This gem provides developers a simple way to capture a users navigational path across multiple routes in their app. So for example, if a user is looking at a specific order(orders_controller), and they click on a product description(products_controller), the back link on this page would take them back to the order they were looking at. If the user arrived at the product view from the index action on the products controller the same back link would take them back to the index view they were on previously.
Add this line to your application's Gemfile:
gem 'backpedal'And then execute:
$ bundle
Or install it yourself as:
$ gem install backpedal
Usage is simple:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
before_action :capture_path, if: :current_user
endThis will append the referring path to the navigation stack used by Backpedal to create a back link.
<%# app/users/show.html.erb %>
<%= back_link %>
<h1>Users#show</h1>
<p> Here is where your users would appear be if you had some </p>Have a specific path in mind? Try this:
<%# app/users/show.html.erb %>
<%= back_link(users_path) %>
<h1>Users#show</h1>
<p> Here is where your users would appear be if you had some </p>Wish to backpedal from the controller? Use the stepback method in your controller
Class PagesController
def create
@page = Page.new(pages_params)
if @page.save
flash[:success] = "Yahoo! now to step back one level"
stepback
else
"something else"
end
end
endUsing stepback on a multi-step form or wizard, and want to redirect back to before it all began? Tell stepback how many pages you want to stepback with an optional argument: stepback(3)
What if you want a specific controller action to wipe out the navigation stack and restart at the current action? Then set a before_action filter to dissolve the navigation stack.
class SomeController < ActionController.base
before_action :dissolve, only: [:index]
endThis will dissolve the navigation stack and set the current controller action as the base or starting point
Ok so wait, what if I have some controller actions I don't want appended to backpedal stack? Check this out:
#config/initializers/backpedal.rb
Backpedal.configure do |config|
config.skipped_verbs = %w[new edit destroy suspend resend_invitation etc]
endIf you add the initializer, it will overwrite the default skipped http verbs(new, edit, destroy). So make sure you include those if you want to skip those controller actions.
The gem contains 4 simple locales for English, Spanish, French and German. If you want to add your own, use
backpedal:
back: <your equivalent of "back" here>Are you finding it difficult to keep track of the navigation stack? Use the stack helper to print the navigation into any view.
<%# app/layouts/application.html.erb %>
<body>
<%= stack %>
<%= yield %>Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/greyoxide/backpedal.
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.