AngularJS $http and $resource

Question

I have some web services that I want to call. $resource or $http, which one should I use?

$resource: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ngResource/service/$resource

$http: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$http

After I read the two above API pages I am lost.

Could you please explain to me in plain English what is the difference and in what situation should I use them? How do I structure these calls and read the results into js objects correctly?

Answer 1

I feel that other answers, while correct, don't quite explain the root of the question: REST is a subset of HTTP. This means everything that can be done via REST can be done via HTTP but not everything that can be done via HTTP can be done via REST. That is why $resource uses $http internally.

So, when to use each other?

If all you need is REST, that is, you are trying to access a RESTful webservice, $resource is going to make it super easy to interact with that webservice.

If instead, you're trying to access ANYTHING that is not a RESTful webservice, you're going to have to go with $http. Keep in mind, you could also access a RESTful webservice via $http, it will just be much more cumbersome than with $resource. This is the way most people have been doing it outside AngularJS, by using jQuery.ajax (equivalent of Angular's $http).