EditRoutesExample.js

const FormObject = Ember.Object.extend({
  toJSON() {
    // get a pure POJO
    const tempObj = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(this))
    tempObj.isDirty.delete
    return tempObj
  },
  isDirty: false,
  set(key, value) {
    this._super(...arguments)
    // any set, even with the same value, will fire the isDirty flag
    set(this, 'isDirty', true)
  }
})


// ---  route.js ---
// Note: much of this should be pulled into a mixin for re-use across all edit routes
afterModel(model) {
  let formObject
  const id = get(model, 'id')
  const modelName = get(model, 'constructor.modelName')
  model = {model: model}
  return RSVP.promise(get(this, 'store').query('draft', {filter: {where: {modelId: id, modelType: modelName}}))
    .then(draft => {
      set(model, 'draft', draft)

      if (draft) {
        set(model, 'canDiscard', true)
        modelJson = get(draft, 'modelJson')
      } else {
        set(model, 'canDiscard', true)
        modelJson = get(model, 'model').toJSON()
      }
      return FormObject.create(modelJson)
    })
    .error(() => {
      // Error while fetching a draft, abandon it.  If we logged JS errors, we should do it here
      return get(model, 'model').toJSON()
    })
    .finally(formObject => {
        set(model, 'formObject', formOject)
        this.automaticSaveTimer()
    })
},

automaticSaveTimer() {
  const interval = 2 * 60 * 1000
  Ember.run.later(this, function () {
    get(this, 'automaticSaveTask').peform(model)
    this.automaticSaveTimer()
  }, interval)
},

manualSaveTask: task(function * (model) {
  return model.save()
    .then(() => {
      set(this, 'controller.model.canDiscard', false)
      //etc.
    })
}).drop(), // see http://ember-concurrency.com/#/docs/task-concurrency

automaticSaveTask: task(function * (formObject) {
  let draftModel = get(this, 'controller.model.draft')
  if (draftModel) set(draftModel, 'modelJson', formObject.toJSON()) // or JSON.stringify(formObject) maybe
  else {
    draftModel = get(this, 'store').createRecord('draft', {
      modelId: get(this, 'controller.model.model.id'),
      modelType: get(this, 'controller.model.model.constructor.modelName'),
      modelJson: formObject.toJSON(),
      user: get(this, 'session.currentUser')
    })
  }
  return draftModel.save()
    .then() // if you want to
}).drop(),

actions: {
  manualSave (model} {
    // todo: this needs checking, because we need to ensure that the local store for the proper model is appropriately updated
    get(this, 'manualSaveTask').perform(model)
  },

  discard () {
    const model = get(this, 'model.model')
    set(this, 'controller.model.formObject', model.toJSON())
  }
}



// --- template.hbs ---
// Will want some logic around whether to display the 'keep editing' 'another user editing' etc logic here
{{your-component
  item=model.formObject
  save=(route-action 'manualSave')
  discard=(route-action 'discart')
}}