i'm building a Backbone/Marionette application to list different sets of cards. the layout has an ItemView on the left side including an input field to add a new set and a CompositeView on the right side to list the card sets.
Cards.module("Set.SideBar", function(SideBar, App) {
SideBar.SideBarView = Backbone.Marionette.ItemView.extend({
template: "#set-sideBar",
className: "well sidebar-nav",
ui: {
saveBtn: "a.saveSet",
setName: "input[type=text]"
},
events: {
"click .saveSet": "saveSet"
},
saveSet: function(ev) {
ev.preventDefault();
var newSetName = this.ui.setName.val().trim();
var newSet = new Cards.Entities.Set({ name: newSetName });
newSet.save();
// How to add the model to the collection?
}
});
});
i'm looking for the best way to add the newSet to the collection of the CompositeView below. is there any clean low coupling solution to deal with that? i'm quite new to backbone.js and can't imagine that this is something totally unordinary, but somehow i'm not able to find an answer to my question in the regarding docs - or just dont understand them.
Cards.module('Set.List', function(List, App) {
List.SetItemView = Backbone.Marionette.ItemView.extend({
tagName: "tr",
template: "#set-list-item"
});
List.SetView = Backbone.Marionette.CompositeView.extend({
tagName: "table",
className: "table table-bordered table-striped table-hover",
template: "#set-list",
itemView: List.SetItemView,
itemViewContainer: "tbody",
modelEvents: {
"change": "modelChanged"
},
initialize: function() {
this.collection.fetch();
}
});
});
thanks in advance for your help!
how i'm doing it now:
thanks for both answers, they were guiding me in the right direction. the collection.create hint was also very useful and solved another problem i was facing!
inside a Marionette.Controller i do something like this and simply share the collection reference:
var setLayout = new Cards.Set.Layout();
Cards.mainRegion.show(setLayout);
var sets = new Cards.Entities.SetCollection();
var listView = new Cards.Set.List.SetView({ collection: sets });
setLayout.listRegion.show(listView);
var sideBarView = new Cards.Set.SideBar.SideBarView({ collection: sets });
setLayout.sideBarRegion.show(sideBarView);
and the new model is simply added by collection.create instead of .save() and .add().
Backbone.Collection.add can be used to add a model to an existing backbone collection.
http://backbonejs.org/#Collection-add
Also, look in to Collection.Create - http://backbonejs.org/#Collection-create
If your model is being persisted, then immediately added to the collection, you can skip your model.save() then collection.add() and just use collection.create(model)
Edit: And as already mentioned, make the collection instance visible from the sidebar view
To keep views decoupled, you can raise events from one view that other view(s) can listen to and handle however they please.
Related
If you don't want to see the complete code, here is what I am trying to do.
I have multiple pages and each page has multiple tags. There is a composite View called PageManyView for rendering pages which called its childView PageView. Page View is a nested composite view which renders tags, passing this.model.get('tags') as collection.
Now I can easily add a new page by using pages.add(newPage). Here pages is the collection. I am facing problem in adding a new Tag. How can I do that. Please help.
CODE
var PageModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});
var PageCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: PageModel
});
My JSON at /data endpoint is coming like this
[
{
_id: '1', 'name': '1', info: 'Page 1',
tags: [{name:'main', color:'red'}, {name:'page', color:'blue'}]
},
{
_id: '1', 'name': '2', info: 'Page 2',
tags: [{name:'section', color:'blue'} {name:'about', color:'yellow'}]
}
]
I have created Nested Views in Marionette like this:
TagView = Marionette.ItemView.extend({
template: '#tagOneTemplate'
});
PageView = Marionette.CompositeView.extend({
template: '#pagesTemplate',
childViewContainer: 'div.tags',
childView: EntityViews.TagView,
initialize: function(){
var tags = this.model.get('tags');
this.collection = new Backbone.Collection(tags);
}
});
PageManyView = Marionette.CompositeView.extend({
template: '#pageManyTemplate',
childView: EntityViews.PageView,
childViewContainer: 'div#all-pages'
});
Now here is where i am facing problem. Inside Controller of my application, lets say if I have to add a new page
showPages: function(){
//Getting pages by using jQuery deferred
var view = PageMainView({collection:pages});
view.on("add:page", function(){
var newPage = Page({_id: 3});
pages.add(newPage);
});
}
Now this add function renders the new page automatically.
