docs: function getQueryParams(params) {
          params = params || {};
          var url = $location.url();
          var idx = url.indexOf('?');
  
          // if there is a query string
          if (idx < 0) { return {}; }
  
          // get the query string and split the keyvals
          var query = url.substring(idx + 1);
          var keyVals = query.split('&');
  
          // put each key/val into the params object
          _.each(keyVals, function (keyVal) {
              var keyValArr = keyVal.split('=');
              params[keyValArr[0]] = keyValArr[1];
          });
  
          return params;
      }