redux undo/redo

simple undo/redo functionality for redux state containers

Protip: You can use the redux-undo-boilerplate to quickly get started with redux-undo.

Switching from 0.x to 1.0 (beta): Make sure to update your programs to the latest History API.

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This README is about the new 1.0-beta branch of redux-undo, if you are using or plan on using 0.6, check out the 0.6 branch

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Installation

npm install --save redux-undo@beta

API

import undoable from 'redux-undo';
undoable(reducer)
undoable(reducer, config)

Making your reducers undoable

redux-undo is a reducer enhancer (higher-order reducer), it provides the undoable function, which takes an existing reducer and a configuration object and enhances your existing reducer with undo functionality.

Note: If you were accessing state.counter before, you have to access state.counter.present after wrapping your reducer with undoable.

To install, firstly import redux-undo:

// Redux utility functions
import { combineReducers } from 'redux';
// redux-undo higher-order reducer
import undoable from 'redux-undo';

Then, add undoable to your reducer(s) like this:

combineReducers({
  counter: undoable(counter)
})

A configuration can be passed like this:

combineReducers({
  counter: undoable(counter, {
    limit: 10 // set a limit for the history
  })
})

History API

Wrapping your reducer with undoable makes the state look like this:

{
  past: [...pastStatesHere...],
  present: {...currentStateHere...},
  future: [...futureStatesHere...]
}

Now you can get your current state like this: state.present

And you can access all past states (e.g. to show a history) like this: state.past

Undo/Redo Actions

Firstly, import the undo/redo action creators:

import { ActionCreators } from 'redux-undo';

Then, you can use store.dispatch() and the undo/redo action creators to perform undo/redo operations on your state:

store.dispatch(ActionCreators.undo()) // undo the last action
store.dispatch(ActionCreators.redo()) // redo the last action

store.dispatch(ActionCreators.jump(-2)) // undo 2 steps
store.dispatch(ActionCreators.jump(5)) // redo 5 steps

store.dispatch(ActionCreators.jumpToPast(index)) // jump to requested index in the past[] array
store.dispatch(ActionCreators.jumpToFuture(index)) // jump to requested index in the future[] array

store.dispatch(ActionCreators.clearHistory()) // [beta only] Remove all items from past[] and future[] arrays

Configuration

A configuration object can be passed to undoable() like this (values shown are default values):

undoable(reducer, {
  limit: false, // set to a number to turn on a limit for the history

  filter: () => true, // see `Filtering Actions` section

  undoType: ActionTypes.UNDO, // define a custom action type for this undo action
  redoType: ActionTypes.REDO, // define a custom action type for this redo action

  jumpType: ActionTypes.JUMP, // define custom action type for this jump action

  jumpToPastType: ActionTypes.JUMP_TO_PAST, // define custom action type for this jumpToPast action
  jumpToFutureType: ActionTypes.JUMP_TO_FUTURE, // define custom action type for this jumpToFuture action

  clearHistoryType: ActionTypes.CLEAR_HISTORY, // [beta only] define custom action type for this clearHistory action

  initTypes: ['@@redux-undo/INIT'] // history will be (re)set upon init action type

  debug: false, // set to `true` to turn on debugging
})

Note: If you want to use just the initTypes functionality, but not import the whole redux-undo library, use redux-recycle!

Initial State and History

You can use your redux store to set an initial history for your undoable reducers:

import { createStore } from 'redux';

const initialHistory = {
  past: [0, 1, 2, 3],
  present: 4,
  future: [5, 6, 7]
}

const store = createStore(undoable(counter), initialHistory);

Or just set the current state like you're used to with Redux. Redux-undo will create the history for you:

import { createStore } from 'redux';

const store = createStore(undoable(counter), {foo: 'bar'});

// will make the state look like this:
{
  past: [],
  present: {foo: 'bar'},
  future: []
}

Filtering Actions

If you don't want to include every action in the undo/redo history, you can add a filter function to undoable. redux-undo provides you with the includeAction and excludeAction helpers for basic filtering.

They should be imported like this:

import undoable, { includeAction, excludeAction } from 'redux-undo';

Now you can use the helper functions:

undoable(reducer, { filter: includeAction(SOME_ACTION) })
undoable(reducer, { filter: excludeAction(SOME_ACTION) })

// they even support Arrays:

undoable(reducer, { filter: includeAction([SOME_ACTION, SOME_OTHER_ACTION]) })
undoable(reducer, { filter: excludeAction([SOME_ACTION, SOME_OTHER_ACTION]) })

Note: Since beta4, only actions resulting in a new state are recorded. This means the (now deprecated) distinctState() filter is auto-applied.

Custom filters

If you want to create your own filter, pass in a function with the signature (action, currentState, previousHistory). For example:

undoable(reducer, {
  filter: function filterActions(action, currentState, previousHistory) {
    return action.type === SOME_ACTION; // only add to history if action is SOME_ACTION
  }
})

// The entire `history` state is available to your filter, so you can make
// decisions based on past or future states:

undoable(reducer, {
  filter: function filterState(action, currentState, previousHistory) {
    let { past, present, future } = previousHistory;
    return future.length === 0; // only add to history if future is empty
  }
})

Ignoring Actions

When implementing a filter function, it only prevents the old state from being stored in the history. filter does not prevent the present state from being updated.

If you want to ignore an action completely, as in, not even update the present state, you can make use of redux-ignore.

It can be used like this:

import { ignoreActions } from 'redux-ignore'

ignoreActions(
  undoable(reducer),
  [IGNORED_ACTION, ANOTHER_IGNORED_ACTION]
)

// or define your own function:

ignoreActions(
  undoable(reducer),
  (action) => action.type === SOME_ACTION // only add to history if action is SOME_ACTION
)

What is this magic? How does it work?

Have a read of the Implementing Undo History recipe in the Redux documents, which explains in detail how redux-undo works.

Gitter Chat / Support

If you have a question or just want to discuss something with other redux-undo users/maintainers, chat with the community on gitter.im/omnidan/redux-undo

License

MIT, see LICENSE.md for more information.