Case insensitivity with angularjs ui-router - angularjs

Question

I'm building a new angularJS app, based from the AngularJS SPA Visual studio template (http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/5af151b2-9ed2-4809-bfe8-27566bfe7d83)
this uses ui-router (https://github.com/angular-ui/ui-router) for its routing.
however, it seems to be case sensitive.
Any idea how I would instruct angular/ui-router to ignore the case of the url parameter?
case sensitivity doesn't matter while in the app, though should a user type a url to enter the application at a specific page, we need to ensure that about is also the same as aBouT
Cheers

Answer 1

You can now configure ui-router to be case insensitive directly. Here is how you can use it:
angular.module('main', ['ui.router']);
angular.module('main').config(['$urlMatcherFactoryProvider', '$stateProvider', '$urlRouterProvider',
function($urlMatcherFactory, $stateProvider, $urlRouter) {
$urlMatcherFactory.caseInsensitive(true);
$urlMatcherFactory.strictMode(false);
$stateProvider.state('foo', {
url: '/foo',
template: '<b>The Foo View</b>'
});
$stateProvider.state('bar', {
url: '/bar',
template: '<b>The Bar View</b>'
});
$stateProvider.state('nomatch', {
url: '/nomatch',
template: '<b>No match found View</b>'
});
$urlRouter.otherwise('/nomatch');
}
]);
In the latest release (0.2.11), this is broken. A fix has been pushed already that can be seen at Github. So, currently, the best solution is to clone ui-router and build the head of master manually. Alternatively, you can just alter the source manually until the next release comes.
UPDATE (11/18/2014):
A release has now been made that incorporates the fix from above so that you no longer have to pull source and build manually. You can view the release on Github or just get the latest build.

Answer 2

Following the link in the comments to the original question, i was able to get the answer I needed.
Before my $stateProvider.state(......) routes I now have this piece of code:
$urlRouterProvider.rule(function ($injector, $location) {
//what this function returns will be set as the $location.url
var path = $location.path(), normalized = path.toLowerCase();
if (path != normalized) {
//instead of returning a new url string, I'll just change the $location.path directly so I don't have to worry about constructing a new url string and so a new state change is not triggered
$location.replace().path(normalized);
}
// because we've returned nothing, no state change occurs
});
Essentially it will toLowerCase() a url that isn't all lowercase already.
Once done, it replaces the url rather than redirects. Then carries on with matching a state.

Answer 3

You shouldn't change how ui-route handles URL matching to accept case insensitive URLs (that will have unexpected problems), but you can attempt to correct URLs for the user automatically when the routes fail.
When ui-route can not match a URL to a route it triggers the otherWise() callback. I'll show you have to redirect using this callback.
The following makes the assumption that all URLs for your app should be in lower case.
var stateHandler = function($urlRouterProvider)
{
$urlRouterProvider.otherwise(function($injector, $location)
{
var url = $location.absUrl();
var redirect = url.toLowerCase();
if(url == redirect)
{
return;
}
$window.location = redirect;
});
};
YourAngularApp.config(['$urlRouterProvider',stateHandler]);
If you need more control, then use a regex to select which URLs need rewriting.

Answer 4

According to official wiki,
https://github.com/angular-ui/ui-router/wiki/URL-Routing
Darren's answer looks right:
app.config(function ($urlRouterProvider) {
// Here's an example of how you might allow case insensitive urls
$urlRouterProvider.rule(function ($injector, $location) {
//what this function returns will be set as the $location.url
var path = $location.path(), normalized = path.toLowerCase();
if (path != normalized) {
//instead of returning a new url string, I'll just change the $location.path directly so I don't have to worry about constructing a new url string and so a new state change is not triggered
$location.replace().path(normalized);
}
// because we've returned nothing, no state change occurs
});}