Managing state with AngularJS routing to save and restore data when navigating back

Question

Managing state with AngularJS routing to save and restore data when navigating back

I am currently exploring the most effective way to handle the following scenario using AngularJs routing:

Users have a list of items, such as movies, with search functionality.
Users can search for and select an item, then click on it to view details in a separate page.
After finishing viewing the item, users should be able to click the browser's back button to return to the previous list with their search options restored.

The default ngRoute does not offer any built-in state management capabilities, so this needs to be implemented separately (I'm contemplating the best approach for this).

Consider using ui-router. While I have no prior experience with it, I am curious if it comes with such features pre-packaged.

javascript angularjs url-routing

Answer 1

Answer №1

To ensure the back button takes you back to the exact state of your search screen, it is important to save the search parameters and pagination in the URL:

 $location.search({"searchTerm": "jaws", "genre": "fishy", page: 3});

This will append

?searchTerm=jaws&genre=fishy&page=3

to your URL and refresh the controller. In the beginning of the controller, extract variables from the URL like this:

 var searchTerm = $location.search().searchTerm;
 var genre = $location.search().genre;
 var page =  $location.search().page;
 SearchService.search(searchTerm, genre, page, function(data){
    $scope.results = data;
 });

Now, when navigating back to the results, the back button will function properly by reloading the controller with the saved parameters.

If you prefer only the last state of the search screen to be recorded in the browser history instead of every action, you can use replace:

 $location.search({"searchTerm": "jaws", "genre": "fishy", page: 3}).replace();

With this method, the history will only display a single entry for the search screen regardless of the previous selections made.

Answer 2

To ensure the back button takes you back to the exact state of your search screen, it is important to save the search parameters and pagination in the URL:

 $location.search({"searchTerm": "jaws", "genre": "fishy", page: 3});

This will append

?searchTerm=jaws&genre=fishy&page=3

to your URL and refresh the controller. In the beginning of the controller, extract variables from the URL like this:

 var searchTerm = $location.search().searchTerm;
 var genre = $location.search().genre;
 var page =  $location.search().page;
 SearchService.search(searchTerm, genre, page, function(data){
    $scope.results = data;
 });

Now, when navigating back to the results, the back button will function properly by reloading the controller with the saved parameters.

If you prefer only the last state of the search screen to be recorded in the browser history instead of every action, you can use replace:

 $location.search({"searchTerm": "jaws", "genre": "fishy", page: 3}).replace();

With this method, the history will only display a single entry for the search screen regardless of the previous selections made.

Answer 3

Answer №2

To simplify the implementation of this functionality, ui-router offers a useful solution. For detailed information on how to achieve this, please refer to the following article:

Key points to consider include:

Setting up the state in your router to handle the page parameter

$stateProvider.state('list', {
  url: '/list?page',
  controller: 'ListCtrl',
  controllerAs: 'list',
  templateUrl: 'list.html',
  params: {
    page: {
      value: '1',
      squash: true
    }
  }
});

Managing the page parameter during controller initialization and updating the state with every page change:

angular
  .module('your.module')
  .controller('ListCtrl', function ($state, $stateParams) {
    var vm = this;
    vm.page = parseInt($stateParams.page || '1'); // page param is a String
    loadStuffForList(); //Load elements for list

    vm.onPageChange = function () {
      $state.go('.', {'page': '' + vm.page});
      // or
      // $state.go('.', {'page': '' + vm.page}, {'notify': false}); // notify: false -> in case you need it, it will prevent the controller from reloading
      // loadStuffForList();
    };
    function loadStuffForList () {...};
  });

Answer 4

To simplify the implementation of this functionality, ui-router offers a useful solution. For detailed information on how to achieve this, please refer to the following article:

Key points to consider include:

Setting up the state in your router to handle the page parameter

$stateProvider.state('list', {
  url: '/list?page',
  controller: 'ListCtrl',
  controllerAs: 'list',
  templateUrl: 'list.html',
  params: {
    page: {
      value: '1',
      squash: true
    }
  }
});

Managing the page parameter during controller initialization and updating the state with every page change:

angular
  .module('your.module')
  .controller('ListCtrl', function ($state, $stateParams) {
    var vm = this;
    vm.page = parseInt($stateParams.page || '1'); // page param is a String
    loadStuffForList(); //Load elements for list

    vm.onPageChange = function () {
      $state.go('.', {'page': '' + vm.page});
      // or
      // $state.go('.', {'page': '' + vm.page}, {'notify': false}); // notify: false -> in case you need it, it will prevent the controller from reloading
      // loadStuffForList();
    };
    function loadStuffForList () {...};
  });

Managing state with AngularJS routing to save and restore data when navigating back

Answer №1

Answer №2

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