How to create separate AngularJS controller files?

I have all of my AngularJS controllers in one file, controllers.js. This file is structured as follows:

angular.module('myApp.controllers', [])
  .controller('Ctrl1', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http) {    
  }])
  .controller('Ctrl2', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http) }
  }])

What I'd like to do is put Ctrl1 and Ctrl2 into separate files. I would then include both files in my index.html, but how should that be structured? I tried doing some thing like this and it throws an error in the web browser console saying it can't find my controllers. Any hints?

I searched StackOverflow and found this similar question - however, this syntax is using a different framework (CoffeeScript) on top of Angular, and so I haven't been able to follow.


AngularJS: How do I create controllers in multiple files


File one:

angular.module('myApp.controllers', []);

File two:

angular.module('myApp.controllers').controller('Ctrl1', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http){

}]);

File three:

angular.module('myApp.controllers').controller('Ctrl2', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http){

}]);

Include in that order. I recommend 3 files so the module declaration is on its own.


As for folder structure there are many many many opinions on the subject, but these two are pretty good

https://github.com/angular/angular-seed

http://briantford.com/blog/huuuuuge-angular-apps.html


Using the angular.module API with an array at the end will tell angular to create a new module:

myApp.js

// It is like saying "create a new module"
angular.module('myApp.controllers', []); // Notice the empty array at the end here

Using it without the array is actually a getter function. So to seperate your controllers, you can do:

Ctrl1.js

// It is just like saying "get this module and create a controller"
angular.module('myApp.controllers').controller('Ctrlr1', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http) {}]);

Ctrl2.js

angular.module('myApp.controllers').controller('Ctrlr2', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http) {}]);

During your javascript imports, just make sure myApp.js is after AngularJS but before any controllers / services / etc...otherwise angular won't be able to initialize your controllers.


Although both answers are technically correct, I want to introduce a different syntax choice for this answer. This imho makes it easier to read what's going on with injection, differentiate between etc.

File One

// Create the module that deals with controllers
angular.module('myApp.controllers', []);

File Two

// Here we get the module we created in file one
angular.module('myApp.controllers')

// We are adding a function called Ctrl1
// to the module we got in the line above
.controller('Ctrl1', Ctrl1);

// Inject my dependencies
Ctrl1.$inject = ['$scope', '$http'];

// Now create our controller function with all necessary logic
function Ctrl1($scope, $http) {
  // Logic here
}

File Three

// Here we get the module we created in file one
angular.module('myApp.controllers')

// We are adding a function called Ctrl2
// to the module we got in the line above
.controller('Ctrl2', Ctrl2);

// Inject my dependencies
Ctrl2.$inject = ['$scope', '$http'];

// Now create our controller function with all necessary logic
function Ctrl2($scope, $http) {
  // Logic here
}