History api handler

A lightweight vue component for handling javascript navigation using the browser History API.

Installation

You can install the package through NPM.

npm install @nlo/history-api-handler

Usage

The history api handler package provides an extendable component that allows persisting state/view changes in the browser url. A use case for using this handler is for example in a page that has several modals. Opening these modals with certain state can be attached to a specific url and parsed on page load and vue mount.

To use it, import the component and extend your component and provide a routes array in the created hook of the vue instance.

@Component
export default class SubscriptionEditor extends HistoryApiHandler {
	created() {
		this.routes = [
			{
				name: "overview",
				path: "/",
				action: () => {},
			},
			{
				name: "modal",
				path: "/modal",
				action: () => {
					this.$refs.modal.open();
				},
			},
		];
	}
}

A route requires a name, a path and an action. The action runs once the component is created and provides you with the means to open a modal for example or change the state of the page.

To change a route manually after the initial route is parsed, you can use the pushRoute function:

this.pushRoute({ name: "modal" });

Route params

It is also possible to pass dynamic route parameters to the route path that will be parsed and passed as an object in the action function. For example to open a modal with a certain id:

this.routes = [
	{
		name: "modal-with-params",
		path: "/modal/:id",
		action: (params) => {
			if (params.id) {
				this.$refs.modal.open(params.id);
			}
		},
	},
];

this.pushRoute({ name: "modal", params: { id: "1" } });

Query strings

Query strings if present in the path will be parsed and provided as a second argument to the action function:

this.routes = [
	{
		name: "modal-with-query",
		path: "/modal",
		action: (params, query) => {
			if (query.id) {
				this.$refs.modal.open(query.id);
			}
		},
	},
];

this.pushRoute({ name: "modal", query: { id: "1" } });

On leave hook

It is also possible to execute code before a route is switched:

this.routes = [
	{
		name: "modal",
		path: "/modal",
		action: () => {
			this.$refs.modal.open();
		},
		onLeave: () => {
			this.$refs.modal.close();
		},
	},
];