Iron Router: How do I send data to the layout?

Question

Using Iron Router, I understand how to set data for a template. But how do I send data to a layout that was globally defined?

I set the router layout by:

Router.configure({ layoutTemplate: 'NAME' })

This will set the layout for all my routes.

However from my individual routes, I'd like to send data to the layout template.

Answer 1

The layout uses the data context defined with data in the route option. Here is an excerpt from Iron Router documentation:

Router.route('/routeName', {
  ...

  // A data function that can be used to automatically set the data context for
  // our layout. This function can also be used by hooks and plugins. For
  // example, the "dataNotFound" plugin calls this function to see if it
  // returns a null value, and if so, renders the not found template.
  data: function () {
    return Posts.findOne({_id: this.params._id});
  },

  ...
}

We can also set the data context of the layout with this.layout like this:

Router.route('/routeName', function () {
  this.layout('layoutName', {
    data: function() {
      return CollectionName.find();
    }
  });
});

In addition, we can refer to an existing layoutTemplate option like this:

Router.route('/routeName', function () {
  this.layout(this.lookupOption('layoutTemplate'), {
    data: function() {
      return CollectionName.find();
    }
  });
});