Class RouterService

public

The Router service is the public API that provides access to the router.

The immediate benefit of the Router service is that you can inject it into components, giving them a friendly way to initiate transitions and ask questions about the current global router state.

In this example, the Router service is injected into a component to initiate a transition to a dedicated route:

app/components/example.js
import Component from '@glimmer/component';
import { action } from '@ember/object';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class ExampleComponent extends Component {
  @service router;

  @action
  next() {
    this.router.transitionTo('other.route');
  }
}

Like any service, it can also be injected into helpers, routes, etc.

key
String

The key to observe

target
Object

The target object to invoke

method
String|Function

The method to invoke

sync
Boolean

Whether the observer is sync or not

returns
Observable

Adds an observer on a property.

This is the core method used to register an observer for a property.

Once you call this method, any time the key's value is set, your observer will be notified. Note that the observers are triggered any time the value is set, regardless of whether it has actually changed. Your observer should be prepared to handle that.

There are two common invocation patterns for .addObserver():

  • Passing two arguments:
  • the name of the property to observe (as a string)
  • the function to invoke (an actual function)
  • Passing three arguments:
  • the name of the property to observe (as a string)
  • the target object (will be used to look up and invoke a function on)
  • the name of the function to invoke on the target object (as a string).
app/components/my-component.js
import Component from '@ember/component';

export default Component.extend({
  init() {
    this._super(...arguments);

    // the following are equivalent:

    // using three arguments
    this.addObserver('foo', this, 'fooDidChange');

    // using two arguments
    this.addObserver('foo', (...args) => {
      this.fooDidChange(...args);
    });
  },

  fooDidChange() {
    // your custom logic code
  }
});

Observer Methods

Observer methods have the following signature:

app/components/my-component.js
import Component from '@ember/component';

export default Component.extend({
  init() {
    this._super(...arguments);
    this.addObserver('foo', this, 'fooDidChange');
  },

  fooDidChange(sender, key, value, rev) {
    // your code
  }
});

The sender is the object that changed. The key is the property that changes. The value property is currently reserved and unused. The rev is the last property revision of the object when it changed, which you can use to detect if the key value has really changed or not.

Usually you will not need the value or revision parameters at the end. In this case, it is common to write observer methods that take only a sender and key value as parameters or, if you aren't interested in any of these values, to write an observer that has no parameters at all.

keyName
String
returns
Object

The cached value of the computed property, if any

Returns the cached value of a computed property, if it exists. This allows you to inspect the value of a computed property without accidentally invoking it if it is intended to be generated lazily.

keyName
String

The name of the property to decrement

decrement
Number

The amount to decrement by. Defaults to 1

returns
Number

The new property value

Set the value of a property to the current value minus some amount.

player.decrementProperty('lives');
orc.decrementProperty('health', 5);
returns
EmberObject

receiver

Destroys an object by setting the isDestroyed flag and removing its metadata, which effectively destroys observers and bindings.

If you try to set a property on a destroyed object, an exception will be raised.

Note that destruction is scheduled for the end of the run loop and does not happen immediately. It will set an isDestroying flag immediately.

keyName
String

The property to retrieve

returns
Object

The property value or undefined.

Retrieves the value of a property from the object.

This method is usually similar to using object[keyName] or object.keyName, however it supports both computed properties and the unknownProperty handler.

Because get unifies the syntax for accessing all these kinds of properties, it can make many refactorings easier, such as replacing a simple property with a computed property, or vice versa.

Computed Properties

Computed properties are methods defined with the property modifier declared at the end, such as:

import { computed } from '@ember/object';

fullName: computed('firstName', 'lastName', function() {
  return this.get('firstName') + ' ' + this.get('lastName');
})

When you call get on a computed property, the function will be called and the return value will be returned instead of the function itself.

Unknown Properties

Likewise, if you try to call get on a property whose value is undefined, the unknownProperty() method will be called on the object. If this method returns any value other than undefined, it will be returned instead. This allows you to implement "virtual" properties that are not defined upfront.

list
String...|Array

of keys to get

returns
Object

To get the values of multiple properties at once, call getProperties with a list of strings or an array:

record.getProperties('firstName', 'lastName', 'zipCode');
// { firstName: 'John', lastName: 'Doe', zipCode: '10011' }

is equivalent to:

record.getProperties(['firstName', 'lastName', 'zipCode']);
// { firstName: 'John', lastName: 'Doe', zipCode: '10011' }
keyName
String

The name of the property to increment

increment
Number

The amount to increment by. Defaults to 1

returns
Number

The new property value

Set the value of a property to the current value plus some amount.

person.incrementProperty('age');
team.incrementProperty('score', 2);

An overridable method called when objects are instantiated. By default, does nothing unless it is overridden during class definition.

