Access browsing history in ember

Question

I have the following two paths to edit an object (node) in my application:

1. List nodes -> click edit icon
2. List nodes -> select node -> click edit button

I have the option to cancel the editing. When I cancel, I want the router (controller?) to go back to the right place. That is, if I came from the list of nodes, I want cancel to go back to "list of nodes" (#nodes). If I came from the node view, I want cancel to go back to the node view (#nodes/show/node-id). Currently this is the implementation in my NodesEditController:

SettingsApp.NodesEditController = Ember.ObjectController.extend({
    needs: ['nodesIndex'],
    selectedNode: null,
    selectedNodeType: null,
    nodes: [],
    ...
    cancel: function () {
        this.stopEditing();
        this.transitionToRoute('nodes.show', this.get('content'));
    },

    ...
});

As you can see, the route for the cancel action is fixed (nodes.show). But in the first case, I would like to do this.transitionToRoute('nodes.index');. So my cancel method must be something like this:

 cancel: function () {
    this.stopEditing();
    if (some_test) { this.transitionToRoute('nodes.show', this.get('content'));
    } else { this.transitionToRoute('nodes.index'); }
 }

How to implement some_test? What can I test to know how did I get to the current route?

Answer 1

Reopen Ember.Route to store the currentPath when a route is exited:

Ember.Route.reopen({
  deactivate: function() {
    var applicationController = this.controllerFor('application');
    App.previousPath = applicationController.get('currentPath');
  }
});

Then in your cancel method:

goBack: function () {
    if (SettingsApp.previousPath == 'nodes.show') {
        this.transitionToRoute(SettingsApp.previousPath, this.get('content'));
    } else {
        this.transitionToRoute(SettingsApp.previousPath);
    }
},

cancel: function () {
    this.stopEditing();
    this.goBack();
},

Note: you might want to provide some fallback in case the app is loaded in the nodes.edit route.