Ok, I made this example for you.
Start with HTML code (index.html):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Stackoverflow</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="sof.js"> </script>
</head>
<body onLoad="load();">
<ul id="menu">
<li><a href="/home">home</a></li>
<li><a href="/about">about</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog">blog</a></li>
<li><a href="/photos">photos</a></li>
</ul>
<button onclick="back ();">Back</button>
<button onclick="ff ();">Forward</button>
<div>
Action: <span id="action"></span><br/>
Url: <span id="url"></span><br/>
Description: <span id="description"></span>
</div>
</body>
</html>
And then the javascript file (sof.js):
var menu, url, description, action, data, historyState, act;
function $ (id) {return document.getElementById (id);}
// Updates infos
function update (state) {
action.innerHTML = act;
url.innerHTML = state.url;
description.innerHTML = state.description;
}
// Goes back
function back () {
act = 'Back';
history.back ();
}
// Goes forward
function ff () {
act = 'Forward';
history.forward ();
}
function load () {
menu = $ ('menu');
url = $ ('url');
description = $ ('description');
action = $ ('action');
// State to save
historyState = {
home: {
description: 'Homepage'
} ,
about: {
description: 'Infos about this website'
} ,
blog: {
description: 'My personal blog'
} ,
photos: {
description: 'View my photos'
}
};
// This is fired when history.back or history.forward is called
window.addEventListener ('popstate', function (event) {
var hs = history.state;
if ((hs === null) || (hs === undefined)) hs = event.state;
if ((hs === null) || (hs === undefined)) hs = window.event.state;
if (hs !== null) update (hs);
});
menu.addEventListener ('click', function (event) {
var el = event.target;
// Prevents url reload
event.preventDefault ();
// Handles anchors only
if (el.nodeName === 'A') {
// Gets url of the page
historyState[el.innerHTML].url = el.getAttribute ('href');
// Creates a new history instance and it saves state on it
history.pushState (historyState[el.innerHTML], null, el.href);
act = 'Normal navigation';
update (historyState[el.innerHTML]);
}
});
// Handles first visit navigation
var index = location.pathname.split ('/');
index = index[index.length-1];
if (index !== '') {
historyState[index].url = location.pathname;
history.pushState (historyState[index], null, location.pathname);
act = 'First visit';
update (historyState[index]);
}
}
And a .htaccess for direct request:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^home$ ./index.html
RewriteRule ^about$ ./index.html
RewriteRule ^blog$ ./index.html
RewriteRule ^photos$ ./index.htm
Each time that an anchor is clicked, a new history instance is pushed onto history stack and an object (called state) is saved with it: the local url is changed but the loading is stopped by 'event.preventDefault()' method.
Further more, some information (as URL, Description and Action) are updated.
Then, with 'back' and 'forward' buttons, you can travel through the history and use 'history.state' (or event.state or window.event.state, it depends on browsers) to retrieve the current state.
And, in the end, if you type the entire url directly into the address bar, it works as the same with the above .htaccess ;)
I hope this example helps you ;)
Ciao
Wilk
PS: For further details:
- Manipulating the browser history
- History object
- History howto
