dojo-routing
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2.0.0-alpha.7 • Public • Published

dojo-routing

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A routing library for Dojo 2 applications.

WARNING This is alpha software. It is not yet production ready, so you should use at your own risk.

Dojo 2 applications consist of widgets, stores and actions. Stores provide data to widgets, widgets call actions, and actions mutate data in stores. An application factory will materialize the necessary widgets and connect them to stores, thus forming the application.

This routing library lets you construct route hierarchies that are matched against URLs. Each selected route can tell the application factory to materialize a different set of widgets and influence the state of those widgets.

History managers are included. The recommended manager uses pushState() and replaceState() to add or modify history entries. This requires server-side support to work well. The hash-based manager uses the fragment identifier, so can work for static HTML pages. A memory-backed manager is provided for debugging purposes.

Features

The examples below are provided in TypeScript syntax. The package does work under JavaScript, but for clarity, the examples will only include one syntax.

Creating a router

import createRouter from 'dojo-routing/createRouter';
 
const router = createRouter();

Appending routes

With the router from the previous example:

import createRoute from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
 
router.append(createRoute({ path: '/' }));
router.append(createRoute({ path: '/about' }));

These routes won't (yet) do anything.

You can append multiple routes at once:

router.append([
    createRoute({ path: '/' }),
    createRoute({ path: '/about' })
]);

Routes can only be appended to a router once.

Dispatching paths

The router doesn't track navigation events by itself. Changed paths need to be dispatched by application code. Context must be provided, this is made available to the matched routes.

import { Context } from 'dojo-routing/interfaces';
 
interface AppContext extends Context {
    someKey: string;
}
 
const context: AppContext = {
    someKey: 'someValue'
};
 
router.dispatch(context, '/about');

Route selection starts in a future turn. An async Task is returned (see dojo-core) which is resolved with a result object. The object has a success property which is false if no route was selected, or dispatch was canceled. It's true otherwise.

An optional redirect property may be present, in case one of the matched routes requested a redirect. The value of the redirect property is the new path. It may be an empty string. No routes are executed when a redirect is returned, instead you're expected to change the path and call dispatch() again.

You can cancel the task in case a new navigation event occurs.

Creating routes

The following creates a simple route. The exec() function is called when the route is executed.

import createRoute from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
 
const route = createRoute({
    path: '/',
    exec (request) {
        // Do stuff
    }
});

Note that path defaults to /, so the above is equivalent to:

const route = createRoute({
    exec (request) {
        // Do stuff
    }
});

The context provided in the router.dispatch() call is available as request.context:

const route = createRoute({
    exec (request) {
        const context: AppContext = request.context;
        // Do stuff
    }
});

You may return a thenable in order to capture errors. Route dispatch does not wait for the thenable to resolve.

Route hierarchies

Routes can be appended to other routes:

import createRoute from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
 
const posts = createRoute({
    path: '/posts',
    exec (request) {
        // Do stuff
    }
});
 
const create = createRoute({
    path: 'new',
    exec (request) {
        // Do stuff
    }
});
 
posts.append(create);
 
router.append(posts);

In this example the posts route is executed for both /posts and /posts/new paths. The create route is only executed for the /posts/new path.

Like Router#append() you can append multiple routes at once by passing an array:

posts.append([
    create,
    createRoute({ path: 'other' })
]);

Routes can only be appended to another route, or a router, once.

Starting the path of a nested route with a leading slash will not make it absolute. The nested route's path will still be relative to that of the route it's appended to.

Index routes

The posts route in the above example is executed for both /posts and /posts/new paths. You can handle /posts paths specifically by specifying an index method:

const posts = createRoute({
    path: '/posts',
    exec (request) {
        // Do stuff for /posts/new
    },
    index (request) {
        // Do stuff for /posts
    }
});

You may return a thenable in order to capture errors. Route dispatch does not wait for the thenable to resolve.

