Explore: Improve parsing ranges from URL (#72498)

* Fix parsing absolute range

* Silence warning issued by moment js

* Introduce URLRangeValue to enforce better type-checking

* Fix unit tests

* Allow not passing range to generate ExploreUrl

* Use updated time range format in a test

* Allow empty object to be passed as a data link for backward compatibility

* Update mocks

* Post-merge fixes

* Simplify checking if range is passed as an empty object

* Update docs

public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ describe('getExploreUrl', () => {
       getDataSourceById: jest.fn(),
     },
     timeSrv: {
-      timeRangeForUrl: () => '1',
+      timeRange: () => ({ raw: { from: 'now-1h', to: 'now' } }),
     },
   } as unknown as GetExploreUrlArguments;
 

public/app/core/utils/explore.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   RawTimeRange,
   TimeRange,
   TimeZone,
+  toURLRange,
   urlUtil,
 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { DataSourceSrv, getDataSourceSrv } from '@grafana/runtime';
@@ -76,8 +77,8 @@ export async function getExploreUrl(args: GetExploreUrlArguments): Promise<strin
   let url: string | undefined;
 
   if (exploreDatasource) {
-    const range = timeSrv.timeRangeForUrl();
-    let state: Partial<ExploreUrlState> = { range };
+    const range = timeSrv.timeRange().raw;
+    let state: Partial<ExploreUrlState> = { range: toURLRange(range) };
     if (exploreDatasource.interpolateVariablesInQueries) {
       const scopedVars = panel.scopedVars || {};
       state = {