Angular http returns $$state object

JavaScript I/O is usually, including in this case asynchronous. Your getUser call returns a $q promise. In order to unwrap it you have to chain to it and then unwrap it as such:

angular.module("test.controllers",["account"]).controller("TestCtrl",["$scope","users",    function(a,u){        u.getUser().then(function(user){            a.user = user;            console.log(a.user);        });}]);

If you're using routing you might also want to look into the resolve option in the route. Also see this related question.

angular.module("account").factory("users",["$http",    function(a){      var factObj = {         user: null,         getUser: function(){            return a.get("/user/me").then(function(r){                factObj.user = r.data;            });        }      factObj.getUser();      return factObj;    };  }]);angular.module("test.controllers",["account"]).controller("TestCtrl",["$scope","users",    function(a,u){        a.userService = u;}]);

In your view

<div ng-controller="TestCtrl as test">{{test.userService.user}}</div>

Edits based on comments, true this would not work with the controller or view as you probably had them, but this pattern works well and removes the need to have .then in every controller that may re-use the data.

Typically storing your model in the factory or service that deals with fetching the data makes for an easier path to getting the data into every view where you need it. Down side here is you'd be fetching the user when this factory is referenced instead of explicitly firing the getUser function from the controller. If you want to get around that you can store the promise from the first time it's requested in the getUser function and just return that promise for all subsequent calls if it's already set, this way you can call getUser multiple times without repeating the API request.

I have here a similar scenario.. I hope it helps somebody...

my factory ..

 angular.module('programList.services',[])    .factory('PROGRAMS', function($http) {     return {       getprogramList: function() {       return $http.get('/api/programs/list').then(function(result) {       return result.data[0];       });      }     };    });

This is my controller ..

 angular.module('programList.services']) .controller('tviProgramsController',    function($scope,$state,$stateParams,PROGRAMS){        //this is the call to access the list as answered by Benjamin Above using then on success         PROGRAMS.getprogramList().then(function(list){                  $scope.programlist = list;              });  });;

This is on the router on server side...

  var express     = require('express'),     programscontroller = require(path + 'programservercontroller'),     router         = new express.Router();     router.get('/api/programs/list', programscontroller.programlist);

This is the module for mysql call

var con   = require('../../database/dbcon'),mysql = require('mysql');module.exports.programlist = function(req, res){ var data = req.params.data; var sql = "CALL `sp_programlist`";  con.query(sql, function(err, result) {      if(err){          throw err;      } else {          res.send(JSON.stringify(result));      }     });};