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# Error: error:inprog
Action Already In Progress

    {0} already in progress

## Description

At any point in time there can be only one `$digest` or `$apply` operation in progress. This is to prevent very hard to detect bugs from entering your application. The stack trace of this error allows you to trace the origin of the currently executing `$apply` or `$digest` call, which caused the error.

## Background

Angular uses a dirty-checking digest mechanism to monitor and update values of the scope during the processing of your application. The digest works by checking all the values that are being watched against their previous value and running any watch handlers that have been defined for those values that have changed.

This digest mechanism is triggered by calling `$digest` on a scope object. Normally you do not need to trigger a digest manually, because every external action that can trigger changes in your application, such as mouse events, timeouts or server responses, wrap the Angular application code in a block of code that will run `$digest` when the code completes.

You wrap Angular code in a block that will be followed by a `$digest` by calling `$apply` on a scope object. So, in pseudo-code, the process looks like this:

    element.on('mouseup', function() {
    scope.$apply(function() {
      $scope.doStuff();
    });
    });

where `$apply()` looks something like:

    $apply = function(fn) {
    try {
      fn();
    } finally() {
      $digest();
    }
    }

## Digest Phases

Angular keeps track of what phase of processing we are in, the relevant ones being `$apply` and `$digest`. Trying to reenter a `$digest` or `$apply` while one of them is already in progress is typically a sign of programming error that needs to be fixed. So Angular will throw this error when that occurs.

In most situations it should be well defined whether a piece of code will be run inside an `$apply`, in which case you should not be calling `$apply` or `$digest`, or it will be run outside, in which case you should wrap any code that will be interacting with Angular scope or services, in a call to `$apply`.

As an example, all Controller code should expect to be run within Angular, so it should have no need to call `$apply` or `$digest`. Conversely, code that is being trigger directly as a call back to some external event, from the DOM or 3rd party library, should expect that it is never called from within Angular, and so any Angular application code that it calls should first be wrapped in a call to $apply.

## Common Causes

Apart from simply incorrect calls to `$apply` or `$digest` there are some cases when you may get this error through no fault of your own.

### Inconsistent API (Sync/Async)

This error is often seen when interacting with an API that is sometimes sync and sometimes async.

For example, imagine a 3rd party library that has a method which will retrieve data for us. Since it may be making an asynchronous call to a server, it accepts a callback function, which will be called when the data arrives.

    function MyController($scope, thirdPartyComponent) {
    thirdPartyComponent.getData(function(someData) {
      $scope.$apply(function() {
        $scope.someData = someData;
      });
    });
    }

We expect that our callback will be called asynchronously, and so from outside Angular. Therefore, we correctly wrap our application code that interacts with Angular in a call to `$apply`.

The problem comes if `getData()` decides to call the callback handler synchronously; perhaps it has the data already cached in memory and so it immediately calls the callback to return the data, synchronously.

Since, the `MyController` constructor is always instantiated from within an `$apply` call, our handler is trying to enter a new `$apply` block from within one.

This is not an ideal design choice on the part of the 3rd party library.

To resolve this type of issue, either fix the api to be always synchronous or asynchronous or force your callback handler to always run asynchronously by using the `$timeout` service.

    function MyController($scope, thirdPartyComponent) {
    thirdPartyComponent.getData(function(someData) {
      $timeout(function() {
        $scope.someData = someData;
      }, 0);
    });
    }

Here we have used `$timeout` to schedule the changes to the scope in a future call stack. By providing a timeout period of 0ms, this will occur as soon as possible and `$timeout` will ensure that the code will be called in a single `$apply` block.

### Triggering Events Programmatically

The other situation that often leads to this error is when you trigger code (such as a DOM event) programmatically (from within Angular), which is normally called by an external trigger.

For example, consider a directive that will set focus on an input control when a value in the scope is true:

    myApp.directive('setFocusIf', function() {
    return {
      link: function($scope, $element, $attr) {
        $scope.$watch($attr.setFocusIf, function(value) {
          if ( value ) { $element[0].focus(); }
        });
      }
    };
    });

If we applied this directive to an input which also used the `ngFocus` directive to trigger some work when the element receives focus we will have a problem:

    <input set-focus-if="hasFocus" ng-focus="msg='has focus'">
    <button ng-click="hasFocus = true">Focus</button>

In this setup, there are two ways to trigger ngFocus. First from a user interaction:

- Click on the input control
- The input control gets focus
- The `ngFocus` directive is triggered, setting `$scope.msg='has focus'` from within a new call to `$apply()`

Second programmatically:

- Click the button
- The `ngClick` directive sets the value of `$scope.hasFocus` to true inside a call to `$apply`
- The `$digest` runs, which triggers the watch inside the `setFocusIf` directive
- The watch's handle runs, which gives the focus to the input
- The `ngFocus` directive is triggered, setting `$scope.msg='has focus'` from within a new call to `$apply()`

In this second scenario, we are already inside a `$digest` when the ngFocus directive makes another call to `$apply()`, causing this error to be thrown.

