Is it okay to call initialize() to initialize a view? - backbone.js

Question

In my Backbone app, I have the following
playlistView = new PlaylistView({ model: Playlist });
Playlist.getNewSongs(function() {
playlistView.initialize();
}, genre, numSongs);
Playlist.getNewSongs() is called back when some ajax request is finished. I want to re-initialize the view then. However, I believe the way I'm doing it leads to this problem of a view listening to a same event twice. Is calling initialize() like this acceptable? If not, what should I do instead?
Update:
I wrote this chrome extension in Backbone to learn Backbone, and it's in a design hell at the moment. I am in the middle of refactoring the entire codebase. The snippet below is my PlaylistView initialize() code block.
var PlaylistView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: '#expanded-container',
initialize: function() {
var playlistModel = this.model;
var bg = chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage();
if (!bg.player) {
console.log("aborting playlistView initialize because player isn't ready");
return;
}
this.listenTo(playlistModel.get('songs'), 'add', function (song) {
var songView = new SongView({ model: song });
this.$('.playlist-songs').prepend(songView.render().el);
});
this.$('#song-search-form-group').empty();
// Empty the current playlist and populate with newly loaded songs
this.$('.playlist-songs').empty();
var songs = playlistModel.get('songs').models;
// Add a search form
var userLocale = chrome.i18n.getMessage("##ui_locale");
var inputEl = '<input class="form-control flat" id="song-search-form" type="search" placeholder="John Lennon Imagine">' +
'<span class="search-heart-icon fa fa-heart"></span>'+
'<span class="search-input-icon fui-search"></span>';
}
this.$('#song-search-form-group').append(inputEl);
var form = this.$('input');
$(form).keypress(function (e) {
if (e.charCode == 13) {
var query = form.val();
playlistModel.lookUpAndAddSingleSong(query);
}
});
// Fetch song models from bg.Songs's localStorage
// Pass in reset option to prevent fetch() from calling "add" event
// for every Song stored in localStorage
if (playlistModel.get('musicChart').source == "myself") {
playlistModel.get('songs').fetch({ reset: true });
songs = playlistModel.get('songs').models;
}
// Create and render a song view for each song model in the collection
_.each(songs, function (song) {
var songView = new SongView({ model: song });
this.$('.playlist-songs').append(songView.render().el);
}, this);
// Highlight the currently played song
var currentSong = playlistModel.get('currentSong');
if (currentSong)
var currentVideoId = currentSong.get('videoId');
else {
var firstSong = playlistModel.get('songs').at(0);
if (!firstSong) {
// FIXME: this should be done via triggering event and by Popup model
$('.music-info').text(chrome.i18n.getMessage("try_different_chart"));
$('.music-info').fadeOut(2000);
//console.log("something wrong with the chart");
return;
}
var currentVideoId = firstSong.get('videoId');
}
_.find($('.list-group-item'), function (item) {
if (item.id == currentVideoId)
return $(item).addClass('active');
});
},

Answer 1

It is not wrong but probably not a good practice. You did not post the code in your initialize but maybe you have too much logic here.
If you are simply initializing the view again so that the new data is rendered, you should use event listener as such:
myView = Backbone. View.extend ({
initialize : function() {
// We bind the render method to the change event of the model.
//When the data of the model of the view changes, the method will be called.
this.model.bind( "change" , this.render, this);
// Other init code that you only need once goes here ...
this.template = _.template (templateLoader. get( 'config'));
},
// In the render method we update the view to represent the current model
render : function(eventName) {
$ (this.el ).html(this .template ((this.model .toJSON())));
return this;
}
});
If the logic in your initiialize is something totally else, please include it. Maybe there is a beter place for it.