How to use multiple models with a single route in EmberJS / Ember Data?

Question

From reading the docs, it looks like you have to (or should) assign a model to a route like so:

App.PostRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
    model: function() {
         


        

Answer 1

https://stackoverflow.com/a/16466427/2637573 is fine for related models. However, with recent version of Ember CLI and Ember Data, there is a simpler approach for unrelated models:

import Ember from 'ember';
import DS from 'ember-data';

export default Ember.Route.extend({
  setupController: function(controller, model) {
    this._super(controller,model);
    var model2 = DS.PromiseArray.create({
      promise: this.store.find('model2')
    });
    model2.then(function() {
      controller.set('model2', model2)
    });
  }
});

If you only want to retrieve an object's property for model2, use DS.PromiseObject instead of DS.PromiseArray:

import Ember from 'ember';
import DS from 'ember-data';

export default Ember.Route.extend({
  setupController: function(controller, model) {
    this._super(controller,model);
    var model2 = DS.PromiseObject.create({
      promise: this.store.find('model2')
    });
    model2.then(function() {
      controller.set('model2', model2.get('value'))
    });
  }
});

Answer 2

For a while I was using Em.RSVP.hash, however the problem I ran into was that I didn't want my view to wait until all models were loaded before rendering. However, I found a great (but relatively unknown) solution thanks to the folks at Novelys that involves making use of the Ember.PromiseProxyMixin:

Let's say you have a view that has three distinct visual sections. Each of these sections should be backed by its own model. The model backing the "splash" content at the top of the view is small and will load quickly, so you can load that one normally:

Create a route main-page.js:

import Ember from 'ember';

export default Ember.Route.extend({
    model: function() {
        return this.store.find('main-stuff');
    }
});

Then you can create a corresponding Handlebars template main-page.hbs:

<h1>My awesome page!</h1>
<ul>
{{#each thing in model}}
    <li>{{thing.name}} is really cool.</li>
{{/each}}
</ul>
<section>
    <h1>Reasons I Love Cheese</h1>
</section>
<section>
    <h1>Reasons I Hate Cheese</h1>
</section>

So let's say in your template you want to have separate sections about your love/hate relationship with cheese, each (for some reason) backed by its own model. You have many records in each model with extensive details relating to each reason, however you'd like the content on top to render quickly. This is where the {{render}} helper comes in. You can update your template as so:

<h1>My awesome page!</h1>
<ul>
{{#each thing in model}}
    <li>{{thing.name}} is really cool.</li>
{{/each}}
</ul>
<section>
    <h1>Reasons I Love Cheese</h1>
    {{render 'love-cheese'}}
</section>
<section>
    <h1>Reasons I Hate Cheese</h1>
    {{render 'hate-cheese'}}
</section>

Now you'll need to create controllers and templates for each. Since they're effectively identical for this example, I'll just use one.

Create a controller called love-cheese.js:

import Ember from 'ember';

export default Ember.ObjectController.extend(Ember.PromiseProxyMixin, {
    init: function() {
        this._super();
        var promise = this.store.find('love-cheese');
        if (promise) {
            return this.set('promise', promise);
        }
    }
});

You'll notice that we are using the PromiseProxyMixin here, which makes the controller promise-aware. When the controller is initialized, we indicate that the promise should be loading the love-cheese model via Ember Data. You'll need to set this property on the controller's promise property.

Now, create a template called love-cheese.hbs:

{{#if isPending}}
  <p>Loading...</p>
{{else}}
  {{#each item in promise._result }}
    <p>{{item.reason}}</p>
  {{/each}}
{{/if}}

In your template, you'll be able to render different content depending on the state of promise. When your page initially loads, your "Reasons I Love Cheese" section will display Loading.... When the promise is loaded, it will render all the reasons associated for each record of your model.

Each section will load independently and not block the main content from rendering immediately.

This is a simplistic example, but I hope everyone else finds it as useful as I did.

If you're looking to do something similar for many rows of content, you may find the Novelys example above even more relevant. If not, the above should work fine for you.