Check if the current SharePoint Page is in Edit mode from within a SharePoint Online App

Question

I have a SharePoint hosted app. I need to enable an edit section inside the app only when the page is in edit mode. This way I am making sure that only users with edit permission can view this option. The issue is that I am not able to determine, from within the app, whether or not the page is in the edit mode.

Currently, I am passing the following in the src of the ClientWebPart to check if the Web Part is in the edit mode,

editmode=_editMode_

Though, this implementation is working, it includes the following steps:

1. Click the Edit Page option of the SharePoint page.
2. In edit mode, for the target Web Part, click the Edit Web Part option.
3. The private edit section is now visible.

My question is, can I reduce the above number of steps by completing bypassing the second option? Please advice.

Answer 1

You can make use of WSSDesignConsole placeholder from the master page

Answer 2

It seems there's no direct way through which the SharePoint app can communicate directly with the host page. We have to rely on the limited queryStrings that SharePoint provides on-load. Which means that, the user has to first edit the page and then, edit the web part and only then, I can pick up the info that the given app is in the edit mode. One extra step for the user.

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/officeapps/en-US/091559b6-eb8c-467b-bcbd-d3fef3415772/check-if-the-current-sharepoint-page-is-in-edit-mode-from-within-a-sharepoint-online-app?forum=appsforsharepoint