Publish Collections Based on URL in Meteor.js

Question

Pseudocode:

Meteor.publish 'stuff', ->
    if this.userId
        return doStuffForLoggedInUsers(this.userId)
    else if url matches '/some_url/:user_api_key'
        return doStuffForApiKey(apiKey)
    else
        return null

A solution using Iron Router would be optimal, but a non routing framework solution would also help.

Answer 1

Perhaps something like this:

client

Router.map(function() {
  this.route('postsWithKey', {
    path: '/posts/:apiKey',
    template: 'posts',
    before: function() {
      this.subscribe('posts', this.params.apiKey);
    }
  });

  return this.route('posts', {
    before: function() {
      this.subscribe('posts');
    }
  });
});

server

Meteor.publish('posts', function(apiKey) {
  check(apiKey, Match.Optional(String));

  if (apiKey) {
    return Posts.find({key: apiKey});
  } else if (this.userId) {
    return Posts.find({owner: this.userId});
  }
});

---

When the route with an api key is run, the client will activate the posts subscription with the key. On the server, one cursor is returned if the key exists, otherwise a different cursor is returned if the user is logged in. You could do more sophisticated validation of the key - e.g. throw an error if it doesn't exist in the database.