In one of my angular 1.x controllers, I have the following watch statement
$scope.$watch($scope.someData.timestamp, doSomething);
The timestamp property is either null, undefined or a string formatted as a timestamp, like "2016-05-31T09:34:01.61Z"
When the watchstatement is executed, I get the following error:
angular.js:11655 Error: [$parse:syntax] Syntax Error: Token 'T09' is an unexpected token at column 11 of the expression [2016-05-31T09:34:01.61Z] starting at [T09:34:01.61Z]. http://errors.angularjs.org/1.3.15/$parse/syntax?p0=T09&p1=is%20an%20unexpected%20token&p2=11&p3=2016-05-31T09%3A34%3A01.61Z&p4=T09%3A34%3A01.61Z
at https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:63:12
at Parser.throwError (https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:12070:11)
at Parser.parse (https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:12023:12)
at $parse (https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:12737:39)
at Scope.$watch (https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:13897:19)
at initialize (https://localhost:44555/app/MyCtrl.js:49:20)
at new MyCtrl (https://localhost:44555/app/MyCtrl.js:18:9)
at invoke (https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:4203:17)
at Object.instantiate (https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:4211:27)
at https://localhost:44555/bower_components/angular/angular.js:8501:28 <ui-view class="ng-scope">
To me, it looks like angular is trying to compile and evaluate the property value. But why?
If I change the watch statement, using the function syntax instead, everything works as expected:
$scope.$watch(function(){return $scope.someData.timestamp; }, doSomething);
Why is the value parsed?
How can I prevent the watched property from being parsed?
According to doc, the variable name should be inside quotes like this:
$scope.$watch('someData.timestamp', function(){...})