AngularJS controller and methods

Question

I'm a beginner in angularjs with a few questions about controllers.
Here's my example controller:

function exampleController($scope) {    $scope.sampleArray = new Array();     $scope.firstMethod = function()    {       //initialize the sampleArray    };     $scope.secondMethod = function()    {       this.firstMethod();    }; }; 

Here are my questions:

• How I can call firstMethod from secondMethod? Is the way I did it correct, or is better way?
• How I can create a constructor for the controller? I need to call the secondMethod that call the firstMethod that initialize the sampleArray?
• How I can call a specific method from html code? I found ng-initialize but I can't figure out how to use it.

Answer 1

You call a method the same way you declared it:

$scope.secondMethod = function() {   $scope.firstMethod(); }; 

Which you can also call from HTML like so:

<span>{{secondMethod()}}</span> 

But controllers don't really have "constructors" - they're typically used just like functions. But you can place initialization in your controller function and it will be executed initially, like a constructor:

function exampleController($scope) {   $scope.firstMethod = function() {     //initialize the sampleArray   };    $scope.secondMethod = function() {     $scope.firstMethod();   };    $scope.firstMethod(); } 

Answer 2

you call the first method by using $scope.

So

   $scope.secondMethod = function()    {       $scope.firstMethod();    }; 

Not really sure what you mean in your second question.

For your third quesiton, you can either have the method run automatically "onload" on controller, OR run it via an front-end angular binding.

e.g. Run Automatically

function exampleController($scope) {    $scope.sampleArray = new Array();     $scope.firstMethod = function()    {       //initialize the sampleArray    };     $scope.secondMethod = function()    {       $scope.firstMethod();    };      $scope.secondMethod(); // runs automatically.  }; 

Run on binding

<div ng-controller="ExampleController"> <!-- example controller set up in namespace -->  <button class="btn" ng-click="secondMethod()">Run Second Method</button>  </div>