Named parameters

Extract pathname segments

You can extract pathname segments. These will be added to the params object of the request:

import createRoute from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
import { DefaultParameters } from 'dojo-routing/interfaces';
 
createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}',
    exec (request) {
        const params: DefaultParameters = request.params;
        const id = params['id'];
        // Do stuff with the id
    }
});

Parameter names must not be repeated in the route's path. They can't contain {, & or : characters. Only entire segments can be matched.

You can customize the params object:

import createRoute, { Route } from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
import { Parameters } from 'dojo-routing/interfaces';
 
interface MyParams extends Parameters {
    id: number;
}
 
const route: Route<MyParams> = createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}',
    params ([id]) {
        return {
            id: parseInt(id)
        };
    },
    exec (request) {
        const { id } = request.params;
        // Do stuff with the id
    }
});

The params() function receives an array with string values for the extracted parameters, in declaration order.

You can prevent the route from being selected by returning null from the params() function:

const route: Route<MyParams> = createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}',
    params ([id]) {
        if (!/^\d+$/.test(id)) {
            return null;
        }
 
        return {
            id: parseInt(id)
        };
    },
    exec (request) {
        const { id } = request.params;
        // Do stuff with the id
    }
});

This also prevents any nested routes from being selected.

Extract query parameters

Each route's path may include a search component. Name parameters to extract them into the params object:

import createRoute from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
import { DefaultParameters } from 'dojo-routing/interfaces';
 
createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}?{comment}',
    exec (request) {
        const params: DefaultParameters = request.params;
        const comment = params['comment'];
        // Do stuff with the comment
    }
});

Again, parameter names must not be repeated in the route's path, and can't contain {, & or : characters.

Named query parameters do not have to be present in a path for the route to be selected. Only the specified parameters are available in the params object. Each route in a hierarchy can extract parameters.

You cannot specify expected values or other non-named parameters:

createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}?{comment}=yes' // Illegal!
});
 
createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}?{comment}&foo=bar' // Illegal!
});

You can extract multiple parameters though:

createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}?{comment}&{foo}'
});

By default the params object will contain the first occurrence of each query parameter. However if you specify a params() function you'll get access to all values:

import createRoute, { Route } from 'dojo-routing/createRoute';
import { Parameters } from 'dojo-routing/interfaces';
 
interface MyParams extends Parameters {
    id: number;
    comments: number[];
}
 
const route: Route<MyParams> = createRoute({
    path: '/posts/{id}?{comments}',
    params ([id], searchParams) {
        let comments: number[] = [];
        if (searchParams.has('comments')) {
            comments = searchParams.getAll('comments').map(c => parseInt(c));
        }
 
        return {
            id: parseInt(id),
            comments 
        };
    },
    exec (request) {
        const { comments } = request.params;
        // Do stuff with the comments
    }
});

searchParams is a UrlSearchParams instance from dojo-core.

Preventing routes from being selected

You already know you can return null from a params() function to stop that route (and any nested routes) from being selected.

You can use a guard() function to decide whether a particular route (and any nested routes) should be selected. It receives the same request object as exec() functions:

createRoute({
    path: '/posts',
    guard (request) {
        return false; // Don't select this route
    }
});

guard() functions must return a boolean. Use them if you can synchronously determine whether a route should be selected.

Fallback routes

Sometimes paths are dispatched that don't match any routes. You can specify a fallback() function at the router level:

const router = createRouter({
    fallback (request) {
        // Trigger a "not found" UI state here
    }
});

The request object will have a context, but no extracted parameters.

You can also use fallback() functions in a route hierarchy. The fallback() of the deepest route that matched the path will be called:

const posts = createRoute({
    path: '/posts',
    exec () {
        // Do something
    }
});
 
const byId = createRoute({
    path: '{id}',
    exec () {
        // Do something
    },
    fallback () {
        // Do something else
    }
});
 
const edit = createRoute({
    path: 'edit',
    exec () {
        // Do something
    }
});
 
byId.append(edit);
posts.append(byId);

No route will match /posts/5/stats, however there is a fallback for the byId route. The router will call exec() on the posts route and fallback() on the byId route.

You may return a thenable in order to capture errors. Route dispatch does not wait for the thenable to resolve.

