AngularJS back/forward button update model/scope

Question

I'm having an issue with AngularJS and URLS. When I press the back/forward buttons in the browser I want my models to update accordingly. As you can see from this page: http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/whats-on/#params?when=Today&what=Events&where=birmingham

It pulls the variables from the url(a getter function that I set as my default value for x model if available) and sets them to the model for each search filter. If you start updating the filters the URL will also update(this calls a function on ng-change), and refreshing or sharing the url will load the page with all the models predefined from the url.

The trouble i'm having is that the view/controller doesn't update/refresh when pressing the back/forward buttons.

An example of how I define my model on page load in my controller:

vm.type = getFromURL('what=') || 'Events';

function getFromURL(filterName){
            var url = $location.url();
            // if there is already a hash in the url
            if(url && url.indexOf('params?') >= 0){
                // If the search param already exists
                if(url.indexOf(filterName) >= 0){
                    // Split url at already existing search param
                    var searchParams = url.split(filterName)[1];
                    // if there is still an '&' in the url do something
                    if(searchParams.indexOf('&') >= 0){
                        // split at the '&' and get rid of anything after it(other search params)
                        var singledParam = searchParams.split('&')[0];
                        return singledParam;
                    }else{
                        return searchParams;
                    }
                // If the suggested search param doesn't exist
                }
            }
        }

Answer 1

I ended up using: $location.url(url).replace(); which worked as required.