Should I attach a config to $rootScope or repeatedly call injected factory?

Question

I have some data in my firebase server that provides settings for client apps. I've implemented a factory that gets this data from the server.

My question is regarding design - should I get this data once and application start and attach it to rootscope and pass that to all controllers needing it or inject my factory into every controller that uses the config data and internally in the factory store the config locally?

// this factory allows getting various global app settings and constants
.factory('ConfigFactory', ['$firebaseObject', 'FirebaseConfig',
    function($firebaseObject, FirebaseConfig) {
        'use strict';

        var configs = new Firebase(FirebaseConfig.baseUrl + "/configs");
        var _configs = [];

        return {
            getConfig: function(configName, user_id){
                if( !_configs[configName]){
                    _configs[configName] = $firebaseObject(configs.child(configName));
                }
                return _configs[configName];
            }
        };

    }
])

Answer 1

The good practice is to use a service and inject this service where you need that information.

Note that what you're defining is not a factory, but a service. The factory is the function used to create the service, and the fact that you're using factory() rather than service() or provider() to define this service is an implementation detail.

The service is thus named badly. In should be named "configuration", rather than "ConfigFactory". Services usually start with a lowercase letter.