How to put a delay on AngularJS instant search?

I have a performance issue that I can't seem to address. I have an instant search but it's somewhat laggy, since it starts searching on each keyup().

JS:

var App = angular.module('App', []);

App.controller('DisplayController', function($scope, $http) {
$http.get('data.json').then(function(result){
	$scope.entries = result.data;
});
});

HTML:

<input id="searchText" type="search" placeholder="live search..." ng-model="searchText" />
<div class="entry" ng-repeat="entry in entries | filter:searchText">
<span>{{entry.content}}</span>
</div>

The JSON data isn't even that large, 300KB only, I think what I need to accomplish is to put a delay of ~1 sec on the search to wait for the user to finish typing, instead of performing the action on each keystroke. AngularJS does this internally, and after reading docs and other topics on here I couldn't find a specific answer.

I would appreciate any pointers on how I can delay the instant search.

UPDATE

Now it's easier than ever (Angular 1.3), just add a debounce option on the model.

<input type="text" ng-model="searchStr" ng-model-options="{debounce: 1000}">

Updated plunker:
http://plnkr.co/edit/4V13gK

Documentation on ngModelOptions:
https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/directive/ngModelOptions

Old method:

Here's another method with no dependencies beyond angular itself.

You need set a timeout and compare your current string with the past version, if both are the same then it performs the search.

$scope.$watch('searchStr', function (tmpStr)
{
  if (!tmpStr || tmpStr.length == 0)
    return 0;
   $timeout(function() {

    // if searchStr is still the same..
    // go ahead and retrieve the data
    if (tmpStr === $scope.searchStr)
    {
      $http.get('//echo.jsontest.com/res/'+ tmpStr).success(function(data) {
        // update the textarea
        $scope.responseData = data.res; 
      });
    }
  }, 1000);
});

and this goes into your view:

<input type="text" data-ng-model="searchStr">

<textarea> {{responseData}} </textarea>

The mandatory plunker: http://plnkr.co/dAPmwf

(See answer below for a Angular 1.3 solution.)

The issue here is that the search will execute every time the model changes, which is every keyup action on an input.

There would be cleaner ways to do this, but probably the easiest way would be to switch the binding so that you have a $scope property defined inside your Controller on which your filter operates. That way you can control how frequently that $scope variable is updated. Something like this:

JS:

var App = angular.module('App', []);

App.controller('DisplayController', function($scope, $http, $timeout) {
    $http.get('data.json').then(function(result){
        $scope.entries = result.data;
    });

    // This is what you will bind the filter to
    $scope.filterText = '';

    // Instantiate these variables outside the watch
    var tempFilterText = '',
        filterTextTimeout;
    $scope.$watch('searchText', function (val) {
        if (filterTextTimeout) $timeout.cancel(filterTextTimeout);
        
        tempFilterText = val;
        filterTextTimeout = $timeout(function() {
            $scope.filterText = tempFilterText;
        }, 250); // delay 250 ms
    })
});

HTML:

<input id="searchText" type="search" placeholder="live search..." ng-model="searchText" />
<div class="entry" ng-repeat="entry in entries | filter:filterText">
    <span>{{entry.content}}</span>
</div>

In Angular 1.3 I would do this:

HTML:

<input ng-model="msg" ng-model-options="{debounce: 1000}">

Controller:

$scope.$watch('variableName', function(nVal, oVal) {
    if (nVal !== oVal) {
        myDebouncedFunction();
    }
});

Basically you're telling angular to run myDebouncedFunction(), when the the msg scope variable changes. The attribute ng-model-options="{debounce: 1000}" makes sure that msg can only update once a second.

 <input type="text"
    ng-model ="criteria.searchtext""  
    ng-model-options="{debounce: {'default': 1000, 'blur': 0}}"
    class="form-control" 
    placeholder="Search" >

Now we can set ng-model-options debounce with time and when blur, model need to be changed immediately otherwise on save it will have older value if delay is not completed.

For those who uses keyup/keydown in the HTML markup. This doesn't uses watch.

