Save current user information and use it in controllers

Question

I have the following Angular service:

angular.module("app").factory("userService", userService);

userService.$inject = ["$http"];

function userService($http) {
  return { 
    getAuthenticatedUserInfo: function () {
      return $http.get("/api/v1/users/me");
    }     
  }
}

I am getting information about the current user such as Id, Name, ...

I want to use this information in my controllers but I do not want to call the API (getAuthenticatedUserInfo) everytime I need that information ... Does it make sense?

What is the best option use this information in other controllers?

Possible duplicate of How do I store a current user context in Angular? — Rumid
– Rumid, Commented Mar 22, 2018 at 13:58

fikkatra · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-15 11:19:17Z

3

Create a local variable within the service and store the user in there. Only perform the HTTP call if the local variable is undefined. To make sure you always return a promise, whether the local user is available or not, use $q's when function:

angular.module("app").factory("userService", userService);

userService.$inject = ["$http", "$q"];

function userService($http, $q) {

    var currentUser;
  return { 
    getAuthenticatedUserInfo: function () {
        if (currentUser){
            return $q.when(currentUser);            
        } else {
            return $http.get("/api/v1/users/me").then(function(response) {
                currentUser = response.data;
                return response.data;
            });
        }

    }     
  }
}

PS never ever use global variables

edited Apr 15, 2016 at 11:19

answered Apr 15, 2016 at 11:11

fikkatra

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4 Comments

Miguel Moura Over a year ago

Between using this approach or saving user info in session after login which one is better?

fikkatra Over a year ago

What exactly do you mean by 'in session'? With this solution, your state will be lost if the user refreshes the page. You might want to store the user in localstorage if you want the user to be persisted accross page reloads.

Miguel Moura Over a year ago

Of course, you are right ... This is enough in my case. Thanks

thegio Over a year ago

I spotted one issue in this solution, it will perform multiple requests until the first promise returns.

thegio · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-15 11:10:31Z

2

I would use a local variable and check if it is null, otherwise you perform the GET request.

Example:

function userService($http) {

var cached = null;

return { 
     current: function () {
         var u = $http.get("/api/v1/users/me");
         cached = u;
         return u;
     },

    currentCachedUser: function () {
      if (cached == null) {
         cached = this.current();
     }
     return cached;
     }
  }
}

edited Apr 15, 2016 at 11:10

answered Apr 15, 2016 at 11:05

thegio

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2 Comments

Miguel Moura Over a year ago

Local variable in the service? Or a global variable in angular? Can you example what you mean?

thegio Over a year ago

always local, never use global variables, avoid $rootscope and such bad practices.

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