UI helper function does not have the subscription data in Meteor - meteor

Question

I am fairly new to Meteor.
I have a template helper function which requires to work with data I am publishing from the server side. When the page loads, the value for profile below is undefined. But after that when I execute the same code snippet from browser's console, it works just fine. From what I understand, the template helper is being executed before the data is published. How can I wait until the data is published to run the UI helper?
Here is relevant code.
Helper Function
Template.header.helpers({
me: function() {
var user = Meteor.users.findOne(Meteor.userId());
if (user) {
return Profiles.findOne({
spid: user.profile.spid
});
}
return null;
}
});
HTML Template
<template name="header">
<header class="ui fixed inverted menu">
{{> thumb user=me}}
</header>
</template>
Thumbnail Template
<template name="thumb">
{{#with user}}
<div class="thumb">
<div class="text" style="background-color:{{color}}">
{{initials name}}
</div>
<div class="pic" style="background-image:url('{{pic}}')"></div>
</div>
{{/with}}
</template>
Publications
Meteor.publish('profiles', function() {
return Profiles.all();
});
Meteor.publish('departments', function() {
return Departments.all();
});
Meteor.publish('requestServiceIds', function() {
return Requests.getServiceIds();
});
Meteor.publish('relevantServices', function() {
return Services.getRelevant(this.userId, 5);
});
Router
Router.configure({
layoutTemplate: 'main',
waitOn: function() {
Deps.autorun(function() {
Meteor.subscribe('profiles', Partitioner.group());
Meteor.subscribe('departments', Partitioner.group());
});
}
});
Router.onBeforeAction(function() {
if (this.route.getName() === 'not-authorized') return this.next();
if (!Meteor.userId() || !Cookie.get('TKN')) {
this.render('login');
} else {
this.next();
}
});
Router.route('/', {
name: 'home',
waitOn: function() {
Deps.autorun(function() {
Meteor.subscribe('requestServiceIds', Partitioner.group());
Meteor.subscribe('relevantServices', Partitioner.group());
});
}
});
---
UPDATE 1
I updated the the router a bit. But it did not seem to have had made any difference.
Router.configure({
layoutTemplate: 'main',
waitOn: function() {
// Deps.autorun(function() {
// Meteor.subscribe('profiles', Partitioner.group());
// Meteor.subscribe('departments', Partitioner.group());
// });
return [
Meteor.subscribe('profiles', Partitioner.group()),
Meteor.subscribe('departments', Partitioner.group())
];
}
});
Router.route('/', {
name: 'home',
waitOn: function() {
// Deps.autorun(function() {
// Meteor.subscribe('requestServiceIds', Partitioner.group());
// Meteor.subscribe('relevantServices', Partitioner.group());
// });
return [
Meteor.subscribe('requestServiceIds', Partitioner.group()),
Meteor.subscribe('relevantServices', Partitioner.group())
];
}
});

Answer 1

Create a dumb loading template such as this one (using font awesome):
<template name="loading">
<div class="loading">
<i class="fa fa-circle-o-notch fa-4x fa-spin"></i>
</div>
</template>
And try replacing your Router.configure() part with something like this:
Router.configure({
layoutTemplate: 'main',
action: function() {
if(this.isReady()) { this.render(); } else {this.render("loading");}
},
isReady: function() {
var subs = [
Meteor.subscribe('profiles', Partitioner.group());
Meteor.subscribe('departments', Partitioner.group());
];
var ready = true;
_.each(subs, function(sub) {
if(!sub.ready())
ready = false;
});
return ready;
},
data: function() {
return {
params: this.params || {},
profiles: Profiles.find(),
departments: Departments.find()
};
}
}
});
I guess that could be achieved using waitOn, but since your way does not work, I give you a working recipe I use everyday. Code inspired from meteor Kitchen generated code.
To answer your comments:
Regarding the Action not being triggered, it might be because we tried to put in inside the Router.configure. I don't do it that way, here are some details on how I implement it.
First, I set a controller for each route inside a router.js file (where I have my Router.configure() function too. It looks like that:
Router.map(function () {
this.route("login", {path: "/login", controller: "LoginController"});
// other routes
}
Next, I create a controller that I store in the same folder than my client view template. It looks like that:
this.LoginController = RouteController.extend({
template: "Login",
yieldTemplates: {
/*YIELD_TEMPLATES*/
},
onBeforeAction: function() {
/*BEFORE_FUNCTION*/
this.next();
},
action: function() {
if(this.isReady()) { this.render(); } else { this.render("loading"); }
/*ACTION_FUNCTION*/
},
isReady: function() {
var subs = [
];
var ready = true;
_.each(subs, function(sub) {
if(!sub.ready())
ready = false;
});
return ready;
},
data: function() {
return {
params: this.params || {}
};
/*DATA_FUNCTION*/
},
onAfterAction: function() {
}
});
So this action function is working when I extend a route using a controller. Maybe it will solve your issue.
For completeness sake, here is how my Router.configure() looks like:
Router.configure({
templateNameConverter: "upperCamelCase",
routeControllerNameConverter: "upperCamelCase",
layoutTemplate: "layout",
notFoundTemplate: "notFound",
loadingTemplate: "loading",
//I removed the rest because it is useless.
});