How to detect browser back button click event using angular?

Question

Is it possible to detect that a user entered a page through using the history back button in his browser? Preferably I want to detect this action using angular.js.

I do not want to use angular routing. It should also work if a user submits a form and after a successful submit to the server and a re-direct, it should also be possible if the user goes back to the form using the back button of the browser.

Answer

Here is a solution with Angular.

myApp.run(function($rootScope, $route, $location){
   //Bind the `$locationChangeSuccess` event on the rootScope, so that we dont need to 
   //bind in induvidual controllers.

   $rootScope.$on('$locationChangeSuccess', function() {
        $rootScope.actualLocation = $location.path();
    });        

   $rootScope.$watch(function () {return $location.path()}, function (newLocation, oldLocation) {
        if($rootScope.actualLocation === newLocation) {
            alert('Why did you use history back?');
        }
    });
});

I am using a run block to kickstart this. First I store the actual location in $rootScope.actualLocation, then I listen to $locationChangeSuccess and when it happens I update actualLocation with the new value.

In the $rootScope I watch for changes in the location path and if the new location is equal to previousLocation is because the $locationChangeSuccess was not fired, meaning the user has used the history back.