scope.state - value or function/service?

[dylang]

For state things that are changing like logged in state or the current tab to highlight, what's the best way to make those values accessible in the scope?

For instance:

• Use values such as scope.isLoggedIn and scope.currentTab. Set those values using scope.watch or after services run that may change the value.
• Use functions or services attached to the scope such as scope.isLoggedIn() and scope.currentTab() which return values based values from other scrope variables or values within the controller or service closures.

Thanks!

[mgechev]

It depends on the way you are going to use isLoggedIn.

Possible scenario could be:

1. User enter his/her username, password and press login.
2. ng-click call method from the controller and delegate the login functionality to a service which return a promise.
3. When the service is resolved/rejected you set the property isLoggedIn to value true/false (this property could be located in service called Auth or User for example).
4. In the controller you perform an action depending on the result - redirect the user, set flag which will be used for showing hiding different elements.

Using property instead of calling method will be a little bit faster (easier lexing, parsing and quick invocation) but the difference won't be noticeable. I guess this mostly depends on your needs.

If you look in the best practices from the Object-Oriented Programming (encapsulation), may be using method .isLoggedIn will me more appropriate.

I don't know if this could be structured and included in the style guide.