JS

app.controller('SearchCtrl', function ($scope, $http, $timeout) {
  var promise = '';
  $scope.search = function() {
    if(promise){
      $timeout.cancel(promise);
    }
    promise = $timeout(function() {
    //ajax call goes here..
    },2000);
  };
});

HTML

<input type="search" autocomplete="off" ng-model="keywords" ng-keyup="search()" placeholder="Search...">

Debounced / throttled model updates for angularjs : http://jsfiddle.net/lgersman/vPsGb/3/

In your case there is nothing more to do than using the directive in the jsfiddle code like this:

<input 
    id="searchText" 
    type="search" 
    placeholder="live search..." 
    ng-model="searchText" 
    ng-ampere-debounce
/>

Its basically a small piece of code consisting of a single angular directive named "ng-ampere-debounce" utilizing http://benalman.com/projects/jquery-throttle-debounce-plugin/ which can be attached to any dom element. The directive reorders the attached event handlers so that it can control when to throttle events.

You can use it for throttling/debouncing

• model angular updates
• angular event handler ng-[event]
• jquery event handlers

Have a look : http://jsfiddle.net/lgersman/vPsGb/3/

The directive will be part of the Orangevolt Ampere framework (https://github.com/lgersman/jquery.orangevolt-ampere).

Just for users redirected here:

As introduced in Angular 1.3 you can use ng-model-options attribute:

<input 
       id="searchText" 
       type="search" 
       placeholder="live search..." 
       ng-model="searchText"
       ng-model-options="{ debounce: 250 }"
/>

I believe that the best way to solve this problem is by using Ben Alman's plugin jQuery throttle / debounce. In my opinion there is no need to delay the events of every single field in your form.

Just wrap your $scope.$watch handling function in $.debounce like this:

$scope.$watch("searchText", $.debounce(1000, function() {
    console.log($scope.searchText);
}), true);

Another solution is to add a delay functionality to model update. The simple directive seems to do a trick:

app.directive('delayedModel', function() {
    return {
        scope: {
            model: '=delayedModel'
        },
        link: function(scope, element, attrs) {

            element.val(scope.model);

            scope.$watch('model', function(newVal, oldVal) {
                if (newVal !== oldVal) {
                    element.val(scope.model);        
                }
            });

            var timeout;
            element.on('keyup paste search', function() {
                clearTimeout(timeout);
                timeout = setTimeout(function() {
                    scope.model = element[0].value;
                    element.val(scope.model);
                    scope.$apply();
                }, attrs.delay || 500);
            });
        }
    };
});

Usage:

<input delayed-model="searchText" data-delay="500" id="searchText" type="search" placeholder="live search..." />

So you just use delayed-model in place of ng-model and define desired data-delay.

Demo: http://plnkr.co/edit/OmB4C3jtUD2Wjq5kzTSU?p=preview

I solved this problem with a directive that basicly what it does is to bind the real ng-model on a special attribute which I watch in the directive, then using a debounce service I update my directive attribute, so the user watch on the variable that he bind to debounce-model instead of ng-model.

.directive('debounceDelay', function ($compile, $debounce) {
return {
  replace: false,
  scope: {
    debounceModel: '='
  },
  link: function (scope, element, attr) {
    var delay= attr.debounceDelay;
    var applyFunc = function () {
      scope.debounceModel = scope.model;
    }
    scope.model = scope.debounceModel;
    scope.$watch('model', function(){
      $debounce(applyFunc, delay);
    });
    attr.$set('ngModel', 'model');
    element.removeAttr('debounce-delay'); // so the next $compile won't run it again!

   $compile(element)(scope);
  }
};
});

Usage:

<input type="text" debounce-delay="1000" debounce-model="search"></input>

And in the controller :

    $scope.search = "";
    $scope.$watch('search', function (newVal, oldVal) {
      if(newVal === oldVal){
        return;
      }else{ //do something meaningful }

Demo in jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/6K7Kd/37/

the $debounce service can be found here: http://jsfiddle.net/Warspawn/6K7Kd/

Inspired by eventuallyBind directive http://jsfiddle.net/fctZH/12/

Angular 1.3 will have ng-model-options debounce, but until then, you have to use a timer like Josue Ibarra said. However, in his code he launches a timer on every key press. Also, he is using setTimeout, when in Angular one has to use $timeout or use $apply at the end of setTimeout.

Why does everyone wants to use watch? You could also use a function:

var tempArticleSearchTerm;
$scope.lookupArticle = function (val) {
    tempArticleSearchTerm = val;
    
    $timeout(function () {
        if (val == tempArticleSearchTerm) {
            //function you want to execute after 250ms, if the value as changed
           
        }
    }, 250);
}; 

I think the easiest way here is to preload the json or load it once on$dirty and then the filter search will take care of the rest. This'll save you the extra http calls and its much faster with preloaded data. Memory will hurt, but its worth it.