ember-data 2.0 and Offline - ember.js

Question

I am creating a new ember app. I want to use the newest version of ember-data. (ember-data 2.0). I want it to be a mobile webapp. Therefore it must handle variable network access and even offline.
I want it to store all data locally and use that data when it goes offline so the user gets the same experience regardless of the network connectivity.
Is ember-data 2.0 capable of handling the offline case? Do I just make an adapter that detects offline/online and then do....?
Or do I have to make my own in-between layer to hide the offline handling from ember-data?
Are there any libraries out there that has this problem solved? I have found some, but are there any that is up to date with the latest version of ember-data?

Answer 1

If device will go offline and user will try to transition to route, for which model is not loaded yet, you will have an error. You need to handle these situations yourself. For example, you may create a nice page with error message and a refresh button. To do this, you need:
First, In application route, create error action (it will catch errors during model hook), and when error occurs, save transition in memory. Do not try to use local storage for this task, it will save only properties, while we need an actual transition object. Use either window.failedTransition or inject in controllers and routes a simple object, which will contain a failed transition.
actions: {
error: function (error, transition) {
transition.abort();
/**
* You need to correct this line, as you don't have memoryStorage
* injected. Use window.failedTransition, or create a simple
* storage, Iy's up to you.
*/
this.get('memoryStorage').set('failedTransition', transition);
return true; //This line is important, or the whole idea will not work
}
}
Second, Create an error controller and template. In error controller define an action, retry:
actions: {
retry: function () {
/**
* Correct this line too
*/
var transition = this.get('memoryStorage').getAndRemove('failedTransition');
if (transition !== undefined) {
transition.retry();
}
}
}
Finally, In error template display a status and an error text (if any available) and a button with that action to retry a transition.
This is a simple solution for simple case (device gone offline just for few seconds), maybe you will need something way more complex. If you want your application to fully work without a network access, than you may want to use local storage (there is an addon https://github.com/funkensturm/ember-local-storage) for all data and sync it with server from time to time (i.e sync data every 10 sec in background). Unfortunately I didn't try such things, but I think it is possible.