"SCRIPT16389: Unspecified error" from AngularJs in IE if no browser history

[andrewljones]

Angular version: 1.3.4
Browser version: Internet Explorer 10

In IE10 (may also occur in other versions of IE as well but haven't got easy access to other versions to test) then if a web application using AngularJs is the very first page loaded in the browser the following JavaScript error may occur:

SCRIPT16389: Unspecified error.
angular.js, line 4116 character 11

This is coming from the call to factory() in the following:

    function getService(serviceName) {
      if (cache.hasOwnProperty(serviceName)) {
        if (cache[serviceName] === INSTANTIATING) {
          throw $injectorMinErr('cdep', 'Circular dependency found: {0}',
                    serviceName + ' <- ' + path.join(' <- '));
        }
        return cache[serviceName];
      } else {
        try {
          path.unshift(serviceName);
          cache[serviceName] = INSTANTIATING;
          return cache[serviceName] = factory(serviceName);
        } catch (err) {
          if (cache[serviceName] === INSTANTIATING) {
            delete cache[serviceName];
          }
          throw err;
        } finally {
          path.shift();
        }
      }
    }

After further investigation I've found that this appears to be originating from the "cachedState = window.history.state;" statement in the following function.

  function cacheState() {
    // This should be the only place in $browser where `history.state` is read.
    cachedState = window.history.state;
    cachedState = isUndefined(cachedState) ? null : cachedState;

    // Prevent callbacks fo fire twice if both hashchange & popstate were fired.
    if (equals(cachedState, lastCachedState)) {
      cachedState = lastCachedState;
    }
    lastCachedState = cachedState;
  }

This error does not occur if any other page has been visited prior to going to the page that uses AngularJs as window.history.state then no longer returns an error in IE.

Note that this error does not appear to occur when using Firefox or Chrome (as neither of these browsers raise an error when accessing window.history.state).

A try catch block on the window.history.state should fix this:

  function cacheState() {
      // This should be the only place in $browser where `history.state` is read.
    try {
        cachedState = window.history.state;
    }
    catch (e) {
        cachedState = null;
    }
    cachedState = isUndefined(cachedState) ? null : cachedState;

    // Prevent callbacks fo fire twice if both hashchange & popstate were fired.
    if (equals(cachedState, lastCachedState)) {
      cachedState = lastCachedState;
    }
    lastCachedState = cachedState;
  }

[caitp]

Goshdarnit. I really need more IE devs to CC on these bugs to get some clarity on these issues.

Unfortunately, this is difficult to write a test case for, even using the new e2e harness.

[petebacondarwin]

I have a Win8/IE11 machine so I can take a look....

[christianarg]

Any ETA on versión 1.3.15 where this fix is made? We are holding a new release of our product because this exact problem. It's likely hard to reproduce, but when it happens it makes the application unusable.

[petebacondarwin]

We hope to do a release of 1.3.15 in the next day or two