AngularJS abort all pending $http requests on route change

I put together some conceptual code for this. It might need tweaking to fit your needs. There's a pendingRequests service that has an API for adding, getting and cancelling requests, a httpService that wraps $http and makes sure all requests are tracked.

By leveraging the $http config object (docs) we can get a way to cancel a pending request.

I've made a plnkr, but you're going to need quick fingers to see requests getting cancelled since the test-site I found typically responds within half a second, but you will see in the devtools network tab that requests do get cancelled. In your case, you would obviously trigger the cancelAll() call on the appropriate events from $routeProvider.

The controller is just there to demonstrate the concept.

DEMO

angular.module('app', [])
// This service keeps track of pending requests
.service('pendingRequests', function() {
  var pending = [];
  this.get = function() {
    return pending;
  };
  this.add = function(request) {
    pending.push(request);
  };
  this.remove = function(request) {
    pending = _.filter(pending, function(p) {
      return p.url !== request;
    });
  };
  this.cancelAll = function() {
    angular.forEach(pending, function(p) {
      p.canceller.resolve();
    });
    pending.length = 0;
  };
})
// This service wraps $http to make sure pending requests are tracked 
.service('httpService', ['$http', '$q', 'pendingRequests', function($http, $q, pendingRequests) {
  this.get = function(url) {
    var canceller = $q.defer();
    pendingRequests.add({
      url: url,
      canceller: canceller
    });
    //Request gets cancelled if the timeout-promise is resolved
    var requestPromise = $http.get(url, { timeout: canceller.promise });
    //Once a request has failed or succeeded, remove it from the pending list
    requestPromise.finally(function() {
      pendingRequests.remove(url);
    });
    return requestPromise;
  }
}])
// The controller just helps generate requests and keep a visual track of pending ones
.controller('AppCtrl', ['$scope', 'httpService', 'pendingRequests', function($scope, httpService, pendingRequests) {
  $scope.requests = [];
  $scope.$watch(function() {
    return pendingRequests.get();
  }, function(pending) {
    $scope.requests = pending;
  })

  var counter = 1;
  $scope.addRequests = function() {
    for (var i = 0, l = 9; i < l; i++) {
      httpService.get('https://public.opencpu.org/ocpu/library/?foo=' + counter++);  
    }
  };
  $scope.cancelAll = function() {
    pendingRequests.cancelAll();
  }
}]);

Please notice that im new with Angular so this may not be optimal. Another solution could be: on the $http request adding the "timeout" argument, Docs I did it this way:

In a factory where I call all my Rest services, have this logic.

module.factory('myactory', ['$http', '$q', function ($http, $q) {
    var canceler = $q.defer();

    var urlBase = '/api/blabla';
    var factory = {};

    factory.CANCEL_REQUESTS = function () {
        canceler.resolve();
        this.ENABLE_REQUESTS();
    };
    factory.ENABLE_REQUESTS = function () {
        canceler = $q.defer();
    };
    factory.myMethod = function () {
        return $http.get(urlBase, {timeout: canceler.promise});
    };
    factory.myOtherMethod= function () {
        return $http.post(urlBase, {a:a, b:b}, {timeout: canceler.promise});
    };
    return factory;
}]);

and on the angular app configuration I have:

return angular.module('app', ['ngRoute', 'ngSanitize', 'app.controllers', 'app.factories',
    'app.filters', 'app.directives', 'ui.bootstrap', 'ngGeolocation', 'ui.select' ])
.run(['$location', '$rootScope', 'myFactory', function($location, $rootScope, myFactory) {
    $rootScope.$on('$routeChangeSuccess', function (event, current, previous) {
        myFactory.CANCEL_REQUESTS();
        $rootScope.title = current.$$route.title;
    });
}]);

This way it catches all the "route" changes and stops all the request configured with that "timer" so you can select what is critical for you.

I hope it helps to someone. Regards

I think this is the best solution to abort requests. It's using an interceptor and $routeChangeSuccess event. http://blog.xebia.com/2015/02/17/cancelling-http-requests-for-fun-and-profit/