Preventing dispatches altogether

You may want to prevent new routes from executing until the user has completed a certain task. You can listen to the navstart event emitted by the router to cancel or defer dispatches:

const router = createRouter();
 
router.on('navstart', event => {
    // Determine whether to cancel the dispatch
});

Use event.path to inspect the dispatched path. This is a regular string, so without any extracted parameters.

Use event.cancel() to cancel the dispatch outright. You need to invoke this method synchronously when the event listener is called.

Use event.defer() to defer the dispatch. This returns an object with resume() and cancel() functions. Dispatching will halt until you resume it using resume(), or cancel it using cancel(). This may be done asynchronously.

A dispatch may be deferred multiple times. All deferrers need to call resume() for the dispatch to continue.

Note that if you cancel the dispatch the URL displayed in the browser will still be for the new path!

Selecting routes even if trailing slashes don't match

If the dispatched path ends with a /, a route hierarchy can only be selected if its deepest route's path also ends with a /. Similarly, if the dispatched path does not end with a /, the deepest route's path also must not end with a /.

This behavior can be disabled on a per-route basis by setting the trailingSlashMustMatch option to false:

const posts = createRoute({
    path: '/posts'
});
consts byId = createRoute({
    path: '{id}',
    trailingSlashMustMatch: false
});
 
posts.append(byId);
 
const router = createRouter();
router.append(posts);

Now the posts and byId routes will be selected both for /posts/5 and /posts/5/.

Note that it's irrelevant whether any intermediate routes' paths end with a /.

Repeated slashes

You cannot create routes with repeated slashes:

createRoute({
    path: '/foo//bar'
}); // Throws!

However repeated slashes are ignored when dispatching:

const router = createRouter();
router.append(createRoute({
    path: '/foo/bar'
}));
 
router.dispatch(context, '//foo///bar'); // Selects the /foo/bar route

Link generation

The router can generate links for a given route:

const router = createRouter();
const blog = createRoute({ path: '/blog' });
router.append(blog);
 
router.link(blog) === '/blog';

This also works with parameters:

const show = createRoute({ path: '/{id}' });
blog.append(show);
 
router.link(show, { id: '5' }) === '/blog/5';

And query parameters:

const show = createRoute({ path: '/{id}?{highlight}' });
blog.append(show);
 
router.link(show, { id: '5', highlight: '40' }) === '/blog/5?highlight=40';
router.link(show, { id: '5', highlight: [ '40' ] }) === '/blog/5?highlight=40';
router.link(show, { id: '5', highlight: [ '40', '55' ] }) === '/blog/5?highlight=40&highlight=55';

Note that if routes share the same parameter name they'll receive the same value:

const category = createRoute({ path: '/categories/{id}' });
const post = createRoute({ path: '/posts/{id}' });
blog.append(category);
category.append(post);
 
router.link(post, { id: '5' }) === '/blog/categories/5/posts/5';

You can also generate links without having a reference to the router:

const router = createRouter();
const blog = createRoute({ path: '/blog' });
const show = createRoute({ path: '/{id}' });
blog.append(show);
 
show.link({ id: '5' }) === '/blog/5';

History management

This library ships with three history managers. They share the same interface but have different ways of monitoring and changing the navigation state.

Using pushState() and friends

The recommended manager uses pushState() and replaceState() to add or modify history entries. This requires server-side support to work well:

import createStateHistory from 'dojo-routing/history/createStateHistory';
 
const history = createStateHistory();

This assumes the global object is a browser window object. It'll access window.location and window.history, as well as add an event listener for the popstate event.

You can provide an explicit window object:

const history = createStateHistory({ window: myWindowObject });

This is mostly useful for testing purposes.

Use history.current to get the current path. It's initialized to the browser's location when the history object was created. It always starts with a /, regardless of the path string passed to the history.set() and history.replace() methods.

Call history.set() with a path string to set a new path. This will use window.history.pushState() to change the URL shown in the browser.

history.replace() works like history.set(), but uses window.history.replaceState() instead.

