emmaguo / angular-poller

Poller service for AngularJS applications

Angular Poller

Lightweight AngularJS poller service which can be easily injected into controllers. It uses a timer and sends requests every few seconds to keep the client synced with the server. Angular Poller supports $resource, $http and Restangular.

Demo: http://emmaguo.github.io/angular-poller/

Table of contents

• Install
• Quick configuration
• Advanced usage
  • Customize $resource poller
  • Customize $http poller
  • Customize Restangular poller
  • Update argumentsArray while poller is running
  • Error handling
  • Multiple pollers
  • Multiple controllers
  • Only send new request if the previous one is resolved
  • Always create new poller on calling poller.get
  • Automatically stop all pollers when navigating between views
  • Automatically reset all pollers when navigating between views
  • Automatically adjust poller speed on page visibility change
• Changelog
• Supported Angular versions
• License

Install

You can install this package either with npm or with bower.

npm

npm install angular-poller

Then add emguo.poller as a dependency for your app:

angular.module('myApp', [require('angular-poller')]);

bower

bower install angular-poller

Add a <script> to your index.html:

<script src="/bower_components/angular-poller/angular-poller.js"></script>

Then add emguo.poller as a dependency for your app:

angular.module('myApp', ['emguo.poller']);

cdnjs

You can also use cdnjs files:

<script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular-poller/0.4.5/angular-poller.js"></script>
<script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular-poller/0.4.5/angular-poller.min.js"></script>

Quick configuration

myModule.controller('myController', function($scope, $resource, poller) {

    // Define your resource object.
    var myResource = $resource(url[, paramDefaults]);

    // Get poller. This also starts/restarts poller.
    var myPoller = poller.get(myResource);

    // Update view. Since a promise can only be resolved or rejected once but we want
    // to keep track of all requests, poller service uses the notifyCallback. By default
    // poller only gets notified of success responses.
    myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);

    // Stop poller.
    myPoller.stop();

    // Restart poller.
    myPoller.restart();

    // Remove poller.
    myPoller.remove();
});

Advanced usage

Customize $resource poller

myModule.controller('myController', function($scope, $resource, poller) {

    // Define your resource object.
    var myResource = $resource(url[, paramDefaults], {
        myQuery: {
            method: 'GET',
            isArray: true,
            headers: ...
        },
        ...
    });

    // Get poller.
    var myPoller = poller.get(myResource, {
        action: 'myQuery',
        delay: 6000,
        argumentsArray: [
            {
                verb: 'greet',
                salutation: 'Hello'
            }
        ]
    });

    myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);
});

Similar to how you invoke action methods on the class object or instance object directly ($resource), the format of argumentsArray is:

• HTTP GET "class" actions: [parameters]
• non-GET "class" actions: [parameters], postData
• non-GET instance actions: [parameters]

Customize $http poller

myModule.controller('myController', function($scope, poller) {

    // Get poller.
    var myPoller = poller.get('api/test/123', {
        action: 'jsonp',
        delay: 6000,
        argumentsArray: [
            {
                params: {
                    param1: 1,
                    param2: 2
                },
                headers: {
                    header1: 1
                }
            }
        ]
    });

    myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);
});

The format of argumentsArray is:

• GET, DELETE, HEAD and JSONP requests: [config]
• POST, PUT, PATCH requests: data, [config]

config is the object describing the request to be made and how it should be processed. It may contain params, headers, xsrfHeaderName etc. Please see $http documentation for more information.

Customize Restangular poller

myModule.controller('myController', function($scope, Restangular, poller) {

    // Get poller.
    var myPoller = poller.get(Restangular.one('test', 123), {
        action: 'get',
        delay: 6000,
        argumentsArray: [
            {
                param1: 1,
                param2: 2
            },
            {
                header1: 1
            }
        ]
    });

    myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);
});

Angular Poller supports all Restangular action methods. Here argumentsArray is exactly the same as the input arguments for the original method function. For instance the argumentsArray for element method getList(subElement, [queryParams, headers]) would be subElement, [queryParams, headers], and the argumentsArray for collection method getList([queryParams, headers]) would be [queryParams, headers], etc.