Example:

import EmberObject from '@ember/object';

const Person = EmberObject.extend({
  init() {
    alert(`Name is ${this.get('name')}`);
  }
});

let steve = Person.create({
  name: 'Steve'
});

// alerts 'Name is Steve'.

NOTE: If you do override init for a framework class like Component from @ember/component, be sure to call this._super(...arguments) in your init declaration! If you don't, Ember may not have an opportunity to do important setup work, and you'll see strange behavior in your application.

routeName
String

the name of the route

models
...Object

the model(s) or identifier(s) to be used when determining the active route.

options
Object

optional hash with a queryParams property containing a mapping of query parameters

returns
Boolean

true if the provided routeName/models/queryParams are active

Returns true if routeName/models/queryParams is the active route, where models and queryParams are optional. See model and queryParams for more information about these arguments.

In the following example, isActive will return true if the current route is /posts.

app/components/posts.js
import Component from '@glimmer/component';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Component {
  @service router;

  displayComments() {
    return this.router.isActive('posts');
  }
});

The next example includes a dynamic segment, and will return true if the current route is /posts/1, assuming the post has an id of 1:

app/components/posts.js
import Component from '@glimmer/component';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Component {
  @service router;

  displayComments(post) {
    return this.router.isActive('posts', post.id);
  }
});

Where post.id is the id of a specific post, which is represented in the route as /posts/[post.id]. If post.id is equal to 1, then isActive will return true if the current route is /posts/1, and false if the route is anything else.

keyName
String

The property key to be notified about.

returns
Observable

Convenience method to call propertyWillChange and propertyDidChange in succession.

Notify the observer system that a property has just changed.

Sometimes you need to change a value directly or indirectly without actually calling get() or set() on it. In this case, you can use this method instead. Calling this method will notify all observers that the property has potentially changed value.

eventName
String
callback
Function

You can unregister a listener for events emitted by this service with .off():

app/routes/contact-form.js
import Route from '@ember/routing';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class ContactFormRoute extends Route {
  @service router;

  callback = (transition) => {
    if (!transition.to.find(route => route.name === this.routeName)) {
      alert('Please save or cancel your changes.');
      transition.abort();
    }
  };

  activate() {
    this.router.on('routeWillChange', this.callback);
  }

  deactivate() {
    this.router.off('routeWillChange', this.callback);
  }
}
eventName
String
callback
Function

You can register a listener for events emitted by this service with .on():

app/routes/contact-form.js
import Route from '@ember/routing';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Route {
  @service router;

  activate() {
    this.router.on('routeWillChange', (transition) => {
      if (!transition.to.find(route => route.name === this.routeName)) {
        alert("Please save or cancel your changes.");
        transition.abort();
      }
    })
  }
}
url
String
returns
RouteInfo | null

Takes a string URL and returns a RouteInfo for the leafmost route represented by the URL. Returns null if the URL is not recognized. This method expects to receive the actual URL as seen by the browser including the app's rootURL.

See RouteInfo for more info.

In the following example recognize is used to verify if a path belongs to our application before transitioning to it.

import Component from '@ember/component';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Component {
  @service router;
  path = '/';

  click() {
    if (this.router.recognize(this.path)) {
      this.router.transitionTo(this.path);
    }
  }
}
url
String
returns
RouteInfo

Takes a string URL and returns a promise that resolves to a RouteInfoWithAttributes for the leafmost route represented by the URL. The promise rejects if the URL is not recognized or an unhandled exception is encountered. This method expects to receive the actual URL as seen by the browser including the app's rootURL.

routeName
String

the route to refresh (along with all child routes)

returns

Transition

Refreshes all currently active routes, doing a full transition. If a route name is provided and refers to a currently active route, it will refresh only that route and its descendents. Returns a promise that will be resolved once the refresh is complete. All resetController, beforeModel, model, afterModel, redirect, and setupController hooks will be called again. You will get new data from the model hook.

key
String

The key to observe

target
Object

The target object to invoke

method
String|Function

The method to invoke

sync
Boolean

Whether the observer is async or not

returns
Observable

Remove an observer you have previously registered on this object. Pass the same key, target, and method you passed to addObserver() and your target will no longer receive notifications.

routeNameOrUrl
String

the name of the route or a URL of the desired destination

models
...Object

the model(s) or identifier(s) to be used while transitioning to the route i.e. an object of params to pass to the destination route

options
Object

optional hash with a queryParams property containing a mapping of query parameters

returns
Transition

the transition object associated with this attempted transition

Similar to transitionTo, but instead of adding the destination to the browser's URL history, it replaces the entry for the current route. When the user clicks the "back" button in the browser, there will be fewer steps. This is most commonly used to manage redirects in a way that does not cause confusing additions to the user's browsing history.