The change event is emitted when history is set or replaced, or when popstate is emitted on the window object. The value property of the event object contains the new path:

history.on('change', event => {
    console.log(event.value);
});

Applications should call Router#dispatch() with this value as the path.

Specifying a base pathname

A base pathname can be provided when creating the history manager:

const history = createStateHistory({ base: '/myapp' });

In this example, if the browser's location is /myapp/index, the path available at history.current and the change event value will be /index. When calling history.set() and history.replace() with say /settings, the browser's location will be changed to /myapp/settings.

You may specify the base with or without a trailing slash.

Fragment identifiers

The hash-based manager uses the fragment identifier to store navigation state. This makes it a better fit for applications that are served as a static HTML file:

import createHashHistory from 'dojo-routing/history/createHashHistory';
 
const history = createHashHistory();

The history object has the same current getter and set() and replace() methods. The createHashHistory() factory too assumes the global object is a browser window object, but an explicit object can be provided. It'll access window.history and add an event listener for the hashchange event.

Path strings are stored in the fragment identifier. history.current returns the current path, without a # prefix. The same goes for the value property of the change event object.

Memory-only

Finally there is a memory-backed manager. This isn't very useful in browsers but can be helpful when writing tests.:

import createMemoryHistory from 'dojo-routing/history/createMemoryHistory';
 
const history = createMemoryHistory();

The createMemoryHistory() factory accepts a path option. It defaults to the empty string.

Making the router aware of the history manager

In browser-based applications it is desirable for the router to be aware of the history manager. This is why you can provide the history manager when creating the router:

const history = createStateHistory();
const router = createRouter({ history });

Now instead of using history.set() and history.replace() you can use router.setPath() and router.replacePath().

Automatic routing and clever linking through start()

You could manually wire a history manager's change event to a Router#dispatch(), but that's a bit cumbersome. Instead if you provided the history manager when creating the router, you can use the start() method to make the router observe the history manager:

const router = createRouter({ history: createStateHistory() });
router.start();

By default start() dispatches for the current history value. You can disable this:

router.start({ dispatchCurrent: false });

As an added benefit, when you use start() it ensures the previous dispatch is canceled when the history changes and it dispatches a new request.

start() also ensures history is replaced with the new path when routes request a redirect.

The context for these dispatches defaults to an empty object. A new object is used for every dispatch. You can configure the context when creating the router:

const router = createRouter({
    context: { someKey: 'someValue' },
    history: createStateHistory()
});

Provide a function if you want a new context for every dispatch:

const router = createRouter({
    context() {
        return { someKey: 'someValue' };
    },
    history: createStateHistory()
});

link() can use the currently selected routes when generating a new link. For instance given this router:

const history = createStateHistory();
const router = createRouter({ history });
 
const blog = createRoute({ path: '/blog' });
const show = createRoute({ path: '/{id}' });
const edit = createRoute({ path: '/edit' });
 
router.append(blog);
blog.append(show);
show.append(edit);

If the current URL is /blog/5, then you can generate a link for the edit route without having to provide any parameters:

router.link(edit) === '/blog/5/edit';

Calling dispatch() directly will prevent the router from tracking selected routes. They'll also be unavailable after a redirect has been requested, before new routes have been selected.

Capturing errors

Errors that occur during dispatch are emitted under the error event. The event object contains the error as well as the context and path used for the dispatch.

How do I use this package?

TODO: Add appropriate usage and instruction guidelines

How do I contribute?

We appreciate your interest! Please see the Dojo 2 Meta Repository for the Contributing Guidelines and Style Guide.

Testing

Test cases MUST be written using Intern using the Object test interface and Assert assertion interface.

90% branch coverage MUST be provided for all code submitted to this repository, as reported by istanbul’s combined coverage results for all supported platforms.

To test locally in node run:

grunt test

To test against browsers with a local selenium server run:

grunt test:local

To test against BrowserStack or Sauce Labs run:

grunt test:browserstack

or

grunt test:saucelabs

Licensing information

© 2004–2016 Dojo Foundation & contributors. New BSD license.

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