---
title: Pagination
slug: pagination
date: 0012/01/01
number: 12
contents: Learn more about Meteor's subscriptions, and how we can use them to control data.|Implement infinite-style pagination.|Use the `iron-router-progress` package to implement a nifty iOS-style progress bar.|Create a special subscription to deal with direct links to posts page.
paragraphs: 67
---

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### Adding More Posts

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~~~js
// Fixture data 
if (Posts.find().count() === 0) {

  //...
  
  Posts.insert({
    title: 'The Meteor Book',
    userId: tom._id,
    author: tom.profile.name,
    url: 'http://themeteorbook.com',
    submitted: now - 12 * 3600 * 1000,
    commentsCount: 0
  });
  
  for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    Posts.insert({
      title: 'Test post #' + i,
      author: sacha.profile.name,
      userId: sacha._id,
      url: 'http://google.com/?q=test-' + i,
      submitted: now - i * 3600 * 1000,
      commentsCount: 0
    });
  }
}
~~~
<%= caption "server/fixtures.js" %>
<%= highlight "15~24" %>

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<%= screenshot "12-1", "Displaying dummy data. " %>

<%= commit "12-1", "Added enough posts that pagination is necessary." %>

### Infinite Pagination

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~~~js
Router.configure({
  layoutTemplate: 'layout',
  loadingTemplate: 'loading',
  waitOn: function() { 
    return [Meteor.subscribe('notifications')]
  }
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "5" %>

////

~~~js
Router.map(function() {
  //...
  
  this.route('postsList', {
    path: '/:postsLimit?'
  });
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "5" %>

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~~~js
Router.map(function() {
  //..
  
  this.route('postsList', {
    path: '/:postsLimit?',
    waitOn: function() {
      var postsLimit = parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || 5; 
      return Meteor.subscribe('posts', {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: postsLimit});
    }
  });
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "6~9" %>

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~~~js
Meteor.publish('posts', function(options) {
  return Posts.find({}, options);
});

Meteor.publish('comments', function(postId) {
  return Comments.find({postId: postId});
});

Meteor.publish('notifications', function() {
  return Notifications.find({userId: this.userId});
});
~~~
<%= caption "server/publications.js" %>
<%= highlight "1~3" %>

<% note do %>

### Passing Parameters

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~~~js
Meteor.publish('posts', function(sort, limit) {
  return Posts.find({}, {sort: sort, limit: limit});
});
~~~

<% end %>

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~~~js
Router.map(function() {
  this.route('postsList', {
    path: '/:postsLimit?',
    waitOn: function() {
      var limit = parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || 5; 
      return Meteor.subscribe('posts', {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: limit});
    },
    data: function() {
      var limit = parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || 5; 
      return {
        posts: Posts.find({}, {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: limit})
      };
    }
  });
  
  //..
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "8~13" %>

////

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~~~js
Router.configure({
  layoutTemplate: 'layout',
  loadingTemplate: 'loading',
  waitOn: function() { 
    return [Meteor.subscribe('notifications')]
  }
});

Router.map(function() {
  //...

  this.route('postsList', {
    path: '/:postsLimit?',
    waitOn: function() {
      var limit = parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || 5; 
      return Meteor.subscribe('posts', {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: limit});
    },
    data: function() {
      var limit = parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || 5; 
      return {
        posts: Posts.find({}, {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: limit})
      };
    }
  });
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "5, 11~21" %>

<%= commit "12-2", "Augmented the postsList route to take a limit." %>

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<%= screenshot "12-2", "Controlling the number of posts on the homepage. " %>

<% note do %>

### Why Not Pages?

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<% end %>

### Creating a Route Controller

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~~~js
PostsListController = RouteController.extend({
  template: 'postsList',
  increment: 5, 
  limit: function() { 
    return parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || this.increment; 
  },
  findOptions: function() {
    return {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: this.limit()};
  },
  waitOn: function() {
    return Meteor.subscribe('posts', this.findOptions());
  },
  data: function() {
    return {posts: Posts.find({}, this.findOptions())};
  }
});

Router.map(function() {
  //...

  this.route('postsList', {
    path: '/:postsLimit?',
    controller: PostsListController
  });
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>

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<%= commit "12-3", "Refactored postsLists route into a RouteController." %>

### Adding A Load More Link

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~~~js
PostsListController = RouteController.extend({
  template: 'postsList',
  increment: 5, 
  limit: function() { 
    return parseInt(this.params.postsLimit) || this.increment; 
  },
  findOptions: function() {
    return {sort: {submitted: -1}, limit: this.limit()};
  },
  waitOn: function() {
    return Meteor.subscribe('posts', this.findOptions());
  },
  posts: function() {
    return Posts.find({}, this.findOptions());
  },
  data: function() {
    var hasMore = this.posts().fetch().length === this.limit();
    var nextPath = this.route.path({postsLimit: this.limit() + this.increment});
    return {
      posts: this.posts(),
      nextPath: hasMore ? nextPath : null
    };
  }
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "16~23" %>

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~~~html
<template name="postsList">
  <div class="posts">
    {{#each posts}}
      {{> postItem}}
    {{/each}}
    
    {{#if nextPath}}
      <a class="load-more" href="{{nextPath}}">Load more</a>
    {{/if}}
  </div>
</template>
~~~
<%= caption "client/views/posts/posts_list.html" %>
<%= highlight "7~10" %>

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<%= screenshot "12-3", "The “load more” button. " %>

<%= commit "12-4", "Added nextPath() to the controller and use it to step through posts." %>

<% note do %>

### Count vs Length

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<% end %>

### A Better Progress Bar

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~~~bash
mrt add iron-router-progress
~~~
<%= caption "bash console" %>

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~~~js
Router.map(function() {
 
  //...
  
  this.route('postSubmit', {
    path: '/submit',
    disableProgress: true
  });
});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "7" %>

<%= commit "12-5", "Use the iron-router-progress package to make pagination nicer." %>

### Accessing Any Post

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<%= screenshot "12-4", "An empty template." %>

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~~~js
Meteor.publish('posts', function(options) {
  return Posts.find({}, options);
});

Meteor.publish('singlePost', function(id) {
  return id && Posts.find(id);
});
~~~
<%= caption "server/publications.js" %>
<%= highlight "5~7" %>

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~~~js
Router.map(function() {

  //...
    
  this.route('postPage', {
    path: '/posts/:_id',
    waitOn: function() {
      return [
        Meteor.subscribe('singlePost', this.params._id),
        Meteor.subscribe('comments', this.params._id)
      ];
    },
    data: function() { return Posts.findOne(this.params._id); }
  });

  this.route('postEdit', {
    path: '/posts/:_id/edit',
    waitOn: function() { 
      return Meteor.subscribe('singlePost', this.params._id);
    },
    data: function() { return Posts.findOne(this.params._id); }    
  });
  
  /...

});
~~~
<%= caption "lib/router.js" %>
<%= highlight "7~12,18~20" %>

<%= commit "12-6","Use a single post subscription to ensure that we can always see the right post." %>

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