Update argumentsArray while poller is running

To update argumentsArray without restarting poller, you can pass in argumentsArray as a function, which gets evaluated on every tick.

var myPoller = poller.get(myResource, {
    action: 'get',
    delay: 6000,
    argumentsArray: function() {
        return [
            {
                param1: $scope.param1,
                param2: $scope.param2
            },
            {
                header1: 1
            }
        ]
    }
});

myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);

Error handling

One way to capture error responses is to use the catchError option. It indicates whether poller should get notified of error responses.

var myPoller = poller.get(myTarget, {
    catchError: true
});

myPoller.promise.then(null, null, function(result) {

    // If catchError is set to true, this notifyCallback can contain either
    // a success or an error response.
    if (result.$resolved) {

        // Success handler ...
    } else {

        // Error handler: (data, status, headers, config)
        if (result.status === 503) {
            // Stop poller or provide visual feedback to the user etc
            poller.stopAll();
        }
    }
});

Alternatively you can use AngularJS interceptors for global error handling like so:

myModule.config(function($httpProvider) {
    $httpProvider.interceptors.push(function($q, poller) {
        return {
            'responseError': function(rejection) {
                if (rejection.status === 503) {
                    // Stop poller or provide visual feedback to the user etc
                    poller.stopAll();
                }
                return $q.reject(rejection);
            }
        };
    });
});

You may also use setErrorInterceptor if you are using Restangular.

Multiple pollers

myModule.controller('myController', function($scope, poller) {

    var poller1 = poller.get(target1),
        poller2 = poller.get(target2);

    poller1.promise.then(null, null, callback);
    poller2.promise.then(null, null, callback);

    // Total number of pollers
    console.log(poller.size());

    // Stop all pollers.
    poller.stopAll();

    // Restart all pollers.
    poller.restartAll();

    // Stop and remove all pollers.
    poller.reset();
});

Multiple controllers

myModule.factory('myTarget', function() {
    // return $resource object, Restangular object or $http url.
    return ...;
});

myModule.controller('controller1', function($scope, poller, myTarget) {
    // Register and start poller.
    var myPoller = poller.get(myTarget);
    myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);
});

myModule.controller('controller2', function($scope, poller, myTarget) {
    // Get existing poller and restart it.
    var myPoller = poller.get(myTarget);
    myPoller.promise.then(null, null, callback);
});

myModule.controller('controller3', function($scope, poller, myTarget) {
    poller.get(myTarget).stop();
});

Only send new request if the previous one is resolved

Use the smart option to make sure poller only sends new request after the previous one is resolved. It is set to false by default.

var myPoller = poller.get(myTarget, {
    action: 'query',
    delay: 6000,
    argumentsArray: [
        {
            verb: 'greet',
            salutation: 'Hello'
        }
    ],
    smart: true
});

You can also use pollerConfig to set smart globally for all pollers.

myModule.config(function(pollerConfig) {
    pollerConfig.smart = true;
});

Always create new poller on calling poller.get

By default poller.get(target, ...) looks for any existing poller by target in poller registry. If found, it overwrites existing poller with new parameters such as action, delay, argumentsArray etc if specified, and then restarts the poller. If not found, it creates and starts a new poller. It means you will never have two pollers running against the same target.

But if you do want to have more than one poller running against the same target, you can force poller to always create new poller on calling poller.get like so:

myModule.config(function(pollerConfig) {
    pollerConfig.neverOverwrite = true;
});

Automatically stop all pollers when navigating between views

In order to automatically stop all pollers when navigating between views with multiple controllers, you can use pollerConfig.

myModule.config(function(pollerConfig) {
    pollerConfig.stopOn = '$stateChangeStart'; // If you use ui-router.
    pollerConfig.stopOn = '$routeChangeStart'; // If you use ngRoute.
});

You also have the option to set pollerConfig.stopOn to $stateChangeSuccess or $routeChangeSuccess.

Automatically reset all pollers when navigating between views

You can also use pollerConfig to automatically reset all pollers when navigating between views with multiple controllers. It empties poller registry in addition to stopping all pollers. It means poller.get will always create a new poller.

myModule.config(function(pollerConfig) {
    pollerConfig.resetOn = '$stateChangeStart'; // If you use ui-router.
    pollerConfig.resetOn = '$routeChangeStart'; // If you use ngRoute.
});

You also have the option to set pollerConfig.resetOn to $stateChangeSuccess or $routeChangeSuccess.

Automatically adjust poller speed on page visibility change

Use the handleVisibilityChange option to automatically slow down poller delay to idleDelay when page is hidden. By default idleDelay is set to 10 seconds.

myModule.config(function(pollerConfig) {
    pollerConfig.handleVisibilityChange = true;
});

myModule.controller('myController', function(poller) {
    poller.get(myTarget, {
        idleDelay: 20000 // Default value is 10000
    });
});

Changelog

https://github.com/emmaguo/angular-poller/releases

Supported Angular versions

Angular Poller supports Angular 1.2.0 - 1.5.x.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2013-2016 Emma Guo

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.