Backable

A little gem for supporting back history in your applicaton. It uses a simple request-parameter 'back' with every back-path separated with a '|'.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'backable'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Usage

To use this plugin. You can build up the backable stack via the controller method backable_push. To pass the history to the next page remember to use backable_url_for instead of url_for.

You can configure the Backable.fallback_url, which is called when nothing is on the stack.

Backable.fallback_url

controller

class FooBarsController < ApplicationController

  def index
    backable_push([:foo_bars])			#< push the back-url. This can be a string url
    ..
  end

  def update
    @foo_bar = FooBar.find(params[:id])
    if @foo_bar.update(params[:foo_bar])
      redirect_to backable_back_path, notice: "Data is saved"
    end
  end

end

Available controller methods:

Method	description
backable_push	Pushes the given url to the stack
backable_url_for	url_for replacement which includes the 'back' parameter
backable_back_path	Returns the path to the previous page
backable_param	Returns the back parameter for the given stack (internal method)
backable_history	Returns and array of the previous paths
backable_future	Returns the future paths (pushed on the stack in this request)

views

To make this all work you need to replace all links in your application (link_to) to backable_link_to

<%= backable_link_to( [:edit, @item]) %>

To use this with buttons etc.. there's also the backable_url_for method

You can simple add a back-button via backable_link_to_back. This link goes back to previous page in the stack.

<%= backable_link_to_back %>

To remember your back-stack in forms you should use the backable_form_item

<%= backable_form_item %>

Available view-helper methods:

Method	description
backable_url_for	url_for replacement which includes the 'back' parameter
backable_back_path	Returns the path to the previous page
backable_form_item	A hidden form element that includes the 'back' parameter
backable_link_to	link_to replacement which includes the 'back' parameter
backable_link_to_back	A link_to call to the previous page (including the text t(backable.back))
backable_history	Returns and array of the previous paths
backable_future	Returns the future paths (pushed on the stack in this request)

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.