<!doctype html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
  <head>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular.js/1.5.0-beta.1/angular.js"></script>
    <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.5.0-beta.1/angular-animate.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular-ui-bootstrap/0.14.3/ui-bootstrap-tpls.min.js"></script>
    <script src="script.js"></script>
    <link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

  </head>
  <body ng-controller="DemoCtrl">

Related to: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/q/48811309/1407478" target=_blank>
  stackoverflow.com/questions/48811309/trigger-ng-change-function-without-keyup-or-keypressed-in-angularjs/
</a>
<br><br>

<form name="form"> 
 <input type="text" name="primary_color" ng-model="value" ng-change="ngChange()">
</form> 
  

  </body>
</html>
 
angular.module('plunker', [])
.controller("DemoCtrl",["$scope", "$timeout", function ($scope, $timeout) {

 $scope.ngChange = function() {
   alert('ng-change triggered')
 }
 
 $scope.value = 'initial value';
  
 $timeout(function() {
   $scope.form.primary_color.$setViewValue()
 }, 500)  


}])