Router Basics in 1.0.0-Pre.4 - what is the right way to write a router in current release?

Question

I hate to ask such a newbie and vague question, but I imagine there must be others out there whose brains are also about to explode. I see related questions, but none that directly addresses my confusion.

I've just been introduced to Ember.js and I'm trying to learn the basics of the Router, but I can't find two sources that agree on how this is done. I suspect that I'm jumping in during an unstable transition. I'm using the latest 1.0.0-Pre.4 release.

The best I can figure, Router is the new mechanism, and possibly replaces StateManager - yes? Yet the classes listed under 1.0.0-Pre.4 API on the web site don't even list a Router object, nor does the guide make mention of it... yet, I get no complaints from javascript when I use sample code that extends Em.Router.

Ok cool, however it then barfs on the Router member "transitionTo" which is present in many of the demo projects, but is unrecognized in the current release.

So, I guess what I'm asking is not so much a direct question, as I am looking for a grounding point in a sea of contradictory information.

If starting out with Ember.js as it is RIGHT NOW (1.0.0-pre.4), with no history to contend with, what routing mechanism should I be looking at, and is there any tutorial or simple sample app that demonstrates and runs against this version of the library? Can you confirm my suspicion that the documentation is out-of-date in regard to routing?

Ember.js is a lot to learn, and if I ever hope to figure it out, I need to know what to ignore and what to embrace.

Thank you.

Answer 1

The best I can figure, Router is the new mechanism, and possibly replaces StateManager - yes?

Yes, Router is the new mechanism. It does not replace StateManager per-se. Early version of the Ember Router were based on StateManager. The new one (1.0.0-pre.4) is not, but StateManager is still an important part of the ember library. Many of ember's core components (models, views) rely are built on StateManager.

Yet the classes listed under 1.0.0-Pre.4 API on the web site don't even list a Router object, nor does the guide make mention of it... yet, I get no complaints from javascript when I use sample code that extends Em.Router.

The Router does not have API docs yet. I imagine these are in the works. When in doubt about a fast-moving open source project I always have a look at the tests. Ember has a really solid test suite, and in the case of routing you can learn a lot by reading through the integration tests here: routing/basic_test.js

Ok cool, however it then barfs on the Router member "transitionTo" which is present in many of the demo projects, but is unrecognized in the current release.

Sounds like those demo projects are out of date.

Can you confirm my suspicion that the documentation is out-of-date in regard to routing?

Re: the official docs I think both the API and Guides can be considered current, but be aware that not every ember feature has API docs so far. For sure there are many out-of-date sources floating around. Trek has been working to compile a list of out-of-date sources so that we can reach out to authors for a refresh. Here on Stack Overflow, anything related to the old router should now be tagged https://stackguides.com/questions/tagged/ember-old-router.

If starting out with Ember.js as it is RIGHT NOW (1.0.0-pre.4), with no history to contend with, what routing mechanism should I be looking at, and is there any tutorial or simple sample app that demonstrates and runs against this version of the library?

The ember team has been putting a lot of effort over the past few months into the Ember.js Guides - AFAIK they are all up to date WRT (1.0.0-pre.4) and are becoming more solid every day. They include a lot of detail about the new Router - see Ember.js - Routing for the most up-to-date information.

As for tutorials, there are several new ones that are worth a look. Check out this SO post for a few recommendations: Could someone point me to an ember.js project that uses the latest routing system? Bonus points if it uses ember-data as well

Answer 2

tip: build your own version of ember from master branch - they fixed few bugs :)