# Back button navigation **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [September 5, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100 "2012-09-05T12:16:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AJBerera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@AJBerera](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/AJBerera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/1 "2012-09-05T12:16:17Z")
Has anyone ever made a reverse navigationlike this before? I would think that using tags to keep track of the recent windows would slow down the project? ---
**Author:** ![AJBerera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@AJBerera](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/AJBerera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/2 "2012-09-05T13:33:47Z")
almost there… I append a string tag and it has this in it: [u’Setup/Group Setup’, u"[u’Setup/Divert Setup’, u’’]"] How can I select the second one here? my client tag change script is this: import system Recent = system.tag.read("[System]Client/User/CurrentWindow").value old = system.tag.read(“LastWindow”).value list = [Recent] list.append(old) system.tag.writeToTag(“LastWindow”, list) I’m starting to think I should be writing to a database all these strings of past windows… ---
**Author:** ![Travis.Cox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Travis.Cox](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Travis.Cox)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/3 "2012-09-05T17:02:04Z")
Yes, you should either be writing these to the database or to a client dataset tag. Let’s say you go down the client dataset tag route. You can create a new client tag that is a dataset called “Recent Windows”. You script will look something like this:`import system recentWindows = system.tag.read("[Client]Recent Windows").value old = system.tag.read("LastWindow").value system.tag.write("[Client]Recent Windows", system.dataset.addRow(recentWindows, [old])`That is assuming the dataset has only one column that is the window path. You can easily get information out of the dataset:`recentWindows = system.tag.read("[Client]Recent Windows").value firstWindow = recentWindows.getValueAt(0, 0) secondWindow = recentWindows.getValueAt(1, 0)` ---
**Author:** ![AJBerera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@AJBerera](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/AJBerera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/4 "2012-09-05T18:07:11Z")
I am having some difficulty with the code I wrote before your post. I chose to try string tags … I couldn’t seem to get it to work with client tags though. I like the idea of using dataset tags better. Somehow I need to implement what you have into what I have here [code]back button system.tag.writeToTag(“ChangeCount”, 0) last = system.tag.read(“LastWindow”).value if len(last) \> 2: place1 = last.find(’ ‘) last = last[place1 + 2:] place2 = last.find(’ ') # [0,5,10,15] Window = last[0:place2] if len(Window) \> 0: system.nav.swapTo(Window) system.nav.centerWindow(Window) system.tag.writeToTag(“LastWindow”, str(last)) system.tag.writeToTag(“ChangeCount”, 1) client tag change script for current window import system Recent = newValue.value gold = system.tag.read(“ChangeCount”).value if gold == 1: list = [] list.append(Recent) #if system.tag.exists(‘LastWindow’): old = system.tag.read(“LastWindow”).value if len(old) \> 200: system.tag.writeToTag(“LastWindow”, ‘’) else: list.append(old) sum = ‘’ for str in list: sum = sum + str + ’ ’ cache = sum system.tag.writeToTag(“LastWindow”, cache)[/code] and this doesnt compile: `import system recentWindows = system.tag.read("[Client]Recent Windows").value old = system.tag.read("[System]Client/User/CurrentWindow").value system.tag.write("[Client]Recent Windows", system.dataset.addRow(recentWindows, [old])` ---
**Author:** ![Travis.Cox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Travis.Cox](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Travis.Cox)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/5 "2012-09-05T18:35:28Z")
Rookie mistake, I forgot the last paran:`import system recentWindows = system.tag.read("[Client]Recent Windows").value old = system.tag.read("[System]Client/User/CurrentWindow").value system.tag.write("[Client]Recent Windows", system.dataset.addRow(recentWindows, [old]))` ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/6 "2012-09-05T18:38:21Z")
So what’s wrong with using `system.nav.goBack()`? ---
**Author:** ![AJBerera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@AJBerera](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/AJBerera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/7 "2012-09-05T18:41:36Z")
!!! thanks. ---
**Author:** ![AJBerera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@AJBerera](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/AJBerera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/8 "2012-09-05T18:42:48Z")
I should learn to use ctl+ spacebar more often… ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/back-button-navigation/5100/9 "2012-09-05T18:43:22Z")
Or read the user manual 🙂 Appendix C lists all the scripting functions.