BUT I AM FACING PROBLEM IN ADDING a NEW TAG. HOW CAN I ADD A NEW TAG?
Finally it worked. Here is what I have done.
Step 1: Get Current model (page) from pages collection.
var currentpage = pages.get(pageid);
Step 2: Use Marionette BabySitter to get the view of the page where I want to insert a new tag.
var v = view.children.findByModel(currentpage);
Step 3: Add tag to v.collection. Since v is the View of the page where I want to insert new tag, v.collection returns the initialised tags collection
v.collection.add(tag);
This works for me. Let me know if I am wrong somewhere or a better way exists. Hope it helps.
this can be done quite easily by shifting around how your collection is being passed in. Instead of setting the collection on initialize in your compositeView, you should pass it in directly during instantiation. This way when you make a change to the collection from within your model, the compositeView will hear the "add" event on collection and add node automagically for you
For example it might look something like this.
PageView = Marionette.CompositeView.extend({
template: '#pagesTemplate',
childViewContainer: 'div.tags',
childView: EntityViews.TagView,
});
new PageView({
model: myModel,
collection: myModel.get("tags")
});
myModel.get("tags").add([{new: "object"}])
I have a very simple page that shows a collection in a table. Above it theres a search field where the user enters the first name of users.
When the user types I want to filter the list down.
Edit: I have updated the code to show how the current compositeView works. My aim is to integrate a searchView that can _.filter the collection and hopefully just update the collection table.
define([
'marionette',
'text!app/views/templates/user/list.html',
'app/collections/users',
'app/views/user/row'
],
function (Marionette, Template, Users, User) {
"use strict"
return Backbone.Marionette.CompositeView.extend({
template: Template,
itemView: User,
itemViewContainer: "tbody",
initialize: function() {
this.collection = new Users()
this.collection.fetch()
}
})
})
Divide your template in a few small templates, this increases performance at the client side, you don't have problems with overriden form elements and you have more reuseable code.
But be aware of too much separation, cause more templates means more views and more code/logic.
You don't seem to be making use of CollectionView as well as you could be. If I were you I would separate the concerns between the search box and the search results. Have them as separate views so that when one needs to rerender, it doesn't effect the other.
This code probably won't work straight away as I haven't tested it. But hopefully it gives you some clue as to what ItemView, CollectionView, and Layout are and how they can help you remove some of that boiler plate code
//one of these will be rendered out for each search result.
var SearchResult = Backbone.Marionette.ItemView.extend({
template: "#someTemplateRepresentingEachSearchResult"
)};
//This collectionview will render out a SearchResult for every model in it's collection
var SearchResultsView = Backbone.Marionette.CollectionView.extend{
itemView: SearchResult
});
//This layout will set everything up
var SearchWindow = Backbone.Marionette.Layout.extend({
template: "#someTemplateWithASearchBoxAndEmptyResultsRegionContainer",
regions:{
resultsRegion: "#resultsRegion"
},
initialize: function(){
this.foundUsers = new Users();
this.allUsers = new Users();
this.allUsers.fetch({
//snip...
});
events: {
'keyup #search-users-entry': 'onSearchUsers'
},
onSearchUsers: function(e){
var searchTerm = ($(e.currentTarget).val()).toLowerCase()
var results = this.allUsers.filter(function(user){
var firstName = user.attributes.firstname.toLowerCase();
return firstName.match(new RegExp(searchTerm))
});
this.foundUsers.set(results); //the collectionview will update with the collection
},
onRender: function(){
this.resultsRegion.show(new SearchResultsView({
collection: this.foundUsers
});
}
});
I think the most important thing for you to take note of is how CollectionView leverages the Backbone.Collection that you provide it. CollectionView will render out an itemView (of the class/type you give it) for each model that is in it's collection. If the Collection changes then the CollectionView will also change. You will notice that in the method onSearchUsers all you need to do is update that collection (using set). The CollectionView will be listening to that collection and update itself accordingly
Previously, I made a backbone view for handling a toggle button:
Star = Backbone.View.extend({
events: {
'click': 'toggle'
},
toggle: function() {
this.$('i').toggleClass('icon-star').toggleClass('icon-star-empty');
},
status: function() {
return this.$el.hasClass('active');
}
});
And i was using this subview in my views like this:
initialize: function() {
var star = new Star({ el: this.$('.new .btn.star') });
// ...
