How to build connection with Angular.js and Node.js trough services?

Question

I've a simple Admin Panel which has form inside it. I'm trying to update this form's content trough Angular.js and Node.js connection. If i accomplish this: i will able to read form's data and render on the front page aswell.

This form reads data from: "/json/form-data.json" :

[{
  "name"    : "BigTitleLine1",
  "content" : "APP TITLE 1"
}, {
  "name"    : "BigTitleLine2",
  "content" : "APP TITLE 2"
}];

Angular Service gets data from that json file:

ServiceModule.factory('serviceFormData', ['$resource', function ($resource) {
    return $resource(rootPath("/json/form-data.json"), {}, {
        query: {
            method: 'GET',
            isArray: true
        }
    });
}]);

Angular Controller assigns data to model:

ctrl.controller('formCtrl', ['$scope', '$rootScope', 'serviceFormData',
    function($scope, $rootScope, serviceFormData) {

        $scope.model = {};
        serviceFormData.query(function(data) {
            $scope.model.formData = data;
        });
]);

I can show true data on the HTML , and save changes to the model:

<form>
      <div class="form-group" ng-repeat="item in model.formData">
          <label>- {{ item.name }}</label>
          <input class="form-control" ng-model="item.content" required />
          <br />
      </div>
</form>

I've created a Node.JS Express server on my localhost. It can read and write files aswell.

var express = require('express'),
    fs      = require('fs'),
    app     = express();

app.use(express.static(__dirname));

// i can create "localhost:3000/test" page and show this json data over there
app.get('/test', function (req, res, next) {
    res.json({ some: "aq literal" });
});

// i can create "./json/test.json" file and write what i want.
fs.writeFile("./json/test.json", "Hey there!", function(err) {
    if(err) {
        return console.log(err);
    }
});

var server = app.listen(3000);

I'm trying to write a json file which includes submited angular form's model. Like this:

[{
  "name"    : "BigTitleLine1",
  "content" : "I've edited this json from my angular form which is on the client side."
}, {
  "name"    : "BigTitleLine2",
  "content" : "APP TITLE 2"
}];

How to build this connection between Angular.js and Node.js ?

Answer 1

You should change your factory to handle the new call to Node to update the file (or create a new factory):

ServiceModule.factory('serviceFormData', ['$resource', function ($resource) {
    return $resource('/update', {}, {
        update: {
            method: 'PUT'
        }
    });
}]);

Then you should update the Angular controller with the update method:

var json = new serviceFormData.update($scope.item);

json.$update(function (response) {
    $scope.success = true;
}, function (response) {
    $scope.error = response;
});

And finally you should handle it by Node with a new route:

var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));

app.put('/update', function (req, res) {
  var arr = []
    for (var index in req.body){
      arr.push(req.body[index])
    }
    var jsonData = JSON.stringify(arr, null, 2);

    fs.writeFile("./json/test.json", jsonData, function(err) {
       if(err) {
          return console.log(err);
       }
       res.json({ success: true });
    });
});

I didn't test it but this is the way to go.