Calling replaceWith from the Router service will cause default query parameter values to be included in the URL. This behavior is different from calling replaceWith on a route. See the Router Service RFC for more info.

Usage example:

app/routes/application.js
import Route from '@ember/routing/route';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Route {
  @service router;
  beforeModel() {
    if (!authorized()){
      this.router.replaceWith('unauthorized');
    }
  }
});
keyName
String

The property to set

value
Object

The value to set or null.

returns
Object

The passed value

Sets the provided key or path to the value.

record.set("key", value);

This method is generally very similar to calling object["key"] = value or object.key = value, except that it provides support for computed properties, the setUnknownProperty() method and property observers.

Computed Properties

If you try to set a value on a key that has a computed property handler defined (see the get() method for an example), then set() will call that method, passing both the value and key instead of simply changing the value itself. This is useful for those times when you need to implement a property that is composed of one or more member properties.

Unknown Properties

If you try to set a value on a key that is undefined in the target object, then the setUnknownProperty() handler will be called instead. This gives you an opportunity to implement complex "virtual" properties that are not predefined on the object. If setUnknownProperty() returns undefined, then set() will simply set the value on the object.

Property Observers

In addition to changing the property, set() will also register a property change with the object. Unless you have placed this call inside of a beginPropertyChanges() and endPropertyChanges(), any "local" observers (i.e. observer methods declared on the same object), will be called immediately. Any "remote" observers (i.e. observer methods declared on another object) will be placed in a queue and called at a later time in a coalesced manner.

hash
Object

the hash of keys and values to set

returns
Object

The passed in hash

Sets a list of properties at once. These properties are set inside a single beginPropertyChanges and endPropertyChanges batch, so observers will be buffered.

record.setProperties({ firstName: 'Charles', lastName: 'Jolley' });
returns
String

string representation

Returns a string representation which attempts to provide more information than Javascript's toString typically does, in a generic way for all Ember objects.

import EmberObject from '@ember/object';

const Person = EmberObject.extend();
person = Person.create();
person.toString(); //=> "<Person:ember1024>"

If the object's class is not defined on an Ember namespace, it will indicate it is a subclass of the registered superclass:

const Student = Person.extend();
let student = Student.create();
student.toString(); //=> "<(subclass of Person):ember1025>"

If the method toStringExtension is defined, its return value will be included in the output.

const Teacher = Person.extend({
  toStringExtension() {
    return this.get('fullName');
  }
});
teacher = Teacher.create();
teacher.toString(); //=> "<Teacher:ember1026:Tom Dale>"
keyName
String

The name of the property to toggle

returns
Boolean

The new property value

Set the value of a boolean property to the opposite of its current value.

starship.toggleProperty('warpDriveEngaged');
routeNameOrUrl
String

the name of the route or a URL

models
...Object

the model(s) or identifier(s) to be used while transitioning to the route.

options
Object

optional hash with a queryParams property containing a mapping of query parameters. May be supplied as the only parameter to trigger a query-parameter-only transition.

returns
Transition

the transition object associated with this attempted transition

Transition the application into another route. The route may be either a single route or route path:

Calling transitionTo from the Router service will cause default query parameter values to be included in the URL. This behavior is different from calling transitionTo on a route or transitionToRoute on a controller. See the Router Service RFC for more info.

In the following example we use the Router service to navigate to a route with a specific model from a Component in the first action, and in the second we trigger a query-params only transition.

app/components/example.js
import Component from '@glimmer/component';
import { action } from '@ember/object';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Component {
  @service router;

  @action
  goToComments(post) {
    this.router.transitionTo('comments', post);
  }

  @action
  fetchMoreComments(latestComment) {
    this.router.transitionTo({
      queryParams: { commentsAfter: latestComment }
    });
  }
}
routeName
String

the name of the route

models
...Object

the model(s) for the route.

options
Object

optional hash with a queryParams property containing a mapping of query parameters

returns
String

the string representing the generated URL

Generate a URL based on the supplied route name and optionally a model. The URL is returned as a string that can be used for any purpose.