}
This way i can reuse this subview in many other independent views in backbone. (FYI: I'm no backbone expert. This code also can be wrong. Please correct me if it's wrong.)
Now i'm trying to learn Backbone.Marionette and i couldn't find a good way to accomplish same functionality. How can i use this view in my ItemViews and/or CompositeViews?
You can keep the exact same idea, just extend (e.g.) a Marionette ItemView:
Star = Marionette.ItemView.extend({...});
and then
var star = new Star({ el: this.$('.new .btn.star') });
Another option is to extend your Star view:
MyView = Star.extend({...});
I have a Backbone app that is working properly, however, when I tried to reorganize the code under a namespace I can't get it to do anything. I can't even trigger events (by clicking on ids) for views that I know are getting initialized (through console log messages), so I'm wondering if I've introduced some fundamental flaw somehow. I'm following a pattern set out by this blog (in french) http://www.atinux.fr/2011/12/10/organiser-son-code-backbone-js-en-modules/
In the main application.js (see below), I instantiate all of the views and models after initiating the app on document ready. One change introduced as a result of creating this namespace was setting the models for the views with this.models.game
this.views.clock_view = new this.Views.clockView({ model: this.models.game});
Inside the modules folder, I had a views.js and a models.js. I created each view and object like this, prefaced with app.Views or app.Models accordingly
app.Views.announceView = Backbone.View.extend({
....
app.Views.optionsView = Backbone.View.extend({
...
This app.Views.optionsView is getting initialized (according to a console.log statement in the initializer) but when I click on #new_game, the console.log in the startNewGame is not getting triggered
'click #new_game': 'startNewGame'
// 'click .action_button': 'startNewGame'
},
startNewGame: function() {
console.log("startNewGame");
this.model.new();
},
As a result of the namespacing, one other key change I made was when I created new views inside one of the other views. Under the previous (non-namespaced app), I created individual question items from a QuestionListView
var view = new QuestionListItemView({ model: game });
but now I'm doing
var view = new app.Views.questionListItemView({ model: app.models.game })
because the instance of the model was saved to this.models.game in application.js, however, I also tried using 'this.models.game'
var view = new app.Views.questionListItemView({ model: this.models.game })
Either way, before the games model gets involved, I can't trigger the startNewGame function outlined above, so it's not solely an issue of how to identify the model.
I also wondered whether i should be using this.Views or app.Views after the 'new' when creating new views from within
var view = new app.Views.questionListItemView({ model: this.models.game })
I'd be grateful if you could help me identify any flaws I've introduced.
application.js
var app = {
// Classes
Collections: {},
Models: {},
Views: {},
// Instances
collections: {},
models: {},
views: {},
init: function () {
this.models.game = new this.Models.game();
this.views.story_view = new this.Views.storyView(); #doesn't have a model
this.views.clock_view = new this.Views.clockView({ model: this.models.game});
this.views.field_view = new this.Views.fieldView({ model: this.models.game});
this.views.options_view = new this.Views.optionsView({ model : this.models.game});
this.views.announcement_view = new this.Views.announceView({ model: this.models.game});
this.views.question_list_view = new this.Views.questionListView({ model : this.models.game});
this.views.question_list_item_view = new this.Views.questionListItemView({ model : this.models.game});
}
};
$(document).ready(function () {
app.init();
}) ;
The options view is getting initialized but I can't trigger the startNewGame function when I click that #id
app.Views.optionsView = Backbone.View.extend({
// el: $("#options"),
el: $("#options"),
initialize: function() {
console.log("app views OptionsView initialized");
// this.model.bind("gameStartedEvent", this.removeGetAnswerButton, this);
this.model.bind("gameStartedEvent", this.disableNewGame, this);
},
events: {
'click #demo': 'startDemo',
'click #new_game': 'startNewGame'
// 'click .action_button': 'startNewGame'
},
startDemo: function(){
console.log("start demo");
this.model.demo();
},
startNewGame: function() {
console.log("startNewGame");
this.model.new();
},
disableNewGame: function(){
$('#new_game').attr("disabled", true);
}
});
Update
My file structure looks like this
<%= javascript_include_tag 'application.js'%>
<%= javascript_include_tag 'modules/models'%>
<%= javascript_include_tag 'modules/views'%>
At the top of the views and models file, I just do something like this
app.Views.optionsView = Backbone.View.extend({
ie.. there is no further document ready. In fact, including another document ready in these files breaks the application.js init
Prior to using the namespace, I defined the element this way in the view
el: $("#options")
which, as was pointed out in the comments to this question, is not the ideal way to do it(see #muistooshort comment below), (even though it worked).
