Thanks @Nxito,
You have solved my problem.
I have it slightly different from your flows. But it is now working well. I put the whole solution here for those who may want it.
- The top flow stores the URL that is called the first time the idpicker's Group tab is displayed. (It doesn't actualy display anything on the Group tab)
- The second line receives the URL request, parses the parameters and creates two messages.
a) The first message responds with the stored URL inside an<iFrame>
b) The second message contains the parameters from the URL request and can be passed to something else in your flow.
Here are the nodes
[{"id":"d708dc8e.a89f1","type":"http in","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"/history url handler","url":"/ui/history/:params","method":"get","upload":false,"swaggerDoc":"","x":190,"y":200,"wires":[["f42bc357.beb1b"]]},{"id":"3882eb1b.c1dd74","type":"debug","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"","active":false,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"true","targetType":"full","x":610,"y":240,"wires":[]},{"id":"67706912.8ce228","type":"http response","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"","statusCode":"","headers":{},"x":770,"y":200,"wires":[]},{"id":"f42bc357.beb1b","type":"function","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"Set historic data","func":"//the url will arrive as http::local/history/&type=someType&date=someDate\nvar parameters = {};\nfor ( entry of msg.req.params.params.split(\"&\")) \n{\n pair = entry.split(\"=\");\n parameters[pair[0]] = pair[1];\n}\nvar type = parameters[\"type\"];\nvar date = parameters[\"date\"];\n\n\nmsg.url = flow.get(\"Node-red-Url\")|| \"no url\"\n//msg2 is for configuring your flow using the passed in parameteres from the URL\nmsg2 = {payload:\"From URL\", type:type, date:date };\n\nreturn [msg, msg2];","outputs":2,"noerr":0,"x":400,"y":200,"wires":[["19fcb2b9.83b4dd"],["3882eb1b.c1dd74"]]},{"id":"63ef29e2.05a538","type":"comment","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"Handle external URLs","info":"","x":200,"y":80,"wires":[]},{"id":"76dd4ee2.e4d0b","type":"ui_template","z":"89aed991.562928","group":"45a87283.4150ac","name":"idpicker","order":1,"width":"0","height":"0","format":"<div id=\"idpickertable\" ng-init=\"send(action())\"><!-- it is called at the start-->\n</div>\n<script>\n var url= parent.document.location.href\n var obj = {\"Url\":url};\n this.scope.action = function() { return obj; }\n</script>\n","storeOutMessages":true,"fwdInMessages":true,"templateScope":"local","x":160,"y":140,"wires":[["336f0644.28756a"]]},{"id":"336f0644.28756a","type":"function","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"Store full socketid url","func":"//Only store the first URL received. Future URLs could be external such as ./history/&type=type&date=date\n//store the full URL e.g http::local/#!/0?socketid=74hSZxlqHVZwQ1_iAAD9\nvar url= msg.Url\nif( url.includes(\"socketid\") ) \n flow.set(\"Node-red-Url\",url);\nreturn msg","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":420,"y":140,"wires":[["2d1ef00f.ed848"]]},{"id":"19fcb2b9.83b4dd","type":"template","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"","field":"payload","fieldType":"msg","format":"handlebars","syntax":"mustache","template":"<http>\n<head>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\n body {scrolling:no;}\n iframe {position:absolute;\n z-index:1;\n top:0px;\n left:0px;\n}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n <iframe src={{url}} height=\"100%\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe>\n</body> \n</http>","output":"str","x":620,"y":200,"wires":[["67706912.8ce228"]]},{"id":"2d1ef00f.ed848","type":"debug","z":"89aed991.562928","name":"","active":false,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"true","targetType":"full","x":610,"y":140,"wires":[]},{"id":"45a87283.4150ac","type":"ui_group","z":"","name":"Testing","tab":"dadd1654.354a78","order":1,"disp":true,"width":"17","collapse":false},{"id":"dadd1654.354a78","type":"ui_tab","z":"","name":"Testing","icon":"dashboard","order":3,"disabled":false,"hidden":false}]
Note that I changed the URL parameter format from my initial post example. You can now try https://shannstainable.fewings.org/historic/&type=power&date=20191219
