fix: make settings nav not enter history (#9376)

* remove unused location store

* make sidebar component replace route in order for back button to go back to previous page before settings

* added test to back button functionality

* [autofix.ci] apply automated fixes

---------

Co-authored-by: Mike Fortman <michael.fortman@datastax.com>
Co-authored-by: autofix-ci[bot] <114827586+autofix-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

src/frontend/src/components/core/sidebarComponent/index.tsx

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ const SideBarButtonsComponent = ({ items }: SideBarButtonsComponentProps) => {
             <SidebarMenu>
               {items.map((item, index) => (
                 <SidebarMenuItem key={index}>
-                  <CustomLink to={item.href!}>
+                  <CustomLink to={item.href!} replace>
                     <SidebarMenuButton
                       size="md"
                       isActive={

src/frontend/src/stores/locationStore.ts

@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-import { create } from "zustand";
-import type { LocationStoreType } from "../types/zustand/location";
-
-export const useLocationStore = create<LocationStoreType>((set, get) => ({
-  routeHistory: [],
-  setRouteHistory: (location) => {
-    const routeHistoryArray = get().routeHistory;
-    routeHistoryArray.push(location);
-
-    if (routeHistoryArray?.length > 100) {
-      routeHistoryArray.shift();
-      set({
-        routeHistory: routeHistoryArray,
-      });
-    }
-
-    set({
-      routeHistory: routeHistoryArray,
-    });
-  },
-}));

src/frontend/tests/extended/features/userSettings.spec.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+import { awaitBootstrapTest } from "../../utils/await-bootstrap-test";
 
 test.beforeAll(async () => {
   await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 7000));
@@ -200,3 +201,47 @@ test(
     await page.getByText(randomName).isVisible();
   },
 );
+
+test(
+  "should navigate back to flow from global variables",
+  { tag: ["@release", "@workspace"] },
+  async ({ page }) => {
+    await awaitBootstrapTest(page);
+
+    await page.getByTestId("side_nav_options_all-templates").click();
+    await page.getByRole("heading", { name: "Basic Prompting" }).click();
+    await page.waitForSelector('[data-testid="fit_view"]', {
+      timeout: 100000,
+    });
+    // Now navigate to user settings
+    await page.getByTestId("user-profile-settings").click();
+    await page.getByTestId("menu_settings_button").click();
+
+    // Verify we're on the settings page
+    await expect(page.getByText("General").nth(2)).toBeVisible({
+      timeout: 4000,
+    });
+
+    // Navigate to Global Variables
+    await page.getByText("Global Variables").click();
+    await page.getByText("Global Variables").nth(2);
+    await page
+      .getByText("Global Variables", { exact: true })
+      .nth(1)
+      .isVisible();
+
+    // Click the back button - this should take us back to the flow, not to the main settings page
+    await page.getByTestId("back_page_button").click();
+
+    // Verify we're back on the flow page, not the settings main page
+    await page.waitForSelector('[data-testid="sidebar-search-input"]', {
+      timeout: 5000,
+    });
+
+    // Additional verification that we're on the flow page
+    expect(page.url()).toMatch(/\/flow\//);
+
+    // Verify we can see flow-specific elements
+    await expect(page.getByTestId("sidebar-search-input")).toBeVisible();
+  },
+);