The HTML5 History API is an interface for manipulating browser history. It implements refresh-free SPA routing through pushState, replaceState, and popstate. Its core functions include: 1. history.pushState() adds a new history, suitable for page switching; 2. history.replaceState() replaces the current record, suitable for updating the URL without adding new history; 3. window.onpopstate listens to the browser's forward and back events. Front-end routing implements navigation by intercepting link clicks, calling pushState to update the URL, loading content based on the path and listening to popstate. The server needs to configure the return of the unified entry file to avoid 404 errors.
Front-end routing is very common in single-page applications (SPAs), and HTML5's History API is a key technology to implement this refresh-free page switching. It allows us to modify the URL of the browser address bar without reloading the page, and can be used normally with the browser's forward and back buttons.

What is the HTML5 History API?
HTML5's History API provides several key methods to manipulate the browser's history stack, the most commonly used is:

-
history.pushState()
: Add a new history. -
history.replaceState()
: Replace the current history. -
window.onpopstate
: Listen to events triggered when the user clicks the forward/back button.
These methods do not trigger page refresh and are ideal for SPAs to update URLs when switching between different "pages".
For example, when the user switches from /home
to /about
, you can use pushState
to write the new URL into history, so that the user can load the corresponding content correctly when refreshing the page or sharing the link.

The difference between pushState and replaceState
The two methods look similar, but have slightly different uses:
- pushState : A new entry will be added to the browser history. Suitable for users to switch to a new page and want to retain the ability to return to the previous page.
- replaceState : will replace the current history entry. It is suitable to update the URL without creating a new history, such as gradually updating the path during the form filling process.
Their parameter structure is the same, both are (state, title, url)
, where:
-
state
is a state object that can be used to hold data related to this URL. -
title
is usually ignored, just pass an empty string. -
url
is the path to be displayed in the address bar.
For example:
history.pushState({ page: 'about' }, '', '/about');
After execution, the address bar becomes /about
, but the page is not refreshed.
How to monitor browser navigation behavior?
popstate
event is triggered when the user clicks the forward or back button of the browser. We can update the page content by listening to this event.
window.addEventListener('popstate', (event) => { const state = event.state; // Switch page content based on state or current URL});
It should be noted that calling pushState
or replaceState
will not trigger the popstate
event, and it will only be triggered by the user actually clicking the navigation button.
How to use front-end routing in combination with History API?
Modern front-end frameworks (such as React Router and Vue Router) all have built-in routing mechanisms based on History API. If you implement a simple front-end routing yourself, the general process is as follows:
- Block all link clicks to prevent default jumps.
- Use
pushState
to update the URL. - Load the corresponding component or content according to the new URL.
- Listen to
popstate
events to handle browser forward/backward.
Simple example:
document.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(link => { link.addEventListener('click', e => { e.preventDefault(); const path = link.getAttribute('href'); history.pushState({ path }, '', path); navigate(path); }); }); function navigation(path) { // Here the corresponding content is displayed according to the path}
In addition, the server also needs to configure support to ensure that the entry HTML file (usually index.html
) can be returned no matter which path you access, otherwise directly accessing /about
will result in a 404.
Basically that's it. The History API is not complicated, but it is very practical when building SPA routes. It works well just by paying attention to compatibility (not very good IE support) and front-end coordination issues.
The above is the detailed content of HTML5 history API for single page applications. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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