feat($controller): support controller registration via $controllerProvider

It's now possible to register controllers as:

.register('MyCtrl', function($scope) { ... });
// or
.register('MyCtrl', ['$scope', function($scope) { ... });

Additionally a module loader shortcut api was added as well:

myModule.controller('MyCtr', function($scope) { ... });

src/loader.js

@@ -167,13 +167,24 @@ function setupModuleLoader(window) {
            * @ngdoc method
            * @name angular.Module#filter
            * @methodOf angular.Module
-           * @param {string} name filter name
+           * @param {string} name Filter name.
            * @param {Function} filterFactory Factory function for creating new instance of filter.
            * @description
            * See {@link angular.module.ng.$filterProvider#register $filterProvider.register()}.
            */
           filter: invokeLater('$filterProvider', 'register'),
 
+          /**
+           * @ngdoc method
+           * @name angular.Module#controller
+           * @methodOf angular.Module
+           * @param {string} name Controller name.
+           * @param {Function} constructor Controller constructor function.
+           * @description
+           * See {@link angular.module.ng.$controllerProvider#register $controllerProvider.register()}.
+           */
+          controller: invokeLater('$controllerProvider', 'register'),
+
           /**
            * @ngdoc method
            * @name angular.Module#directive

src/service/controller.js

@@ -1,6 +1,32 @@
 'use strict';
 
+/**
+ * @ngdoc object
+ * @name angular.module.ng.$controllerProvider
+ * @description
+ * The {@link angular.module.ng.$controller $controller service} is used by Angular to create new
+ * controllers.
+ *
+ * This provider allows controller registration via the
+ * {@link angular.module.ng.$controllerProvider#register register} method.
+ */
 function $ControllerProvider() {
+  var controllers = {};
+
+
+  /**
+   * @ngdoc function
+   * @name angular.module.ng.$controllerProvider#register
+   * @methodOf angular.module.ng.$controllerProvider
+   * @param {string} name Controller name
+   * @param {Function|Array} constructor Controller constructor fn (optionally decorated with DI
+   *    annotations in the array notation).
+   */
+  this.register = function(name, constructor) {
+    controllers[name] = constructor;
+  };
+
+
   this.$get = ['$injector', '$window', function($injector, $window) {
 
     /**
@@ -8,8 +34,14 @@ function $ControllerProvider() {
      * @name angular.module.ng.$controller
      * @requires $injector
      *
-     * @param {Function|string} Class Constructor function of a controller to instantiate, or
+     * @param {Function|string} constructor If called with a function then it's considered to be the
-     *        expression to read from current scope or window.
+     *    controller constructor function. Otherwise it's considered to be a string which is used
+     *    to retrieve the controller constructor using the following steps:
+     *
+     *    * check if a controller with given name is registered via `$controllerProvider`
+     *    * check if evaluating the string on the current scope returns a constructor
+     *    * check `window[constructor]` on the global `window` object
+     *
      * @param {Object} locals Injection locals for Controller.
      * @return {Object} Instance of given controller.
      *
@@ -20,14 +52,17 @@ function $ControllerProvider() {
      * a service, so that one can override this service with {@link https://gist.github.com/1649788
      * BC version}.
      */
-    return function(Class, locals) {
+    return function(constructor, locals) {
-      if(isString(Class)) {
+      if(isString(constructor)) {
-        var expression = Class;
+        var name = constructor;
-        Class = getter(locals.$scope, expression, true) || getter($window, expression, true);
+        constructor = controllers.hasOwnProperty(name)
-        assertArgFn(Class, expression);
+            ? controllers[name]
+            : getter(locals.$scope, name, true) || getter($window, name, true);
+
+        assertArgFn(constructor, name, true);
       }
 
-      return $injector.instantiate(Class, locals);
+      return $injector.instantiate(constructor, locals);
     };
   }];
 }

test/directive/ngViewSpec.js

@@ -54,6 +54,25 @@ describe('ng-view', function() {
   });
 
 
+  it('should support string controller declaration', function() {
+    var MyCtrl = jasmine.createSpy('MyCtrl');
+
+    module(function($controllerProvider, $routeProvider) {
+      $controllerProvider.register('MyCtrl', ['$scope', MyCtrl]);
+      $routeProvider.when('/foo', {controller: 'MyCtrl', template: '/tpl.html'});
+    });
+
+    inject(function($route, $location, $rootScope, $templateCache) {
+      $templateCache.put('/tpl.html', [200, '<div></div>', {}]);
+      $location.path('/foo');
+      $rootScope.$digest();
+
+      expect($route.current.controller).toBe('MyCtrl');
+      expect(MyCtrl).toHaveBeenCalledWith(element.contents().scope());
+    });
+  });
+
+
   it('should load content via xhr when route changes', function() {
     module(function($routeProvider) {
       $routeProvider.when('/foo', {template: 'myUrl1'});

test/loaderSpec.js

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ describe('module loader', function() {
       value('k', 'v').
       filter('f', 'ff').
       directive('d', 'dd').
+      controller('ctrl', 'ccc').
       config('init2').
       constant('abc', 123).
       run('runBlock')).toBe(myModule);
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ describe('module loader', function() {
       ['$provide', 'value', ['k', 'v'] ],
       ['$filterProvider', 'register', ['f', 'ff'] ],
       ['$compileProvider', 'directive', ['d', 'dd'] ],
+      ['$controllerProvider', 'register', ['ctrl', 'ccc']],
       ['$injector', 'invoke', ['init2'] ]
     ]);
     expect(myModule._runBlocks).toEqual(['runBlock']);

test/service/controllerSpec.js

@@ -1,12 +1,47 @@
 'use strict';
 
 describe('$controller', function() {
-  var $controller;
+  var $controllerProvider, $controller;
 
-  beforeEach(inject(function($injector) {
+  beforeEach(module(function(_$controllerProvider_) {
-    $controller = $injector.get('$controller');
+    $controllerProvider = _$controllerProvider_;
   }));
 
+
+  beforeEach(inject(function(_$controller_) {
+    $controller = _$controller_;
+  }));
+
+
+  describe('provider', function() {
+
+    it('should allow registration of controllers', function() {
+      var FooCtrl = function($scope) { $scope.foo = 'bar' },
+          scope = {},
+          ctrl;
+
+      $controllerProvider.register('FooCtrl', FooCtrl);
+      ctrl = $controller('FooCtrl', {$scope: scope});
+
+      expect(scope.foo).toBe('bar');
+      expect(ctrl instanceof FooCtrl).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+
+    it('should allow registration of controllers annotated with arrays', function() {
+      var FooCtrl = function($scope) { $scope.foo = 'bar' },
+          scope = {},
+          ctrl;
+
+      $controllerProvider.register('FooCtrl', ['$scope', FooCtrl]);
+      ctrl = $controller('FooCtrl', {$scope: scope});
+
+      expect(scope.foo).toBe('bar');
+      expect(ctrl instanceof FooCtrl).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+
   it('should return instance of given controller class', function() {
     var MyClass = function() {},
         ctrl = $controller(MyClass);