Is it possible to hook into several controllers from an aura component?

Question

I know that I can hook a component/app to a controller like this:

<aura:component controller="IncidentsController">
</aura:component>

However, is it possible to get this component to communicate with more than one controller?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes and No , no way so far for multiple apex controllers link to one aura component. but component allows include child components or inherited from super component. Each component has one controller.

using inheritance

<!-- BaseComponent -->
<aura:component extensible="true" controller="BaseComponentController">
</aura:component>

<!-- child component -->
<aura:component extends="BaseComponent" 
controller="childComponentController">
</aura:component>

Invoke Base component helper method from child component, then invoke BaseComponentController methods.

for example in childhelper.js

doStuff: function(component,event, helper){
  //call base component helper deleteRecord method
  helper.deleteRecord(component);

  //call apex childComponentController method doStuff
  var action = component.get("c.doStuff");

}

in basecomponentHelper.js

deleteRecord : function(component){
   var baseCmp = component.getConcreteComponent();
   //call apex BaseComponentController delRecord function
   var action = baseCmp.get('c.delRecord');

}

or adapt the same idea to invoke Apex controller from child component.

Answer 2

I think your best option is using component.find and helper components:

<aura:component>
   <c:OpportunitiesSelector aura:id="oppsHelper" />
   <c:ContactsSelector aura:id="conHelper" />
   <ui:button press="{!c.doSomething}" label="Do Something" />
</aura:component>

Then in controller you'd go:

doSomething : function (component) {
    var action = component.find('oppsHelper').get('c.getOppsById');
    action.setParams({
        ids: [123456789012345678, 098765432187654321]
    });
    var action2 = component.find('conHelper').get('c.getContactsByEmail');
    action2.setParams({
        email: 'foo@baz.qux'
    });
    $A.enqueueAction(action);
    $A.enqueueAction(action2);
}

All your OpportunitiesSelector has to have is:

<aura:component controller="OpportunitiesSelector" />

Answer 3

You cannot use two Apex controller in Lightning Component, but you can Extends the Component and use Super Component controller action in sub component.Look at this blog

https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/developer-relations/2015/03/salesforce-lightning-components-by-example-component-extension.html

However do not call Super component controller action in Sub component, because I found one note in Developer Guide

We don't recommend using inheritance of client-side controllers as this feature may be deprecated in the future to preserve better component encapsulation. We recommend that you put common code in a helper instead.

Answer 4

Referencing multiple Server-Side Apex controllers Classes within a Lightning Component is not supported. I don't have a specific reference to support that statement, but consider this from the Lightning Components Developers Guide. When we want to call a Server-Side Action from a component, we make a reference to the method in the client side controller like this:

    // create a one-time use instance of the serverEcho action
    // in the server-side controller
    var action = cmp.get("c.serverEcho");

The cmp.get("c.serverEcho") call indicates that we’re calling the serverEcho >method in the server-side controller. The method name in the server-side >controller must match everything after the c. in the client-side call. In this >case, that’s serverEcho.

SO... if we want to make references to two different Server-Side Apex controller Classes, we would need a means to identify the two Apex Classes as, let's say, "c1" and "c2". Only then would we be able to make a reference methods from one or the other... that's currently not supported.

Does somebody want to create an Idea in the Idea Exchange?