The $apply
function can run on any scope, including $rootScope
.
Are there cases when it makes a difference if I run it on my local scope or if I run it on my $rootScope
?
I'm asking because I'd like to create a helper function that wraps a given function in an $apply
. To do that I'd always need to pass in a scope, which is A) annoying and B) not easy because I don't necessarily have a local scope.
I'd like to always have my helper function call $apply
on the $rootScope
, but not if there's some risk in doing that.
Running $apply
on any scope always results in a $rootscope.$digest
. The only case where it might make a difference is when you provide an expression as an argument to $apply
. The expression will be evaluated in the current scope (vs. $rootScope), but afterwards $rootscope.$digest
is always called.
The source code is quite clear: rootScope.js
Bottom line:
If you call $apply
with no arguments, it makes no difference.
Another reason for running $apply
on the $rootScope
instead of $scope
typically comes for me when I need to call $apply
in a service which will be used by different controllers and therefore different scopes.
In this cases I prefer to inject the $rootScope
to the service and call $apply on it without worrying on which scopes the service will be used in the future.
Running $digest/$apply on any given scope will visit all other scopes using depth-first traversal:
https://github.com/angular/angular.js/blob/3967f5f7d6c8aa7b41a5352b12f457e2fbaa251a/src/ng/rootScope.js#L550-L558
That means that the only difference is that the $digest will start at whatever $scope it was called on