1 viewmodel multiple routes: lifecycle

I'd like to have a couple of different routes pointing to the same view/viewmodel and I have managed to make this happen.

            { route: 'formulation',             moduleId: 'formulation',    title: 'Formulation',       nav: 6 },
            { route: 'fabrication',             moduleId: 'test',           title: 'Fabrication',       nav: 7 },
            { route: 'fabrication/:studyId',    moduleId: 'test',           title: 'Fabrication'               },
            { route: 'characterization',        moduleId: 'test',           title: 'Characterization',  nav: 8 },

However, I'm running into a bit of a problem with the lifecycle. I'd like to be notified when the hash changes from one hash to another hash. For example fabrication to characterization. Ideally I could just update a few variables but I'm not against rebuilding the view/viewmodel. The issue is as some of you might know when is when the changing moduleId to is the same as the previous moduleId the activate hook does not fire. How exactly should this be handled. Thanks, Calvin

I think your best bet is to override areSameItem on the activator (which is created by the router as activeItem). Somewhere early on in the wireup of your application, try doing this:

var routerAreSameItem = router.activeItem.settings.areSameItem;

router.activeItem.settings.areSameItem = function (currentItem, newItem, currentActivationData, newActivationData) {
    debugger;
    return routerAreSameItem.apply(this, _.toArray(arguments));
};

Obviously this particular implementation isn't going to do anything; but you should be able to provide some custom logic in the areSameItem method to distingish the item change.

If my memory serves correctly, returning false from that method should make your activate method get called.