Ember.PromiseModel: Resolving multiple models in one route

Proposals
1

A pattern I’ve found myself using a lot is when I need to load multiple models in a single route. This is usually due to a form that needs collections of data to present a choice to the user (a drop down, checkboxes, etc). I’ve typically implemented it using an Ember.RSVP.hash as the route’s model, and then setupController to cherry pick the properties and set them on the controller. See http://emberjs.jsbin.com/zirot/5/edit for an example of this pattern.

I’ve done this enough times now, that I’d like to do it all in one step, rather than needing setup controller. I’ve come up with a solution I think I like, and spiked an implementation tonight. Here’s the same example using my Ember.PromiseModel solution: http://emberjs.jsbin.com/zirot/4/edit.

How do others handle this case? Would this be useful to anyone else?

1 Like
2

I usually just load all the additional models in the afterModel hook suing RSVP.hash or RSVP.all (and sometimes both, chained).

3

We currently have a mixin called FetchControl that lets you declare complex chains of fetch dependencies:

expirableObjects: {
  show: [
    [ 'ticket', 'ticket.requester' ],
    'comments',
    'macros'
  ]
}

will fetch ticket, comments, and macros simultaneously, then ticket.requester after ticket is fetched, and resolved only when all are done. We wrote this for Ember 0.9, so it doesn’t really have “model” semantics – it’s behavior, not a “thing.” We’ll be reworking it into something more like a richer RSVP.hash, at which point we’ll gladly share it. It may be, though, that RSVP.all and RSVP.hash are sufficient for our needs. The above would be

RSVP.all(
  ticket.fetch().then(function(t) { return t.get('requester').fetch() }),
  comments.fetch(),
  macros.fetch()
)