Question

I currently have a routes object that has several regular pages, and would like also to add a top-level route in which the first parameter is a username.

routes : {
  '/'        : 'main',
  '/login'   : 'login',
  '/about'   : 'about',
  '/create'  : 'create',
  '/:username': 'getUser' //something like this
  '*actions' : 'defaultHandler'
}

1. how would i achieve this?
2. would it be bad design to add the username route while also falling back on actions when no page or user is found?

Answer 1

What happens when you have a user called “about” or “create”? Namespace your routes and avoid the problem:

routes : {
  '/'          : 'main',
  '/a/login'   : 'login', // "a" for "application"
  '/a/about'   : 'about',
  '/a/create'  : 'create',
  '/a/*actions': 'defaultHandler',
  '/:username' : 'getUser'
}

Then you just have to make sure no one has “a” as a username. This approach also protects you against future conflicts if you add more routes.