Defining the el this way instead
el: '#options'
got it working, and let Backbone "convert it to a node object" on its own.
I'm quite new in the world of Backbone and I decided to use Marionette for my first serious project with it.
With some difficulties I managed to set up my app's basic options and routing and I was pretty happy with it, but now I'm facing a blocking problem with a CompositeView that represent a Table.
This View is rendered inside a region of a specific layout, called "grid". This layout has 3 region: the top_controls, table_view and bottom_controls. Since I needed to bind some action on some of the elements of the layout I decided to use it as a View, and to include the "master" collection inside it, so I can just rendered a filtered version of the collection inside the CompositeView, without touching the main one.
From my router I call it in this way:
App.grid = new Grid({collection: Clt});
App.page.show(App.grid);
The structure of the layout is this (I'm using requireJS):
var Grid = Backbone.Marionette.Layout.extend({
className: "container-fluid",
template: gridLayout,
regions: {
top_controls: "#top_controls",
table_view: "#table_view",
bottom_controls: "#bottom_controls",
},
initialize: function(){
this.renderTable(this.collection, true);
},
renderTable: function(collection, fetch){
if(fetch){
collection.fetch({success:function(){
var vista = new CompView({collection: collection});
App.grid.table_view.show(vista);
}});
} else {
var vista = new CompView({collection: collection});
App.grid.table_view.show(vista);
}
},
events: {
"keyup input":"filter_grid"
},
filter_grid: function(e){
var $el = e.currentTarget;
var to_filter = $($el).val();
if(to_filter==""){
this.renderTable(this.collection, false);
} else {
var filtered = this.collection.filter(function(item){
return item.get("link_scheda").toLowerCase() == to_filter;
});
if(filtered.length>0){
var filtro = new AssocCollection();
filtro.reset(filtered);
this.renderTable(filtro, false);
}
}
}
});
return Grid;
The Layout template looks like this:
<div class="row-fluid" id="top_controls"><input type="text" id="filter" class="input"/></div>
<div class="row-fluid" id="table_view"></div>
<div class="row-fluid" id="bottom_controls"><button class='add btn btn-primary'>Add</button></div>
My CompositeView is structured like that:
var AssocView = Backbone.Marionette.CompositeView.extend({
tagName: 'table',
className: 'table table-bordered table-striped',
id: 'tableAssoc',
template: assocTemplate,
itemView: assocRow,
appendHtml: function(collectionView, itemView, index){
collectionView.$("tbody").append(itemView.el);
},
events: {
"click .sort_link":"sort_for_link",
},
sort_for_link: function(){
this.collection.comparator = function(model){
return model.get("link_value");
}
this.collection.sort();
},
onRender: function(){
console.log("render table!");
}
});
return AssocView;
The first display of the table is done right, and the filtering too. The problem occur when
I click the table header with the class "sort_link": the entire Table is wiped away from the HTML while the collection stay the same (I suppode the entire layout is re-rendered). If for example I render the CompositeView in another place, like the app main region, it all works as intended. So I guess to problem it's located inside my Layout declaration.
Any help will be much appreciated!
In your Grid, you need to override the initialEvents method and don't do anything in it.
Grid = Backbone.Marionette.Layout.extend({
initialEvents: function(){},
// ... everything you already have
});
Layout extends from ItemView, and ItemView provides the initialEvents implementation. This method checks to see if it was given a collection, and if it does, it wires up the collection "reset" event to the "render" method of the view. In your case, you are passing the collection through and don't want this behavior. So, overriding the initialEvents method will correct it.
Update: I thought I had removed that initialEvents a long time ago. If you're keeping up to date w/ Marionette versions, grab v0.9.10 (or whatever the latest is) and this problem is gone now.