Deep linking and browser history support for web applications

Abstract

The disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for Web applications developed using a client-side scripting language such as ECMAScript®, JavaScript®, ActionScript®, Jscript®, or the like and, more particularly, to a system with a methodology for deep linking and browser history support for such Web applications.

1 . A method comprising:
 at a computing device comprising one or more processors and memory storing a client-side web application executed by the one or more processors to perform the method, perform operations comprising:   obtaining, from at least one controller of the client-side web application, a list of one or more routes, each route, in the list, specifying a match pattern and a name of a callable function of the at least one controller;   receiving a Uniform Resource Locator (URL);   in response to receiving the URL, determining whether a match pattern of a route in the list of one or more routes matches the URL; and   in response to determining that a match pattern of a particular route in the list of one or more routes matches the URL, invoking the callable function named by the particular route.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the URL comprises receiving notification of a Document Object Model (DOM) event. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the match pattern of the route matches the URL comprises:
 determining a particular portion of the URL; and   determining whether the match pattern of the route matches the particular portion of the URL.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein invoking the callable function of the particular route comprises passing, as one or more arguments to the callable function, one or more string tokens parsed from the URL. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller of the client-side web application is implemented by a client-side scripting language selected from the group consisting of ECMAScript, JavaScript, ActionScript, and Jscript. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the client-side web application comprises a plurality of device profiles, each device profile of the plurality of device profiles specifying one or more models, one or more views, and one or more controllers of that device profile; and wherein the operations further comprise the operations of:
 prior to obtaining the list of one or more routes from the at least one controller:
 querying at least one of the device profiles to determine which device profile of the plurality of device profiles is the active device profile on the computing device, and 
 loading the one or more models, the one or more views, and the one or more controllers of the active device profile; and 
   wherein the one or more controllers of the active device profile comprises the at least one controller.   
     
     
         7 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 obtaining, from at least one controller of a client-side web application, a list of one or more routes, each route, in the list, specifying a match pattern and a name of a callable function of the at least one controller;   receiving a Uniform Resource Locator (URL);   in response to receiving the URL, determining whether a match pattern of a route in the list of one or more routes matches the URL; and   in response to determining that a match pattern of a particular route in the list of one or more routes matches the URL, invoking the callable function named by the particular route.   
     
     
         8 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 7 , wherein the operation of receiving the URL comprises the operation of receiving notification of a Document Object Model (DOM) event. 
     
     
         9 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 7 , wherein the operation of determining whether the match pattern of the route matches the URL comprises the operations of:
 determining a particular portion of the URL; and   determining whether the match pattern of the route matches the particular portion of the URL.   
     
     
         10 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 7 , wherein the operation of invoking the callable function of the particular route comprises the operation of passing, as one or more arguments to the callable function, one or more string tokens parsed from the URL. 
     
     
         11 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 7 , wherein the at least one controller of the client-side web application is implemented by a client-side scripting language selected from the group consisting of ECMAScript, JavaScript, ActionScript, and Jscript. 
     
     
         12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the client-side web application comprises a plurality of device profiles, each device profile of the plurality of device profiles specifying one or more models, one or more views, and one or more controllers of that device profile; and   the operations further comprise the operations of:
 prior to obtaining the list of one or more routes from the at least one controller:
 querying at least one of the device profiles to determine which device profile of the plurality of device profiles is the active device profile on the computing device, and 
 loading the one or more models, the one or more views, and the one or more controllers of the active device profile; and 
 
   the one or more controllers of the active device profile comprises the at least one controller.   
     
     
         13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media are components of one or more server computing devices that implement a web site from which the instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media can be downloaded. 
     
     
         14 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors;   one or more storage media storing one or more computer programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more computer programs comprising instructions configured for:   obtaining, from at least one controller of a client-side web application, a list of one or more routes, each route, in the list, specifying a match pattern and a name of a callable function of the at least one controller;   receiving a Uniform Resource Locator (URL);   in response to receiving the URL, determining whether a match pattern of a route in the list of one or more routes matches the URL; and   in response to determining that a match pattern of a particular route in the list of one or more routes matches the URL, invoking the callable function named by the particular route.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions configured for receiving the URL comprise instructions configured for receiving notification of a Document Object Model (DOM) event. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions configured for determining whether the match pattern of the route matches the URL comprise instructions configured for:
 determining a particular portion of the URL; and   determining whether the match pattern of the route matches the particular portion of the URL.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions configured for invoking the callable function of the particular route comprise instructions configured for passing, as one or more arguments to the callable function, one or more string tokens parsed from the URL. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one controller of the client-side web application is implemented by a client-side scripting language selected from the group consisting of ECMAScript, JavaScript, ActionScript, and Jscript. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the client-side web application comprises a plurality of device profiles, each device profile of the plurality of device profiles specifying one or more models, one or more views, and one or more controllers of that device profile; and   the instructions are further configured for:
 prior to obtaining the list of one or more routes from the at least one controller:
 querying at least one of the device profiles to determine which device profile of the plurality of device profiles is the active device profile on the computing device, and 
 loading the one or more models, the one or more views, and the one or more controllers of the active device profile; and 
 
   the one or more controllers of the active device profile comprises the at least one controller.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the one or more storage media are components of one or more server computing devices that implement a web site from which the instructions stored on the one or more storage media can be downloaded.