AngularJS http call (complete syntax)

Angular even let you control this better :). Two ways can be chosen here:

1. Wrapping $http

You can write for each request with by using a wrapper of $http which will add some methods before and after you made request

app.factory('httpService',function($http){
    function beginRequest() {};
    function afterRequest() {};
    return {
        makeRequest: function(requestConfig){
             beginRequest();
             return $http(requestConfig).then(function(result){
                 afterRequest(result);
             });
        }
    }      
}) 

Then each time you can call this function to make a request. This is not new.

2. Using interceptor

Angular has a better way to handle for all request. It use a new concept named 'interceptor'. You write your interceptor as a normal service and push one or many interceptors into $http service and depend on type of interceptor, it will be called each time your request happen. Look at this picture to think about interceptor:

Some common task for interceptor can be: Add/remove a loading icon, add some more decorator to your http config such as token key, validate request, validate responded data, recover some request...

Here is example of a interceptor that add a token key into headers of a request

app.service('APIInterceptor', function($rootScope, UserService) {
    var service = this;

    service.request = function(config) { 
        var currentUser = UserService.getCurrentUser(),
            access_token = currentUser ? currentUser.access_token : null;

        if (access_token) {
            config.headers.authorization = access_token;
        }
        return config;
    };

    service.responseError = function(response) {
        return response;
    };
})

Then add interceptor to your $http:

app.config(['$httpProvider', function($httpProvider) {  
    $httpProvider.interceptors.push('APIInterceptor');
}]);

Now all request will be added a token key to header. cool right?

See here for more information:

there is eveyrthing here to help with your question :https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$q http://chariotsolutions.com/blog/post/angularjs-corner-using-promises-q-handle-asynchronous-calls/

$http functions are async by default.

And regarding the beforesend function, you could wrap the http call in a function and add the spinner just before making the call and remove it in the success call back. Something like this,

var makeHttpRequest = function(){
   $('#someID').addClass('spinner');
   $http(req).then(function(){
     $('#someID').removeClass('spinner');
     //rest processing for success callback
   },function(){
     $('#someID').removeClass('spinner');
     //Error callback
   });
}

The way I have implemented complex get and post in my angular application is as below:

Create a CRUDService as below:

yourApp.service('CRUDService', function ($q, $http) {
    this.post = function (value, uri) {
        var request = $http({
            method: "post",
            url: uri,
            data: value
        });
        return request;
    }

    this.get = function (uri) {
        var request = $http({
            method: "get",
            url: uri
        });
        return request;
    }
});

As you can see this service simply returns a get/post object. Somewhere in my controller I use this service as below:

$('#exampleButton').button("loading");  //set the element in loading/spinning state here
var getObj = CRUDService.get("/api/get/something");
getObj.then(function(data){
    //do something
    $('#exampleButton').button("reset"); //reset element here
}, function(err){
    //handle error
    $('#exampleButton').button("loading"); //reset element here
});

$('#exampleButton').button("loading");  //set the element in loading/spinning state here
var postObj = CRUDService.post(postData,"/api/get/something");
postObj.then(function(data){
    //do something
    $('#exampleButton').button("reset"); //reset element here
}, function(err){
    //handle error
    $('#exampleButton').button("loading"); //reset element here
});

I hope this helps :)

The http call is async - it returns a promise that you can then handle with the try() and catch() methods. You can simply wrap your calls i.e.

function makeRequest() {
  $scope.showSpinner = true;
  $http
    .get('http://www.example.com')
    .then(function (response) {
      $scope.showSpinner = false;
    })
    .catch(function (err) {
      $scope.showSpinner = false;
    });
}

If you would however like you use familiar syntax akin to jQuery then you can push your own custom interceptors. This will allow you intercept the requests and response and do whatever you want. In the below example we call functions if they are defined.

angular
  .module('app', [])
  .config(appConfig)
  .factory('HttpInterceptors', httpInterceptors)
  .controller('MyController', myController);

// app config
appConfig.$inject = ['$httpProvider'];

function appConfig($httpProvider) {
  // add out interceptors to the http provider
  $httpProvider.interceptors.push('HttpInterceptors');
}

// http interceptor definition
function httpInterceptors() {
  return {
    request: function(request) {
      if (angular.isFunction(request.beforeSend)) {
        request.beforeSend(); 
      }
      return request;
    },
    response: function(response) {
      if (angular.isFunction(response.config.onComplete)) {
        response.config.onComplete(); 
      }
      return response; 
    }
  }
}

// controlller
myController.$inject = ['$scope', '$http', '$timeout'];

function myController($scope, $http, $timeout) {

  $scope.showSpinner = false;
  
  $http({
    method: 'GET',
    url: 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dart-lang/test/master/LICENSE',
    beforeSend: function() {
      $scope.showSpinner = true;
    },
    onComplete: function() {
      $timeout(function() {
        console.log('done');
        $scope.showSpinner = false;
      }, 1000);
    }})
    .then(function(response) {
      console.log('success');
    })
    .catch(function(err) {
      console.error('fail');
    });
}

.spinner {
 background-color: red; 
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.5.5/angular.min.js"></script>

<div ng-app='app' ng-controller='MyController'>
  <div ng-class='{spinner: showSpinner}'>
    Hello World!
  </div>
</div>