Export buildUrl in the global angular namespace

[gdamjan]

buildUrl could be used outside of $http too, for example if the user needs
to create urls for APIs that are not natively supported in angular (EventSource for ex.)

potentionally if it's not hidden in a closure inside $http,
it might be used in other parts of angular too

[pkozlowski-opensource]

There is a related discussion in #2701

I still claim that this URL params parsing / formatting functionality should go into its own service.

[gdamjan]

I agree there's probably a bigger story about url handling. On the other hand this is a simple change that really doesn't change much. Maybe it's a good interim step?

[pkozlowski-opensource]

@gdamjan The problem with this interim step is that it adds a method to the public API. We would have to maintain "forever".

[gdamjan]

I agree.
So what would be the proper place for this function? The $location service?

[petebacondarwin]

I think that we need to look at a longer term solution for providing (de)serialization of urls and that we should not be adding to the public API in the interim. @gdamjan - do you want to look at #2701 and maybe put forward another PR that will be more generic and flexible in the long term?

[gdamjan]

I don't have much to add to #2701 and don't know about a more generic way to go.
In the end it's a small idempotent function, it can go anywhere.

[pkozlowski-opensource]

@gdamjan It is not only about one function - serialization and deserialization go hand in hand. This is why I believe that we need a service that would encapsulate those 2 functions.

[blowsie]

@gdamjan FYI I have a use for this but I don't use the $location service

[SchizoDuckie]

I would love it if i can properly build a url for my JSONP request without having to resort to hacks. We need a solution for this, but I understand it's not just $location that's touched, it's a lot of changes deep into $http as well.

For people landing here from search, this is my current solution:

/**
 * Angular's private URL Builder method + unpublished dependencies converted to a public service
 * So we can properly build a GET url with parameters for a JSONP request.
 */
app.provider('URLBuilder', function() {

    function encodeUriQuery(val, pctEncodeSpaces) {
        return encodeURIComponent(val).
        replace(/%40/gi, '@').
        replace(/%3A/gi, ':').
        replace(/%24/g, '$').
        replace(/%2C/gi, ',').
        replace(/%20/g, (pctEncodeSpaces ? '%20' : '+'));
    }

    /**
     * Angular's private buildUrl function, patched to refer to the public methods on the angular globals
     */
    function buildUrl(url, params) {
        if (!params) return url;
        var parts = [];
        angular.forEach(params, function(value, key) {
            if (value === null || angular.isUndefined(value)) return;
            if (!angular.isArray(value)) value = [value];

            angular.forEach(value, function(v) {
                if (angular.isObject(v)) {
                    v = angular.toJson(v);
                }
                parts.push(encodeUriQuery(key) + '=' + encodeUriQuery(v));
            });
        });
        return url + ((url.indexOf('?') == -1) ? '?' : '&') + parts.join('&');
    }

    this.$get = function() {
        return {
            build: function(url, params) {
                return buildUrl(url, params);
            }
        };

    };
}); ```

[subtubes-io]

+1

[blowsie]

Is there a solution for this in angular 1.3 ?

#7429

[parliament718]

I'm also waiting for this one, has it been included in latest angular yet?

[blowsie]

@parliament718 ;

As far as I know (from looking at the source etc), this is not in 1.3 but there may be a solution coming in 1.4, for now I am manually copying this changeset in to my copy of angular
f64afc7

[slavafomin]

👍

[blowsie]

Docs for 1.4+ found here.
https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$httpParamSerializer