In this example, the URL for the author.books route for a given author is copied to the clipboard.

app/templates/application.hbs
<CopyLink @author={{hash id="tomster" name="Tomster"}} />
app/components/copy-link.js
import Component from '@glimmer/component';
import { service } from '@ember/service';
import { action } from '@ember/object';

export default class CopyLinkComponent extends Component {
  @service router;
  @service clipboard;

  @action
  copyBooksURL() {
    if (this.author) {
      const url = this.router.urlFor('author.books', this.args.author);
      this.clipboard.set(url);
      // Clipboard now has /author/tomster/books
    }
  }
}

Just like with transitionTo and replaceWith, urlFor can also handle query parameters.

app/templates/application.hbs
<CopyLink @author={{hash id="tomster" name="Tomster"}} />
app/components/copy-link.js
import Component from '@glimmer/component';
import { service } from '@ember/service';
import { action } from '@ember/object';

export default class CopyLinkComponent extends Component {
  @service router;
  @service clipboard;

  @action
  copyOnlyEmberBooksURL() {
    if (this.author) {
      const url = this.router.urlFor('author.books', this.author, {
        queryParams: { filter: 'emberjs' }
      });
      this.clipboard.set(url);
      // Clipboard now has /author/tomster/books?filter=emberjs
    }
  }
}

Override to implement teardown.

Defines the properties that will be concatenated from the superclass (instead of overridden).

By default, when you extend an Ember class a property defined in the subclass overrides a property with the same name that is defined in the superclass. However, there are some cases where it is preferable to build up a property's value by combining the superclass' property value with the subclass' value. An example of this in use within Ember is the classNames property of Component from @ember/component.

Here is some sample code showing the difference between a concatenated property and a normal one:

import EmberObject from '@ember/object';

const Bar = EmberObject.extend({
  // Configure which properties to concatenate
  concatenatedProperties: ['concatenatedProperty'],

  someNonConcatenatedProperty: ['bar'],
  concatenatedProperty: ['bar']
});

const FooBar = Bar.extend({
  someNonConcatenatedProperty: ['foo'],
  concatenatedProperty: ['foo']
});

let fooBar = FooBar.create();
fooBar.get('someNonConcatenatedProperty'); // ['foo']
fooBar.get('concatenatedProperty'); // ['bar', 'foo']

This behavior extends to object creation as well. Continuing the above example:

let fooBar = FooBar.create({
  someNonConcatenatedProperty: ['baz'],
  concatenatedProperty: ['baz']
})
fooBar.get('someNonConcatenatedProperty'); // ['baz']
fooBar.get('concatenatedProperty'); // ['bar', 'foo', 'baz']

Adding a single property that is not an array will just add it in the array:

let fooBar = FooBar.create({
  concatenatedProperty: 'baz'
})
view.get('concatenatedProperty'); // ['bar', 'foo', 'baz']

Using the concatenatedProperties property, we can tell Ember to mix the content of the properties.

In Component the classNames, classNameBindings and attributeBindings properties are concatenated.

This feature is available for you to use throughout the Ember object model, although typical app developers are likely to use it infrequently. Since it changes expectations about behavior of properties, you should properly document its usage in each individual concatenated property (to not mislead your users to think they can override the property in a subclass).

The currentRoute property contains metadata about the current leaf route. It returns a RouteInfo object that has information like the route name, params, query params and more.

See RouteInfo for more info.

This property is guaranteed to change whenever a route transition happens (even when that transition only changes parameters and doesn't change the active route).

Usage example:

app/components/header.js
  import Component from '@glimmer/component';
  import { service } from '@ember/service';
  import { notEmpty } from '@ember/object/computed';

  export default class extends Component {
    @service router;

    @notEmpty('router.currentRoute.child') isChildRoute;
  });

Name of the current route.

This property represents the logical name of the route, which is dot separated. For the following router:

app/router.js
 Router.map(function() {
   this.route('about');
   this.route('blog', function () {
     this.route('post', { path: ':post_id' });
   });
 });

It will return:

  • index when you visit /
  • about when you visit /about
  • blog.index when you visit /blog
  • blog.post when you visit /blog/some-post-id

Current URL for the application.