It is possible to workaround this problem by moving the call to set the focus outside of the digest, by using `$timeout(fn, 0, false)`, where the `false` value tells Angular not to wrap this `fn` in a `$apply` block:

    myApp.directive('setFocusIf', function($timeout) {
    return {
      link: function($scope, $element, $attr) {
        $scope.$watch($attr.setFocusIf, function(value) {
          if ( value ) {
            $timeout(function() {
              // We must reevaluate the value in case it was changed by a subsequent
              // watch handler in the digest.
              if ( $scope.$eval($attr.setFocusIf) ) {
                $element[0].focus();
              }
            }, 0, false);
          }
        });
      }
    }
    });

## Diagnosing This Error

When you get this error it can be rather daunting to diagnose the cause of the issue. The best course of action is to investigate the stack trace from the error. You need to look for places where `$apply` or `$digest` have been called and find the context in which this occurred.

There should be two calls:

- The first call is the good `$apply`/`$digest` and would normally be triggered by some event near the top of the call stack.

- The second call is the bad `$apply`/`$digest` and this is the one to investigate.

Once you have identified this call you work your way up the stack to see what the problem is.

- If the second call was made in your application code then you should look at why this code has been called from within a `$apply`/`$digest`. It may be a simple oversight or maybe it fits with the sync/async scenario described earlier.

- If the second call was made inside an Angular directive then it is likely that it matches the second programmatic event trigger scenario described earlier. In this case you may need to look further up the tree to what triggered the event in the first place.

### Example Problem

Let's look at how to investigate this error using the `setFocusIf` example from above. This example defines a new `setFocusIf` directive that sets the focus on the element where it is defined when the value of its attribute becomes true.

Edit in Plunker

    <button ng-click="focusInput = true">Focus</button>
    <input ng-focus="count = count + 1" set-focus-if="focusInput" />

    angular.module('app', []).directive('setFocusIf', function() {
      return function link($scope, $element, $attr) {
        $scope.$watch($attr.setFocusIf, function(value) {
          if ( value ) { $element[0].focus(); }
        });
      };
    });

When you click on the button to cause the focus to occur we get our `$rootScope:inprog` error. The stacktrace looks like this:

    Error: [$rootScope:inprog]
    at Error (native)
    at angular.min.js:6:467
    at n (angular.min.js:105:60)
    at g.$get.g.$apply (angular.min.js:113:195)
    at HTMLInputElement.<anonymous> (angular.min.js:198:401)
    at angular.min.js:32:32
    at Array.forEach (native)
    at q (angular.min.js:7:295)
    at HTMLInputElement.c (angular.min.js:32:14)
    at Object.fn (app.js:12:38) angular.js:10111
    (anonymous function) angular.js:10111
    $get angular.js:7412
    $get.g.$apply angular.js:12738                   <--- $apply
    (anonymous function) angular.js:19833            <--- called here
    (anonymous function) angular.js:2890
    q angular.js:320
    c angular.js:2889
    (anonymous function) app.js:12
    $get.g.$digest angular.js:12469
    $get.g.$apply angular.js:12742                   <--- $apply
    (anonymous function) angular.js:19833            <--- called here
    (anonymous function) angular.js:2890
    q angular.js:320

We can see (even though the Angular code is minified) that there were two calls to `$apply`, first on line `19833`, then on line `12738` of `angular.js`.

It is this second call that caused the error. If we look at the angular.js code, we can see that this call is made by an Angular directive.

    var ngEventDirectives = {};
    forEach(
      'click dblclick mousedown mouseup mouseover mouseout mousemove mouseenter mouseleave keydown keyup keypress submit focus blur copy cut paste'.split(' '),
      function(name) {
        var directiveName = directiveNormalize('ng-' + name);
        ngEventDirectives[directiveName] = ['$parse', function($parse) {
          return {
            compile: function($element, attr) {
              var fn = $parse(attr[directiveName]);
              return function(scope, element, attr) {
                element.on(lowercase(name), function(event) {
                  scope.$apply(function() {
                    fn(scope, {$event:event});
                  });
                });
              };
            }
          };
        }];
      }
    );

It is not possible to tell which from the stack trace, but we happen to know in this case that it is the `ngFocus` directive.

Now look up the stack to see that our application code is only entered once in `app.js` at line `12`. This is where our problem is:

    10: link: function($scope, $element, $attr) {
    11:   $scope.$watch($attr.setFocusIf, function(value) {
    12:     if ( value ) { $element[0].focus(); }    <---- This is the source of the problem
    13:   });
    14: }

We can now see that the second `$apply` was caused by us programmatically triggering a DOM event (i.e. focus) to occur. We must fix this by moving the code outside of the $apply block using `$timeout` as described above.

## Further Reading

To learn more about Angular processing model please check out the concepts doc as well as the api doc.