angularjs - Difference between $locationChangeStart, $routeChangeStart, and $stateChangeStart

Question

I wonder what's the difference with these three, with their corresponding $locationChangeSuccess, $routeChangeSuccess, and $stateChangeSuccess.

Answer 1

$locationChangeStart: this uses the $location provider and broadcasts whenever the URL changes. Location refers more to a Path of a specific URL. It's more like plain JavaScript, you can change to any path in your application and it doesn't matter if it's defined on your app as route or state.

$routeChangeStart: this uses the $route provider, and it's the same, it broadcasts when the route changes (default Angular router used with ngRoute). This is used to do a link between controllers and views.

$stateChangeStart: it happens when your state changes, and this broadcasts when a transition begins. It is used by ui-router which provides a different (more advanced) implementation of routeprovider. States allow you to map and access different information about different states and you can easily pass information between states via $stateParams.

They are quite similar, in fact they share the same names, but the main differences depends on the routing your application uses. If you are using angular router then stick to routes, however, if you are using ui-router, stick to states. This is practical advice I can give you.