This property represents the URL path for this route. For the following router:

app/router.js
 Router.map(function() {
   this.route('about');
   this.route('blog', function () {
     this.route('post', { path: ':post_id' });
   });
 });

It will return:

  • / when you visit /
  • /about when you visit /about
  • /blog when you visit /blog
  • /blog/some-post-id when you visit /blog/some-post-id

Destroyed object property flag.

if this property is true the observers and bindings were already removed by the effect of calling the destroy() method.

Destruction scheduled flag. The destroy() method has been called.

The object stays intact until the end of the run loop at which point the isDestroyed flag is set.

The location property returns what implementation of the location API your application is using, which determines what type of URL is being used.

See Location for more information.

To force a particular location API implementation to be used in your application you can set a location type on your config/environment. For example, to set the history type:

config/environment.js
'use strict';

module.exports = function(environment) {
  let ENV = {
    modulePrefix: 'router-service',
    environment,
    rootURL: '/',
    locationType: 'history',
    ...
  }
}

The following location types are available by default: hash, history, none.

See HashLocation. See HistoryLocation. See NoneLocation.

Defines the properties that will be merged from the superclass (instead of overridden).

By default, when you extend an Ember class a property defined in the subclass overrides a property with the same name that is defined in the superclass. However, there are some cases where it is preferable to build up a property's value by merging the superclass property value with the subclass property's value. An example of this in use within Ember is the queryParams property of routes.

Here is some sample code showing the difference between a merged property and a normal one:

import EmberObject from '@ember/object';

const Bar = EmberObject.extend({
  // Configure which properties are to be merged
  mergedProperties: ['mergedProperty'],

  someNonMergedProperty: {
    nonMerged: 'superclass value of nonMerged'
  },
  mergedProperty: {
    page: { replace: false },
    limit: { replace: true }
  }
});

const FooBar = Bar.extend({
  someNonMergedProperty: {
    completelyNonMerged: 'subclass value of nonMerged'
  },
  mergedProperty: {
    limit: { replace: false }
  }
});

let fooBar = FooBar.create();

fooBar.get('someNonMergedProperty');
// => { completelyNonMerged: 'subclass value of nonMerged' }
//
// Note the entire object, including the nonMerged property of
// the superclass object, has been replaced

fooBar.get('mergedProperty');
// => {
//   page: {replace: false},
//   limit: {replace: false}
// }
//
// Note the page remains from the superclass, and the
// `limit` property's value of `false` has been merged from
// the subclass.

This behavior is not available during object create calls. It is only available at extend time.

In Route the queryParams property is merged.

This feature is available for you to use throughout the Ember object model, although typical app developers are likely to use it infrequently. Since it changes expectations about behavior of properties, you should properly document its usage in each individual merged property (to not mislead your users to think they can override the property in a subclass).

The rootURL property represents the URL of the root of the application, '/' by default. This prefix is assumed on all routes defined on this app.

If you change the rootURL in your environment configuration like so:

config/environment.js
'use strict';

module.exports = function(environment) {
  let ENV = {
    modulePrefix: 'router-service',
    environment,
    rootURL: '/my-root',

  }
]

This property will return /my-root.

transition
Transition

The routeDidChange event only fires once a transition has settled. This includes aborts and error substates. Like the routeWillChange event it receives a Transition as the sole argument.

A good example is sending some analytics when the route has transitioned:

app/routes/contact-form.js
import Route from '@ember/routing';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Route {
  @service router;

  activate() {
    this.router.on('routeDidChange', (transition) => {
      ga.send('pageView', {
        current: transition.to.name,
        from: transition.from.name
      });
    })
  }
}

routeDidChange will be called after any Route's didTransition action has been fired. The updates of properties currentURL, currentRouteName and currentRoute are completed at the time routeDidChange is called.

transition
Transition

The routeWillChange event is fired at the beginning of any attempted transition with a Transition object as the sole argument. This action can be used for aborting, redirecting, or decorating the transition from the currently active routes.

A good example is preventing navigation when a form is half-filled out:

app/routes/contact-form.js
import Route from '@ember/routing';
import { service } from '@ember/service';

export default class extends Route {
  @service router;

  activate() {
    this.router.on('routeWillChange', (transition) => {
      if (!transition.to.find(route => route.name === this.routeName)) {
        alert("Please save or cancel your changes.");
        transition.abort();
      }
    })
  }
}

The routeWillChange event fires whenever a new route is chosen as the desired target of a transition. This includes transitionTo, replaceWith, all redirection for any reason including error handling, and abort. Aborting implies changing the desired target back to where you already were. Once a transition has completed, routeDidChange fires.