$resource

ngResource is a module that provides us with a $resource service. We can use this to make API calls.

We can wrap our resource up in a factory, allowing us to generate a resource that will make an API call on our behalf and instantiate itself.

$scope.author = $resource(
  "http://simple-api.herokuapp.com/api/v1/authors/:id"
).get({ id: 1 });

The $scope.author object is in fact a promise. When the promise is fulfilled, the author will instantiate itself. This gives us this rather nice syntax, even though the author is instantiated asynchronously.

Using a factory

It’s common to create resources using a factory, like so:

app.factory("Author", function ($resource) {
  return $resource("http://simple-api.herokuapp.com/api/v1/authors/:id");
});

We can now get an author:

var author = Author.get({ id: 1 });

There’s some magic going on here. The author object is in fact a promise that will configure itself when it is satisfied.

Making overrides

We can make overrides to our resource routes by passing in a configuration object. This lets us use custom methods and URLs.

app.factory("Author", function ($resource) {
  return $resource(
    "http://simple-api/api/vi/authors/:id",
    {},
    {
      update: {
        method: "PUT",
      },
    }
  );
});

Reading

Read the API spec here: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ngResource/service/$resource

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