.module.js`:**
```js
angular.module('core.phone', ['ngResource']);
```
<br />
**`app/core/phone/phone.service.js`:**
```js
angular.
module('core.phone').
factory('Phone', ['$resource',
function($resource) {
return $resource('phones/:phoneId.json', {}, {
query: {
method: 'GET',
params: {phoneId: 'phones'},
isArray: true
}
});
}
]);
```
We used the {@link angular.Module module API} to register a custom service using a factory function.
We passed in the name of the service — `'Phone'` — and the factory function. The factory
function is similar to a controller's constructor in that both can declare dependencies to be
injected via function arguments. The `Phone` service declares a dependency on the `$resource`
service, provided by the `ngResource` module.
The {@link ngResource.$resource $resource} service makes it easy to create a [RESTful][restful]
client with just a few lines of code. This client can then be used in our application, instead of
the lower-level {@link ng.$http $http} service.
<br />
**`app/core/core.module.js`:**
```js
angular.module('core', ['core.phone']);
```
We need to add the `core.phone` module as a dependency of the `core` module.
## Template
Our custom resource service will be defined in `app/core/phone/phone.service.js`, so we need to
include this file and the associated `.module.js` file in our layout template. Additionally, we also
need to load the `angular-resource.js` file, which contains the `ngResource` module:
<br />
**`app/index.html`:**
```html
<head>
...
<script src="lib/angular-resource/angular-resource.js"></script>
...
<script src="core/phone/phone.module.js"></script>
<script src="core/phone/phone.service.js"></script>
...
</head>
```
## Component Controllers
We can now simplify our component controllers (`PhoneListController` and `PhoneDetailController`) by
factoring out the lower-level `$http` service, replacing it with the new `Phone` service.
AngularJS's `$resource` service is easier to use than `$http` for interacting with data sources
exposed as RESTful resources. It is also easier now to understand what the code in our controllers
is doing.
<br />
**`app/phone-list/phone-list.module.js`:**
```js
angular.module('phoneList', ['core.phone']);
```
<br />
**`app/phone-list/phone-list.component.js`:**
```js
angular.
module('phoneList').
component('phoneList', {
templateUrl: 'phone-list/phone-list.template.html',
controller: ['Phone',
function PhoneListController(Phone) {
this.phones = Phone.query();
this.orderProp = 'age';
}
]
});
```
<br />
**`app/phone-detail/phone-detail.module.js`:**
```js
angular.module('phoneDetail', [
'ngRoute',
'core.phone'
]);
```
<br />
**`app/phone-detail/phone-detail.component.js`:**
```js
angular.
module('phoneDetail').
component('phoneDetail', {
templateUrl: 'phone-detail/phone-detail.template.html',
controller: ['$routeParams', 'Phone',
function PhoneDetailController($routeParams, Phone) {
var self = this;
self.phone = Phone.get({phoneId: $routeParams.phoneId}, function(phone) {
self.setImage(phone.images[0]);
});
self.setImage = function setImage(imageUrl) {
self.mainImageUrl = imageUrl;
};
}
]
});
```
Notice how in `PhoneListController` we replaced:
```js
$http.get('phones/phones.json').then(function(response) {
self.phones = response.data;
});
```
with just:
```js
this.phones = Phone.query();
```
This is a simple and declarative statement that we want to query for all phones.
An important thing to notice in the code above is that we don't pass any callback functions, when
invoking methods of our `Phone` service. Although it looks as if the results were returned
synchronously, that is not the case at all. What is returned synchronously is a "future" — an
object, which will be filled with data, when the XHR response is received. Because of the
data-binding in AngularJS, we can use this future and bind it to our template. Then, when the data
arrives, the view will be updated automatically.
Sometimes, relying on the future object and data-binding alone is not sufficient to do everything
we require, so in these cases, we can add a callback to process the server response. The
`phoneDetail` component's controller illustrates this by setting the `mainImageUrl` in a callback.
## Testing
Because we are now using the {@link ngResource ngResource} module, it is necessary to update the
Karma configuration file with angular-resource.
<br />
**`karma.conf.js`:**
```js
files: [
'lib/angular/angular.js',
'lib/angular-resource/angular-resource.js',
...
],
```
We have added a unit test to verify that our new service is issuing HTTP requests and returns the
expected "future" objects/arrays.
The {@link ngResource.$resource $resource} service augments the response object with extra methods
— e.g. for updating and deleting the resource — and properties (some of which are only
meant to be accessed by AngularJS). If we were to use Jasmine's standard `.toEqual()` matcher, our
tests would fail, because the test values would not match the responses exactly.
To solve the problem, we instruct Jasmine to use a [custom equality tester][jasmine-equality] for
comparing objects. We specify {@link angular.equals angular.equals} as our equality tester, which
ignores functions and `$`-prefixed properties, such as those added by the `$resource` service.<br />
(Remember that AngularJS uses the `$` prefix for its proprietary API.)
<br />
**`app/core/phone/phone.service.spec.js`:**
```js
describe('Phone', function() {
...
var phonesData = [...];
// Add a custom equality tester before each test
beforeEach(function() {
jasmine.addCustomEqualityTester(angular.equals);
});
// Load the module that contains the `Phone` service before each test
...
// Instantiate the service and "train" `$httpBackend` before each test
...
// Verify that there are no outstanding expectations or requests after each test
afterEach(function () {
$httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingExpectation();
$httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingRequest();
});
it('should fetch the phones data from `/phones/phones.json`', function() {
var phones = Phone.query();
expect(phones).toEqual([]);
$httpBackend.flush();
expect(phones).toEqual(phonesData);
});
});
```
Here we are using `$httpBackend`'s
{@link ngMock.$httpBackend#verifyNoOutstandingExpectation verifyNoOutstandingExpectation()} and
{@link ngMock.$httpBackend#verifyNoOutstandingExpectation verifyNoOutstandingRequest()} methods to
verify that all expected requests have been sent and that no extra request is scheduled for later.
Note that we have also modified our component tests to use the custom matcher when appropriate.
You should now see the following output in the Karma tab:
```
Chrome 49.0: Executed 5 of 5 SUCCESS (0.123 secs / 0.104 secs)
```
## Summary
Now that we have seen how to build a custom service as a RESTful client, we are ready for
{@link step_14 step 14} to learn how to enhance the user experience with animations.
<ul doc-tutorial-nav="13"></ul>
[jasmine-equality]: https://jasmine.github.io/2.4/custom_equality.html
[npm]: https://www.npmjs.com/
[restful]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer