AngularJS factory http returns empty

Question

I'm trying AngularJS for the first time. I'm getting JSON data from a http-get request using a factory, but the object is returned empty, before the ajax-request is done.

Factory:

myDemo.factory('photosFactory', function($http) {
    var photos = [];

    var factory = {};

    factory.getPhotos = function() {
        $http({
            url: 'content/test_data.json',
            method: 'GET'
        }).success(function(data, status, headers, config) {
            photos = data;
            return photos;
        });
    };
    return factory;
});

Controller:

controllers.AppCtrl = function($scope, $location, $http, photosFactory) {
    $scope.photos = [];
    init();
    function init() {
        $scope.photos = photosFactory.getPhotos();
    }
};

This is what I've come up with. When the controller set $scope.photos, the value is empty as if it returns the photos array before it get populated with the ajax response.

Answer 1

You should modify your code to return a promise and use the value in controller pls see dummy modified code

myDemo.factory('photosFactory', function($http) {
 return{
    getPhotos : function() {
        return $http({
            url: 'content/test_data.json',
            method: 'GET'
        })
    }
 }
});

and controller -

controllers.AppCtrl = function($scope, $location, $http, photosFactory) {
    $scope.photos = [];
    photosFactory.getPhotos().success(function(data){
       $scope.photos=data;
   });
};