Access AngularJS service from a service inside a different frame

Question

In an AngularJS application (main) I have an iframe inside which there is another AngularJS application (iframe) also under my control. I would like to share data between two services, one in the main application and one in the iframe application. They both need to read and write to the same object.

// main
// ... routes ...
views: { main: {
  controller: function ($scope, serviceA) {
    $scope.serviceA = serviceA;
  },
  templateUrl: 'iframe.html'
}
// ...
function ServiceA () {
  this.sharedData; // exposed to controllers in main app
}
// ...

// iframe
// ...
function ServiceB () {
  this.sharedData; // exposed to controllers in iframe app
}
// ...

When inside a controller in iframe application I managed to reference serviceA.sharedData like this:

var self = this;
var parentScope = $window.parent.angular.element($window.frameElement).scope();
parentScope.$watch('serviceA.sharedData', function (newValue, oldValue) {
  self.sharedData = newValue;
}

Can this be achieved and how?

I have read the following, but could not turn it into a solution, yet:

The answer to the second question you referenced says that you can access the angular object of an iframe with theIFrameElement.contentWindow.angular. Does that work for you? — user1950929
– user1950929, Commented Feb 8, 2015 at 12:54
Yes, it is possible to access the angular object like this. But how can I then access a service registered on it? — hielsnoppe
– hielsnoppe, Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 9:08
you can add the service to your scope in the controller, then you can access it from outside (i.e. the parent frame). — user1950929
– user1950929, Commented Feb 12, 2015 at 23:21

Deurco · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-09 10:45:12Z

I managed to do something that works, and could be useful for you. It's not perfect but is a good start. Here is the code:

Parent page:

<div ng-controller="ParentController">
    <h1>Hello, parent page!</h1>

    <p><strong>Parent model:</strong></p>
    <p>
        <input type="text"
           ng-model="data.foo"
           placeholder="Enter the thing you want to share"/>
    </p>

    <p><strong>Parent result:</strong></p>
    <p>{{ data.foo }}</p>

    <iframe src="child-page.html" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div>

Child page:

<div ng-controller="ChildController">
    <h1>Hello, child page!</h1>

    <p><strong>Child result:</strong></p>
    <p>{{ data.foo }}</p>
</div>

app.js

var app = ng.module('myApp', []);

app.factory('DataService', ['$rootScope', '$window', function ($rootScope, $window) {
    var // Variables
        dataScope,

        // Functions
        getScope;

    dataScope = $rootScope.$new(true);

    getScope = function () {
        return dataScope;
    };

    $window.DataService = {
        getScope: getScope
    };

    return {
        getScope: getScope
    };
}]);

app.controller('ParentController', ['$scope', 'DataService', function ($scope, DataService) {
    $scope.data = DataService.getScope();
}]);

app.controller('ChildController', ['$scope', '$window', '$interval', function (
    $scope,
    $window,
    $interval
) {
    $scope.data = $window.parent.DataService.getScope();

    // makes a $scope.$apply() every 500ms. Without it, data doesn't change
    $interval(ng.noop, 500);
}]);

All of this code leads to this:

Working code

The important part is $scope.data = $window.parent.DataService.getScope(); in the child controller. That's where it fetches the shared $scope.

Of course, all this works only if the parent & the iframe are under the same domain. Else, it becomes a whole other complicated story...

Hope this will help you.

user1950929 · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-14 11:17:36Z

Ok, so here is my solution, I hope this is what you had in mind.

in the controller of the parent application:

mainApp = angular.module('mainApp', []);
mainApp.controller('mainCtrl', ['$scope', 'sharedData', function($scope, sharedData){
    $scope.sharedData = sharedData;
    //your controller logic goes here ...
}]);

in the controller of the iframe application:

iframeApp = angular.module('iframeApp', []);
iframeApp.controller('iFrameCtrl', function($scope){
    //here we get the service instance from the parent application, if you 
    //need it in other controllers in the iframe app as well, either get it 
    //there the same way or pass it along via $scope or $rootScope
    var sharedData = window.parent.angular.element(window.frameElement).scope().sharedData;
    //now we can use sharedData the same way as in the parent application controller

});

sharedData.js (the js file for the shared service, needs only be included by parent.html)

mainApp.factory('sharedData', function(){
    var list = [];
    var mainScope;
    var iframeScope;

    //this function needs to be called in all setter methods to update the data in both applications
    function update(){
        if(!mainScope){
            mainScope = angular.element(document.body).scope();
        }
        //$apply() causes errors in the dev console, $applyAsync doesn't, I don't know why
        mainScope.$applyAsync(); 
        if(!iframeScope){
            //the update function might be called before angular is initialized in the iframe application
            if(document.getElementById('iframe').contentWindow.angular){
                iframeScope = document.getElementById('iframe').contentWindow.angular.element(document.body).scope();
                iframeScope.$applyAsync();
            }
        } else {
            iframeScope.$applyAsync();
        }
    }
    return {
        append: function(item) {
            list.push(item); 
            //don't forget to add this at the end of all setter functions in the service
            update();
        },
        getAll: function() { return list }
    }
});

The stuff with the iframes doesn't work on jsfiddle (cross-origin maybe) so I put my more extensive example on a github page:

https://github.com/sammax/angulariframe (code)

http://sammax.github.io/angulariframe/main/ (result)

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